years ago, Sherritt did an employee engagement survey with their
operations worldwide. They engaged with local employees in
Madagascar to give their leadership team an intimate appreciation
for how particular messaging in the survey would come across to
the workforce in Madagascar. Understanding this difference and
changing the messaging based on their feedback was a key driver
in the survey’s success.
Developing appropriate communication tools and materials
for global audiences can be a challenge and requires collaboration
between a company’s different regional HR managers and local
employees, but the end result – a more engaged workforce – is
worth the effort.
LOCAL AND NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT LAW
Thoroughly understanding employment legislation is also impor-tant
and should be an absolute requirement for local HR managers
at all operations. In order to engage culturally diverse employees,
organizations must first meet all the basic employment require-ments
as established by national governing bodies. Mexico will
have different employment standards than Japan or Germany, and
it’s essential to appreciate the differences, however subtle. Having
a skilled and well-managed HR department for each operational
location can help businesses meet these necessary requirements.
STRUCTURED PROCESSES TO
PROMOTE ACCOUNTABILITY
Implementing the right reporting structure, with every employee
having clear position descriptions, allows for clarity around
accountabilities and deliverables. This process allows all employ-ees,
regardless of level, to deliver what they are committed to and
at a level with which they are capable. Understanding where to
reduce repetitive or duplicated tasks helps to sustain long-term
employee engagement.
MOTIVATION FOR MULTIGENERATIONAL
EMPLOYEES
When discussing cultural diversity, age-related diversity is often
overlooked. In large multinational organizations, there are often
several generations of employees that need to be motivated and
engaged in different ways. What motivates and drives millen-nial
employees will not necessarily have the same impact with
Baby Boomers. Through ongoing communication and feedback
from employees, HR professionals can appropriately determine
what engagement strategies work best for long-term results while
respecting the natural evolution of business.
STEERING COMMITTEES FOR
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
By establishing inclusion and diversity committees at all oper-ational
sites, Sherritt was able to gain valuable insight and
information that could have been overlooked. The input from
local teams is critical in order to ensure existing policies are appro-priate
for and applicable to employees in varying regions. Allowing
participatory employees to actively engage in the HR decision-making
processes promotes a sense of loyalty and shows that
their opinions are truly valued. These diversity and inclusion com-mittees
work especially well in satellite locations where there are
significant barriers that may impact more corporate HR efforts.
APPROPRIATE EMPLOYEE SUPPORT PROGRAMS
Through strategically partnering with non-profits, physical and
mental wellbeing organizations and local initiatives, it is absolutely
imperative for HR teams to provide and promote services that
will help employees perform better, both physically and mentally.
These partnerships are highly dependent upon local employee
demographics and regional need. A mental health support ser-vice
may be incredibly useful in North America, but employees
in Cuba could collectively have different needs that do not nec-essarily
involve the same stream of mental health support. This is
where active, two-way communication with employees and feed-back
tools are essential.
OVERALL COMPANY OBJECTIVES
Multinational organizations often face the issue of inconsistent
objectives throughout their operations. Operational objectives
should not be siloed. Instead, management teams from each area
should work together collectively to meet the business goals set out
by executive leadership. The high-level business objectives should
be clearly understood by all employees in management positions
and be used as a guideline for all local goals and objectives.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Employee engagement, regardless of cultural or regional diversity,
requires transparency, accountability, two-way communication
and inclusion at its core. HR managers working in various geo-graphical
locations for the same organization should be aware of
business goals and work with local employees to develop HR pol-icies
and procedures that are relevant for the work environment
they are in. Management should be aware of all employment leg-islation
for various geographical operations and print materials in
all necessary languages and present them via appropriate chan-nels
for accessibility purposes. Analytics, diversity committees and
one-on-one employee engagement are all incredibly effective tools
for gauging the effectiveness of an HR strategy.
Employees are a company’s greatest asset. In diverse and geo-graphically
dispersed organizations, HR is uniquely positioned to
actively support the efforts to demonstrate the respect and inclu-sion
that lead to an engaged workforce. n
Karen Trenton is the senior vice president of Human Resources at
Sherritt International Corporation.
hr practice
THE INPUT FROM LOCAL TEAMS
IS CRITICAL IN ORDER TO ENSURE
EXISTING POLICIES ARE APPROPRIATE
FOR AND APPLICABLE TO EMPLOYEES
IN VARYING REGIONS.
26 ❚ FEBRUARY 2019 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL