People engagement is the emotional commitment that people have to the organization and its goals. This commitment means engaged people actually care about their work and their organization. They don’t work for just a pay cheque, or just for the next promotion, but invest their energies towards the organization’s goals. This is where ISO 10018 can make a difference.

ISO 10018:2020, Quality management – Guidance for people engagement, recognizes that it can be difficult encouraging staff to take up quality management systems and understand how they are relevant to their daily work. By focusing on better integration of engagement strategies, the standard provides a framework to enhance people’s involvement and competence within an organization, helping them to feel a valued part of it.

The new standard complements ISO 10015:2019, Quality management – Guidelines for competence management and people development, explains John J. Guzik, Convenor of the joint working group for guidance on people involvement and engagement (ISO/TC 176/SC 3/JWG 21). Both International Standards present practical steps for managers and leaders to follow, adopt and measure.

Staff competence and development should be a collective aspect of the organization and not just for specific individuals, Guzik points out. People need to see the connection between their current work and how further training can provide more opportunities within the organization. “If they see that their organization is investing in their skills through training and other career tracks, they will feel engaged.”

So what organizations can benefit? ISO 10018 is applicable to any organization, regardless of its size, type or activity. Aimed at bringing quality management principles down to staff level, the standard is designed to be regularly referred to and not simply handed to employees in binders and then left to gather dust on the shelf.