EXCLUSIVE: Kate Griffiths-Lambeth (pictured), group HR director at wealth management firm Charles Stanley, will discuss how her organisation has improved and utilised employee engagement to create business transformation at Employee Benefits Live 2019.
Her session, titled ‘Cultivating a more engaged and productive workforce’, will be delivered in conjunction with Denise Sanderson-Estcourt, head of people at the Open Data Institute, as part of the employee engagement conference stream on Tuesday 1 October 2019.
Griffiths-Lambeth will showcase Charles Stanley’s journey from 2012, when the organisation faced issues with governance, employee engagement and remuneration, to where the business is now, with a 76% employee engagement rate as at September 2019.
She will explain the process Charles Stanley undertook to transform into a business founded on the ideas and passion of its people. This work started in 2015, with the appointment of a new chief executive officer and a revised approach that centred around client satisfaction, market rating and employee engagement.
Griffiths-Lambeth will highlight how the organisation implemented its first employee engagement survey in November to December 2015, and how the results were used to set the agenda for Charles Stanley’s first employee conference, held in January 2016. This flagged how staff really felt about the business, as well as curated their ideas in how organisational practices could be improved.
She said: “There were no modern practices, there wasn’t the right governance structure in place, remuneration was up the creek, but there was absolutely no money, because we were close to bankrupt, to sort the business out. I quite liked the idea of being involved in a turnaround.
“Charles Stanley had never asked its employees what was important to them and had no understanding of employee engagement. [The survey and conference] was the first time we were really involving individuals in their future.
“Charles Stanley’s transformation was driven by its people, through the passion of its people, using engagement. If [employers are] able to harness the power of [their] people, they know a lot more about the day-to-day than [leaders].
“I’m perfectly prepared to discuss openly and frankly what went really well, what we could have done better, what it would be great to learn and share.”
Employee Benefits Live 2019 will take place on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 October 2019 at The ExCeL London.
