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I once met an Operations Manager who seemed on the phone to be heartily in favour of workplace engagement. During discussion, an idea surfaced that major players in the sector such as JLR and JCB could be encouraged to sponsor projects; improvements in the culture of small firms has an automatic knock-on effect of better productivity, reliability and customer focus. I was interested to see where our dialogue would go. Outcome After a long one-way conversation about his backgr

Remember blue-sky thinking and dolphinism? Executives found themselves in the Dinosaur camp if they didn’t host brainstorms and give way to innovation, but soon innovation gave way to inertia; before too much time had passed, along came the Low-hanging Fruit; pour foodie Fridays into the mix with a newsletter and a summer fete and when that didn’t elevate performance maybe toolbox meetings would? But no, they're relegated to once a month now and if anyone doesn’t air grievanc

The UK is close to the bottom of the pile on workplace welfare and employee engagement according to the latest Gallup poll, ranking 34th of 40 countries. As this summary attests, the outcomes are expensive. Staff churn is minimal where the culture is engaged - where the culture is toxic, people will leave soon after joining. In this day and age, it's not productive to view people as 'low-hanging fruit' or disposable collateral. Leaders might have got away with that 100 years

Intrinsically connected, at this point in time industrial companies are thinking about how to address expensive people-centric issues, with a number of challenging factors creating apparent blocks; 1) The majority of shop-floor workers are on minimum wage, or close to it. How do you motivate people in this situation? 2) Skilled workers are hard to come by, and the sector has a shortage of people coming in to the talent pool with knowledge behind them, so most operators are se

Since starting out 25 years ago on a mission to change lives for industrial companies, I've found that fewer and fewer people offering solutions to disengagement are prepared to venture into the workplace, let alone engage with the shop floor. When I delivered the first record-breaking programme in 2002, no-one else was doing it in the Midlands. Some London consultants would come on-site at a cost few SMEs could afford... £10,000 for a developmental leg-up considered cheap! M

I spoke at SubCon to a senior exec in a top-line trade association. He told me that he sees predominantly positive cultures, but having been on a fair share in my time I quietly question what he's actually experiencing on site visits. Leaders will say that their culture is great; walking the shop floor may tell a different story. If, that is, the guest is clued up to signs that 'all is not well' beyond seeing people doing their jobs at their workstations. Managers usually tal

Engineers are among the most likely socio-demographic groups to take their own lives. Engineering workers are 3.7 times more likely to die by suicide than the national average. This sobering statistic SHOULD act as a wake-up call to sector leaders while the engineering industry sits on the fence regarding employee welfare, continuing to invest heavily in emergent technology while ignoring the needs of its human workforce. Not all industrial companies are being complacent - so

Kathy speaks out on employee engagement at MACH2026 There are two kinds of workplace - commercial and industrial, often characterised as white-collar and blue-collar. That differentiation implies a colonial bias that sticks around even in today’s age of diversity, inclusion and equality. While recent years have seen white-collar communities shift towards remote working and flexibility, skilled engineers tied to production lines are pushed harder to compete with foreign powers

With the world as it is now, in these years of holding the baton to be passed to the next generation - well, I hope you cherish the thought of making changes while you can. Perish the thought that you might not! Some Leaders are Leaning Back Sorry to be blunt; I'm hoping that temptation to lean on the mantlepiece for a couple of years while the young bloods sort it out is fighting against some inkling that this is your watch, yours to own, and shift handover has never been m

Yes, they are connected. At this point in time, it's becoming more apparent that industrial leaders are thinking about how to address the gap between attitude and performance, with challenging factors creating apparent blocks, such as these; 1) The majority of shop-floor workers are on minimum wage, or close to it. How do you motivate people in this situation? 2) Skilled workers are hard to come by, the sector has a shortage of people coming in with knowledge behind them, so

Surprisingly high numbers of CEOs won't entertain the idea of a people-centric strategy that could help their business grow and sustainably develop. They fear looking hard at their own method of management, and often just don't know where to start moving away from the blocks. (This has led to 90% of the British workforce quiet-quitting or looking for roles elsewhere.) Attractive Distractions Perhaps the most popular ready-meal for industrial decision makers is new machinery.

Despite proof of its importance from Harvard, Gallup and Deloitte, employee engagement has been slow to gain favour in the industrial community, while a £4-to-£1 is known to be the standard return on investment and the UK loses around £300billion a year to disengaged workforces. Last year a major manufacturing exhibition nevertheless refused outright to cover the subject on its speaker platforms. On April 22nd I talked about the effects of engagement on skills retention, pro

Why Young Interns are Hard to Keep The shop floor can be a harsh place, fraught with fire-fights and repetitive issues. For someone working there, it can be pretty stressful, but hey, a job is a job - they say you're lucky to have one. Young interns come in with no idea what they will be facing, having a vague notion that engineers pop up to fix things like in the adverts - often the aspiring talent leaves the industry for good. They know that jobs are there to be found. Is t

This is your watch, yours to own, and shift handover has never been more on the line than it is now. The upcoming generation have to inherit something, and it's up to us to make sure there's a workable future worth investing in! The illusion that piles of money will make for better things has to die sometime - whether on Snowpiercer or on the train home is a matter for personal consideration. I don't know what will come of my life's work, or if it will make a difference. All

I'd like you please to read this from Deloitte: "Hampson concluded: “Employers are increasingly putting mental health and wellbeing at the heart of their business and providing effective mental health support for their people. The benefits of providing targeted support for employees are clear and compelling. Employers need concrete evidence to make informed decisions about how to invest in workplace mental health programmes and maximise benefits, including financial returns.

Did we ever think we'd see the day when environmental welfare would reach such a critical tipping point while powers-that-be ignore the need for radical change? My 63rd year on this planet fast approaches and for as long as I can remember, I've been an advocate of the natural world. I tried to rescue baby blackbirds that had fallen from the nest when I was two. When I was four, apparently on my insistence, my parents took me to Gibraltar Point Nature Reserve (a bird observa

A sleigh-bell away from the end of the year, you may be looking ahead to new strategies. I'd like you to have the strongest possible platform on which to build a template for success. Let's first dig the foundations. Part of this Present is a new toolkit...! To make magic happen, you have first to believe that you can - and have others believe that you will . Here's one for starters. Conditioning . We all have it - whether it's from our parenting, or our workplace experience

Today was a strange day. The Guardian Climate Conference was on in London and I had tickets not far from the stage, plus a train fare. I...

If we really want to start a groundswell movement towards real-time sustainability, first we have to face some facts. Regardless of the...

Leaders with foresight are always looking for ways to raise the profile of their companies and improve performance. On matters of...