SUSTAINABLE EMPLOYEES’ ENGAGEMENT
Interview with Paola Boromei
Chief Human Resources & Organization Officer of the 24 ORE Group. Previously, she was Chief People & Organization Officer at Snam, Human Resources & Organization Director at Humanitas, Human Resources Director for the Mediterranean Area at EY, and Deputy HR Director Europe at L'Oréal Luxe International.
As many studies show, focusing solely on performance improvement can undermine the overall economic viability of an organisation. How would you define sustainable/long-term engagement?
Building engagement within a company is a strategic goal that is typically achieved over the long term, through a combination of elements that strengthen the EMOTIONAL BOND with the company and improve people’s perception of FEELING GOOD.
I am particularly referring to policies and practices that aim to create a more motivating and rewarding work environment by involving employees and other stakeholders in SOCIAL SISTAINABILITY INITIATIVES. In practice, this means engaging people in giving back, corporate volunteering, eco-friendly and socially responsible practices, training, taking care of personal health and well-being, supplementary welfare, adherence to an ethical value system…
It’s about building TRUST, relationship systems based on PEOPLE’s VALUES and MUTUAL RECOGNITION in organisational practices (e.g., mixed work groups, inter-functional coaching…).
A challenging objective is also to align the quality of recruitment with strategic thinking, planning the future evolution of the SKILLS NEEDED for the business sustainability.
Sustainable engagement is therefore an integrated approach that aims to improve the quality of life of employees while contributing to a positive impact on society and communities.
Retention, organisational climate, the ability to attract talent and managing turnover are all key levers and indicators for measuring the return on engagement.
What are the key contextual factors driving the need to build sustainable engagement?
The Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly changed motivations and expectations around work, driven in part by new habits.
In just a few years, we have witnessed several extraordinary events that have disrupted work paradigms and had a significant impact on the economy: in addition to a pandemic affecting at least three continents, two new wars, active outbreaks in at least five epicentres, a sharp rise in inflation and interest rates, and increases in energy and raw material costs.
The legacy has been exponential, expressed primarily in a generalised sense of insecurity, heightened attention to health issues, and widespread frustration over having to sacrifice core values, manifested in the need to better balance professional and personal needs.
Responses has been possible thanks to the spread of agile working practices, increased focus on employee wellbeing, welfare and sustainability policies, and the pursuit of a corporate purpose.
At the same time, phenomena such as the ” GREAT RESIGNATION ” with peaks in short tenures (first 12 or 24 months), “GREAT REGRET” at what has been lost by changing jobs, and “QUIET QUITTING” in the general perception that people are working more than before, have emerged.
For companies, this combination of phenomena has meant managing many transitions at once: new ESG targets, new ways of working, financial rebalancing, new governance rules for listed companies, evolving regulatory frameworks, all with economic and social costs.
But crises and major breaks with the past also bring great opportunities.
In your vison, what management and organizational aspects emerge to motivate people within a team, in a long-term perspective?
Today, we are faced with a vision that is increasingly focused on the short term. However, in order to gain the trust of the markets through a broad equity story and to give meaning to people’s experiences, it is necessary to promote a long-term vision.
This means creating ambition, inspiration and trust.
The rules of engagement need to be redefined, with large-scale projects and greater involvement of people in decision making, especially for younger employees: a BROADER SHARED MISSION that impacts both the internal and external community.
How can corporate leadership play an effective role in pursuing sustainable engagement for people?
Leadership needs to embody the NEW VALUES that people identify with: empathy, the ability to drive change that creates value with a focus on the long-term sustainability of the business, and attention to people development…
What levers are available?
Over the last thirty years, people have been encouraged to develop their employability.
Initially, in the 2000s, this was driven by the need to compete for the best talent, with a focus on accelerating people’s development and creating a new engine for the labour market that exponentially increased the value of human capital within the national system. A kind of circular talent pool in a volatile market, with turnover rates among large global players in certain industries reaching up to 30% in a single year.
In the following decade, in an even more volatile context due to the global financial crisis – one of the worst economic crises since the Great Depression of 1929 – companies relied on performance appraisal mechanisms to identify key individuals through a Gaussian distribution. This system required making decisions and letting go of large numbers of employees with a low return on investment.
This led to a “marketisation” of people and skills.
The concept of employability can be summarised as follows: “You, the employee, are trained to your highest level of competence, but if the company doesn’t guarantee you a career, you leave because you know you have an opportunity in the market.
A question to ask today is whether we are building a COLLECTIVE IDENTITY or whether people are in the company primarily to pursue their own personal employability.
The great transitions in work require the courage to break away from ‘this is how it’s always been done’ and to have a clear vision of the end goal from the outset.
HR is a strategic partner in the many transitions we are facing: industrial models, professional skills, organisation, multi-generational teams.
The context is constantly evolving and knowing how to communicate with people shortens distances and builds trust. People need predictability and security to mitigate external uncertainty. Even if the business objective is to rationalise through efficiency plans to ‘clean house’, this needs to be clearly communicated to people.
But if you aim to the heart, you need to make investments and allocate resources, accepting a degree of slack or redundancy. If you aim for the heart, especially with younger people, you need to invest in skills development, projects, technology, knowledge transfer and ensure communication with leadership.
Technology is a great enabler, but it needs to be accompanied.
And change starts when things are going well.
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