The seismic shift to remote work left businesses scrambling to adapt to a new agile way of working. Moving to an online set-up also meant that leaders needed to find new ways to connect and engage with employees, in order to strengthen workplace culture and drive productivity.
As HR professionals and people managers know, fostering employee engagement involves strategic and continued communication that builds belief, respect, and trust within the organization. Beyond creating good team rapport, this also has a proven positive impact on the company’s bottom line. At the end of the day, employees are the most important assets of a company.
This was the most important takeaway from the first session of Globe Business’ “Malasakit sa Manggagawa”, an online kapihan series exclusive for its MSME clients.
“We developed these learning sessions as a venue to share best practices and actionable insights intended to empower HR leaders and people managers to address people and business challenges they face every day,” said Jojit Lañas, Globe Business Sales Cluster Head for Visayas and Mindanao.
Strong employee engagement begins with effective leadership
Mark So, the founder and CEO of Businessmaker Academy and HR Club Philippines, couldn’t emphasize enough the role that leaders play in keeping their workforce engaged.
“Business leaders who build trust and integrity by keeping an open line of communication with their staff, involving employees in important decision-making processes, and giving personnel encouragement to boost confidence, succeed in keeping the workforce more productive and engaged,” said So.
He also emphasized that operating with empathy and showing the employees a clear forward path to growth will have more productive and happier workers who will adapt to changes with ease and less resistance.
Extending “malasakit” and implementing technological innovations enables better employee experience
Sharing some of Globe’s successful initiatives that helped keep their employees connected and productive during the pandemic, Vicky Marquez of Globe’s Wonderful Employee Experience Team gave three powerful and doable tips to help HR teams craft creative ideas to keep employment engagement dynamic in their companies:
- Think win-win. Before looking at rewards or punishments, let us look at how we can create a frictionless experience for both employees and partners.
- Always remember to be human. We must find ways to continuously shape the culture of our companies by being humans first. More than technology, ‘malasakit’ begins with genuine care and delivery from the end of management.
- Ask your employees “Kumusta Ka?”, this simple gesture builds trust between two individuals, creating an encouraging environment where employees will feel loved and cared for.
“Applying all these, Globe has been able to come up with innovative ways to empower and engage our employees even as they work remotely,” she said.
Meanwhile, to keep track of its 8,000 employees nationwide and ensure their welfare as the pandemic raged, Globe also launched its COVID-19 disaster response chatbot named DUDE (Digital Usher for Disasters and Emergencies), that helps keep every employee safe by providing accurate information, safety tips, regular health check-ins and support hotlines.
DUDE was a huge success as it became a friendly and comforting fixture in the life of Globe employees during the pandemic.
“More than fancy technology, malasakit begins with genuine care and delivery at the end of the management,” added Marquez. “At Globe, we believe in the ‘circle of happiness’ where engaged employees lead to delighted customers, and satisfied shareholders,” she said.
Globe Business is one with SMEs in taking care of an organization’s greatest assets, their people. To know about the next “Malasakit sa Manggagawa” session and the selection of HR tools you can utilize for your company, get in touch with your Globe Business account manager or visit glbe.co/malasakit