Employee engagement - A lesson from 100 year ago

You know how sometimes the most obvious things are looking you in the face? I've been looking for examples of employee engagement stories. The bad stuff, and I mean really bad, cringeworthy examples of ill conceived communications, the well intentioned ideas that backfired or the complete and utter miscalculation of some of the bosses, we have all probably come across at some point. You know exactly what I am talking about. And, of course, to get a bit of balance, the stories about the truly amazing stuff too.

And then I remembered..... how could I forget? 

I am a direct product of one of the greatest employee engagement stories of all time. The story that created one of the world's largest companies and boxes full of household name brands that have become intertwined with virtually everybody's life. If you having been thinking that employee engagment is about just being being a bit more  cuddly, or that it  might be a 'nice thing' to put a few bits of gym kit in the basement for your staff, o rmaybe put in a shower, I am here to tell you that you really don't know the half or it. 

I am a child of a village called Port Sunlight, created over 100 years ago to look after the workers for the Lever Brothers soap factory, by one of the greatest social philanthopists the commercial and industrial world has ever see. It is still there, in all its pristineness, just a twenty minute drive from the Pier Head in Liverpool. A magical, inspiring place of space and calm that sets the benchmark for how to treat and nuture your talent; your employees. 


Growing up in the village a bit like going through the wardrobe to Narnia It was just a perfect place to grow up but, more than that,  it raised my expectations and lifted my eyes to new horizons and, maybe most of all provided me along with the humanitarian lessons, that a staff’s welfare isn't just a nice thing to do and think about, but has a bottom line effect that can help create, and this is not to any degree hyperbole, an empire. The Unilever Group now includes the ultra brands of the likes of Lynx and Ben & Jerry’s and employs hundreds of thousands across the Globe. All because of palm oil and one man's vision of how to add value to it.

Today the village is still very much as it was. Although there are naturally more cars it still is remarkably peaceful. The wide vistas, pavements and green spaces are all still their, manicured and coiffured. The buildings, columns, walls and the numerous nods to a world history of architectural styles are devoid of any graffitti, anywhere. At the centre of the village, the hub holding the glorious spikes of its structure together, is the stunning war memorial, one of the most glorious and moving examples of the art form built anywhere.  

The outdoor swimming pool, heated to almost tropical delights by the factory, in which thousands of us Sunlight children learnt to swim, is now a garden centre. But pretty well everything else is still there as it was when it was built 120 years ago - although the slopes we rode our bikes up and down and the statues and fountains we climbed over, seem a lot smaller these days.

There are hundreds of stories that feature the founder, William Hesketh Lever and his wife Elizabeth, and what they did on a day-to-day basis for the welfare of their staff, but I think one story epitomises what they may have felt about what was the right thing to do.

Imagine it is the early 1900's. The factory has blossomed since its opening in 1887, and new demand means they are opening their first factory overseas in Brussels, so what does Lever do?

He shuts the factory and the village for a weekend. He takes 2000, yes that's 2000 of them, on a trip. That's pretty well everyone in the village. They are used to the paid for annual trips to indulge in the delights of Blackpool, the garden parties in their own home, the birthday presents for every child, often delivered by Elizabeth herself. This time, they are given an adventure few would ever dream of. The employees are all given colour coded tickets to board specially hired colour coded trains, (you could do that in those days), to take them to the English Channel, then by ferry to Ostend, where this small victorian army is collected up by more painted trains. On their arrival in Brussels that are wined and dined at a string of restaurants across the city and then given a tour in a fleet of 300 wagons and landaus before the opening ceremony that evening. The village's own 40 piece orchestra play to entertain them.

This was in 1900. Can you imagine challenges of this logistical feat? They did have the help of another famous company, that is still going strong, one Thomas Cook, but even so? Can you imagine asking your board to write that cheque? And why did he do it?

It was I believe pretty simple really - he realised that, 100 years before we ‘invented’ the concept of work life balance, 60 years before the UK’s welfare state and free health care, 100 years before the creation of the EU and maximum working week directives, that the single most important factor in creating a happy and willingly cooperative and productive workforce was to build within it a sense of belonging.  And he also was always mindful that you cannot build anything with people who do not care and that his own personal wealth arose from their labours.

This wasn't just a one off either. Change is not a single event. The list of events and goes on and on. I have scores of stories about the ideas and initiatives, of his innovation and sometimes down right cunning; how he introduced a maximum 36 week for  all female staff - this was in the 1890’s for heavens sake - free medical treatment in their own hospital, workers education programmes, it just goes on and on. Although undoubtedly driven by pure benevolence, he wasn’t just being Father Christmas, it was also had a pragmatic bottom in too. Something he was very, very aware of. 

He makes you feel a tad of ashamed with our miserly efforts, and IC managers worrying ourselves to death about whether the intranet works.

History is often a useful reference, but don't we we all need a 'root's story anyway?


Please feel to post your example of the good or bad internal communications or employee engagement   below,  anonymously if you like or give is us link to something, or just share.

Free on Fridays The BIg Spring Gig

Free on Friday  - The Big Spring Gig

Hi Fellow FoFer's

Free on Friday has now been going for over four years and we've now  helped over 250 people at various stages of their business journey.  People like you, who are thinking of starting a business, or looking for ways of getting more business.  Using words and marketing techniques that aren't going to cost a fortune, that you can do yourself. Simply, helping people tell their story.  Read more…..

We normally work one to one, but frankly I just can't cope with everyone who wants to know about this particular subject.  So, to get the message out as quickly as possible I'm having to 'go large' as they say at unlucky fried kitten.

Friday 30th March - Fleur De Lys pub, Totley, Sheffield. 10.00 am

Even I can find it, but way down at the bottom below is a map, just in case you can't.

It's FREE, why?     And what actually is Free on Fridays.

Have a gander at  The Video

This BIg Gig  is all about Using the internet to promote your business locally,…. for nowt" and what it can do for you and your business. As always there will be a few other nuggets to pick up along the way.

We have done the work, and made the mistakes, so you don't have to. 

It's our real pleasure to be hosted at the Fleur de Lys by the lovely Alex Gardner and the equally fragrant Paul.  Many of you will know Alex, and that the pair of them are starting a pretty big and exciting venture. If nothing else come along and support  another  local business and help prove that nice people can actually win in this game. Coffee and bacon butties will be available for those of you who feel the need to grab a sneaky one.

Its 10 for 10.15 kick off. We'll fInish at 12 prompt so you can get on with your day, but you are more than welcome to hang around after for a catch up and a natter. I'm sure there will be people there you haven't seen for a while although this isn't a networking group, more of a self-help, sharing group.

Please don't stress yourself if domestics or clients delay you - Late arrivals are more than welcome to sneak in at the back.

As ever, bring a notepad and pencil,  and an open mind.

Did we say it was Free? 

and please --- Spread the Word.  

If you could drop us a line to say if you will be there, following this here link  or SMS (with your name please) post something on our Facebook wall, pigeon or message in a bottle or something. It's  just so we know how many cups we may have to wash. If you can't make it we would relay appreciate you retweeting,  sharing on Facebook or the old fashioned method of just telling your mates still works apparently

By public request (Nagging) this time  it will be recorded as a pod cast, maybe video too, if i find time to have my haircut first. So drop us a line to get your free download too if you can't make it.

Follow us on Twitter @barrybassnett. and feel free to retweet with gay abandon. The more the merrier. 

Internal communication and innovation

Internal communication is inseparably linked to the development of any innovative culture. Whether this is improving the quality of service, delivering competitive difference, delight for the customer, better business processes, reduced marketing costs. The list goes on and on. All of this great, good stuff, which we all strive for, comes at some cost in energy and investment in skills but success is fundamentally limited by the ability to communicate effectively up, down, sideways, inside outside. The CEO’s moaning frustration of ‘Why don’t they just get it, can’t they see that this is not just good for the company and them too’, misses the big point. That it is up to them, and them alone, to communicate and to lead that communication effectively. This is their first and most important job, because without that ability no process, no initiative, no change, no improvement that needs to work will work. It’s that simple.

Yet many senior managers still persevere with the shouting louder, quickly followed by the placating ‘its fun to work here’ gesture. People are way smarter than most managers give them credit for. And, it has to be said, that the human condition often makes us all way too smart for our own good sometimes. We, largely anyway, have a disproportionate capacity for creating our own misery from the most tenuous of reasons. From one instance of inconsistency, one poorly used word, one miss-timed email we come up with an infinite number of possibilities that puts us on the road to the Valley of Despond and the recruitment web sites.

It’s an inbuilt survival mechanism. We are the only animal that imagines the future. On a personnel and organisational level this can be both a blessing and a curse. While we may look at future where the taking of risk, or the success of some personal initiative could be met with praise and prizes, equally, if we fail it means embarrassment, the loss of respect from our peers and managers. So why should we take any risks at all? The response is, in most cases, that we don’t. Unless we are motivated to do so. And motivation does not come from a snappy Power Point presentation, an email, a rousing speech but from one simple belief. Trust. 

Trust that you have the freedom and power to act without reprisal or criticism. 

Trust that what the management says the management actually means. 

Trust that they are making the right decisions for the good of the organisation and you as individuals.

And the killer of trust comes down to one thing. Inconsistency. You don’t have to be a great orator, a great writer or storyteller, although that helps enormously to inspire trust. Just applying consistent messages and the demonstration of management walking the walk works. It just does. But, one piece of hanging thread, if pulled - which it will undoubtedly will be - can unravel any strategy, any good intention and kill the momentum for change.

Effective communication is the be all and end all of any organisation. The worst of it is that most managers feel that they are great communicators. No doubt their intentions are good and their heart is in the right place. But in the thousands I have worked with over the years there are only a handful who actually get it. They are the true innovators who know that it is not just about having that great idea, or clarity of vision but know how to sell their idea, to tell the story, who use their passion and are above all know that its about being consistent.