KPMG has announced that it is going to scrap the annual engagement survey. According to Robert Bolton, Lead Partner—Global HR transformation centre of excellence, KPMG, the decision to get rid of the survey was part of a strategy to focus on more robust diagnosis that produce ‘something truly worth measuring’.
Bolton claims the problem with the status quo is that it is rooted in the idea that engagement drives performance—an idea he says is misunderstood and not evidence-based. He explained, “There is a massive industry behind the belief that if a company drives up engagement productivity will increase.”
He went onto say, “In reality, engagement is an ill-defined term. And measuring it once or twice a year with some static survey is not very scientific, no matter how much it's dressed up to appear so.”
With HR battling for relevance, Bolton claimed that HR is entering ‘an era of evidence-based people management’. He explained, “HR has sought a place at the leadership table for the past 20 years. But until it brings evidence, rather than chasing fads and fashion, like employee engagement, it's never going to win that place.”
KPMG’s UK office will be the first to pioneer a new diagnostic tool which will look more specifically at the nature of the deal between employers and the employee.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
