WEST Midlands business leaders will discuss how to engage and motivate the workforce at a conference chaired by workplace specialists Acas next month.

The conference will emphasise the importance of health and wellbeing at work in engaging employees to help improve an organisation's business performance.

Recent research has found that only around a third of UK employees say they are actively engaged at work.

Chaired by Acas chairman Ed Sweeney, local business specialists John Greatrex, HR director at Unipart and Richard Ennis, employment partner at Rees Page, will be speaking at the event. Abigail Hirshman, health, work and wellbeing (HWWB) practitioner at Coventry University and the Coventry and Warwickshire Business Chamber, will contribute on health at work.

Nita Clarke, co-author of the MacLeod Report on employee engagement, and Government adviser Professor Dame Carol Black, author of Health at work - an independent review of sickness absence, will also be speaking.

Malcolm Boswell, Acas West Midlands director, said: “At Acas we know from our experience of working with businesses up and down the country that an engaged workforce leads to improved performance and increased productivity and innovation.

“Unfortunately, many organisations look upon health and wellbeing at work and employee engagement as two separate areas of HR activity. In so doing they fail to fully realise the benefit of increased employee engagement.

"A successful engagement programme will aim to ensure that employees share their organisation's vision, values and objectives. It will also include a planned approach to increasing the general health of their workforce.

“More progressive organisations realise the benefits of focussing on health issues and provide schemes ranging from physiotherapy and job design through to on-site GPs to reduce time spent away from work.

“This will help to ensure that staff feel valued and are more likely to go the extra mile in terms of performance, flexibility and innovation."

Acas believes that there are five key ingredients to a happier, more motivated and productive workforce:

  • Leaders need to demonstrate a vision and commitment to workplace engagement and communicate it effectively so that staff know that their input is valued.
  • Employees have a chance to voice their views and feel comfortable about offering their thoughts and ideas. Employees know first hand what works and what does not and harnessing that knowledge can be invaluable.
  • Genuine routine consultation builds trust. Effective managers who work closely and openly with staff and honest leadership will build trust, which is key to creating an environment where success is celebrated and staff have pride in their work.
  • Line managers need to be skilled to make engagement a reality with their teams on a day-to-day basis - this can make or break your business.
  • Health and Wellbeing at work needs to be taken seriously. It is not a luxury and has a vital role to play in increasing engagement.

The conference will be held on Thursday, December 13 at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham from 9.30am to 3.30pm and is open to directors, managers, HR professionals, occupational health and medical professionals, health and safety professionals and trade union and employee representatives.

Delegates will have an opportunity to get practical advice on the best ways to introduce and improve employee engagement and health at work policies from the experts as well as case studies and examples of successful models.