Jennifer Griffiths, Circle IT Head of Human Resources tells us why investing in employees is a win-win
Gone are the days where the business world often struggled to understand employee engagement, what it is and how it affects businesses and their profitability. For many years employee engagement was about sending out staff surveys, that involved merely a tick in the box, and exit surveys that meant issues were found out too late, but not now.
At Circle IT we have always sought to continuously engage with colleagues but the decision to partner with Peakon has taken it to the next level. It has ensured we can accurately measure and optimise employee engagement.
The software combines data science with organisational psychology and behaviour that elevates our people management. Peakon has estimated that highly engaged employees have 37% fewer sick days, 30% higher productivity and that every 1% increase in engagement leads to a 0.6% increase in revenues and 58% lower churn cost. With these stats and the fact that they’re delivering for some of the world’s biggest brands, including BMW and CapGemini, we are hugely excited about the future of employee engagement at Circle IT.
In years gone past we would run employee surveys, which would have been time consuming to analyse but had the adverse effect as our teams would be taken away from driving improvements that came from the results. This move and investment in Peakon has the full backing of the Board and is just one of the latest initiatives in focussing on our 80 staff, whilst improving employee experience and, ultimately, driving business improvement.
The HR team has recently undergone a rebrand and is now known as The People Team – taking the focus of people being ‘resources’ to that of being valued and treated as an individual person. We want to create the very best environment for everyone in the company, so that they can thrive, be happy and deliver.
Using Peakon we can frequently able to engage with them in an enjoyable way and without burdening their time. We understand that everyone is busy, and this software asks the right questions at times that are right to give managers feedback and insight.
The results so far have been great. Real-time data is enabling managers to take preventative approaches to people management, rather than reactive ones. It’s such a positive step from undertaking regular performance reviews – we can now understand, in a simple way, what motivates employees and what are common issues they are facing. It also allows our managers to respond to colleagues so that they know their voices are being heard.
At Circle IT we want to understand our employees, what makes them tick so that we can retain staff for business benefit. So far, alongside our various other People programmes,
Peakon is delivering huge benefits and ones that we are hugely excited about.
For more information on careers at Circle IT please visit circleit.co.uk/careers/
