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Workplace Innovation Can Help Firms Beat Recession - NCPP
Dublin, 30 September 2008
- Masterclass highlights role of workplace innovation in helping companies respond to economic downturn
- Workplace Innovation Fund: encouraging Irish business to embrace ‘new ways of working’
- International experts underline business benefits of employee involvement and engagement
The Government body charged with promoting greater levels of innovation in our workplaces today called on Irish business to wake up to the significant potential of workplace innovation in providing practical solutions to key business challenges in an increasingly uncertain economic environment.
At an Innovation Masterclass organised under the aegis of the National Workplace Strategy in Dublin this morning, the head of the National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP) said that workplace innovation is as important a contributor to our continued prosperity and productivity as innovation in R&D or science and technology.
Lucy Fallon-Byrne, Director, NCPP, said:
“Workplace innovation is a critical component of Ireland’s response to dramatically changed economic circumstances at home and abroad. It is as important a contributor to our continued prosperity and productivity as innovation in R&D or science and technology. It is also vitally important if Ireland is to build an advantage in knowledge creation and intellectual property. Other countries are beginning to recognise the value of innovation in the workplace, and we simply cannot afford to be left behind at this time.”
She added:
“We have challenged those attending today’s Masterclass to consider ways in which their companies can become more innovative. We want to encourage them to have the confidence to engage with their employees in finding creative solutions to new dilemmas arising from the changed economic circumstances in which they now find themselves.
We are saying to companies: ‘Take hold of the situation, sit down with your workforce and work out solutions together.’ To unions and employees, we say: ‘Take up this challenge too, and work with management to promote performance and innovation at this critical juncture.’ Good working relationships are the key to workplace innovation – without them, it simply will not be able to flourish.
Finally, we want more firms to be aware of the significant funding that has been put in place through the Workplace Innovation Fund to help them develop more innovative workplaces. We want to encourage as many businesses as possible to benefit from this special funding while it is available.”
More than 100 business representatives and policymakers were joined by international experts at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham to explore the positive impact of workplace innovation on productivity, performance and staff retention, and to examine practical ways of helping Irish companies build innovative workplaces based on high levels of employee involvement and engagement.
Entitled ‘3-D Thinking for Workplace Innovation – Engaging Employees for Competitive Advantage’, the Masterclass provided an analysis of the ‘Dilemmas, Dialogue and Decisions’ that typically reflect a company’s efforts to embrace workplace innovation.
Delegates heard that the innovative workplace is characterised by:
- High levels of open and transparent communication between employers and employees
- Advanced information and consultation arrangements
- Greater emphasis on team working and team building to tackle business challenges
- Support for workplace learning and staff development across all levels of the organisation
- Performance-management systems that acknowledge and reward workplace activities which foster employee participation and involvement
- Leadership and management capacity to harness employee input for the effective management of change and fostering of innovation
- Well-developed equality and diversity strategies
In short, workplace innovation fosters an environment in which creativity, knowledge and experimentation are actively encouraged and rewarded.
‘A crucial component’ of national innovation policy
Opening the Masterclass, Dr. Jimmy Devins, TD, Minister of State for Innovation at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, emphasised the fact that workplace innovation is now a crucial component of Ireland’s national system of innovation. He also drew attention to the enhanced role of workplace change and innovation in the recent draft Social Partnership Agreement. [FULL TEXT OF MINISTER DEVINS' SPEECH HERE]
Keynote address
The keynote address was delivered by Professor Michael West, Executive Dean of Aston University Business School in the UK. A world-renowned authority on organisational innovation, he emphasised the importance of employers building a vision of the innovative workplace that their employees could fully embrace and buy into. Prof. West also stressed the need for employers to identify and empower the innovators within their workforce, to promote positivity in working relationships through teamwork and diversity, and to attempt at all times to maintain a culture of creativity and innovation. [PROF. WEST'S PRESENTATION HERE]
Forum Theatre
A highlight of the Masterclass was a fast-moving and highly interactive Forum Theatre production that engaged and involved members of the audience alongside actors, facilitators and the speakers.
Workplace Innovation Fund: beneficiaries showcased
The event also showcased some of the Irish companies that have been approved for funding under the Workplace Innovation Fund (WIF). The WIF is a new Government fund to assist Irish companies, particularly SMEs, in developing and implementing workplace-innovation initiatives, thereby boosting their productivity and performance through employee participation and involvement. Endowed with a budget of EUR 6 million, the Fund is jointly administered by Enterprise Ireland and the NCPP.
The companies featured at the Masterclass – Ovelle Pharmaceuticals, Swift Fine Foods and Richard Keenan and Co. – have each embraced the workplace-innovation agenda and are now reaping the benefits in terms of productivity, overall business performance and staff morale and commitment.
The Masterclass was organised by the National Centre for Partnership and Performance and led by Professor Peter Totterdill, Chief Executive of the UK Work Organisation Network (UKWON). [PROF. TOTTERDILL'S PRESENTATION HERE]
ENDS
Note to Editors
The National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP) was established by Government in 2001 to promote and facilitate partnership-led change and innovation in Ireland’s workplaces. Through a combination of research and advocacy-based activities, the NCPP’s mission is to build high-performance, high-quality places of work, regardless of size or sector. The NCPP is also responsible for overseeing implementation of the National Workplace Strategy, the Government’s blueprint to transform Ireland’s workplaces into Workplaces of the Future. In January 2007, the NCPP was placed on a statutory footing as part of the National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO).
Further information
For further information, please contact:
Conor Leeson
Head of Communications
National Centre for Partnership and Performance
Tel: 086-211 9511 / 01-814 6398
Email: conor@ncpp.ie
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