Increasing efficiency and productivity is at the heart of businesses. But as in sports, there are limits to what are called ‘marginal gains’, which are possible by continuing to tinker with processes and procedures. However, by putting people first and focusing more on creating a safe environment for employees, as Safetyboarding does, greater productivity gains are within reach.
Productivity gains are actually up for grabs
Gallup’s Employee Engagement report shows that 73% of employees in Belgium are unengaged. Gallup also calculated that non-engaged employees are 45% less productive. Increasing productivity is therefore possible by investing in team engagement as a priority. A simple calculation shows that betting on more engagement in an organisation with 50 employees can quickly yield 1 million euros. That amount is probably a lot higher than the efficiency gains to be made by working on the processes. Just compare it to cycling: to gain seconds in a time trial, Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar will probably benefit from a sophisticated helmet, but the most important condition for top performances is that they feel good about themselves mentally.
Ownership
The Safetyboarding programme ensures that employees actually start to see the company they work for as their own. At Easi, the company that was recently voted Belgium’s best employer for the 11th time by the Vlerick Business School and Great Place to work, that ownership is even literally applied. Thomas Van Eeckhout, who succeeded founder Salvatore Curaba as CEO, reflects on this in his book The golden tip of ownership. In it, he shares his insights on how sharing information, values and profits contributes to a high-performing organisation. If employees feel ownership of the company, which is actually the case at Easi for some of the employees thanks to a participative business model, then companies can kill two birds with one stone: achieve great financial results with happy employees. And thus also demonstrate that the zebra economy model does work and need not be a utopia.
Basic needs
DENKie’s Safetyboarding programme also helps companies to fully put people at the centre and focus on their basic needs. In the many literature that has already appeared on this, we can learn that these are recognition, transparency, freedom, trust and love. Even if this does not translate into getting shares, it will also make employees feel some ownership and make an important contribution to growth, without them feeling that they have to spin in a wheel that obliges them to always run faster. The progress made by companies applying Embrace Safetyboarding principles illustrates that committing to safety and sustainability really works.
Author: Geert Degrande
