How Falling Oil Prices Can Boost Employee Engagement

It may come as a surprise but the streamlining going on in the North Sea oil industry is giving people the opportunity to engage with their work like never before.

The pressure is now on to reduce costs and improve efficiency. The alternative is job losses which obviously everyone wants to avoid.

Enter creative employee engagement: Employees coming up with ideas and doing what they can to save the company money and increase efficiency. From the very small, no more disposable coffee cups – something that the line manager can sign off; to the important stuff that gives the employee a direct line to leadership.

Add to that you can keep reminding people visually around the business of the impact and extent their savings are having. Reminding people of the outcomes of their efforts is motivating and can drive further ambition to make improvements. And it really works. We’ve seen companies generate exciting levels of cost savings by enlisting the support and contributions of their own people.

In this way streamlining and cost saving may not result in the dreaded lay-offs or at least help to minimise them. And the uncertainty that employees feel when money is tight? That can give way to a war time like camaraderie and a renewed sense of purpose!

How can we give people back control over the situation – empower them to make a difference and have a say in how the business fights back? We give them the airspace and encouragement to be really involved and listened to, giving them ownership over the solution.

Actions speak louder than words and it must be really satisfying for employees to see the impact of their ideas on the business. If your company is struggling with the uncertainty and negativity around profit decline why not give it a go?