WHY MANAGEMENT CONSULTING FIRMS STRUGGLE WITH EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND HOW WE WANT TO CHANGE IT
A LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDER, HARPREET SINGH
I think about my employees all the time. Not always for what the work they need to deliver, but by asking myself questions on how they are actually doing.
“What makes you happy?”
“Do you love what you do?”
“How can I make life easier for you?”
Between a constant stream of meetings, calls, and work engagements I often don’t have the time to ask them these questions enough.
This got me thinking.
The act of maintaining employee engagement is an industry wide problem.
Management Consulting firms like EPS are built on a business model where the majority of employees work remotely 100% of the time; satisfying a diversity of needs across an array of different industries.
A culture of disengagement is innate within a consulting businesses core structure. Employees of such firms are expected to adhere to the values and schedule of the client they have been assigned to. Separated by geographic location and field of work, these employees inevitably adopt the processes company the organization they are surrounded by on a day-to-day basis.
With all this in mind, I asked myself the next question; what makes people stay at an organization?
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
First, I looked to the top performing company in the world, one that everyone would love to work for. Google.
To date, it has 70 offices in more than 40 countries around the globe. Each office prides itself on having a unique artistic flair while guaranteeing a fun, comfortable environment; complete with state of the art recreation facilities, full-time chefs and other work perks.
While EPS is entirely different from Google, I saw one important feature.
70 offices. 40 Countries.
A multitude of employees separated by geography working with a diversity of different skill sets, backgrounds, cultures all under one corporate brand – How did Google do it? How can EPS excel at employee engagement when geographical separation is so apparent?
My first solution was having understanding for each employees work process.
My partner Mark Oleniuk and I founded EPS five years ago; coming from other management-consulting firms, we were disenchanted by the lack of engagement from our employers and sought a new way to do business.
By thinking like our employees, we hope to better understand their needs and wants.
Employee engagement isn’t a sometimes initiative; I believe management level personnel at consulting firms must reassess their schedules; Making a conscious decision to allot time to focus on engaging employees; a phone call, a team event, a volunteering opportunity with the team should be ongoing, not just a couple times per year.
This brings me to my next dilemma.
What if both parties, employee and employer, don’t have time for this kind of engagement on a regular basis against their regular work schedule?
Employees get used to a certain way of doing things; they adapt to client they work for.
People generally don’t like change. It’s a fact.
Forcing employees to take time to adapt our EPS culture and initiatives isn’t necessarily fair either.
So, how can we get our employees to engage without wasting their personal time?
Here are two key solutions to boosting employee engagement that we hope to employ at EPS:
1. GIVING ENERGY
A goal of mine is to infuse my employees with energy – not extract it.
A Harvard Business Review study on how to influence people showcased this compelling finding –
The time spent thinking about a choice is highly correlated with the amount of energy consumed by the brain. By minimizing the amount of tough choices our employees have to decide, we not only makes life easier, it also increases their productivity.
One choice we guarantee to make simpler for EPS employees is job security. In an uncertain job market, we do the exact opposite of extorting our employee’s time. By consistently utilizing the EPS client network for new project opportunities, we can place our long-time employees in new roles – saving them the hassle and stress of finding a new job when a job contract ends.
2. BEING INNOVATIVE
“Innovating means paying attention and responding to trends in your industry, or applying what’s working in other industries to your own business.” – The Globe and Mail
Management Consulting faces the ongoing dilemma of poor employee engagement.
How can we learn from the outside forces to be better?
Technology
The tech world is constantly finding new ways to better connect people. Harnessing the power of such platforms to engage our employees that are separated by time and space is a viable solution.
Engagement shouldn’t always be about work either. What motivates people? What do they find interesting? If employees feel satisfied at a personal level by their employers, they will feel more engaged at a professional level.
Human, an activity tracker assess the number of steps and movements a person takes on a day-to -ay basis and compares it to their peers. EPS is currently pilot testing this application to boost physical activity and healthy competitions amongst workers.
By taking a personal, non-work related approach, EPS hopes to find a point of mutual benefit. Opening the lines of communication for non-work related interests builds trust for future initiatives. The employee who demonstrates the most physical activity will be rewarded on a monthly basis while also motivating the entire team to become involved.
We know that employee engagement takes a lot more than endorsing an app. By staying up to date with new technologies, combined in with out of the box thinking, EPS hopes to change the way employees engage with consulting firm employers.
Unlike other work process that can be streamlined, the business of people doesn’t happen over night. Employee engagement is an ongoing initiative. Trying new things, modifying processes and learning from mistakes is all a part of making EPS a success.
By always striving, EPS hopes to add to our employee and client roster.
