Many companies have acknowledged how key the engagement of their employees is to the success of their businesses. Employee engagement has emerged as a critical driver of growth in today’s competitive marketplace. It is a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, and are able at the same time to enhance their own sense of well-being.

Gallup survey last year found that 87 percent of workers worldwide are either not engaged or are actively disengaged in their jobs. The American research-based, global performance management consulting company, describes engaged employees as being psychologically committed to a job, and likely to be making positive contributions to an organization. Vice President of Human Resources at leading logistics company, DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, shares the same view. According to her, effective employee engagement policies and management can drive innovation, productivity and bottom-line performance, and should be utilised to counter adverse market conditions.

DHL recently won the Overseas Project of the Year award at the UK Employee Engagement awards, which recognizes businesses outside of the UK that strive to do things differently and put their workforce at the heart of their operation. Tseladimitlwa explains that having motivated employees as a key focus pillar of the DHL Express global strategy has contributed to the recognition.

“Understanding the need to drive a common culture across 220 countries, we launched a Certified International Specialists learning and development program for all 3,500 staff in Africa,” DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa’s VP of Human Resources explains.

She noted that everyone employed by the logistics company has partaken in the training program, which has reinforced the company’s core competencies as an organization. “We also run a number of internal initiatives such as Employee Appreciation Weeks, Employee of the Quarter and Employee of the Year awards as well a yearly Employee Opinion Survey which is managed by a third party in the spirit of anonymity, and employees are asked to give feedback on all areas which impact their satisfaction and engagement levels.”

The efforts of the company in improving employee engagement is evident in its score, which went up from 57 percent in 2009 to 80 percent in 2014. “It’s true that what gets measured gets done,” says  Tseladimitlwa.

“We also have an internal development program called Made In Africa, that produces a sustainable and dynamic list of future leaders that can succeed Africa Management Board positions, Country Management positions and senior functional roles. The program reduces the historical dependency on expatriate imports and improves skills of the talent pool.”

As further testament to its attention to employee engagement, DHL was recently named Top Employer 2015 in Africa by the Top Employers Institute. Its subsidiaries in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Ghana were also certified Top Employers in their local markets.

“Employees should be encouraged to grow – both personally and professionally, and should be continuously motivated to broaden their horizons and fulfill their potential via a wide and varied range of learning and development opportunities,” Tseladimitlwa says. “These should be defined by the business and evaluated at regular intervals. Employee engagement should also be weaved into the performance criteria expected of managers, as this tends to present the most benefits.”

She expressed the belief of a huge presence of talent in Africa. The Vice President HR at DHL therefore stressed the need for the continuous development of employees’ talent and levels of engagement.

“If developed and managed correctly, these engagement levels can result in employees offering exceptional service to clients,” she adds.

 

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