What motivates you at work?

LGA's Employee Engagement research into what motivates people and improves performance at work. 

Nigel Carruthers, Senior Advisor, LGA
Councils have a  workforce of some 
1.5 million strong, covering over 800
distinct occupations with a pay bill of around £22 billion a year Since 2012, the LGA have worked with local authorities, NHS trusts and healthcare providers to measure workforce performance by looking at the quality of the employment relationship, which is expressed as an exchange of contributions - a dynamic and social exchange process between employer and employee - what we call the 'deal'.  

## Employee Engagement - A Lg Journey

- Employee Attitude Surveys - 76% (2006) in 55% EE Survey (2018) - Best Council to Work For (2007-2009) - Thank Goodness its Monday! https://youtu.be/_9-9A3uM-Yw (2010) - Top Ten Test - for CEOs/Boards 2010
- Engage For Success - Evidence / case studies (2010-2012) - Employee Value Proposition 2012-2016
- TEDD - The Employment Deal Diagnostic 2016…
Reduced sickness - Engaged employees in the UK take an average of 2.69 sick days per year; the disengaged take 6.19. Average in LG is 8.8 days, 40% sickness is long term and a third of all sickness relates to stress and mental health. Improved customer service - 70% of engaged employees indicate they have a good understanding of how to meet customer needs; only 17% of non-engaged employees say the same. Retention - Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave the organisation than the disengaged. The cost of high turnover among disengaged employees is significant; some estimates put the cost of replacing each employee at equal to annual salary. There is a 13.4% turnover rate in LG. 1 in 10 councils currently has a recruitment freeze and there is a 9.7% vacancy rate.

Advocacy - 78% of engaged employees would recommend their organisation's services compared with 13% of the disengaged Better performance - Significant differences in financial performance of organisations with a highly-engaged workforce to their peers with a lessengaged workforce, over a 12 month period.

Highly Engaged Employees High Performance workplaces

What do you do to engage your team? 

Where's your evidence base that what you do improves performance? 

What would motivate you to do a better job? 

TEDD® is characterised as an exchange of  contributions between employer and employee  
the extent to which employees believe that the organisation values their contributions and wellbeing, and thus feel obliged to reciprocate.

is a fundamental defining feature of the relationship between an employee and employer. It can be used to understand the extent to which employees feel that their employer is fulfilling their promises and obligations such as terms and conditions, pay and, stimulating work.

## What We Know About Employee Engagement? Psychological Contract: Perceived Organisational Support :

- Trust in the 
- Supportive 
- Role Autonomy 
- Encouragement to use 
- Trust in the line 
- Feeling valued 

## What We Know About Employee Engagement? What Does "Trust In The Organisation" Look Like For You ?

For me personally, in comparison to my friends who work within the private sector, I have a better working life, I will have a pension later in life (hopefully), holidays, better protection within the council's policies and procedures.

Pay in not equal, rules for 1 and rules for another.  different departments appear to be able to have higher grades for similar roles.  
You are expected to perform duties far beyond your pay scale and get no thanks for it

## What We Know About Employee Engagement? What Does "Supportive Organisational Culture " Look Like For You?

The most enjoyable part of the role has been having direct access to the corporate director who has shown complete commitment to, and support for the new role. This has enabled me to gain confidence in my own ability to influence and make an impact in my role quickly. 

Lack of support when new procedures are implemented- managers seem to introduce new priorities without putting any support, training, and time in place for us. Mangers constantly 'reacting' rather than planning. 

## What We Know About Employee Engagement? Conversational Practice

Engagement and performance improved when employees were encouraged to speak openly about opportunities and constraints and given the opportunity to improve things. 

To achieve sustainable high performance, you need good quality conversational practices   

Negative impact (wellbeing, poor performance, low morale) occurred when
•
People are expected to do 
more with less
•
There is a tension between high quality service versus and the time available 
•
Personal objectives are out of 
sink with organisational objectives 
•
When job pressure was excessive 

## What We Know About Employee Engagement? What Do Conversations Focused On Performance Look Like For You?

We regularly have discussions about how to improve service delivery. He asks for my input and listens to it, and enables me to challenge the status quo.  Most recently this has resulted in improved business planning and a tasking process that allows us to use our resources more efficiently. Sometimes when suggestions are put forward … these are often ignored and pushed aside… In the long run, it affects the quality of service we are giving to our customers and eventually leads to poor performance and underachievement

## What We Know About Employee Engagement? Balance Of The Deal

Perceived organisational support were lowest for those with  >10 years service and for non-managers Overall the balance of the deal in local government favours the employer Job engagement, Skills and capability were high Organisational engagement (advocacy, loyalty, and a sense of value congruence with the organisation were low) 

## Re-Orientating Towards 21St Century Public Servant

Data from over approx. 20,000 employees re-orientated to show both statistical and free text links with 21st Century Public Servant themes:

## What Did We Find? Data And 21Cps

Municipal Engages citizens Recruits &
Builds fluid combines PS
rethinks PS to fluid and Distributed and Rooted in a reflected entrepreneur pooling rewards generic careers across ethos with survive at a supportive collaborative locality which practice /
expertise skills sectors and commerciality time of permaorganisations leadership frames a sense learning focus services austerity not siloed and of loyalty and controlling identity https://engageforsuccess.org/
Nigel.carruthers@local.gov.uk Senior Advisor, Workforce Team, Local Government Association 07766251641