NWEEG conference sets out stall for employee engagement

The North West Employee Engagement Group (NWEEG) hosted its first conference on Thursday July 2 at Preston’s College to 100 business delegates from across the region.

The Group, founded by Scancapture, encourages HR leaders to meet one another, share best practice and learn more about how better staff engagement can lead to increases in retention and productivity.

Steve Smith, managing director of Scancapture and founder of NWEEG, said: “In total, 93 businesses were represented at the event, employing more than 188,000 people with a turnover of £18bn.

“If we can increase employee engagement within those businesses by just 2.5 per cent, we would see an increase in turnover of £710m.

“The event was all about employee engagement, skills, learning and development and the idea of the group is to learn from others and share experiences.

“We had presentations from people who are out there doing the job; it’s not about experts or gurus giving advice on what people should be doing.

“The people who were in the room all know what they should be doing because they’re senior leaders in their business, but it’s about how we do it and learning from people who have gone through issues and challenges to deliver success in their business.

“We want to promote awareness about employee engagement and what it can do, showcase real life practical experiences and proven evidence that it works, so that everyone can take it back to their business and try it out.

“When you get an engaged workforce you’re business becomes more profitable, and that’s not by accident. If you’ve got employees who give more for your business, your business will do better.”

The event saw a number of topical seminars and workshops delivered by the NWEEG team with talks from Lanway Corporate Systems, acdc LED and Sofaworks on the importance of employee engagement and the positive effects it has on business, followed by an inspirational presentation by i2i’s CEO Michael Finnigan.

Other businesses speaking at the conference include Packtypes, who looked at laying the foundations of self-empowerment, a skills panel with Preston’s College, Bensons for Beds, Crown Paints, The Bee/2BR Radio, Steinhoff UK Retail and Danbro, and a talk on how to attract and retain top talent from Napthens Solicitors. Supporting the event were Preston’s College, Napthens Solicitors, Laura Hartley Recruitment, Lancashire Business View, Scancapture and Engage2Grow.