Gallup has been tracking employee engagement since 2000, one of their recent article mentions worldwide engagement at 13% which by itself is an abysmally low figure and despite so much focus, it is barely crawling upwards (Engaged meaning employees are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace).
AON report reflects actively disengaged employees from 7% to 17% across various tenures with the organisation terming them as workplace prisoners (A Workplace Prisoner is someone who indicates they will stay with the organisation despite a lack of motivation to give their best efforts and a lack of positive things to say about their organisation or work).
Engagement amongst HR professionals, the custodians of employee experience is no different than above. One generally hears that we do not have much power in HR and compare with other function or functional heads authority who drive P&L. If you’re at the cusp of ‘no HoD listens to me or consults me for important decisions’ and ‘I do not have power to take critical business decision because I am in HR’, don’t judge people or HR as a profession, don't push too hard on every such incident, take a step back and ask yourself why does it happen, how can the outcome be different next time.
Every profession has its own nuances so do HR. We are an enabling function and our initiatives have to be taken up through influence and persuasion rather than from position of authority or power. The biggest thing that is bestowed upon HR is comparative larger freedom to craft our time schedule or how we as a team spend our time during the day which is being complimented by insertion of technology and automation taking away routine activities.
It is critical for HR professionals to spend longer period with each organisation they serve when average stint per organisation is reducing to less than 3 years. Longer time-frame is critical to understand as to how decisions are made in your organisation and behaviours that support such decision making, need to learn such nuances positively and create an influence not only within but also outside your span of control, obviously this cannot be achieved without knowledge of the organisation, HR domain and execution abilities.
Do not get perturbed when someone challenges even the very existence of HR, do not push too hard against the individual/s, the next era unfolding with frequently changing business models, competitive edge shifting to adaptable high calibre talent and ability to deliver in matrix fluid teams, HR is poised to play critical role than ever. And if you are new to your career or organisation, you probably need to just put your head down and spend time to be good at it and neutralise the lack of power through influence and persuasion specifically so till you make it to general management positions wherein this would turn out to be your biggest strength.
Stay engaged
References:
Gallup Engagement Report http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/188033/worldwide-employee-engagement-crisis.aspx
Aon Report Actively Disengaged and Staying, dealing with prisoners in the workplace Oct 2016
