Unlocking engagement: Review of the 'Innovative Workplaces' Initiative

2011 – Het Innovative Workplaces Project (IWP) had als doel om wetenschappelijke ondersteuning te geven aan zo’n tien bedrijven in de regio East Midlands (Verenigd Koninkrijk) die probeerden de arbeidssituatie te veranderen en de betrokkenheid van de werknemers te verhogen als middelen om de prestaties van de organisatie te verbeteren.

Aanpak

Het IWP was in een aantal opzichten innovatief. Het zette aan tot:

• organisatieverandering,
• focussen op de arbeidsplaats of de arbeidssituatie,
• maatwerk in de ondersteuning van de organisatie,
• ontwikkelen van management- en leiderschapsvaardigheden op een praktische manier, niet op een theoretische
• het opleveren van een integrale evaluatie van de impact van IWP.

Elke deelnemende organisatie benoemde twee vertegenwoordigers (gate keepers) die de katalysatoren voor blijvende organisatieverandering konden zijn. Het IWP begon met een drie dagen durende training van deze gate keepers. Zij trainden management- en leiderschapsvaardigheden, ontwikkelden hun plan van aanpak en begonnen met de acties die daaruit voortvloeiden. Elke deelnemende organisatie had een eigen ACAS adviseur (ACAS is het bureau dat de projectleiding had en de uitvoering verzorgde).

De gate keepers hadden een maandelijkse netwerkbijeenkomst die werd gefaciliteerd door UKWON (The United Kingdom Work Organisation Network) waarop zij van elkaar konden leren (‘action learning’).

Enkele concrete maatregelen worden genoemd: de oprichting van een werknemers- forum in diverse bedrijven, het invoeren van ideeënmanagement en het leggen van beslissingsbevoegdheden lager in de organisatie.

Resultaten

De acht overgebleven organisaties rapporteerden dat er meer was veranderd in de arbeidsverhoudingen dan zij aanvankelijk hadden voorzien: de betrokkenheid van medewerkers was gestegen,  het moreel klimaat verbeterd, er was meer communicatie tussen management en medewerkers of staf en meer onderling vertrouwen, de flexibiliteit van het personeel was verbeterd en de veranderbereidheid verhoogd. Door het verhogen van de betrokkenheid van de medewerkers en het leggen van de beslissingsbevoegdheid voor veel zaken laag in de organisatie, hebben managers tijd gewonnen die ze voor belangrijker zaken  kunnen gebruiken (dan voor discipline handhaven of klachten behandelen, bijvoorbeeld).

De economische resultaten werden niet precies gemeten (en mede negatief beïnvloed door de economische recessie) maar de deelnemers uit de profitsector rapporteerden wel verhoging van productiviteit en werkgelegenheid. Ook schat men dat de return on investment’ (investering in IWP) één op vier was.

De deelnemers menen dat de resultaten nog beter zouden zijn geweest als bij het begin commitment van het senior management was verkregen en vastgelegd.

De diversiteit in deelnemende organisaties had als voordeel dat men kon leren van elkaars frisse blik; maar de meesten hadden toch nog liever (ook) een mentor uit de eigen sector gehad.

Verwijzing: Harris, L., Tuckman, A., Watling, D., Downes, B. (2011) Unlocking Engagement: Review of the ‘Innovative Workplaces’ Initiative. Nottingham: ACAS

Thema’s: Arbeidsverhoudingen, Dynamisch management & Leiderschap, Innovatieve werkplekken, Internationaal, MKB.

Bron: onderzoeksrapport

2011 – The overall purpose of the Innovative Workplaces project (IWP), the subject of this evaluation report, was to offer ‘in depth’ support to some ten diverse organisations in the East Midlands region who were seeking to change workplace practices and increase employee engagement as a means of improving organisational performance. This project, funded by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) in 2009/10, was managed and delivered by Acas in East Midlands. The United Kingdom Work Organisation Network (UKWON) was the delivery partner on the project and the Nottingham Trent University Business School (NTU) was responsible for its evaluation.

The IWP approach

The IWP was innovative in a number of respects. It set out to:

• stimulate organisational change,
• be workplace focused,
• provide customised organisational support,
• develop management and leadership skills through a practical, rather than

a theoretical approach,

• provide an integrated evaluation of the impact of this pilot initiative.

The IWP offered direct support to two nominated representatives (referred to as

gatekeepers) from each of the ten participating organisations. The underpinning rationale was that a handful of key individuals could successfully be the catalyst for sustainable organisational change. The IWP began with the gatekeepers undertaking a three and half day course to develop their management and leadership skills, devise their action plans and begin to establish the interactions necessary for successful action learning. An Acas facilitator (and a back up facilitator) was linked to each organisation and they helped the gatekeepers draw up their action plans. Full day monthly participant network meetings facilitated by UKWON incorporated action learning sets in which the participants were invited to both support and challenge one another when devising and implementing their action plans.

Mechanisms for improving employee voice ranged from the establishment of a workplace employee forum, to a steering group with employee representatives with reporting task groups and/or employee focus groups facilitated by Acas. The IWP had resulted in seven out of eight organisations putting in place mechanisms to promote and capture new ideas.

Results

All the participating organisations reported that the IWP had led, not only to the achievement of some of the workplace changes sought in their initial plans, butalso to improvements in the wider employee relations climate: improving levels of employee engagement, morale, communications between management and employees or staff in different functional areas, workforce flexibility and the implementation of change.

Improved communication was identified by respondents from all the participating organisations as the ‘single most important change’.

Managers in half of the participating organisations reported that one outcome of their involvement in the IWP was that issues formerly referred directly to them were now being resolved at a lower level in the management chain or by employees themselves. This was identified by respondents as saving

management time with consequent improvements in efficiency and productivity.

The economic impact assessment of the IWP reported an overall minimum return on investment of £4 for every £1. Participating organisations attributed proportions of improvements in staff productivity and present and future employment growth directly to the IWP. The economic impacts quoted can be thought of as cautious estimates, due to the fact that it was not possible to fully measure all benefits.

From the perspective of the facilitators themselves, it was unanimously identified that having terms of reference agreed with senior management in place at the outset would have enabled more rapid progress against the action plans. A feature of the IWP was that it had intentionally included a diverse range of organisations. From the perspective of the participants this diversity had the advantage of offering new perspectives. One suggestion from gatekeepers at a couple of the participating organisations however was that having access to a mentor from a similar industry or sector would be a valuable addition to the interventions offered by the project.

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