Ministry says employee engagement must be priority in organizations

Chief Technical Director in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Andrene Collings (left), in discussion with (from 2nd left) Minister without Portfolio (OPM), Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Dr. the Hon. Horace Chang; Executive Director, Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), Dr. Fritz Pinnock; Chief Executive Officer, Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC), Valerie Veira; and Former CEO, Registrar General Department, Dr. Patricia Holness, at the Employee Engagement Conference, held at the Jamaica Conference Centre, Kingston on Tuesday, October 31, 2017. The conference was hosted by the JBDC under the theme: Stimulate, Inspire, Empower and Engage.

Chief Technical Director in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Mrs. Andrene Collings, says that employee engagement must become priority in every organization, because at the end of the day it is people and relationships that matter the most.

According to Mrs. Collings, “this is a cliché, but we have to find innovative ways to engage our employees”.

“At the end of the day our employees are our greatest assets, and at the end of the day, they are the ones that deliver. They deliver on productivity and they deliver on profit. We invest in our machines. We take our machines seriously, therefore, the same kind of investments must be made in our employees”, she stated.

The chief technical director was representing Minister Karl Samuda at the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) Inaugural Employee Engagement Conference, at the Jamaica Conference Centre on October 31.

She further stated that engagement should start with proper training, and that it is imperative that employers engage their employees in the beginning by investing in vocational training, and that employees should clearly understand their role and function in their organization.

“It is through training that we empower our employees and are able to get their engagement. This I consider to be a key role of the JBDC and they have been doing a great job in the Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (MSME) sector”, Mrs. Collings said.
In the meantime, the Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, who represented Prime Minister Holness, noted that the Government recognizes that the engagement of a vibrant and productive workforce is critical to the overall growth and development of the Jamaican economy.

“We believe that when we have motivated employees who are properly engaged according to their special strengths and natural talents, the result is a win, win situation not only for businesses, but also for the Jamaican economy”, Dr. Chang added.

The conference, held in partnership with the University of the West Indies under the theme: ‘Stimulate, Inspire, Empower, Engage, follows on the release of the National Employee Engagement Report (2016) designed and executed by the JBDC’s Project Management and Research Department.

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