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Annexes
Ninety-nine per cent of companies in the region are SMEs who employ 60 per cent of
the workforce. These organisations ‘don’t do HR’ but there may be some appetite for
support services. Delegates felt it is important for the government to offer an appropriate
level of help: don’t just throw another piece of ‘business support’ into the mix – make it
part of an existing mechanism such as Business Link. Business support needs to be
simplified and signposted. There is a danger of being patronising to SMEs, which are often
world class.
Delegates identified the following key enablers: trust, confidence and belief;
communication; and values embedded and filtered down throughout the organisation.
Key barriers were considered to be the following: management and leadership blaming
staff for problems and under-performance rather than critiquing themselves; the right
training not being available; and the long time it takes to change behaviour, causing
people to lose heart.
Key quotes from delegates at the events included:
“HR is fundamental but HR strategies alone won’t deliver. Employees need to identify
with their organisations and have pride. High profile employee engagement activity that
is not followed through has a negative effect – it has to be real.”
“My definition of an SME is an organisation without an HR function!”
“Senior leadership often use channels of communication instead of communicating.”
“There is a lack of understanding that trust works two ways and that not trusting your
employees has a negative impact”.
“Engagement matters because people matter – they are your only competitive edge. It is
people, not machines that will make the difference and drive the business.”
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