Island businesses and organisations of all sizes are being invited to take part in a new survey being launched. Emily Moore spoke to James Horrigan, of CompassJersey, to find out more
WHILE some people may jump out of bed before the alarm, others will reluctantly open one eye as the insistent noise cuts through the room, and then press snooze in a desperate effort to postpone the inevitable for as long as possible.
But whether you are a morning person or a duvet devotee, most people waking up on a Monday will be facing – with varying degrees of enthusiasm – the prospect of a day at work.
And this begs the question for organisations: How do your employees feel first thing on a Monday morning when they wake up and look ahead to another week at work?
James Horrigan: “This initiative is not based on another employee engagement survey”
It is, as CompassJersey strategy and growth director James Horrigan admits, a subjective question but it is one which he is hoping to see many employees answer in the coming weeks with the launch of Jersey’s Best Workplace, a collaboration between All Island Media – the parent company of the Jersey Evening Post and Bailiwick Express – and CompassJersey.
“This is one of many questions which will give us a sense from employees about how motivated and enthusiastic they are about their place of work,” said James.
This level of motivation, he adds, is often shaped by the leadership and culture of an organisation, something which is particularly important in the context of an island with low levels of unemployment and high levels of competition for talent.
“Jersey has a concentration of highly qualified, highly motivated individuals, but also a high concentration of employers fighting for those individuals,” he said. “This supply and demand rule amplifies the needs for organisations to be in the best position to attract and retain the best talent.”
And the best way to attain this position, says James, is through effective leadership and listening to employees.
“Employee experience is key because it permeates through the organisation and determines the culture of that workplace,” he said. “Since Covid, this focus on the workplace environment has become more important than ever, and most organisations now appreciate that they need to look after their workforce, not just because a content workforce is more engaged and productive, but also because the shortage of talent in the Island means it is vital for organisations to develop a reputation which puts them at the front of the queue when it comes to attracting the right people.”
This, he says in a neat segue, underlines the value that Jersey’s Best Workplace – and Guernsey’s Best Workplace which the two organisations are planning to launch in 2025 – offers to businesses.
“Because most leadership teams recognise the need to tune into their employees and stay in touch with the mood of the business, a lot of companies carry out their own employee engagement surveys,” he said. “It is therefore important to stress that this initiative is not based on another employee engagement survey.
“Jersey’s Best Workplace is an entirely different proposition, designed to elevate an organisation’s ability to demonstrate to the rest of the world what its employees genuinely think about its efforts across eight key areas: reward and recognition, information sharing, empowerment, personal pride, job satisfaction and wellbeing, line management, and learning and development.
“It is an opportunity for employees to give their opinions, openly, honestly and fairly, in a way which can be used to help the company market itself externally as well as to shape its internal practices.”
With all feedback going directly to Compass, as opposed to the organisation’s leadership team, James says that registering to take part in Jersey’s Best Workplace also offers businesses the opportunity to gain an impartial understanding of their employees’ views.
“The best-case scenario is that employees say how much they love working for that organisation, thereby giving the business something to shout about,” he said. “The worst-case scenario is that they discover areas for improvement. Critically, all of the survey answers will be interpreted by the professionals at Compass who will look at both the obvious and nuanced messages from the responses.
With no limit to the number of businesses which can register for the initiative, James is also keen to stress that Jersey’s Best Workplace is open to firms of all sizes and in all sectors.
“There are four categories, ranging from micro (for businesses with between two and nine members of staff) up to large, which covers businesses employing 100 people or more,” he said, “and we are really keen to see businesses from all industries, from local retailers and medical practitioners to vehicle workshops and financial services providers.”
And while there will be prizes for the best business of each size – as well as for the businesses in each category which exemplify best practice in areas as diverse as inclusivity, wellbeing, career development, line management excellence and Jersey’s best workplace for Generation Z – James stresses that it is not just those workplaces which think they are in with a chance of the top accolades which can benefit from taking part in the initiative.
“Just by taking part, you show the importance you place on giving employees the chance to speak honestly and openly about their experiences of the workplace,” he said.
“If I was at the helm of an organisation and I had a doubt about the feedback that I was going to receive, I would see this as a great opportunity to hear any bad news that might be coming, so that I could take steps to improve things, rather than burying my head in the sand.
“If I knew that there were some problems within the organisation, for example, I would love to know more about them to delve into these issues and tease out what medium- and long-term remedies could be put in place.”
With this in mind, James says that registering for Jersey’s Best Workplace is a “win-win for businesses”.
“We all have biases, and I’m sure that many leadership teams have positive biases on how well they are performing,” he said. “Ideally, the feedback from these surveys will confirm those biases and give them an opportunity to shout about how well they are doing but, if the feedback is a little less newsworthy, they have an opportunity to receive that information and enact some change. Why, therefore, wouldn’t an organisation put up its hand and give its employees the opportunity to speak freely about the business?”
Once participants have received their feedback, each organisation will have a chance to sit down with Compass for a free consultation, which is covered by the registration fee, to go through the results and identify any issues arising from them.
“Established almost 15 years ago, CompassJersey was originally set up to run professional qualifications (CIPD) for HR, but, over the years, that proposition has evolved in line with companies’ needs,” said James. “Compass is now also an approved Chartered Management Institute centre, enabling us to focus on the all-important management and leadership side of the work landscape, and we have also developed the product range to focus on critical areas such as wellbeing in the workplace, diversity and inclusion and the needs of neurodiverse employees.”
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