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Organisations need to devise ways to enhance employee engagement to boost productivity and sustain profitability.
These were the unanimous views from experts in the Academia, Business and Human Resources at the fifth edition of the Work and Family conference 2018 organised by the Institute of Work and Family Integration, IWFI with the theme: ‘Humanistic management and employee experience.
In his welcome address, Charles Osezua, chairman, IWFI who was represented by Patrick Irahre said the aim of the conference is to look beyond our performance management system by examining the impact of policies and the environment on the people and next generation of workers.
‘‘With the continued economic recession in Nigeria, there is need for organisations to find creative ways to boost their businesses and keep their employees fully engaged and happy at work,’’ he said.
‘‘There has also been an increased recognition by organisations on the need to pay close attention to their employer experience in the work place and how it affects their productivity or lack of it.’’
Enase Okonedo, dean of Lagos Business School, who was represented by Chris Ogbeche said the theme of this conference is apt, in an environment that is fast losing human touch.
‘‘The marketing people have taught us, that when they invest in building and creating pleasant customer experience, they see significant improvement in the company’s performance,’’ said Ogbeche. ‘‘if we invest in enhancing experience, we will also benefit from the improvement in company performance.’’
According to Ogbeche, most present-day companies are looking at creating shared values for the company, employee and the society.
He said: ‘‘It’s no longer thinking of how we can maximize profit but how do we actualise profit by having employees that are fully engaged and have pleasant experience in working in the organisation but also by ensuring that social objectives of the company are also met.’’
In his lecture on ‘Virtuous leadership and Humanistic management’, Santiago Martinez, CEO/founding, providential Ltd, Helsinki, Finland stressed the need for employees to find happiness at work adding that it’s the responsibility of the employer to ensure that employees are happy.
‘‘Work obviously is an important part of our everyday lives. We usually dedicate about 30-40 percent of our lives to work. So, if we just look for happiness during the weekends, we are losing about 30-40 percent of our happiness,’’ Martinez said.
‘‘Everyone should aim at happiness and try to achieve happiness at work not only because a satisfied employee is more likely to be more efficient and effective, an employer has to strive to make the employees happy because they deserve it.
‘‘It’s a human right and an employer is responsible for the employees for many hours a week and that’s why it’s the moral obligation of employer.’’
Martinez also said practitioners need to develop their work places and environment that add values to society and pay a tribute to human dignity at work.
Speaking on the topic, ‘Employee experience and meaningfulness at work, Franca Ovadje, Founder, Dame Institute for Research said a great office experience for employees reflects on their productivity in the office.
‘‘If employees find meaning at work, they are happy and this joy overflows to their family and colleagues. So, we are making the organisations and also our family happier,’’ she said.
‘‘Let the organisation be where everyone can flourish which in turn would impact positively on the company.’’
Udom Inoyo, executive director, Exxon Mobil, chairman governing council who delivered a presentation on ‘Humanistic Management and employee experience: Impact of work and family’, commended the Institute for continually bringing to fore issues which in the past where either considered unimportant or unknown.
‘‘Work place has changed, just as the world has become increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous,’’ he said.
‘‘Sometimes, we run into issues that we think are peculiar to Nigeria. It’s not just Nigeria alone, that are global trends. The institute is providing us an opportunity for us to reflect on where we made mistakes and then take appropriate steps to correct them.’’
Chinwe Agbeze
