CHRISTMAS is just around the bend. If you are a fervent believer in the season, as am I, it is all systems go in the North Pole, and so I am sending along my three carefully crafted wishes to Saint Nicholas. It is my hope that this year will be better and my desires will be granted. Last year, apparently I spent more time in the naughty corner, and so the jolly, fluffy gift-giver did not shower me with presents. But this year, I hope I have done much better and will be duly rewarded. So, here we go St. Nick.

My number one wish is for more companies to embrace even the idea of employee engagement. You’ve probably heard the old joke in which a CEO is asked how many people work in his company and he responds, “About half of them.” Not so funny when you look at the following statistics and begin to realise how much time, energy and resources are wasted within organisations. According to the Gallup Management Journal’s semi-annual Employee Engagement Index, done a few years ago, 29% of employees are actively engaged in their jobs; 54% are not engaged and 17% are actively disengaged. Engaged workers produce more, make more money for the company, and create emotional engagement and loyal customers. They contribute to good working environments where people are productive, ethical and accountable. They stay with the organisation longer and are more committed to quality and growth than are the other two groups of not engaged and actively disengaged workers. Researchers Richard Wellins and Jim Concelman, in their article “Creating a Culture for Engagement”, define engagement as, “an amalgamation of commitment, loyalty, productivity, and ownership.”

I am not for one minute saying that employee engagement is the silver bullet that will slay all workplace demons. God forbid. It would be more than irresponsible of me to even suggest this, because there are some employees within our workplace for which nothing man-made or handed down by St Peter can redeem. It would appear to us that these of our colleagues have made a pact with the man downstairs and are determined to wreak havoc as often as they can afford to do so. But it is nevertheless important to create the culture for engagement for the rest of us employees. The spin-offs are many. Engaged employees have a strong relationship with their manager; have clear communication from their manager; a clear path set for focusing on what they do best; a strong relationship with their co-workers; and they feel a strong commitment with their co-workers enabling them to take risks and stretch for excellence. Engaged employees tend to get the least amount of focus and attention from managers, in part because they’re doing what they are needed to do. They set goals, meet and exceed expectations and charge enthusiastically toward the next tough task. Mr Claus: I know this is a big wish, but I have been ‘good-ish’ and do believe that some of our organisations should begin to think about it.

My second wish is for more companies to embrace the power of social media. Gentle people, social media which uses Web and mobile technology to support interactive dialogue is not going away any time soon. It might morph the way it is presented to us and how we use it in the future, however, the technology is here to stay no matter how many of us believe that, for example, Facebook is a fad and a flash in the pan that will disappear if we click our heels thrice. In the past ‘Mr Big-Wig-Bossman’ refused to believe that Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media channels could ever find a legitimate space in discussions in the boardroom. However, spurred on by its low-budget cost, now organisations are beginning to recognise the undeniable importance of social media. Social media channels provide companies with a unique opportunity to, not only build a community around their brand, but to improve on their customer relationships via this dialogue, as well as gain a sense of how they are viewed through this direct contact with the customers. Companies have, for example, sought to use FaceBook as a form of dialogue between their customers and their brand. Of course, it is not always good news because customers might have grouses and are happy to find legitimate means through which to air same. Not many companies are brave enough to face these negative criticisms and the potential impact they might have on them.

The last wish on my list is one which most responsible employees desire: an end to workplace war. There are employees who have an unwritten item within their job descriptions, known only by them, that is, of being the official office ‘war boat’. I wish that Santa would deliver a decree that will cause us to wage peace in our offices for 2013. Well, let us see if Santa Claus will grant my wishes this year.

Yvonne Grinam-Nicholson, (MBA, ABC) is a Business Communications Consultant with RO Communications Jamaica, specialising in business communications and financial publications. She can be contacted at: yvonne@rocommunications.com. Visit her website at https://www.rocommunications.com and post your comments.