Employee Engagement Critical to Economic Growth – Minister Shaw

Hon. Audley Shaw (2nd left), Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, shares a light moment with (from left) Valerie Veira, Chief Executive Officer, Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC); Avril Leonce, Director of SME Partnership and Development, and Audrey Tugwell, Executive Vice-President, Retail Banking, both of Scotiabank; at the opening ceremony of day one of the Employee Engagement Conference hosted by JBDC under the theme ‘Disturb. Reconnect. Engage’ at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston on October 22, 2018.

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw, says the active engagement of workers is critical to the overall development and growth of Jamaica’s economy.

According to Minister Shaw, the country has to find creative ways to increase employee engagement, as low levels of productivity and disengagement will negatively impact the bottom line of any organization and, ultimately, national economic growth. He noted that it is advantageous for businesses, as well as the local economy, when our employees are highly motivated or properly engaged according to their strengths and talents.

“A conversation must be had about how we engage employees to achieve optimal business results in the workplace,” he said.

The Minister was addressing the opening session of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation’s (JBDC), 2^nd staging of its annual Employee Engagement Conference at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston on October 22, 2018.

He said that the dialogue on employee engagement must include a focus on the growth of new media and how global thought trends are providing the millennial generation with options outside of the traditional workforce.

Mr. Shaw also reiterated the need for employers to invest in the vocational training of their employees.  He explained that training is imperative in order for employees to “clearly understand their roles and functions in the organisation, so as to make meaningful contributions.”

“It is through training that we empower our employees and we are better able to get their engagement and commitment. Critical to all of this is the focus on the development of our human capital through capacity-building and training programmes,” Minister Shaw said.

He further urged businesses to invest in their employees, who are “our greatest assets” because, at the end of the day, it is people and relationships that matter.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the JBDC, Valerie Veira, said the two-day conference aims to provide a transformational experience for all the participants.

“It is not customary for leaders to cause disturbances, but this year the JBDC is charging them, through the conference, to become disturbers in their organisations.  In order to see change, leaders must demolish and rebuild from the ground up, ” Ms. Veira added.”

Under the theme ‘Disturb, Reconnect, Engage’, the staging of the conference was motivated by the findings of the National Employee Engagement Report 2016, which, among other things, indicates that 24.5%, or approximately one in four employees is disengaged either moderately or actively.

The objective is to strengthen the capacity of Jamaican leaders to engage the workforce towards producing optimal business results while creating a platform to showcase local research studies centred on employee engagement and workforce productivity.

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