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’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)
Having a clear vision and mission statement is key to employee engagement
80% of the leaders we surveyed stated that having a clear vision and mission statement was “VERY” important for employee engagement.
It seems that if you’re building an employee engagement plan establishing your vision and mission isn’t a step you want to miss out!
How often should you communicate your vision and mission?
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 “at every opportunity” (45.2%), followed by “monthly” (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! It seems this really is something that divides opinion and is down to personal preference, or organisational need.
Vision and mission are as important as they ever have been
In a rapidly changing world of work, are vision and mission outdated concepts?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.
Vision and mission are important for attracting talent
A whopping 66% of our panel said that they wouldn’t join an organisation if there wasn’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.
Interestingly, some answered that they would join an organisation without this in place, but only if they could introduce this to the organisation.
So what are the key takeaways here?
From our research some key themes emerged;
- 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)
- There is no “best practice” when it comes to communication of the vision and mission, there is only “best fit” for the organisation - but there is definitely a need for it to be a regular drum-beat.
- How meaningful the statements are is critical to success - they can’t just be words - they must be a “living and breathing” part of the culture and supported by leaders.
- 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.
- Vision and mission is likely to be a key part of the decision making process during recruitment for leadership talent - if you don’t have a vision and mission, it may be impacting on the success of recruitment.
Some of the other comments our leaders shared on these topics can be seen below;
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:
https://www.spacehr.co.uk/enrol/62472213-f57f-4380-b06c-f5be73ebabf0
Find out more about Space HR at www.spacehr.co.uk.
