Employee Engagement tips from Gattaca Sales MD Grahame Carter

Guest blog by Wotter

Grahame Carter, Sales MD at Gattaca (FKA Matchtech), sits down with us to share his expertise on engaging new employees, incentivising the next generation of workers, and his extreme approach to staying transparent as a leader.

The Great Recession is here, and many are saying it’s here to stay. Getting employees engaged from the jump is more important than ever for companies looking to increase staff retention; so how do you do that?

So, we’d ask anyone who comes to work with us: ‘What do you want out of this job?’ Now, whatever their goal is – a new house/a new car/a holiday to Mauritius – there’ll be a monetary value to that task/goal/adventure.

We’d use that data to tell our new employee how quickly they can get to their goal based on the input and output of work. People need to know that everything is in their control, and metrics help. Tell people by Week 5 or 6 what data points they need to get to their goal.

With the upcoming generation entering the workforce, businesses are faced with new engagement challenges. How do you think employers need to adapt?

The biggest, and I think the most important, difference is that people aren't as interested in money as they used to be.

The new members of staff that are coming through are more interested in having flexibility to go to the gym, or having more leisure time. When I joined, it was all pounds and pence – quite a financially driven organisation. I’ve really seen a shift in people wanting to swap financial gain for their own well-being.

You’re talking to an old school, now nearly retired recruiter, and one of my questions used to be ‘Where do you want to be financially?’, and now, I couldn’t even imagine asking someone that question, because it’s just so antiquated.

Read Grahame’s full interview.

Grahame, you’ve got great relationships with everybody at Gattaca. How do you build trust in a company as a leader?

I think the relationships I’ve got have been built on working as hard as I possibly can and being very transparent about the work I do. I put out a 2 weekly newsletter of: the customers I’ve spoken to, the meetings I’ve been in, and some of the challenges I’ve got – and that newsletter goes out to the leadership team and to anybody else who wants to read it. You can’t be fully transparent if you’re not working hard, so that openness helps to keep the momentum.

And what’s a good example of employee engagement that inspires you as a leader?

So, the All Blacks – the greatest rugby team in the world – everywhere they go, they clean their own changing room. They’re not allowed to leave the stadium until the room is exactly as they found it – and these are the highest-paid, best professional players in the world. That’s where a lot of their humility and engagement comes from – it starts on day 1 of training and continues from there. It’s this discipline that they take to every game.

When you relate that into a business environment – if people are taking care of the toilets, the kitchen, their desk area – all of those things add up to a good culture/working environment, and a place you want to spend time.

Find out more about how to engage your employees here, or email fraser@wotter.group with any questions.