Barriers to Engagement
Leadership & Integrity
Engage for Success Masterclass – April 17th 2013
http://www.engageforsuccess.org/

AGENDA & SPEAKERS
> Introduction – Cathy Brown, Engage for Success Practitioner Group
> The Barriers to Engagement – Nigel Carruthers, Senior Advisor, Policy and Strategy - Workforce
Local Government Association
> Engage for Success Research – Bob Hughes, Engage for Success Guru Group
> Panel Q&A, including David Macleod and Nita Clarke
The Engage for Success Masterclass series is made possible by BT
MASTERCLASS APRIL 2013

Barriers to Employee
Engagement: a local government
perspective
Nigel Carruthers,
Senior Advisor,
Workforce Strategy and Policy
Date
22nd July 2011
www.local.gov.uk
www.local.gov.uk

“51% of my team are facing a pay reduction
along with significant changes to other terms
and conditions. They feel under-valued and
although many still enjoy the work there is a
potential loss of trust and they feel less
inclined to go the extra mile. However, this
has not yet materialised with many still
working above and beyond what is expected
of them.”
- Council Employee, EVP Survey 2012

Next 30mins…
• Who we are
• Our sector context
• The story of our engagement journey
• Some observations & conclusions

LGA Role & Function
• National voice of local
government
• Politically-led, cross-party
organization to ensure
local government has a
strong, credible voice with
national government.
• We aim to influence and
set the political agenda
on the issues that matter
to councils so they are
able to deliver local
solutions to national
problems.

LGA Membership Organisation
• We are a membership
organisation. In total, 423
local authorities are
members of the LGA for
2012/13.
• Made up of English local
councils, Welsh councils,
Fire Authorities, national
parks, passenger
transport and police
authorities, and one town
council.

Context is everything: funding outlook?
Social Care Environment (inc Was te) Money Available for all other s ervices
£60,000
£50,000
£40,000
£ (million)
£30,000
£20,000
£10,000
£0
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18
2018/19
2019/20

Looking to the future:
Funding outlook for Councils 2020
A fundamental change is needed
- in way local services are funded and
organised and
- statutory and citizen expectations of what
councils will provide
By 2020 the funding gap could be over
£16.5billion

Workforce Efficiency response?

CIPD Employee Outlook Survey – public
sector results
• Public sector overall job satisfaction down from 42% to
38%
• For larger employers overall satisfaction was at 26%
• 30% of public sector workers think its likely they will lose
their jobs and are the least likely of any sector to think
they‟ll get a new job
• 45% of public sector workers say they are under
excessive pressure at work
• Trust in leaders and senior managers continues to

Attitudes to senior leaders in the public
sector are negative and continuing to
deteriorate

Survivor syndrome?

Our engagement journey
• Employee Attitude Surveys – 76%
• Engage For Success – case studies
• Best Council to Work For
– (Best Companies)
• Thank Goodness its Monday!
http://youtu.be/_9-9A3uM-Yw
• Top Ten Test – for CEOs/Boards
• Employee Value Proposition

Best Council to Work For
• Best Companies Methodology
• Best Council to Work For 2007-
2009
• 28,000 employees surveyed
• Over 110 (342) employers took
part
• Raised profile of employee
engagement in the sector
• Satisfaction mirror correlation
• Resource dependency questioned
• Increased understanding
• Competition element perceived as

Best Councils Overall
Overall by Factor
5.2
5
4.8
4.6
4.4
4.2
4
3.8
Leadershi My Personal My My Giving Fair Well
p Company Growth Manager Team Something Deal Being
Back
Council - All

Best Councils Overall vs. All Mid Companies
Overall by Factor
5.6
5.4
5.2 (-8%)
5 (-9%)
(-12%)
(-8%)
4.8
(-7%)
4.6
4.4
(-25%) (-8%)
4.2
(-13%)
4
3.8
Leadershi My Personal My My Giving Fair Well
p Company Growth Manager Team Something Deal Being
Back
All Mid Companies Council - All

Best Councils Leadership
Leadership by Question
(Leader) I have a great deal of faith
in the person leading this organisation
(Leader) I am inspired by the
person leading this organisation
(Leader) I am excited about where
this organisation is going
(Moral Principles) This organisation
is run on strong values/principles
(Moral Principles) The leader of this organisation
runs this organisation based on sound moral principles
(Senior Management) I have confidence in the
leadership skills of the senior management team
(Senior Management) Senior managers truly
live the values of this organisation
(Senior Management) Senior managers of this
organisation do a lot of telling but not much listening
3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Council - All

Best Councils Leadership vs. All Mid Companies
Leadership by Question
(Leader) I have a great deal of faith
in the person leading this organisation (-26%)
(Leader) I am inspired by the
person leading this organisation (-30%)
(Leader) I am excited about where
this organisation is going (-29%)
(Moral Principles) This organisation
is run on strong values/principles (-18%)
(Moral Principles) The leader of this organisation
runs this organisation based on sound moral principles (-18%)
(Senior Management) I have confidence in the
leadership skills of the senior management team (-23%)
(Senior Management) Senior managers truly
live the values of this organisation (-33%)
(Senior Management) Senior managers of this
organisation do a lot of telling but not much listening (-22%)
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7
All Mid Companies Council - All

Best Councils Fair Deal
Fair Deal by Question
I feel I receive fair pay for the
responsibilities I have in my job
I am paid fairly for the work I do relative to
people in similar positions in similar councils
I am paid fairly for the work that I do
relative to others within this organisation
I am happy with the pay and
benefits I receive in this job
3.5 4 4.5
Council - All

Best Councils Fair Deal vs. All Mid
Companies
Fair Deal by Question
I feel I receive fair pay for the
responsibilities I have in my job
(-14%)
I am paid fairly for the work I do relative to
people in similar positions in similar councils
I am paid fairly for the work that I do
relative to others within this organisation (-12%)
I am happy with the pay and
benefits I receive in this job
(-14%)
3.5 4 4.5 5
All Mid Companies Council - All

Understanding Employee
Engagement – “Barriers” to focus
on
• Leadership
• Fair Deal

Overcoming the barriers?
Shifting emphasis towards a new „psychological
contract‟ - a new set of expectations from employer
and employees
A more personalised set of flexible benefits focused
on local needs and circumstances
A focus on „rewarding‟ high performance and tackling
poor performance
Improving communication is at the heart of effective
employee engagement

Leadership
• Reality needs to meet rhetoric – CEO/CX
as champion of communication and the
champion communicator
• People need to feel they belong – clear vision
and be visible with it
• CEO as “icon”
• People judge CEO on actions not words -
behaviour breeds behaviour

Fair Deal? – the LG „EVP‟
• “a pivotal moment” for re-conceiving and re-
negotiating the employment deal in local
government.
• PPMA, LGA with Edinburgh Napier University
and Martin Redding Associates undertook
research into the state of the employment deal
(also known as the Employment Value
Proposition or „EVP‟) in four local authorities,
chosen for their geographical spread, type and
size of authority.

The ‘Deal’
Economic and Social Exchange
Employer ‘INDUCEMENTS’ ‘CONTRIBUTIONS’ Employee
Relationship Quality
© Prof Helen Francis and Dr Martin Reddington

What have we learnt from EVP
Research?
• The current deal is perceived to be imbalanced
in favour of the employer
• The ability of people to deliver on their
commitment to local communities is being
undermined and this is creating tensions in the
deal.
• The deal needs to encompass both economic
and non-economic factors, recognising that a
supportive work climate is critical to
organisational effectiveness

What have we learnt from EVP
Research?
• The focus should be on the quality of
conversational practice at all levels in the
organisation, recognising the critical importance
of conversations between managers and their
direct teams. This highlights the importance of
equipping managers and their staff with the
necessary skills.
• Address key organisational tensions, such as
achieving ‘more-with-less’ and ‘job creep’
(growing employer expectations of greater
discretionary effort on the part of employees)

Most Valued aspects of the deal
Support :
Shared Social Responsibility and colleagues/team/manager
organisational purpose ‘
© Prof Helen Francis and Dr Martin Reddington

Engagement
“51% of my team are facing a pay reduction
along with significant changes to other terms
and conditions. They feel under-valued and
although many still enjoy the work there is a
potential loss of trust and they feel less
inclined to go the extra mile. However, this
has not yet materialised with many still
working above and beyond what is expected
of them.”
© Prof Helen Francis and Dr Martin Reddington

Most valued aspects of the deal
Social responsibility = dominant theme
‘Helping my community’
‘Trying to make the borough a better place for
residents’
‘Despite my pay and conditions being constantly eroded
by savings, I still take professional pride in what I do’.
Social support/teamwork are also vital
‘sense of team working........ my colleagues’
‘I work within a very strong & supportive team’
© Prof Helen Francis and Dr Martin Reddington

Biggest tensions
Doing more with less
Suppression of negative issues
Lack of Support
© Prof Helen Francis and Dr Martin Reddington

Biggest tension (linked themes)
 Doing more with less = dominant theme
‘Lack of capacity in the team to deliver’
‘Competing for precious time to deliver service’
 Perceived lack of support from managers
...’senior management having a complete lack of
interest or concern about how pay cuts’...
‘no real understanding from higher management of
what individuals and teams actually do & what their
resource needs are’
© Prof Helen Francis and Dr Martin Reddington

Biggest tension (linked themes)
 Culture of not discussing ‘negative issues’
‘At Team Meetings issues are discussed, although I feel
due to pressure from management to not be
'negative‘, these issues are never passed on. I
genuinely feel our direct team leader is scared to
mention anything to management although these
issues being dealt with would effectively improve the
service provided’.
© Prof Helen Francis and Dr Martin Reddington

Overall Observations?
• Language of EE and the nature and
context – translating the messages is
always „work in progress‟
• Evidence base for leadership is timely and
very welcome!
• Communication “quality of conversational
practice” is key
• Don‟t allow “context” to create a
perception that EE is no longer relevant

Thanks for listening!

Agenda & Speakers
• Introduction – Cathy Brown, Engage for Success Practitioner Group
• The Barriers to Engagement – Nigel Carruthers, Senior Advisor, Policy and Strategy -
Workforce
Local Government Association
• Engage for Success Research – Bob Hughes, Engage for Success Guru Group
• Panel Q&A, including David Macleod and Nita Clarke
The Engage for Success Masterclass series is made possible by BT
Masterclass April 2013

A replay will be available at
www.engageforsuccess.org
Follow us on Twitter at @Engage4Success