I generally try and keep the various threads on this blog going as new developments arise. With this in mind, I would like to alert you to three news items have arrived at (broadly) the same time, and which do do indeed fit the above title.

So let’s take them in order:

The Good: The latest Workplace Employment Study (co-sponsored by ACAS) is reported as showing that Job Satisfaction has improved. And this despite many employees having limited (or no) pay increases in recent years.

I have not read this particular study just yet, but an article on this topic can be viewed here: http://goo.gl/K65NP

The Bad: Whereas the CIPD Employee Outlook report suggests that employee engagement may be at a record low. A good summary of this document can be found on the HR Bullets website at the following link: http://goo.gl/vyDg5

So two, very conflicting, pieces of data on the important topic of employee engagement. Hard to say which one is right, but what we do know is that engaged employees are really key to the employer’s bottom-line. Which takes us neatly to the last of our topics, which makes rather sobering reading:

The Ugly: Confidence amongst Business leaders hits it’s lowest level in 21 years according to BDO’s Optimism (?) index. This is a record low since this index began, and may show some more worrying times lie ahead. This was reported only this morning on the BBC news services, and more information can be viewed here: http://goo.gl/mVmds

To a degree, this does not come as much of a shock. With the Olympics (and the underpinning to the UK economy that this event provided) now some way behind us, and infrastructure projects unable to start as quickly as Government would like, there was always going to be a period of when the UK business confidence sagged. But a lowest figure for at least 21 years is concerning.

Given that there is little the average employer can do to speed up national projects, or impact on global economics, it’s really a question of managing your business at a local level to produce the best results. And improving employee engagement so that all indicators in this area are positive will certainly help your business.

Employee Benefits do of course play a significant role in engagement, and it’s important to have the right mix of benefits for your workforce. There will be plenty more on this topic at our events, and on this blog, in the coming months.

Will keep you posted.

Best regards

Steve