A Talk on Employee Engagement-On the Tedx Stage

About 18 years ago I first delivered a speech on Why the Customer is Not the King. It was during my orientation and training at HCL Comnet, my first job. I still remember the speech. I concluded the speech saying that the Customer is not the King but the Wazir (Minister). My underlying message that day was simple. Organisations who are and will remain successful are the ones who understand and appreciate the biggest asset they have. Their Employees!

Little did I know that 18 years since I will be delivering a very similar talk on a Tedx platform. Its been almost 2 decades but the feelings and emotions on the subject have only grown stronger. A lot has changed in the past 18 years and I have learnt many things. However there is one thing that I still strongly believe in and am passionate about. If Organisations have to be successful they MUST put their Employees First.

Putting Employees First is not easy. When margins are squeezed, competition is fierce and customers are demanding, it’s very easy to forget about the employees. The most common argument you hear is that “Customers are the reason we are in business”. While this is true, it is equally true that it is your employees who give their blood, tear and sweat to get and retain those customers. So if you want to grow your business, its important that you focus on making sure your team is taken good care of.

Employees First is not a philosophy. Rather, it is a culture which needs to be embedded in the DNA of an organisation. It has to flow from top down. It is is Leaders in an organisation who are responsible for nourishing this mindset and taking the steps to make sure that the employees are happy and more importantly engaged.

There is enough research and evidence to prove that Engaged Employees are more productive, help improve customer satisfaction and deliver overall better results. However a pitfall which many organisations fall into is to mistake employee happiness and employee engagement. An employee may be happy and do the job. An engaged employee will however very often go that extra mile and deliver beyond the job!