Employee engagement key to business success – BCCI president

Companies are being urged to keep their workforce engaged as one of the strategies to grow operations and remain competitive.

“A strategy less spoken of that is of significant importance is having the support of an engaged workforce,” said President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Anthony Branker as he addressed the BCCI’s first business luncheon of 2023 at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Monday, under the theme The Role of Partnerships in Stimulating Sustainable Economic Development.

He argued that in order to boost economic development, employers must create an engaged workforce, insisting that “this will only be achieved by very deliberate action on the part of employers”.

“As businesspersons, we all would agree that this current working environment demands more efficiency and productivity, especially if we are seeking to expand our exports. We are all striving to increase our performance. The battle is on to keep ahead of competitors and to maintain one’s competitive advantage,” Branker said.

As such, he said it was critical for business leaders to change their management style “so that we can create a Barbadian workforce that buys into us being the best that we can be”.

“This is needed across all sectors. We need to enhance our competitiveness and aim to deliver service excellence. We can achieve this. Let the journey to a new business environment begin with us,” the BCCI president said.

Branker noted that as technology continued to evolve, businesses would need more employees with increased technical and professional skills.

He said such workers cannot be managed with “old styles of totalitarian management”.

“They expect operational autonomy, job satisfaction and status. So, business leaders and managers must now focus on how to keep such employees engaged . . . . Engagement is about passion and commitment, the willingness to invest oneself and expand one’s discretionary effort to help the employer succeed,” he said.

“Right across Barbados, in both the public and private sector, we must urgently realise that by focusing on employee engagement we can create a more efficient and productive workforce, thereby increasing our competitiveness. Engaged employees are emotionally attached to their organisation and highly involved in their job with great enthusiasm and for the success of their employer, going the extra mile beyond their contractual agreement.”

Branker contended that employee engagement was “a strong predictor of positive organisational performance”, pointing out that entities with engaged employees tend to have higher employee retention, higher productivity, profitability, growth and customer satisfaction.

“On the other hand, companies with disengaged employees suffer from waste of effort and resources, they face increased absenteeism and have less customer focus, less productivity and, hence, reduced profit margins,” he said.

(MM)