Supporting organisational change in Portugal
Webinar ‘Workplace practices unlocking employee potential’
Nov 18 | 17h30-19h30
The workshop INOV.ORG in partnership with UPT and EUWIN is focused on the competitive advantage that High investment/high involvement companies have, the change in the Portuguese setting and the core elements of a continued road of change for Portuguese organisations. Results from the ECS2019, published this October, will be discussed and compared to experiences in the rest of Europe.
How does Portugal fare if we look at organisational innovation?
A recent survey conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Working and Living Conditions (EUROFOUND) shows some remarkable results. The European Company Survey 2019 finds that about 27% of establishments in a sample of 1000 Portuguese establishments with 10 or more employees can be called High investment and High involvement. With this result, Portugal scores in the top 10 in Europe, in fact on the seventh spot before France, Germany and the Netherlands, just behind Denmark, UK, Finland and Sweden. High investment/high involvement companies score high points for high autonomy of staff, high expectations of staff matched by high use of incentives and comprehensive variable pay, comprehensive training and learning opportunities and regular direct involvement of employees.
Is it important to be a High investment/high involvement company? Which benefits does this bring?
These companies score on average more than 12% higher in company performance and more than 25% higher on employee outcomes than the other organisational models. This means that only investing in organisation change can deliver this increase in economic and social value for the Portuguese economy. The positive news from this survey is that, in comparison to the previous European Company Survey of 2013, Portuguese company have shifted gear and adopted new practices. In 2013, Portugal claimed a 25th position in the use organisational innovation. In 2019, Portugal jumps to a 7th place among the 27. This is a remarkable improvement.