The Prime
Minister today gave his backing to a new independent Employee
Engagement Task Force during a launch event at 10 Downing Street.
Members of the Government sponsored, industry led Task Force -
including the chair, David MacLeod, deputy chair, Nita Clarke and
other leading professionals from the public and private sector -
joined the Prime Minister and Business Minister Edward Davey for a
breakfast roundtable discussion.
The Task Force will ensure that a range of practical
opportunities are made available for organisations wanting to
learn about engagement. It will share good practice, generate
debate and offer support via a new website. It will build on the
report ‘Engaging for Success’, which David MacLeod and Nita Clarke
produced in 2009 for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
At the launch of the Task Force, Prime Minister David Cameron
said:
“This taskforce has my full support because I know that it will
work to bring together two of my government's top
priorities – delivering sustainable growth across the UK, and
coming up with new approaches to help people improve their
wellbeing.
“I think the public and private sectors can learn a lot from each
other. This initiative fits well with our agenda of devolved power
and authority and shows how effective companies can be when they
feel empowered. I am delighted that the Employment Engagement
Taskforce has come together to develop practical ways to help all
employers learn from the best, to break down barriers to
engagement and to raise the profile of this whole agenda.”
Employment Relations Minister Edward Davey said:
“Workers know better than anyone how the firm they work for can
grow, innovate and succeed. For any business or organisation a
committed and involved workforce that are all pulling in the same
direction is essential.
This isn't just about ending "them and
us" attitudes. It's about a better way to work.
Employee engagement is essentially about growth, so it's
right the private sector should lead this taskforce.”
Chair of the Employment Engagement Task Force David MacLeod said:
“If employee engagement and the principles that lie behind it
were more widely understood and shared we could see a step change
in productivity and performance across the UK, and a rise in
levels of employee wellbeing and motivation. Engaged employees
will be key to growth in the private sector and ‘better for less’
in the public sector.”
Vice Chair Nita Clarke said:
“People are at the heart of success for companies and
organisations, so whether or not the workforce is positively
encouraged to perform at its best should be a key consideration
for every leader and manager, and should be placed at the heart of
business strategy. Where this happens the results are
transformational. Spreading this message widely will be the key
task of this new employer led task force.”
The Task Force will collaborate with leading academics, think
tanks and leading practitioners. It will report back next year on
the strategies it recommends that organisations should adopt to
promote best practice and learning.
The Task Force will also tackle key issues identified in the
MacLeod Review such as the barriers to wider adoption of
engagement, how to harness engagement for innovation and how to
maintain morale through difficult challenges such as downsizing.
The remaining members will be confirmed when the Task Force next
meets in April.
Notes to editors:
1. Pictures of the launch event will be available from http://www.flickr.com/photos/bisgovuk
2. Members of Task Force include –
Alex Lewis - BAE, HR Director
Alex Wilson – BT, Group HR
Director
Andrew Moys – JLP, Director of
Communications
Angie Risley Lloyds - Group HR
Director
Dame Carol Black – Wellbeing National Director for
Health and Work
Doug Mclldowie – GKN, Group HR
Director
Geoff Lloyd- Serco Group, HR Director
Jacki
Connor - Sainsbury's, Director of Customer
Service
James Chalmers – PWC, Head of Strategy &
Talent
John Taylor- ACAS, Chief Executive
Jonathan Austin
- Best Companies, CEO and Founder
Katja Hall – CBI, Chief
Policy Director
Kevin Goodman – Babcock, Group Director
OD
Louise Beardmore - United Utilities, Head of Engagement,
Leadership & Learning
Louise Smalley – Whitbread,
Group HR Director
Mervyn Thomas – DfT, Whitehall Engagement
& Head of HR
Mike Cherry - FSB, Policy
Chairman
Peter Thomas - Institute for Government Director,
Transforming Whitehall
Richard Baker - Virgin & VC,
Chairman Virgin Active
Russell Grossman – BIS, Director of
Communications
Sue Round - British Gas, Director of
L&D
Sarah Veale- TUC, Head, Equality and Employment
Rights
Sir Eric Peacock - SME Sector
Stephen Dando -
Thomson Reuters, EVP & Chief HR Officer
Stephen Lehane
– Boots Group, HR Director & Corporate Affairs
Director
Tanith Dodge - Marks & Spencer, HR
Director
Veronica Hope-Hailey - CASS Business School, Professor
3. Details about the website will be announced shortly.
4. Further information on the MacLeod Review can be found here -
http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/employment-matters/strategies/employee-engagement
5. David MacLeod has a portfolio of responsibilities which
include being an NED of the Ministry of Justice, and a Visiting
Professor of Cass Business School. He is a fellow of the Institute
of Marketing, CIPD and Ashridge Business School. Previously he
worked in consumer marketing and general management, and was
latterly a CEO . He has worked in manufacturing, the services and
for two years in the Cabinet Office. David MacLeod has co-authored
the extra mile; how to engage your people to win.
6. Nita Clarke is Director of the Involvement &
Participation Association. She was a former senior official with
the trade union UNISON and an adviser to Prime Minister Tony
Blair. Nita is also a member of the Task Force set up by the
Cabinet Office to encourage the spread of mutuals in public
service delivery.
7. BIS's online newsroom contains the latest press
notices, speeches, as well as video and images for download. It
also features an up to date list of BIS press office contacts. See
http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom for more information.
Contacts:
BIS Press Office
NDS.BIS@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Joe Upton
Phone: 020 7215 5959
Joe.Upton@bis.gsi.gov.uk