Driving Employee Experiences to Create a Great Place to Work and Grow

At this point in time, the results of the Engagement Survey shouldn’t be new to you. And the general score of 78 points out of 100 has resonated across all our operations as part of the results cascading process. But what does this really mean?

In the last few weeks, you are bound to have heard about the results of our 2019 Engagement Survey. Your line manager has probably shared the results with you, along with the strong points and areas for improvement. The overall engagement level and the amount of improvement on the last survey are results to be proud of, especially given the changes to the working environment at Dufry over the last few years.

However, you may not be that familiar with what this survey is, what it really measures and, more specifically, why this is so important for Dufry.

The 2019 wave of the Engagement Survey started back in June with an email invitation sent to all of our staff. Over 25,213 Dufry employees – representing 73% of our workforce – took part in this anonymous survey, which was carried out by two reputable external consultants: Willis Towers Watson for the vast majority of Dufry and McLean for our colleagues in Division 3.

But what is the actual purpose of such a survey? In a nutshell, an employee engagement survey measures the degree to which employees feel valued in a company. And it is interesting for large companies such as Dufry to track progress on a regular basis. The last survey of these characteristics took place when Nuance and World Duty Free were integrated into today’s Dufry. We also know how much the company has changed since then! As such, it was about time to run a “health check” on our company.

Why is this important for Dufry
If you are familiar with the ONEDUFRY principles, you will know that engaged employees lead to satisfied customers, which in turn drives more sales (and hence business results). This very simple equation, which applies to Dufry and for all companies worldwide, encapsulates the importance of surveys such as this one, which we have recently run for Dufry.

We all are aware that without creating a great place to work and grow, it is difficult to drive positive business results, which is the primary objective of any company. The engagement survey allows managers and employees at all levels to understand what is working well and what is not, in the light of this common objective of creating the right environment for each of us to deliver our best.

And although the ultimate objective should be 100 points out 100, the results of this global survey give all of us a clear snapshot of where, as a company, we have to focus in the next few months in order to build upon that objective of creating a great place to work.

Alignment with ONEDUFRY
An employee engagement survey is conducted with one or more purposes. The survey questions serve to give the management an insight into employees’ perspective on changes in the organization, their motivation to be productive, how closely they relate to the work culture and mission, etc. As previously mentioned, this global pulse taking comes almost 3 years after the previous one and in the wake of profound changes within our organization and to our ways of working and behaving.

ONEDUFRY, the program launched in 2018 to mobilize hearts, minds, and hands (see Dufry World Issue 27), was intended to give cohesion to that change, identifying the drivers that would permit Dufry to succeed in creating a great place to work and to drive results.

Being part of a great team, belonging to a fantastic company, having learning opportunities led by inspiring leaders, enjoying career development opportunities, experiencing motivation, recognition, reward, and being engaged in internal cooperation are some of the Dufry drivers that are used in this survey to measure employee engagement. Moreover, this 2019 edition of the survey not only evaluates the general climate in the company, but also the progress made towards ONEDUFRY in general.

The global picture
Naturally, what it is critical in one area may not be so crucial in other parts of Dufry – even in the same location. However, we can extract several global headlines from the survey.

Without going too much into the details – something that we encourage you to do with your line manager – our staff continues to be our greatest asset. Teamwork and reliance on our colleagues’ work ranks high in the results, as do our understanding of what it is expected of each of us, what our responsibilities are at work and the freedom to use our skill and abilities to achieve the objectives. Recognition for work done, a clear career path, and development and cooperation between departments seem to be the clearest areas of development for Dufry on a global basis.

Benchmark
As the saying goes, sometimes you cannot see the wood for the trees. And while this is an area for future improvement, 75% of us responded that we were satisfied with working for Dufry (vs. the retail industry average of 63%), and 78% would recommend Dufry as a place to work.

Tracking employee engagement is important in determining whether or not your employees are happy and how long they will stay with your company.

We need to talk: next steps
What is next after knowing the results? Simple: reinforcing what we do well and improving areas where we are weak. Changes do not happen overnight, however; they require work and effort. But every issue requires a diagnosis – and the survey is just that.

Now is the time to sit down with your line manager and go through the results in detail, discussing what is working, what isn’t, and jointly putting together an action plan.

The work that needs to be done extends to all levels of the organization, so do not expect there to be a global fix. The survey has set the course, and senior management are putting the areas of improvement at the top of the global agenda and ensuring we are moving in the right direction. But in most of the cases improvements will come from that individual plan that you agree with your manager and from your more detailed conversations.

The HR team is here to help, to spark and enable these conversations. So please do not hesitate to engage with us and let us work together to make Dufry a WorldClass place to work and grow.

By Pantelis Valentzas