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I&rsquo;m so incredibly fortunate to have two awesome girls who we brought into the world via IVF. My eldest is getting ready to go to school in September, my youngest is now 18 months. Our house is noisy and messy!
IVF is one of those little talked about &ldquo;mysterious&rdquo;, sometimes controversial, processes. As such it can be difficult to know how to support families going through treatment in the workplace. In 2018 an estimated 54,000 patients went through IVF treatment in the&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent;" href="https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/publications/research-and-data/fertility-treatment-2018-trends-and-figures/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UK</a>.
By sharing a little of my personal story, I hope to inform and show how employers can support employees and their partners, going through this emotionally charged and physically demanding process.
IVF is time demanding and very time critical - there is very little wiggle room on when things happen once the process is in full swing. It&rsquo;s full of anxious waiting, poking, prodding, awful phone calls, hope and disappointment. I consider myself relatively fortunate in that I knew I wasn&rsquo;t going to be able to get pregnant naturally. So I was spared the many months and years of disappointment before we entered the clinic. But it still took us many years, many rounds, a lot of money and a lot of heartbreak before we completed our family.
&nbsp;
Not everyone&rsquo;s process looks the same, there are different protocols that patients may be put on. I&rsquo;ve shared mine, but there are so many different ways IVF can play out. If you are reading this as an employer, be thinking about the amount of appointments, time, physical and emotional demands needed at each step. The mental health and general well-being strain that IVF puts on a family is unreal.
<ul>
<li>Appointment with consultant, make an initial plan</li>
<li>Meet with a counsellor to make sure we&rsquo;re aware of the emotional implications and where we can access support from if we need it</li>
<li>Blood tests and scans</li>
<li>Appointment with consultant - outcome of results. Make another plan.</li>
<li>Appointment with nurse to show how to administer injections and medication</li>
<li>2 weeks of injections administered at home - had to be the same time every day and needed to be refrigerated</li>
<li>Scans to check everything going as expected</li>
<li>Final scan to make sure my body is ready</li>
<li>Stimulation shot - done at a specific time with egg collection exactly 12 hours later - no earlier, no later</li>
<li>Day surgery to collect eggs - general anaesthetic - from this point on, it&rsquo;s a waiting and numbers game... My numbers were 12 collected.</li>
<li>Phone call to say how many eggs had fertilised - 6 left :-(</li>
<li>Call at day 5 - how many are actually good enough to use - 3 in my case - this is a typical drop off rate. It&rsquo;s an awful phone call to take...</li>
<li>Then there&rsquo;s the big appointment to put an embryo back in</li>
<li>Two week wait - this is a horrific time of symptom spotting, googling &amp; worrying (some women take this time off work - I decided not too and to keep myself distracted)</li>
<li>Pregnancy test - ❤️ Or 💔</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
This is just one process, if it doesn&rsquo;t work first time, embryos can be frozen and the last couple of steps repeated until all embryos are used. The phone call from the clinic to hear if your embryo has successfully thawed prior to them being implanted is also horrendous!
So how as an employer can you support this? I&rsquo;d encourage you to get clear on what your stance would be if one of your team told you there were going through IVF. I&rsquo;m not one for a whole raft of policies, but many larger employers do have one - either way , it can be helpful and supportive to talk upfront with employees about how you can support and help.
&nbsp;
Here&rsquo;s some of the key considerations:
<ol>
<li>Ask them to share their process with you if they are comfortable to do so. There is a lot of information, medical terms and jargon used in IVF. I was mostly dazed and confused throughout, so don&rsquo;t automatically assume your employee will know exactly how it will play out!</li>
<li>Appointments can be last minute and frequent. Where you can, be flexible and understanding. Not every job can facilitate that - but what can you do? What information would you like so you can keep work things moving, but support your employee at the same time? Consider unpaid leave, annual leave entitlement, or a period of temporary flexible working as a way of enabling the employee to take the time out that they need.</li>
<li>If you offer your employees mental health support, make sure you are sharing the details of how to access that (I&rsquo;m thinking here about EAP schemes, or private medical insurance). They will likely have been signposted to support via their clinic, but you can also play a part in supporting their mental health through the journey</li>
<li>Whatever your usual medical appointment process is, you should follow the same. Don&rsquo;t treat it any differently. I don&rsquo;t want to hear any comments about it being and &ldquo;optional&rdquo; thing - don&rsquo;t be that employer. This includes time off sick as a result of side effects from IVF treatment, you should treat this as you would any other period of sickness.</li>
<li>The medications are pumping hormones into your body. They can make some people extremely unwell and can change their appearance. The bruises from injecting every day are horrid and you feel bloated, uncomfortable and at times in pain. Are there ways you can make the physical demands of the role easier for the employee during this time?</li>
<li>Case law suggests that an employee is considered to be pregnant from when an egg has been fertilised, before it is put back into the uterus. Wrap that same care and support around them that you would any other pregnant employee. Usually if you&rsquo;re talking about &ldquo;rights&rdquo; then you&rsquo;ve lost the engagement game - but pregnancy and maternity rights do apply here - you can read more in this&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" href="https://workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/workplace-rights-for-those-undertaking-ivf-treatment" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">article</a>.</li>
<li>The two week wait is HORRENDOUS. You want to wrap yourself in cotton wool - you worry about every little twinge, every knock - everything is hyper exaggerated. Your employee may need support from you here too.</li>
<li>Please think about the partners of the employees going through this too. They also need to be at appointments and are experiencing all the emotional highs and lows even if their body isn&rsquo;t experiencing it.</li>
<li>If the IVF doesn&rsquo;t work, medically it&rsquo;s a miscarriage. Emotionally it is no different. Miscarriage is a whole different article, but it should go without saying that it is devastating to experience. Support your employee, and their partner.</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;
Hurrah - you&rsquo;re pregnant. We&rsquo;re done right?! Well not really! I was still taking medication to help protect my pregnancy. I needed early scans to check on what was going on in there. My anxiety was at an all time high once I&rsquo;d got that positive. The baby is so precious, I&rsquo;d been through so much to bring it into the world. My Googling at this point was out of control! Don't skip out on that important health and safety risk assessment that you should be doing for all pregnant employees, however early on in their pregnancy they are, you may identify area of adjustment that can help.
I&rsquo;d really encourage you to support families in your team going through this as much as you can. If they feel comfortable talking about it, listen and offer as much support as you can. Yes it&rsquo;s a lot of time away from work, but what&rsquo;s more important? The work, or their potential to start family? If the work can get done and you can help them fulfil their dreams of having a family, isn&rsquo;t that what a wonderful employer would do?
&nbsp;
If you&rsquo;d like to ask me any questions about how to support your employees, or build a policy around this, I&rsquo;d be delighted to help. Email me at victoria@tenspace.co.uk. I&rsquo;d also love to hear of any best practice in this area, so I can add it in to this blog.🙂

My story and how you can support employees going through IVF

Supporting IVF in the workplace

Every month, we ask our panel of&nbsp;business and HR leaders about the hottest topics impacting employee engagement within UK businesses.
In October we asked about the VERY hot topic of hybrid / remote working.
Here&rsquo;s what our leaders told us.....
(To find out more about how we conduct the survey or to get involved read to the end of the article)
&nbsp;
<h3>Hybrid is here to stay!</h3>
Far from being a trend or a moment in time led by the pandemic, a whopping&nbsp;98% of the leaders we surveyed said that hybrid / remote working was here to stay.&nbsp;
For those businesses wondering what to do next, this is a clear indicator. If you&rsquo;re still waiting for things to return to normal, you may be waiting a while! If you're&nbsp;changing your operations and teams to remote / hybrid first, the gains will be felt in the long-term.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/u_fwOwW10iPeJ2BHKVlUiUE6AcrVe-lYlY5V4EkfvyNWn2U9rfUaNPsQ7K11PMjIq3SiSyI9j4khbQeZqkfDKa5OQbAdVJ4FwY9rNPOkfsC9Hg5YkBHb8aSvhr4Hbzg_Iy81nbkZ" width="507" height="505">
&nbsp;
But it wasn't all good news.....
&nbsp;
<h3>Only 7.4% felt strongly that UK businesses were more productive</h3>
We asked our panel to say how strongly they agreed with the statement &ldquo;UK businesses are more productive as a result of hybrid / remote working&rdquo;.&nbsp;
Our average score here was 6.5 (out of 10). With 43% of our respondents answering 6 or below to this question.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tCizRZi9tvEOVYaErzYcQBhVAFSJ2hDZ5vB-xvTG84MBPGwogtgC7g_XTJHJZ0zF34_3yxjcWv5-KjBIQMjH-O36HJwDzbgSBTvNwDRh9WkcqomiRmetQoJwjc0hd1PtMi_aMGYe" width="510" height="510">
&nbsp;
So it seems there's work to do, to make hybrid / remote work for the business.&nbsp;But where to start?
&nbsp;
<h3>Prepare your people managers</h3>
We asked to what extent do you agree "People managers in the UK are well prepared to manage in a hybrid / remote workplace"
The average score was low at 4.3 (out of 10). This demonstrated that people managers and those that support them have a long way to go in managing remote and hybrid teams. In fact 0% of our leaders gave a &ldquo;high confidence&rdquo; score of 9 or 10 in this area. With 87% of our respondents giving a score of 6 or below.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/e-X9h4X6LT2Xt5l34vKbtgNmnYrp5KZFqu22NNHZKX8D-FOKgwwIdRrV1a35JdXpT4CPj8CrBT7EOTUr5JRKwfr641oOACMdwVjXTe_vOMxiExWrg2WEzv1MogfzR-0rordGnNj5" width="506" height="506">
&nbsp;
Whilst hybrid / remote working may not be optimal for businesses yet, it seems that it is working for employees.&nbsp;
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h3>78% said employee engagement had improved!</h3>
Much has been written about mental health loneliness, lack of team camaraderie and dilution of business culture.&nbsp;But the majority of our leaders felt that the net impact of hybrid/remote working was an improvement of employee engagement in UK businesses.
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/Eky8UZbMWcAQDBkHOIeLkuSV4fSPOeiHc6fufqA35Q7B4P0NjbX317Qu2G9yHFQCAOl7St9311Q7TkfUCSFNR-oQwTCjPFacs5_1cZUIixnKHymdBDr_KKzUwKBcHMEUTFBj3bv9" width="508" height="508">
&nbsp;
So what&rsquo;s the secret to success for remote / hybrid working?&nbsp;
From our research some key themes emerged;
<ol>
<li>Culture, engagement and environment need to be aligned to remote / hybrid working.</li>
<li>People managers and leaders play a key role in creating the right culture and impacting on engagement.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Trusting employees to get the job done rather than be present is vital</li>
<li>Mental health and wellbeing is higher on the agenda than ever before</li>
<li>People managers play a critical role in supporting employees and helping teams stay well</li>
<li>Technology needs to be good enough to support this type of working.&nbsp;</li>
<li>We can positively affect climate change with less commuting</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;
Some of the other comments our leaders shared on these topics can be seen below;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9S9QAOqvtPsnFqoYN4O8Er1-nNPF_w5m9xkdviwHQSUhhJpCZmldr_i-DyFCI0TwJ6oDCnv4BW0ipcHfk5IW-fg8KGD-QTEtpgHYyRrBaR8lxWF5XXfW9EG2wpX_ecgRIedg-Tr" width="506" height="505">
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/FWOYh2imJaxDiBtVQctBuC1jmgtW38sVyvnG6m-zZlq_VNSB0twIHrdOS48vc1wdpxx5g9-cE2TxvaQHGbOySeoYAFrrirAo1E9W-_FFIU0403V_QnU4IgRAaOnyhXadYkTe3tdp" width="509" height="509">
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/3VCHac9ZISfK4qsdndvvUAap7a4EvLnZtcG8na1bN-qB10oLtDtYv4_fsALPU4uyw5TnNP5LJ20ziCcLT2Hse_BYidZxPr01oLfOL3o_QNHz3z7Crj21QAq88ZjlpA8E08sDzUwJ" width="510" height="510">
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/MdnU_oHqNIq9mAfyz3cI951VM-YXD1oE7TLfYIjIK5WGkGckdKHQ2WQ2r5W_RvySEysnGEH8M2wFt3NLea_UfBy_FsGpv09nja5GzpvYs3Gr1gG-EjCzoQF6oQWAbCPkPh1Uhj-U" width="508" height="508">
&nbsp;
Be part of something special....
The Ten Space 'Feedback 500' is a piece of monthly research we conduct to understand more about the topics affecting employee engagement. Each month we send our leadership community 5 short topical questions via WhatsApp. All responses are captured anonymously. We have leaders from a wide range of sectors including: HR consultants, recruitment, retail, automotive, creative arts, construction, technology, utilities, e-commerce, digital, marketing, legal, health, public sector and education.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;
To become part of our 'Feedback 500' sign up here:
<a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.spacehr.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0</a>
&nbsp;
Find out more about Ten Space at <a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.tenspace.co.uk</a>.

UK business & HR leaders share their views on the impact of hybrid and remote working on employee engagement in the UK

Space HR 'Feedback 500' (Nov'21) - Topic: Hybrid & remote working

Each month, we ask our panel of business and HR leaders about the hottest topics impacting employee engagement in UK businesses.
This month, we focused our questions on reward and the impact it has on engagement.&nbsp;
When we&rsquo;re referring to reward in our questions, we mean monetary compensation, such as basic salary, bonuses and paid-for benefits.
Here&rsquo;s what our leaders told us....
(To find out more about how we conduct the survey, or to get involved read to the end of the article)
&nbsp;
<h3>Are pay and reward the most important element of employee engagement?&nbsp;&nbsp;</h3>
We asked our panel how important they thought pay and reward was for maximising employee engagement.&nbsp;
Whilst our leaders found it to be important, they didn&rsquo;t think it was the most important element in an employee engagement strategy.&nbsp;
Taking a closer look, 70% of our panel said that it was one of the most important elements of engagement, with only 14% identifying it as&nbsp;the&nbsp;most important element.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h4>Our panel told us:&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4>
&ldquo;For me it&rsquo;s not linked directly. Reward can help make people feel valued but it doesn&rsquo;t result in engagement if the culture or communication is non existent or flawed&rdquo;
&ldquo;In my experience, though, reward (including salary) is just the hygiene factor and the better driver of engagement is clarity of vision, clarity of expectation, consistency of message, telling the truth, empowering people, etc. Reward on its own doesn't buy engagement because for someone to be engaged in something it has to be engaging.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/gPCfdmc-0zZibr1i97gfmqdjcR0YwvZT_g_-0_7047S7MttVS39p2bgsx8V0Ao2XocJaSDx3YikiX7i3AtmnPzBNuvRnd4yN7mwXnPih2AJzRF8RUCyQZ7Ec7_H9DjpHBb1RIfE3VTOeP4BzVg" width="464" height="462">
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h3>Does a higher salary mean higher engagement?&nbsp;</h3>
We asked our panel if they thought that a higher salary was linked to higher employee engagement. The answer was &ldquo;no&rdquo;!
Almost 60% of our respondents strongly disagreed that higher salary meant higher engagement.&nbsp;
It seems that when it comes to high employee engagement, it isn&rsquo;t necessarily something that can be &ldquo;bought&rdquo; with a high basic salary.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h4>Here&rsquo;s what our panel said:</h4>
&ldquo;Think the pandemic has proven that reward and recognition only go so far to engage employees &hellip;there&rsquo;s also a lot to be said for care , psychological safety and the relationship between team and line manager.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Pay rises / counter offers only keeps people engaged for a small period of time. The issues are still there, so in my view it has never worked. Bonuses and benefits are good, but mean nothing if people can't afford their bills. The best way is to provide flexibility for staff, so they have a choice.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/aGNn7osSvycyRL1d-kXGD-w9hbUeeez-DsupTYrq23tHozU0b4wAFDH6ngXDVqN8Cp2AfjXo4jgJmf0GfHgqY4CaRSyx8SITpUX1Acdd3qKxWZrhFRtA2UP2PLI2TMP_a87AI2KbuWKMc_lW2Q" width="463" height="463">
&nbsp;
<h3>What type of pay strategy impacts on engagement the most?&nbsp;</h3>
We gave our panel a choice of different pay strategies to choose from and asked them which they thought had, or would have, the greatest impact on employee engagement.&nbsp;
We asked our panel to choose from individual performance-related pay, pay transparency and pay equity. There wasn&rsquo;t much differentiation in terms of what our panel chose as the top engagement approach. This could indicate that the most impactful approach depends on the organisation, or that possibly there is more research needed in this area.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h4>Our panel ranked them in the follow order:&nbsp;</h4>
1 - Individual performance-related pay
2 - pay transparency&nbsp;
3 - pay equality&nbsp;
4 - pay doesn&rsquo;t impact engagement&nbsp;
&ldquo;I chose performance related pay, but that's only true if you start with a baseline of pay equality for comparable levels of skills and experience in a role. From that fair baseline, I would expect to see greater contributions rewarded greatly.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think there is a bigger link between individual engagement and individual reward- basic salary plus commission etc than there is over the organisational level engagement&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/t0CfOgedLAQZVHXZVR8kl6z8QaTM4Jq-j1YqXsN8T4bTAn_c2vZPp4i4wwDLPu1fFhUm7dOB2etqNKx5t451K9i0FSZsrEwMCV6lww9H7WoQjaXsLigTTbLjgS-hZek0alqVC4jbjbF0EO7o0A" width="463" height="463.3798195242002">
&nbsp;
<h3>What reward practices have the biggest impact?</h3>
Finally we gave our panel a list of reward practices, to understand the importance they placed on them for employee engagement.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h4>Here&rsquo;s how our panel ranked the choices:&nbsp;</h4>
<ol>
<li>Basic salary</li>
<li>Additional benefits, such as pension and healthcare</li>
<li>Bonus&nbsp;</li>
<li>None of the above.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
We had no votes for overtime / on-call payments - which may be expected. But also no votes for commission, which may call into question some of the traditional performance-related pay metrics used in sales-led organisations.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h4>Here&rsquo;s some of the experience our panel shared with us:&nbsp;</h4>
&ldquo;People like to know their worth and are therefore can be motivated by their salary along with their individual perf related pay. They also love having monetary benefits including gym membership, car allowances, medical/health insurance - anything that helps save them money in the long run&hellip;&rsquo;
&ldquo;Although reward does have an impact on employee engagement, there are other factors to take into account. I think that if the workplace is good enough and the staff feel fulfilled in their roles, then monetary rewards wouldn't be as important. That being said, I believe bonuses are very effective when increasing employee engagement. Teams should always be rewarded for the effort they put in and sometimes that goes beyond basic salary, additional benefits and non-monetary rewards.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/S1OBVRWUiDg7LqBYTuz7u1M33GNo1YziRsV1uCW_2mIu5-xaeEq-xRJSKRh8REy6xztUmhUp26cdfco97VQyCrUDLmlJizL70xCQpFmLO6QemZN5SozOAxbiCYfub-l0liWOi4NQ366TZwidNw" width="463" height="463">
&nbsp;
<h3>So what are the key takeaways here?</h3>
From our research some key themes emerged;
<ol>
<li>A great engagement strategy is likely to include reward and pay, but it&rsquo;s unlikely to be the only/main focus to a successful approach</li>
<li>Throwing additional salary at employees to &ldquo;buy engagement&rdquo; is unlikely to be effective&nbsp;</li>
<li>When it comes to influencing engagement on an organisational level, individual performance-related pay comes out on top. But only just. The other options of pay transparency and equality were not far behind.&nbsp; These felt somewhat at odds, to the most popular choice, individual pay.&nbsp;</li>
<li>When it comes to a reward strategy - basic pay is still the best place to start, closely followed by additional benefits. Our research really called into question the engagement impact of commission schemes.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;
Some of the other insight, experience and comments our leaders shared on this topic can be seen below;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/LRcS2ANbhxrmP3DnIWFG2b7UScn1doS1APOTrRPRgaq18xbKaMmBzNwoLwyYYmgCTuUbSZM1AHnYTFHLUJn28GGB73LKdOnIn55izGAwDCz6qYDNhAL38Z-r8cqdP_3kqo3q7NSGXvvrYlsHEw" width="492" height="492">
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/WdCVEpNEHXa2L835f0dcZ2l5PN14DUm61F6dpOZr-UCnqtg7eYnzB8GEXzYQNaaRbUjoW7o04Ej5Ds8NUjhiFg6mtzTD7mvnB_6ZSSEJhCmX-c4HpxvoTZ8Q29v4yOfDPEXIfvsnpH_Hi2q0bw" width="491" height="491">
&nbsp;
Be part of something special....
The Ten Space 'Feedback 500' is a piece of monthly research we conduct to understand more about the topics affecting employee engagement. Each month we send our leadership community 5 short topical questions via WhatsApp. All responses are captured anonymously. We have leaders from a wide range of sectors including: HR consultants, recruitment, retail, automotive, creative arts, construction, technology, utilities, e-commerce, digital, marketing, legal, health, public sector and education.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;
To become part of our 'Feedback 500' sign up here:
<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.spacehr.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0</a>

The Impact Reward has on Employee Engagement

Space HR 'Feedback 500' (May'22) - Topic: Reward & Employee Engagement

Each month, we ask our panel of business and HR leaders about the hottest topics impacting employee engagement in UK businesses.
In January we asked about the link between employee engagement and high-performing teams.
Here&rsquo;s what our leaders told us....
(To find out more about how we conduct the survey, or to get involved read to the end of the article)
&nbsp;
High employee engagement and high-performing teams go hand in hand.&nbsp;
Almost all of our panel said that they strongly agreed that there was a link between high-performing teams and employee engagement.&nbsp;
We asked our panel to share their views on a scale - with 1 indicating that they didn&rsquo;t see a link and 10 indicating that they saw a strong link.&nbsp;
Our average score from our panel here was 9.2 - indicating that our panel were really clear that high employee engagement and high performing teams are closely linked.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/cv46sqWuESIhxK8E7JOoomM9-wVMFZsP--ximKBKFXFQkJUaYE35aLVFwHMhqKuzVhiXqLgiPs9gzowVdA_XnwwayjQNekWNxy3Y6rYYG5X8toaUblHhZNeq-lc5G6NRr8Eazm6g" width="508" height="508">
&nbsp;
<h4>Focus on individual performance or team performance?&nbsp; The jury is still out.&nbsp;</h4>
We wanted to understand some of the important elements of creating a high-performing team.&nbsp;
We started off with a tough question (our panel told us it was tough in their comments!) - asking if they prefer to focus on individual performance, or the performance of the team as a whole when developing a high-performing team.&nbsp;
We ended up with a split panel on this question. 51% of the panel said they&rsquo;d focus on individuals and 49% said they&rsquo;d focus on the whole team.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Here&rsquo;s some of the comments we captured here:&nbsp;
&ldquo;I generally find though that if you focus on building personally fulfilled, self aware, emotionally intelligent, psychologically safe individuals - then *they* will work together to lift team performance.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Focusing on individual performance in reference to how it affects the whole team is important. Focusing on the team performance without individual focus can lead to mediocre results&rdquo;
&ldquo;When leading a team is a multifaceted issue. How one engages with the individual AND the team AND the dynamic that exists. Employee engagement is key to that continued development particularly in challenging times.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/OAY2Gfx_1EzZDr2BdEQGnOtDW59WKLIXldU-SP2WYkOkLB7_9S91FxsA1Rrg6yy8-rmgUtWn59CCk7OkPEl5B0swsCo1MI3I3zTLCNNe8GiKpWi5lj57ZktpF-PKr4hDkXc5olSK" width="507" height="507">
&nbsp;
<h4>Connection &amp; personal fulfillment top the list for ways to engage a high-performing team&nbsp;</h4>
We asked our panel which factors they thought had the highest impact when it came to the engagement of high performing teams:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>32% said connection &amp; the communication of goals, vision, mission and values was the most important factor</li>
<li>32% said personal fulfillment such as reward, work-life balance and career development&nbsp;</li>
<li>25% said leadership&nbsp;</li>
<li>6% said wellbeing was the most important factor&nbsp;</li>
<li>5% chose &ldquo;other&rdquo;&nbsp; (many in the comments said that they wished there was a &ldquo;all of the above&rdquo; option!)</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think is a combination of all the options&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;Communication has to be at the core of everything.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Getting an inspiring and motivational leader will help all other aspects of employee engagement such as wellbeing, personal fulfillment and communication. An inspirational leader will cover all of these as a part of their normal role&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/7YzH8Gj_8Mw_i2MzxG29Sk1nhV4wicIqOQlr-FKvN17nqK8Xnv1w7fOFNnZBLEXs1ccImvgTzeM3ZzwpC3RI8SuvXBelY3tNwOhguzhkN-CxZkmJlWqUY8TCsYGVOzT0ykFUmif8" width="508" height="508">
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h4>Employee engagement will become more key for creating high-performing teams in remote workplaces</h4>
The majority of our leaders felt employee engagement will become more key in creating high performing team as the move to remote workplaces continues.&nbsp;
We asked the panel: on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high) to what extent to do you agree with the statement:&nbsp; "increased remote working makes employee engagement more important to achieving high performance".
Our average score here was 8.0 - indicating that over 75% of the panel agreed or strongly agreed with the statement. However, there were around 25% of the panel that felt strongly that this statement wasn&rsquo;t true.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think this is very individual so would find it difficult to score. I agree working from home aids work life balance and well-being in general but not everyone has sn adequate space in which to work, logistically or psychologically.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I think engaging people is harder remotely- it isn&rsquo;t impossible but it takes more effort - you have to think it through more. A simple Teams meeting with the Team once a week, once a day doesn&rsquo;t do it
&ldquo;Sharing vision as a leader is difficult and remote employees will certainly get a watered down version of it - having face to face time focused on leadership and rally cries is important.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Nsxkjw49X1ORjg3f-5VSc1Gr-xGVqDjcDIJD6Qa2RdX23LEK2Mwsg9nLwd81ZBzLRp7YMR8VRj2rDQbaBXhrScClZkz1nNdSBFdCEhKE8s3snvWEuJ9No-MB5DgAfNAgVWodGVum" width="507" height="507">
&nbsp;
<h4>So what are the key takeaways?</h4>
From our research some key themes emerged;
<ol>
<li>High employee engagement is key to a high performing team - they are closely linked</li>
<li>There is no &ldquo;best practice&rdquo; when it comes to the best place to focus when developing a high performing team; individuals or the team as a whole - it&rsquo;s likely to be a great blend of both&nbsp;</li>
<li>Two employee engagement factors came out top for developing high performing teams; connection and setting the vision for the future&hellip;</li>
<li>And personal fulfilment - although the secret recipe is likely to be a blend of all elements of employee engagement&nbsp;</li>
<li>As we move into hybrid / remote working practices and the challenges that brings to organisations, it&rsquo;s likely to become harder to develop high performing teams</li>
<li>The need to focus on employee engagement for developing high performing teams and high performing organisations is as relevant as ever. As the workplace continues to change and adapt, this key area of focus is unlikely to change in its importance and results.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;
Some of the other insight experience and comments our leaders shared on this topics can be seen below;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4yyk2mB_RKcoBByruhlHvnZLfJ2oN5Kw2hyd7ivmVaZmrQFN3YsmMqyCHnz3MRGTuX1N-WKihrx1ZPgC3G2BYiArE77FQRZ7iG8yiVLj82wM8cbul0qUGGImNCLg0Hd7zzpEmtEJ" width="509" height="509">
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/lllRgMBz2ro_QLIyK4RNdI7DBiimsJ8mPxP0-wWcNA3ElvstbD8xQsCPKj5OHQzXVQ03d6dq6blbnOub1y8uklk0neDWehYuSTKmcuAN3_BF7ltakgvRaNDNHlgJfU3gkMZJ3Wm4" width="508" height="508">
&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;
Be part of something special....
The Space HR 'Feedback 500' is a piece of monthly research we conduct to understand more about the topics affecting employee engagement. Each month we send our leadership community 5 short topical questions via WhatsApp. All responses are captured anonymously. We have leaders from a wide range of sectors including: HR consultants, recruitment, retail, automotive, creative arts, construction, technology, utilities, e-commerce, digital, marketing, legal, health, public sector and education.
To become part of our 'Feedback 500' sign up here:
<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.spacehr.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0</a>
&nbsp;
Find out more about Space HR at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/www.spacehr.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.spacehr.co.uk</a>.

High Performing Teams & Employee Engagement

Space HR 'Feedback 500' (Jan'22) - Topic: High Performing Teams

Each month, we ask our panel of business and HR leaders about the hottest topics impacting employee engagement in UK businesses.
In February, with the cost of living at its highest since 1992 (5.4%)&nbsp; we asked about the impact the cost of living (COL) increase is having on employee engagement.&nbsp;
Here&rsquo;s what our leaders told us....
(To find out more about how we conduct the survey, or to get involved read to the end of the article)
&nbsp;
<h4>The cost of living is having a negative effect on employee engagement.&nbsp;</h4>
We asked our panel, to what extent they agreed with the statement: &ldquo;the cost of living is having a negative impact on employee engagement.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The majority, 43% of our panel, agreed or strongly agreed that the COL is having a negative impact on employee engagement.&nbsp;
28% said that they disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement.&nbsp;
So whilst we can see that the cost of living is having some impact on employee engagement, we&rsquo;re pleased to see that it isn&rsquo;t impacting all organisations negatively.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Here&rsquo;s what some of our panel told us:&nbsp;&ldquo;Being at the far end of a (so far) two year pandemic and the associated pressures including COL, it feels fairly negative at the moment.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re in a fortunate position in that we&rsquo;ve been able to give a 4% salary increase to all employees. It has been really well received as I expect people have started to feel the pressure of increased costs&rdquo;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/91WKWlhklUk2lF8ihd7jPntKI6QtNhMaxklZIU6G_kCGv_2zkRnZuA4kIPfhWOnZ98mtTLWYNjxQ5CE2ZjDM2YS838wWHj2BUw-86C9IztN1HuXAKdD5oXCK34eNC33pmJkG1OZz" width="477" height="477">
&nbsp;
<h4>How concerned should employers be about the impact of COL on employees?&nbsp;</h4>
57% of our panel thought that employers should be concerned about the impact, with 27% saying they should be very concerned.
So whilst all organisations might not be feeling the impact on employee engagement - there is still the need to be concerned about its implications on employees, and in turn, the organisations themselves.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
One of our panel commented:&nbsp;&ldquo;Resignations Increasing due to offers being outside the amounts we can match. Engagement gone down, absence gone up - is this because people are stressed/anxious and it&rsquo;s impacting their work life&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/3yLB_LkzaBTGdBizJNdWgzsx3NUHPjv-yaF4-JosLiKtBzP9kqdDeVBnuc32PBHKaBHretHJ_y8gr5tMg8rwT-o_-K7Il4qo2TrhzzGBphbI_EYQJD9ayci-Vqc_id_mCwtk08pA" width="477" height="477">
&nbsp;
<h4>Should organisations be prioritising steps to reduce the impact of COL?&nbsp;</h4>
Whether our panel agreed or disagreed that there was an impact of cost of living on engagement, a huge 73% said employers should be prioritising steps to reduce the impact.
&nbsp;
Our panel commented: &ldquo;I think there will be a greater expectation on employers to do something financially, to support the increased costs we are all facing. Working for a public sector organisation, there is already increasing pressure on resources so this will only further exacerbate the issue I feel.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I've noticed there is a huge amount of opportunity in all markets now, (post covid) and it's very exciting for employees to also feel this boost. As a leader it&rsquo;s a challenge of communicating and inspiring.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Yepyn8ODVK6TM6sJDBsOFA_1Nw5pu0hWGA8UJKtFbFNPqm8CY8S3MawNMVIZQEM3gUeplZ9Z3ytUg_qIwOuTwdvMOVmeKF1WmPxCLuKsgr34sf3vmNaiDcbeaDtwWM93nQIEObR5" width="477" height="477">
&nbsp;
<h4>What factors are likely to be impacted by the COL increase in organisations?</h4>
We asked our panel which factors they thought would be likely to increase as a result of the increase of COL.&nbsp;
Of this list we gave them, our panel identified these three areas are the most likely to be impacted.&nbsp;
<ol>
<li>Salary costs</li>
<li>Absence issues / mental health concerns of employees</li>
<li>Resignations and employee turnover</li>
</ol>
We presented our panel with a list of 8 impacts, with the responses being spread across them all, indicating that the implications might be widespread for employees and organisations.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/VTW0htTJ8Jj7kAHIF2ZXXN7I-elx3jDCf8_8lJVrvrQNg9c-pEctTjGC3r70aBFwe2uUZrj6VqWkTc_LzIDS6zq_4JxWesDUQUXrF9VjOvw7Q1XZdZL7Da5w9BjeICP_i2bEDZEM" width="477" height="477">
&nbsp;
Our panel commented:&nbsp;&ldquo;I think we have a responsibility as an employer to be aware of anything in the macro environment that impacts our employees wellbeing and mental health. Clearly this is currently an issue. I don&rsquo;t necessarily agree that a simple increase in pay is the solution.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<h4>So what are the key takeaways here?</h4>
From our research some key themes emerged;
<ol>
<li>The cost of living is having an effect on engagement, impacting it negatively for many organisations and employees.</li>
<li>Whilst the immediate consequences of increased costs will be felt in individual employee&rsquo;s pockets, it is an employment issue also. This will affect organisations in a number of different ways.</li>
<li>There are likely to be noticeable impacts on employers that not only will increase salary costs, but have other ramifications on cost and performance, such as absence issues / mental health concerns and employee turnover.</li>
<li>Organisations are taking steps to overcome the impacts and many are making it a priority - as always, those organisations who are taking proactive steps to protect employees and engagement are likely to be those that retain and attract the best talent.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;
Some of the other insight experience and comments our leaders shared on this topic can be seen below;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/E-q6dAOiVde7KxjVaeeJJLXLKCqMuZ0AfK5djxfN_yufyVYCGRjOykwHyepYEyzle5ZI0g2DogQV_QIspiWYXEUy8uoQ3H8A4zKQgxmXm8j0r9xOaJf_xYn0kTqW5wcBPQAVS8_s" width="477" height="477">
&nbsp;
&nbsp;<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/cdKKVHKU4ydQNB5-YgWlUbdAwewUPE-GGVraLmszQwyXwZUKC9rDJ38KdVO2vf04QAG8T9GoSHEt7xd8NiifMww1pNX0jCrJSXN_FiUR4QZ17rgup3lq3MPXJokpgRJGi1NwLY_n" width="477" height="477">
&nbsp;
Be part of something special....
&nbsp;
The Ten Space 'Feedback 500' is a piece of monthly research we conduct to understand more about the topics affecting employee engagement. Each month we send our leadership community 5 short topical questions via WhatsApp. All responses are captured anonymously. We have leaders from a wide range of sectors including: HR consultants, recruitment, retail, automotive, creative arts, construction, technology, utilities, e-commerce, digital, marketing, legal, health, public sector and education.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;
To become part of our 'Feedback 500' sign up here:
<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.spacehr.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0</a>

The Impact the Cost of Living Increase has on Employee Engagement

Space HR 'Feedback 500' (Feb'22) - Topic: Increased Cost of Living & Employee Engagement

Each month, we ask our panel of business and HR leaders about the hottest topics impacting employee engagement in UK businesses.
In November we asked about the mission and vision in organisations and the impact they have on employee engagement.
Here&rsquo;s what our leaders told us....
(To find out more about how we conduct the survey or to get involved read to the end of the article)
&nbsp;
<h4>Having a clear vision and mission statement is key to employee engagement</h4>
80% of the leaders we surveyed stated that having a clear vision and mission statement was &ldquo;VERY&rdquo; important for employee engagement.&nbsp;
It seems that if you&rsquo;re&nbsp;<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/5-steps-to-a-highly-engaged-team" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">building an employee engagement plan</a>&nbsp;establishing your vision and mission isn&rsquo;t a step you want to miss out!&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/hDoeyzgA5rJGvZ1FT8pX_I7r8_kd1kcmck2KqVLkpX_J9gfioS-kRr6yNghL1gkqzYwMSQhiahTlq0Jh17FdGO4IIzIXIIfEVEL0UuM7qoPz8E_xKeUfP4yAOxsjgiMrBx_CoEz5" width="507" height="507">
&nbsp;
<h4>How often should you communicate your vision and mission?</h4>
We asked our panel what they thought best practice was when it came to communicating mission and vision to employees. We got a mixed response, with the largest population of respondents saying &ldquo;at every opportunity&rdquo; (45.2%), followed by &ldquo;monthly&rdquo; (at 27.4%).
Some of our panel shared (via their comments) that you can definitely overdo it within communication. Others felt there was never a point where it was too much!&nbsp;It seems this really is something that divides opinion and is down to personal preference, or organisational need.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/V3ixPxRkoeVwbKUIsKxGGE43MCwFxJ-6xyJCHlMMLQwpCq7JI7DSFFmGHG6-Ja1LRFsYUrfrRK4ufQF9RZsx5mOKk_boz19E7uHnVxBLOnsLxfsh8KqreVTOXqaxdRmUOySY7PgD" width="515" height="514">
&nbsp;
<h4>Vision and mission are as important as they ever have been</h4>
In a rapidly changing world of work, are vision and mission outdated concepts? It seems not. 34% of our panel felt that they are as important as ever. With 48% telling us that they will become even more important for organisations to have in the future.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/eMAyiet6gltW_a6ncP9W4N1cstfXqKU_k1WWyryU7uBMIvtrdoGznX0HMszPkbF25ATazlwf9PT8qO0sQTABRl8mQl2DD-KKyyr1X7LrLV1HJP8IBW3yhNDIfRxGvfyc0ky2uWq3" width="506" height="506">
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h4>Vision and mission are important for attracting talent</h4>
A whopping 66% of our panel said that they wouldn&rsquo;t join an organisation if there wasn&rsquo;t a clear vision and mission statement in place. This really brings home the importance of having a clear vision and mission if you want to attract leadership talent. Including it as an early part of your recruitment process may have an impact on success for talent attraction.&nbsp;
Interestingly, some answered that they would join an organisation without this in place, but only if they could introduce this to the organisation.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/N58R1ze-yK6fs4AqLiQ0yaYkf0UCzz9VVGIchc98Qz9YEOuou2wJPl8AZwb-evI3IfndSUF69B002jDwnQlzK3mBnD4J0c61UH9-vBHMGTclRBUh1iOb8U6erP0qSWgxafftzii_" width="508" height="507">
&nbsp;
<h4>So what are the key takeaways here?</h4>
From our research some key themes emerged;
<ol>
<li>A clear vision and mission statement is a key driver of employee engagement. But only when done well! (See the comments below from our panel for their advice and experience on this)</li>
<li>There is no &ldquo;best practice&rdquo; when it comes to communication of the vision and mission, there is only &ldquo;best fit&rdquo; for the organisation - but there is definitely a need for it to be a regular drum-beat.&nbsp;</li>
<li>How meaningful the statements are is critical to success - they can&rsquo;t just be words - they must be a &ldquo;living and breathing&rdquo; part of the culture and supported by leaders.</li>
<li>Vision and mission are likely to become more important, not less as the change in organisations and the world of work continues at pace - if you haven't yet got this in place, now is the time.</li>
<li>Vision and mission is likely to be a key part of the decision making process during recruitment for leadership talent - if you don&rsquo;t have a vision and mission, it may be impacting on the success of recruitment.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;
Some of the other comments our leaders shared on these topics can be seen below;
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/GzIuE5ADAdXNRIAySh7gfXfRrgJ6GnZLj9hTKNs9xHxuoLvB-IvZhGEgKsvkkWEccIBhP6BbdDqo-122m9kOxo3B3e7xaGjFCShVW9ekYvXXUQZuRnKMu1gpHUEVzg99q_OExVzV" width="509" height="508">
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PFLCbYuz8ZLvRo5jejRj_2n8MxpcgeCPOlJTPYLeqtgvzlzdKyJlUodqAQOxwnoWb1C2gCZfSbIG_BBQukX1EyCO4J4V58N8gTe880dAqQskGqS_xPsedRd8QF4MGYm6YiPqtO7s" width="512" height="512">
&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/VwX-JeuuP0YnHX-cgtAbxE-kaUloFYElSPHUcIG94qf7eRugFl527sZmfU1PHdV1sR869LmnQkebhv3CpVnjS8gD09ru3kmBbJux62dO0-ZPz_-3xmaxP6L5YrBQ0rAz1NT8owaf" width="504" height="503">
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Be part of something special....
The Space HR 'Feedback 500' is a piece of monthly research we conduct to understand more about the topics affecting employee engagement. Each month we send our leadership community 5 short topical questions via WhatsApp. All responses are captured anonymously. We have leaders from a wide range of sectors including: HR consultants, recruitment, retail, automotive, creative arts, construction, technology, utilities, e-commerce, digital, marketing, legal, health, public sector and education.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;
To become part of our 'Feedback 500' sign up here:
<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.spacehr.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0</a>
&nbsp;
Find out more about Space HR at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/www.spacehr.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.spacehr.co.uk</a>.

Vision and Mission - The impact on employee engagement

Space HR 'Feedback 500' (Dec'21) - Topic: Vision and Mission

Have you ever had one of those moments where you find out that something bad happened in the workplace? How about when one of your team knew and it wouldn't have been a major issue if only you had found out sooner?
&nbsp;
Although the employee will often know that they should share the information, they can find it difficult to share.&nbsp;This can happen for many reasons. The employee may find the subject embarrassing. They could have concerns about being treated differently. Worse still they may feel that their job is on the line if they share.
&nbsp;
It isn't a reflection on the workplace, the manager or the employee that this happens. Even the best managers with the strongest relationships will find this from time to time. It is human nature.
&nbsp;
A lot of psychology research demonstrates that when people believe they are anonymous, they are less inhibited.&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent;" href="https://www.thehrdirector.com/features/employee-engagement/improve-quality-quantity-employee-feedback-make-anonymous/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">74% of employees</a>&nbsp;said they&rsquo;d be willing to give more feedback if they were truly anonymous.
&nbsp;
Compare how often you see strong opinions from Internet trolls versus people making the same statements on your high street. When we are unafraid of negative consequences, we're more willing to do something. The veil of anonymity can help remove those fears.
&nbsp;
But what is anonymity anyway?
&nbsp;
Anonymity can be&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent;" href="https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/anonymity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">defined as</a>&nbsp;"the state of remaining unknown to most other people". In many platforms, "anonymity" means not sharing a name, or hiding an email address. In its simplest form, this may be enough. When the data is a little more complex, anonymity often can't be that simple.
&nbsp;
To make the best decisions and gain the greatest insight from data, we often need more than one piece of information. With employee feedback, we often want to know not only what our employees think, but also if there is a particular group that thinks that.
&nbsp;
If I were running a national chain of restaurants, I would want to know if employees in one restaurant think differently to those in others. As a diverse employer, I may want to ensure that employees have the same great experience in the workplace no matter what gender they identify as. I likely also want to make sure that my waiters and chefs feel valued in the same way.
&nbsp;
To get that information, we need to know not only what the person wants to share, but also where they work, their identified gender and their role.
&nbsp;
In this example, anonymity isn't as simple as omitting the name. If Mary is the only female chef in the Hull branch, and we can filter our data by all those things, then she is no longer anonymous.
&nbsp;
If you want to get the best feedback, making sure that your employees know that what they share won't be traced back to them is crucial. If they don't feel safe, they may not be as open and honest. Trust is incredibly easy to lose and much harder to build back. If breached, employees may even choose not to offer their thoughts at all.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
At Space HR, we&rsquo;ve built our&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent;" href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/platform" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">platform</a>&nbsp;specifically to handle employee feedback, where anonymity is vital. Space HR guarantees anonymity by blocking any filters with fewer than 5 results. To ensure the valuable feedback isn't lost, the results are available rolled up, but we won't ever compromise the employee's anonymity. This means that sometimes, when applying a set of filters to results, we may have to say "no" but that is a small price to pay to ensure that there is trust in your feedback process.
&nbsp;
If you&rsquo;d like to find out more about our platform and how we look after your employees data, you can find us on&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent;" href="http://www.spacehr.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.spacehr.co.uk</a>.

Protecting anonymity with employee feedback

Sorry boss, there's something you should know... (please don't fire me)

It's fair to say that the 2020 hasn't been the year that most people expected. Covid 19 has turned people's work and personal lives upside down.
Entire industries have been decimated, hundreds of thousands of people have been made redundant and many more jobs are being propped up by the furlough schemes.
It's not all bad news though. Many industries are thriving and many new companies have emerged, started by determined entrepreneurs backed into the corner but ready to come out fighting.
From a social perspective, one of the most significant shifts is the amount of people now working from home.
The <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/coronavirusandhomeworkingintheuk/april2020">Office for National Statistics</a> recently published the following;
<ul>
<li>In April 2020,&nbsp;46.6%&nbsp;of people in employment did some work at home.</li>
<li>Of those who did some work from home,&nbsp;86.0%&nbsp;did so as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.</li>
<li>Of those who did some work from home, around one-third worked fewer hours than usual (34.4%), and around one-third worked more hours than usual (30.3%).</li>
<li>Women were slightly more likely to do some work at home than men,&nbsp;47.5%&nbsp;and&nbsp;45.7%&nbsp;respectively.</li>
<li>People aged 16 to 24 years were less likely to do some work from home than those in older age groups.</li>
<li>Occupations requiring higher qualifications and more experience were more likely to provide home-working opportunities than elementary and manual occupations.</li>
</ul>
These figures make pretty interesting reading. To see that&nbsp;86%&nbsp;of people working from home were doing so because of COVID -19 shows what a huge impact this pandemic has had on working society. We don't know if or when society might return to normal or even what normal is anymore.
&nbsp;
12 months ago I'd regularly get a train to London from Manchester for meetings, but now this doesn't seem so necessary. What else will change?
The thoughts of business leaders towards home working have shifted significantly too. I repeatedly hear things like;
"we no longer require an office if our people can work remotely"
"we can work more flexibly, with jobs being part home, part office based"
"we find our teams are getting a better work life balance at home"
"we've found that our people are just as productive working from home as they were from the office"
These statements might be true, or just the opinions of the most vocal. But are these leaders really talking to their employees to measure how they're feeling?
&nbsp;
The Ten Space engagement model has 4 pillars for engagement - Connection, Fulfilment, Leadership and Wellbeing.
In brief, we examine;
<ul>
<li>Connection -&nbsp;Do employees have a voice, feel informed, buy into your mission?</li>
<li>Fulfilment -&nbsp;Do employees feel proud to work for you, get rewarded and feel challenged?</li>
<li>Leadership -&nbsp;Are you bringing out the best in your teams and helping them to thrive?</li>
<li>Wellbeing -&nbsp;Do employees feel safe, secure, and supported, both emotionally and physically?</li>
</ul>
For some employees, working from home can have an extremely negative impact across all 4 pillars. They might lose their connection with the business because they don't have the exposure to the leaders like they did before. They my feel less fulfilled with their work and disengaged with the leadership team which could affect productivity.
Finally they might start to feel less safe and secure in their role and start to welcome conversations about other opportunities.
&nbsp;
If you let your people work from home its vital that you put the correct framework in place to make sure they remain engaged. Working from home is solitary by nature so its really easy for people to become disengaged, unhappy and unproductive. Business leaders need to work harder and find new, more innovative ways to engage with their employees.
Our top tips for keeping your employees engaged when working from home are;
<ul>
<li>Get really clear on what success looks like, set great goals, objectives, outcomes and timeframes and let your team get on with it.</li>
<li>Create time in your day / week to connect with your team. On a one to one basis, this is a great opportunity to check in on wellbeing, address any personal concerns they have, offer them support and continue any career conversation you've been having</li>
<li>On a team basis, it's an opportunity to keep the collaboration and team working vibe going and to provide them with updates on business performance and any changes that they may need to know</li>
<li>Don't forget about recognition, a little can go a long way. Recognising the heroics, the sacrifices or even just the reliability and consistency will be really valued by teams who are being challenged</li>
<li>Role model great behaviour for working from home and setting a balance; e.g. set your own working hours and stick to them - this will signal to your team you don't expect them to always be "on"</li>
<li>Keep embracing their families and their personal lives, their cats, their dogs, their goldfish and their kids. This personal connection is what great working relationships are made of and will really help to keep engagement high</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
For help and support with your employee engagement strategy, contact Victoria Bond at Ten Space - victoria@tenspace.co.uk

Maintaining engagement from the home office

Remote working in the covid era

Who are the people that influence you the most in the workplace? Who are the teams or the roles that you understand the most about?&nbsp;
They are likely to be those that you spend the most time with. Whether that&rsquo;s in person or via tech, it&rsquo;s likely that you feel most connected to the people you interact with the most.&nbsp;
This is the crux of the challenge with remote and hybrid working.&nbsp;
We can often fool ourselves that we understand what is happening in teams across the whole organisation, but we&rsquo;ve only actually listened fully to those closest to us.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Franklin Covey has a model called &ldquo;The Circles of Control, Influence and Concern&rdquo; - we can apply this to the workplace in a different way to help us demonstrate this point.&nbsp;
It shows us that those who are physically and metaphorically further away from us have the least influence on us. We may still be concerned about them, but it&rsquo;s likely that we understand the least about their day-to-day experiences.&nbsp;
If we don&rsquo;t understand their experiences, how can we know how engaged they are in the workplace?
&nbsp;
Here&rsquo;s the model in action:<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/fQSKnx5BNvFgmwc3caBnvgW3NEZrcbsKmOcauCW0NEWOYPgrxpsv0iFK2KB3_ZdE8KDkIAuzAy9gClfylqRe45YiBlCITtdVkxLgftawnKqPYyJlhiazuBmw4PfqU7tQuLMmauqiJPrLNwb9_8ns5rZx6t_6EnXGCLWMeZ5nzB0_OXvgflCkILU7tRHacQ" width="497" height="495">
&nbsp;
This presents a challenge when it comes to employee engagement and the experiences of remote and hybrid workers. How do we ensure that we understand their engagement and experience, so that we can enhance it?&nbsp;
How do we make them feel close to the organisation and engaged in our journey, without physical closeness?&nbsp;
The reality is that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/engaging-frontline-staff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1/3 of frontline workers</a>&nbsp;feel disconnected from their colleagues in HQ and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/engaging-frontline-staff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4 in 10 employees</a> feel their management is out of touch.&nbsp;
These ways of working may cause physical barriers to engagement. We need to work extra hard with these teams to overcome the barriers.
&nbsp;
<h3>Unifying Your Teams</h3>
This is where technology and anonymous employee feedback surveys can play a role. Using a survey that is accessible to all can provide a key part of a layered feedback strategy. It creates a clear employee voice for remote and hybrid teams.&nbsp;
When developing your survey, tell your team that you value their input and that you are asking about the things that would be most helpful to them.&nbsp;
Running regular surveys, with targeted questions, means that you will have a consistent flow of insight and feedback from those that you are least likely to see. All employees can share their voice in the organisation no matter how or where they work.&nbsp;
For bonus points, you can really target the remote and hybrid employee experience.&nbsp;
Focus on what it means to work in this way in your organisation. A recent study proved a&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/2022/03/research-how-employee-experience-impacts-your-bottom-line?registration=success" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">150% ROI</a> on additional investment in employee experience - so the numbers stack up.
We use email, SMS &amp; WhatsApp in our surveys. This makes them accessible to remote &amp; hybrid working teams, not just those on email - who are most likely to be in your circle of influence.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
We'd love to talk with you about how we might help if some of this applies to your current remote or hybrid model of operation or if you are switching to a new method of working.

The Circles of Control, Influence & Concern

Remote & Hybrid Working - Bridging the gap

How BEAM Fieldwork increased their survey completion rate to 94% by creating action plans using feedback  gathered by Ten Space

Case Study

Following a successful HR career, Victoria saw the opportunity to build a pragmatic product for HR teams to fall in love with. Her mission to ‘create incredible workplaces through highly engaged teams’, is underpinned by the technology and service delivered by the Ten Space team. 

CEO / Founder

Ten Space is a team of experts in employee engagement, experience and technology. Our powerful survey platform and service helps HR teams build winning businesses.

<div>Right from the start our goal was always very clear. We wanted to help businesses be the best versions of themselves.So we combined technology, support and resources for HR professionals and business leaders to gain incredible insight.We’ve built a product that’s really easy to build into your current framework and delivers feedback from day one.</div>

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Employee engagement is crucial for accountancy firms as it directly impacts productivity, client satisfaction and firm reputation. Engaged employees are more likely to go the extra mile to understand client needs, provide tailored solutions and build long-term relationships. High levels of engagement reduce turnover rates, saving recruitment costs and preserving institutional knowledge.
                

Measure employee engagement in accountancy firms through regular surveys assessing factors like job satisfaction, work-life balance and alignment with firm values. Include questions on communication effectiveness, career development opportunities and recognition. Analyse survey results to identify areas for improvement and gauge overall engagement levels.

 A great employee engagement platform will give you the data, insight and feedback you need to enact real change in your organisation. Using a third-party platform adds an extra layer of trust. By segmenting the data from engagement surveys, you can uncover valuable insights specific to different employee groups. You can find where your problems are coming from and create targeted actions.

How it works

<div><h3 class="heading pb-4">What is Employee Engagement?</h3>To put it in its simplest form: Employee engagement is the level of commitment, enthusiasm and dedication employees have towards their work and the organisation. Enhanced employee engagement reveals itself in employees reaching their full potential and delivering exceptional performance at work.</div>

Measuring employee engagement in your legal firm can be achieved through regular employee surveys. This first step is critical in gathering data that will help you make decisions. Ideally you should be surveying your business every month so you can quickly observe any drops in engagement and affect a plan quickly to resolve issues. Regular surveys provide the data you need to build a strategic engagement plan based on real information, not gut feeling.


Using an ‘engagement specific’ survey platform will help you gather data faster, more securely and more accurately. The right platform will also make it easier for people to submit their responses in a way that’s easy for them. You’ll be able to compare results over time to analyse trends. By segmenting the data from engagement surveys, you can uncover valuable insights specific to different employee groups. You can find where your problems are coming from and create targeted actions.

Once you’ve done your first survey, things will become instantly clearer. You’ll start to see the hotpots in your company by a variety of segmentation criteria such as team, location, gender, role and tenure. Open-ended feedback will often help provide a solution to the challenges you’re seeing. We’re always amazed how much insight a first survey provides to our customers from a high level right into the detail. Measuring consistent data-points over time will help gain a deep understanding of how to build your strategic plan.


Build your employee engagement strategy

<div><h3 class="heading pb-4">High engagement means higher performance</h3>Employee engagement is a critical activity for professional services firms. Retaining your high performing people will help you build a high performing legal practice. 

But if you don’t have a way to measure engagement and understand when engagement is dropping, you run the risk of losing your top performers and a potential domino effect of top talent.</div>

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learn more about employee experience &amp; retention

An easy-to-use platform to helps you capture employee feedback simply, safely and securely.

Survey using Email, WhatsApp and SMS. Easily reach your deskless mobile and remote workers with surveys so everyone can share their ideas and feedback.

Reporting that delivers instant actionable insights, whilst offering rich detailed analysis.

The insights you need to prioritise, make decisions and track your impact. The data you need to help your team thrive.

<h5 class="heading mt-4 aos-init"> Take employee feedback to the next level</h5>If you're already gathering employee feedback but want to do more, we can show you how.

<div>The Ten Space survey platform does the hard work for you, reducing months of data collection and analysis into minutes.</div>

<div>Our survey platform delivers feedback surveys to gather responses back quickly for super-quick analysis and faster action.</div>

<div>Employee surveys, that allow you, your HR team and your leaders to focus on what they do best - building engagement and creating change.</div>

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Choose the plan that suits you

<ul><li>Access for up to 250 team members</li><li>Bi-monthly engagement surveys</li><li>Industry specific questions</li><li>Real-time results and analytics</li><li>Result segmentation, tracking &amp; comparisons</li><li>Suggested actions from experts</li><li><a href="/employee-engagement-model/">The Ten Space employee engagement model</a></li></ul>

<div class="text-center"><a>Find out more about advantage</a></div>

Fast and powerful engagement surveys

advantage

<ul><li>For all sizes of organisation</li><li>Advanced AI analytics</li><li>Build your own surveys</li><li>Distribution via email, WhatsApp &amp; SMS</li><li>Customisable data segmentation</li><li>Targeted surveys based on segmentation</li><li>Customised dashboards</li><li>Track key parts of the employee journey</li><li>Permissions based reports</li><li>Dedicated engagement managers to help you get the best results</li></ul>

For larger teams with dedicated requirements

enterprise

Build question sets unique to your business to get to the heart of the problem.

Set surveys to deliver when you want, to whoever you want, where you want.

Your business is comprised of lots of different teams that work in different ways.

Our platform is customisable to fit the needs of every part of your organisation.

Ten Space AI summaries reduce days of data analysis into seconds of processing. In a few clicks the key themes of your survey are summarised, allowing you to identify the parts of your business that need help. 

Simple, clear, easy to understand dashboards for faster desicion making.

Tag and segment data easily to identify areas of concern.

Get ahead by viewing results as they come in.

Confidently identify hidden meanings and discover trends.

Agile businesses need a flexible and inclusive approach.Ten Space reaches the parts that other platforms can't, using Whatsapp, SMS &amp; Email to gather employee feedback.This leads to higher participation and a more inclusive experience, capturing the data from all your people, easily.

The Ten Space survey platform offers a data-driven approach for HR professionals. You can easily design, gather and analyse real feedback from your across your business in real-time. 

Listen to HR Director's Cut - insight into your dilemmas, conundrums and questions

Engage your team to deliver the future of your business today. From only £3 per employee per month. Whether you're starting your employee engagement journey or taking your people strategy to the next level, we can help.

Capture and utilise diversity data to enhance your culture. Capture diversity data in an efficient and safe way. Explore diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in your organisation. Ten Space supports your DEIB strategy. We can help you capture diversity data from your team in an efficent way to enhance your people data.

Elevate engagement. Retain talent. Supercharge performance. An engaged workforce helps businesses achieve so much more. The Ten Space survey platform captures the insights you need to understand employee engagement &amp; culture across your organisation. Take action &amp; drive change.

Create exceptional employee experiences. Optimise engagement. Supercharge your EVP. Let us take you on a journey.... Explore the experiences of your employees. Ten Space can help you to explore the journeys your employees take as they join your organisation, all the way through to when they leave.

Accelerate the performance of your teams to drive business performance. Explore what is driving, or holding back, your teams from delivering high-performance. We can help you explore high-performance in your organisation. Using our performance-focused surveys, we can help you uncover what is holding a team back from achieving their full potential.

Our monthly subscription fee includes our intuitive survey platform and wrap around service.

Ten Space fully supports your Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) strategy in the workplace. We offer comprehensive solutions to help you efficiently capture diversity data from your team, thereby enriching your people data. Additionally, our platform enables you to explore the topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within your workplace culture, providing valuable data and insights to inform and enhance your DEIB strategy.

Ten Space equips companies with the necessary resources, tools, knowledge and information to create the ultimate diverse and inclusive workforce. Our platform offers analytics and insights that enable organisations to develop and implement effective DEIB programs. From setting goals on equality to attracting diverse candidates during the hiring process, we provide solutions that address gender, race, ethnicity, and other dimensions of diversity.

Leveraging our data capture platform, we ensure that the process of collecting DEIB data is efficient, safe, and secure. Our platform is designed to capture data in a clean and organised manner, ready for your analysis and utilisation.

With our DEIB focused surveys, we enable you to capture the essential data and gain insights that support your DEIB strategy. We can explore general engagement across different demographics, or we can specifically focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as central themes, allowing you to delve deeper into this critical area of culture.

As a trusted third-party platform that captures feedback anonymously, we provide a safe space for your employees to share their experiences and provide valuable feedback. This anonymity fosters an environment of authenticity and trust, enabling you to build an accurate and comprehensive picture of the insights you need to drive your DEIB initiatives.

We understand that your DEIB strategy is an ongoing journey, not a one-time event. That's why we help you regularly capture feedback and insights, allowing you to track your progress over time. By monitoring and analysing this data, you can demonstrate the impact and return on investment of your DEIB efforts, ensuring continuous improvement and advancement.

An engaged workforce helps organisations achieve their goals. Ten Space captures the valuable insights you need to build a positive culture through high employee engagement. Your people managers and leaders can easily identify and address those critical issues preventing high engagement and build a culture that everyone buys into.

Ten Space empowers organisations to unlock the full potential of their employee engagement strategy. By utilising our platform, people managers and leaders can leverage their knowledge, experience and approach to drive positive change throughout the workplace. Effective communication, addressing challenges and fostering a supportive culture are integral aspects of our platform, enabling you to build a thriving organisation that values its employees. With Ten Space, you have the necessary insights and data to prove the impact of your employee engagement strategy and continuously improve the employee experience.

"Ten Space help HR teams identify and resolve retention hotspots quickly. The data helps you improve every stage of the employee journey including hiring, onboarding, probation, reviews and exit interviews to continuously improve the employee experience and reduce retention risks"

<div><h3 class="heading pb-4">What is the Employee Engagement model?</h3>Some believe engagement is solely about having happy employees, but engagement goes beyond this. Enhanced employee engagement reveals itself when your employees reach their full potential and deliver exceptional performance at work.At Ten Space we use a simple model. It helps you explore engagement in your organisation. It shows you where you already excel and where you need to focus to improve.</div>

When your employees feel connected to the mission of the company, their engagement improves significantly. They find meaning and purpose in their work, knowing that their efforts contribute to something larger than themselves. They become more invested in the success of your organisation, leading to higher productivity, increased job satisfaction and a stronger sense of belonging within the team.

A great leader inspires and motivates their team members, earning their trust and respect. They provide clear direction, guidance, and support, allowing employees to perform their best and reach their full potential. A great leader creates a sense of empowerment, job satisfaction and loyalty among the team, leading to enhanced employee engagement and overall success.

 Employee engagement improves when your employees feel fulfilled in their role. When individuals find their work meaningful and aligned with their values, they are motivated to invest their time and energy into their work, going above and beyond to achieve goals. This positive mindset and attitude contribute to increased productivity, stronger teamwork and a happier work environment, ultimately enhancing overall employee engagement.

The highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychologically safe workplaces. Psychologically safe workplaces promote healthier, more productive and more inclusive workforces. They also provide the environment in which innovation can thrive and people can perform at their best.

Ten Space is the platform to gather regular employee feedback. Every month, your employees are able to offer the feedback and insight you need to create positive change throughout your organisation.

The Ten Space engagement model underpins the data. It ensures a consistent approach to capturing feedback that can be measured over time. Our platform helps you build the perfect question set to understand the real issues preventing high engagement. 

 Ten Space does all the hard work, saving you days of admin. Questions are sent via email, WhatsApp or SMS and responses are gathered back in the platform. No matter where your employees are or how they work, there is always an easy way for them to provide their feedback. 

See responses as they're being submitted. Our dashboards display real-time information for you and your managers to access valuable insights at any time. This allows you to spend less time collating data and more time taking the actions that matter to build higher engagement.  

The Ten Space way

Retaining your best people is all about understanding the individual and collective journeys they're on. Ten Space allows you to predict retention issues before they occur and prevent your top talent from leaving.  

The Ten Space survey platform allows leaders to seamlessly follow their employees' journeys within the organisation, gaining invaluable insights into their professional growth and development. The platform provides a unique ability to monitor employee sentiment through live data streams from surveys, enabling leaders to make informed decisions to enhance workplace satisfaction.

All of your employees are on a journey. Even before they work for you, they're building an impression of your organisation through the hiring process. Common experiences for all employees may include hiring, onboarding, probation, promotion and exit. Ten Space allows you to unpack the employee experience at each stage of the journey, helping you improve the experience for future employees. 

Ten Space provides a highly customised in-depth feedback loop to understand which parts of your HR initiatives and processes could be causing retention issues. Our platform sends our feedback surveys at critical times to gather sentiment and understand feeling. At every step, you'll gain a true understanding of how employees really feel and what retention risks exist.

Ten Space makes the process of collecting feedback really easy. Our platform allows you to build and launch custom feedback loops that can analyse specific journeys being experienced in all parts of the organisation. You can customise your questions to gain a deep understanding of employee experiences. And our AI summaries make it easy to analyse retention hotspots at all times.

At any time, your HR team can log into Ten Space and view our feedback dashboards. Our customer success team will hold regular reviews and insights sessions with you, so you feel fully supported. We'll help you to get the most out of the insights you've captured and support you in taking the next steps to further enhance employee satisfaction. 

The Ten Space way

Ten Space assists you in exploring high-performance within your organisation. Leveraging our performance-focused surveys, we enable you to achieve your goals and unlock the full potential of your teams. Our platform helps you identify the unique qualities that make a team exceptional, empowering you to replicate and build upon their success. Analysing performance culture team by team in organisations where performance matters.

Ten Space equips you with everything you need to drive team performance and achieve success. By leveraging our platform, you can assess and enhance the culture, communication, management, individual commitment, projects and processes that contribute to team effectiveness. Through comprehensive performance evaluation metrics and insights, you gain a deeper understanding of your teams and can make informed decisions to drive improvement and productivity.

Utilising our performance-based question sets we’ll help you understand how to assess performance in organisation. We guide you by asking the right questions to extract the necessary insights on performance evaluation for teams. Whether your team operates in creative, technical, administrative, or sales-focused areas, we tailor the process to fit your team's specific requirements.

We assist you in segmenting your team data, enabling you to gain in-depth performance insights and understand the trends that impact team effectiveness. Our intuitive dashboard helps you quickly identify key insights from your results, allowing you to focus on actionable steps and next moves.

Harnessing the power of Ten Space as a trusted third-party anonymous platform, we provide a safe space for employees to share any challenges, barriers, or catalysts that affect their performance. This way, we foster a climate of openness, encouraging individuals to provide candid feedback that can uncover valuable insights.

We can help you integrate communication and training needs analysis into your surveys, allowing you to gather ideas and solutions directly from your team members. By capturing this information, you gain a clear understanding of work expectations and where your team would like you to focus your efforts to improve performance culture. There are no limitations or holding back when it comes to taking action.

Capture and utilise diversity data to enhance your culture.

Insights to understand the engagement and culture across your organisation

Identify and resolve retention hotspots in your organisation

Capture and utilise diversity data in an efficient and safe way to enhance your culture.  

Capture the insights you need to understand employee engagement &amp; culture across your organisation.

Create exceptional employee experiences. Optimise engagement. Supercharge your EVP.

Accelerate the performance of your teams to drive business performance

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