Neglecting your people can hurt your profits

These findings come from research done in 2008 on 50 global companies by Towers Watson, a leading professional services company with headquarters in New York. They found that companies with highly engaged employees had a 19% increase in operating income over a 12-month period, while companies with low levels of engagement experienced a 32% drop. Statistics such as these are the driving force behind Mindset Management's Flow@Work programme which aims to help medium and large businesses increase their competitiveness and improve their bottom-line results by enabling the best in their workforce.

"Disengaged employees who have 'checked out' mentally and emotionally at work are the main reason why companies struggle to improve their productivity or their customer service levels" says Dr Crystal Hoole, leading industrial psychologist and associate at Mindset Management Programs. "Employees are the ones who assemble the products, provide the services and interact with the customers. Their loyalty and commitment to the company will determine how much effort they put into their jobs, how creative they are at finding solutions to problems, and how much initiative they take - all of which has a direct impact on productivity and customer loyalty. Happy and fulfilled employees take care of customers and go the extra mile to deliver a superior product or service."

The good news is that improving engagement does not require the total reengineering of the organisation or a major investment in sophisticated new systems. "Employees in general actually want to be productive and want to progress and learn new skills", says Johan Poolman, CEO at Mindset Management Programs. "All that is required to increase levels of engagement in the workforce is to create a meaningful work environment where the workers feel included and cared for and where they get to enjoy doing their best."

Mindset Management's Flow@Work programme can assist with the creation of such a meaningful work environment. The programme combines the strengths approach with employee engagement and flow in a high-impact intervention which helps companies to create work environments where their employees are optimally productive and customer oriented. The principles of the Flow@Work programme can be successfully implemented by virtually anyone who has the courage to make some adjustments to their management approach and workplace practices.

About Mindset Management Programs: Mindset Management Programs, founded in 2005, works with companies to create and sustain work environments that are conducive to employee engagement and flow, and where employees get the opportunity to use their strengths.

For more information please visit www.mindsetmanage.com.