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Engaging for success: Enhancing performance through employee engagement<br />
Impressive service achievements also include the doubling of cardiac arrest<br />
survival to discharge, and the LAS is the only ambulance service to undertake<br />
region-wide direct admission for percutaneous coronary intervention 24/7.<br />
Fifty-six thousand fewer patients have been admitted to A&E over the last two<br />
years. There has also been a 30 per cent reduction in complaints.<br />
Case Study<br />
United Welsh<br />
United Welsh is a medium-sized housing association based in South Wales,<br />
which employs 130 people, has over 4,000 homes in management and a total<br />
annual turnover of £50 million. It has an excellent reputation for employee<br />
relations and was recognised as the fourth Best Workplace in the UK and the<br />
Top Not-for-Profit Workplace in the European Union in 2005 (Great Places to<br />
Work Institute in conjunction with the Financial Times).<br />
In 2001, the organisation recognised it needed to respond more quickly to change,<br />
specifically to move away from a command and control working culture to a<br />
learning and empowered culture.Working in partnership with its recognised trade<br />
union, Unison, UnitedWelsh introduced its People Engagement Model which has a<br />
people strategy and partnership working at its core. Staff at UnitedWelsh have the<br />
opportunity to be involved in the decision-making process, whilst recognising<br />
management’s responsibility to manage. In practice the majority of people are<br />
happy to be informed or consulted on issues that affect them, but the fact that they<br />
have the ability to influence decisions before they are made ensures that there is a<br />
real ‘buy-in’ and commitment to decisions made. Staff have been involved in<br />
decision-making on a wide range of issues including opening a regional office,<br />
departmental restructures and reviews of terms and conditions of employment.<br />
United Welsh would argue strongly that their approach to employee<br />
engagement through the pillars of a people strategy and partnership at work is<br />
at the heart of improvements in business performance. Tony Whittaker, Chief<br />
Executive, says: “In our experience, running the company in this<br />
way really motivates people. This in turn leads to improved services and satisfied<br />
customers, as well as increased profitability.” And this is borne out in their<br />
results:<br />
●● Rent unpaid as a percentage of rent roll decreased from 4.4 per cent in 2001<br />
to 1.5 per cent in 2007<br />
●● Rent loss (due to empty properties) as a percentage of rent roll decreased<br />
from 2.6 per cent in 2001 to 0.45 per cent in 2007<br />
●● sickness absence decreased from an average of 5 days in 2001 to 2 days in<br />
2006 and employee turnover has also gone down<br />
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