Businesses in Hampshire and Dorset must develop the talent within their workforce and the wider region if they are to ensure future business success.
That was the message from an event held by leading business and financial adviser, Grant Thornton UK LLP, at Lainston House near Winchester last night (November 20).
The event brought together senior business leaders and experts from companies across the region, including Fareham-based Matchtech and Lucketts, Ringwoood’s Raymond Brown Group and Carswell Gould, based in Southampton.
Led by by Sacha Romanovitch, Head of People and Culture at Grant Thornton UK and Mel Wombwell, Head of Talent Development, delegates heard how important talent development and staff engagement was to ensure business success. They discussed the main challenges for business leaders in Hampshire and Dorset, and how that would impact their strategies.
Norman Armstrong, Partner at Grant Thornton in Southampton, said: “Employee engagement is usually considered the remit of HR rather than finance but empirical evidence and hard statistics tell another story. An analysis of global business performance by Towers Watson has found that those businesses reporting the highest levels of employee engagement constantly outperform others – and by a significant margin. Businesses where staff engagement was low had an average operating margin of just under 10%, while those where sustainable engagement was high had an average margin of 27%.”
Reflecting on what businesses in the region could do to improve employee engagement Norman said: “Paying attention to these drivers of engagement and making a small investment in training and coaching, as well as thinking strategically about engagement, can make a significant positive impact of the bottom line. The business case is improved by staff productivity, reduced recruitment costs and control of wasted investment in people. This all makes hard financial sense.”
The role that businesses had to play in retaining talent in the region from universities such as Southampton, Bournemouth and Winchester was also discussed at Wednesday’s event.
Stewart Dunn, of Southampton marketing communications agency, was one of the business leaders debating the issue at the event. He said: “These universities are pouring out talented and creative young minds and businesses and local government need to work together to ensure we keep them in the region. Creating an environment that graduates want to stay in, with good housing, good recreational facilities and a good cultural offering should be top of the agenda. Businesses should also be working with schools, colleges and universities to identify and address any skills gaps.”
