ENQUIRING minds want to know if there is really such a human being as an ‘engaged employee’ in Jamaica today. Some have berated me for even introducing the notion that such a person existed now or ever in our workplace environs. They believe such an employee verily, verily lives only as a figment of an over-active and darkly troubled imagination of yours truly. That ‘engaged worker’ they feel is of the ilk of the hazily, oft-photographed but never actually seen ‘Bigfoot’ or the Lochness Monster.

Research over the last decade has made a strong case that companies whose employees feel highly engaged outperform companies with less engaged ones in several important metric: growth, profitability, productivity and innovation. There is no doubt that engagement is a two way street. To have an engaged line staff you must have upper level leadership and management who create the environment for these workers to exist and thrive. Think about it: if your manager is lacklustre and don’t care two hoots about neither his work nor the company’s progress; does not even make a pretence of communicating effectively with you or your team members, then how motivated can you be?

There are many such Jamaican workers and today I am pleased to report about one such Jamaican employee with whom I had the pleasure of working for over ten years. It is true that what I write of him is only about that side of his life to which we, his co-workers were exposed, so I cannot speak about the ‘whole man’. However, what we knew of his conduct and love for the businessplace where he worked for over sixteen years, was enough to make us feel warm and proud to know that we worked in the same company as did he.

He was described as a shrewd businessman and one who epitomised his company’s mission and vision and incorporated them into his life. Born in another place and time and given the right opportunities, he perhaps would have become a fairly wealthy man employing others. He however grew up on the mean streets of Southside in down-town Kingston, yet managed to find a job that he loved and one in which he thrived.

His supervisor portrayed him as being ‘a diamond in the rough’, one who never let poverty thwart his personal ambition. After working as a labourer on the company’s construction site he asked for, and got a job within the company. He was perhaps, the only employee with a framed photograph of the company’s building hanging in his home.

His workplace, located in downtown Kingston sometimes required a 24-hour watch, and outside of the expert professional services provided by a well-established security company, our engaged employee was the one on whom management would call. If there were physical emergencies such as hurricane, flooding or violent flare-up, he never failed to respond, ensuring that all was well with the building so that he, and the rest of us, were assured of a sound place of employ when we turned up for work the next morning.

He wore the company’s logo proudly and was never ashamed to make all within earshot know where he worked. How many of us can say that we do this readily, especially when things are not so kosher with “us and dem” at work?

He was hard-working and meticulous. Nowadays, with intense pressure to complete a multitude of tasks within a narrow window of time, not everyone has the capacity to produce work of a high standard. Our engaged worker was one on whom his supervisor could depend to ensure that the simplest of task was properly completed. His demeanour for the most part was always pleasant. He enrolled in the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning and was proud to be exposed to the skills of reading and writing and moved on to conquer the computer.

There was a time in the not too distant past when if you asked a male member of staff to assist by lifting a box, a file or a chair, it was not viewed as an insult or injurious to their character or person. Increasingly, some of the younger men working in offices today seemed to have succumbed to lumbago and various types of orthopaedic ailment that preclude them from lifting anything heavier than their pens and a single sheet letter-sized paper. Some consider such a request for help infra dig, particularly if (in their minds) they are zooming up the ladder of success and ‘chair-lifting’ or ‘file-carrying’ was not mentioned anywhere in their current job description. Although our engaged worker’s official job title was that of janitor, because of his good-nature, hard work and positive attitude over the years he was promoted by his supervisor who entrusted him to oversee the work of his colleagues as well as that of contracted workers.

When all is said and done, an engaged employee is someone who has contributed positively to the company’s growth and development on a day-to-day basis. I think it is fair to say that our engaged worker, Albert Ferguson an employee of the Jamaica Stock Exchange Group, did just that with the help of Mrs Doreen Parsons Smith, his manager and the company’s leadership, through General Manager, Mrs Marlene Street- Forrest. Sadly, Albert was laid to rest last weekend after a long battle with a chronic illness, but even as his work might have been humble, he will long be remembered.

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