What would you say if we could improve productivity by 20% and increase retention by 25%? This is what is needed and it can be done.

Setting aside all the debate over Brexit, the harsh factsare that only 12.5% of employees are positively engaged in their work comparedto an average for the world’s leading organizations of 70%. At the same time,most businesses will accept that talent is being lost at a far faster speedthan they desire.

These issues need to be – and can be – changed with a moreactive approach towards human capital. There is little point followingmethodologies that have both struggled and failed over the last ten to twentyyears. The stats coming out from research really cannot be much worse than theyare, so the need to change the status quo and create a new dynamic. This is notabout increased cost, as the savings and increased income generation fromimprovements in productivity far outweigh cost implications which arerelatively minor. It is more about doing simple things very well and better. Itdoes need its own strategy and focus – and strategy that covers more areas thanjust HR. It need to cover how the company behaves and interacts with the widercommunity and world; how food plays a role in business: how anxiety, pressure andloneliness is managed, how skills and knowledge are developed, how effectiveinternal comms are, how AI is embraced and balanced with the human need, andhow leadership teams interact with their own people. Get the strategy right forall this and productivity will improve as well retention.

Of course there will be those that say that this alreadybeing done or that it is simple to implement – but of course it is not. Doingthe simple often requires greater understanding and thought than the morecomplex. So many L&D teams say that their strategies and yet boards allacross the country are asking – where are the next generation of leader comingfrom?

There is new psychology emerging with the new generationswhich is often at odds with the ways of previous eras. There needs to be aculture that embraces and brings together both. This needs to be understood.

Many are struggling with anxiety in work and this too needsa strategy as it is directly impacting on performance and result. An average35.6 days per year is being lost per employee through sickness andpresenteeism. This equates to 1.5 months.

It is time that we start developing real strategies thatcombat genuine, real problems and work to ensure that business cultures arestrong and support the process of delivering strong performance. It is surelylogical that:

• If we accept that only 12.5% of employees arepositively engaged that this needs to be improved to at least 50%.
• If 35.6 days are being lost, that this needs tobe reduced by at least 40%
• That is over 60% of people are struggling withanxiety which they believe affects their performance, that this too needs to becombated
• That is the average young talent will only staywith a company for between 1.8-2 years then this can only erode knowledge andconfidence – this too needs improving.

It can be done. The landscape can bechanged.

We have brought together a group of over 35industry experts that bring great insight and understanding into how this issuecan be combated.