Human Resource Management and Employee Engagement

We know that today market scenario is more competitive and to survive in this competition we have to make our organization more competitive (competitive advantage). But here question is, How? We have a solution, “Employee Engagement”, according to the all these secondary data related to the employee engagement are shown the importance of employee engagement to help the organization to get success in this tuff competition. According to the Hewitt Associates the companies have some very motivating and inspiring people in their organization to influence the employee for engagement in their work and towards a growth mind-set, According to the Matthew P. Gonring, consultant, the development and application of Customer Loyalty and Employee Engagement Indexes is still in its infancy, having only been aggressively pursued by a handful of organizations, According to the Mark Phelps, Practice Leader and Manager employee engagement study believes that it is time to rethink engagement, both how it is measured and how it integrates into an organization’s larger talent management strategy, etc. These examples studies shows how employee engagement important for the organization to survive in this tuff competition era.

INDEX:

1: Articles

Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement

Employee Engagement Higher at Double-Digit Growth Companies

Measuring Employee Engagement

Customer loyalty and employee engagement: an alignment for value

Is it time to Rethink Employee Engagement?

Employee Engagement (Triple Creek’s Research)

Developing Stronger Corporate Brands Through Employee Engagement

Communication Strategies for Employee Engagement

Engage the Employee

Leadership’s Impact on Employee Engagement: Differences Among Entrepreneurs and Professional CEOs

2: Introduction

Employee Engagement

Model of Employee Engagement

3: Origins

4: Aspects of Employee Engagement

5: Categories of Employee Engagement

6: Importance of Engagement

7: How to measure Employee Engagement?

8: Conclusion

9: References

10: Bibliography

ARTICLES ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

1: Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement

A report to Government by David MacLeod and Nita Clarke

According to Mr. David Macleod and Ms. Nita Clarke to enhance the employee engagement we should order to meet the employee demand, more tailored support and help needs to be made available for companies and organizations wanting to develop engagement, and to extend understanding, and knowledge of engagement, the topic needs to be more widely through a discussion, again involving all the key stakeholders, which can bring together those with experience in developing engagement with those who wish to learn more or to develop their own strategies further. This should include a series of events such as conferences, workshops, regional road shows and research papers.

2: Employee Engagement Higher at Double-Digit Growth Companies

Double-Digit Growth and Engagement

Hewitt Associates, Mr. Michael Treacy and author of Double-Digit Growth multifaceted research study

According to the study, the past result or past research of the companies shown that companies are better to engage their employee and able to deliver to the better results of business. The companies are effectively measure and reward contribution and employee engagement. These companies have some very motivating and inspiring people in their organization to influence the employee for engagement in their work and towards a growth mind-set.

3: Measuring Employee Engagement

Paul R. Bernthal, Ph.D., Manager of DDI’s, (Development Dimensions International) Center for Applied Behavioral Research (CABER), DDI

In this research the fundamental issues measured in engagement provide a quick index of what leaders and HR representatives need to do to make things better. In addition, items in engagement surveys tend to be very actionable. This means that leaders or others in the organization can take action that will affect the score on a single item. DDI’s (Development Dimensions International) measure of engagement provides a link to training and other solutions that can be implemented to address low scores on a particular item.

4: Customer loyalty and employee engagement: an alignment for value

Matthew P. Gonring, consultant with Gagen MacDonald, Chicago, IL, USA.

The development and application of Customer Loyalty and Employee Engagement Indexes is still in its infancy, having only been aggressively pursued by a handful of organizations. However, while their intersection is just beginning to be explored, the mathematical models are showing promising signs of granting users competitive advantage. The results have the potential to demonstrate a quantifiable convergence of employee engagement and customer loyalty. This enables a conclusive connection between internal and external motivations, and in turn drives sustainable, profitable growth.

5: Is it time to Rethink Employee Engagement?

Mark Phelps, Practice Leader and Manager, Employee Engagement, DDI (Development Dimensions International)

This study believes that it is time to rethink engagement, both how it is measured and how it integrates into an organization’s larger talent management strategy. While most engagement survey methodologies used by larger organizations today are solid from a research and analytical perspective, we believe these approaches are not the most efficient or effective way to measure and move the needle on employee engagement.

6: Employee Engagement (Triple Creek’s Research)

By Triple Creek Associates

This research reveals only the tip of the iceberg on a very large subject. All the results tell us consistently story across all participating organizations. Actually this study conducted on five organizations to consider the employee engagement in the same nature organizations. The Mentoring positively impacts all critical themes related to employee engagement. Organizations who see the connection between engagement and company performance should consider web-based mentoring as a high impact, low cost way to improve attitudes shown to be critical to engagement.

7: Developing Stronger Corporate Brands Through Employee Engagement

Organizational Effectiveness Strategies

White Paper Research

In these examples of best practices of Johnson & Johnson, Bendapudi & Bendapudi, Schaufeli & Bakker, Southwest Airlines, employee engagement is not only important for improving productivity and diminishing turnover rates, but also closely connected with other bigger pieces of business, such as enhancing corporate brand power and financial viability. In other words, effects of employee engagement can spill over to external corporate brand and reputations when the employee value propositions, HR practices and business strategies are all consistent with each other.

8: Communication Strategies for Employee Engagement

December 2 – 4, 2009, MDI (Management Development Institute) Campus, Gurgaon

According to this study employee engagement imprint requires robust pillars of business, HR and communication strategies. When managers appreciate, understand and integrate these strategies, they enable a workplace where the business vision cascades down and links the goals of the organization with that of its people through a rigorous, vibrant, well-sculpted communication platform. They create an environment that resonates with positive energy, passion, meaning and fulfillment for all, at individual and organizational levels.

9: Engage the Employee

The BW-HR Anexi Blessing White Employee Engagement Survey 2008

This study shows significant differences between what motivates workers in India and what motivates workers in other countries. The term ’employee engagement’ represents an alignment of maximum job satisfaction with maximum job contribution. By plotting a given population against these two axes, we identified five distinct employee segments: (a) Fully engaged (b) Almost engaged (c) Honeymooners & hamsters (d) Crash & burn and (e) Disengaged. The global survey shows that 34 per cent of the employees in India are fully engaged and 13 per cent disengaged. As many as 29 per cent are almost engaged.

10: Leadership’s Impact on Employee Engagement: Differences Among Entrepreneurs and Professional CEOs

Nancy Papalexandris, Athens University of Economics and Business, Eleanna Galanaki, Athens University of Economics and Business

Leadership and Organization Development Journal, September 2008

This study aims at identifying similarities and differences between the leadership practices of managing entrepreneurs and professional CEOs and to investigate how these impact on their immediate subordinates’ satisfaction, commitment, motivation, and effectiveness (Engagement). A multiple-respondents survey, aiming at CEOs and their immediate subordinates was conducted. The study underlines the importance of sound vision development and articulation in entrepreneur-run firms, as it appears that people working for such firms expect more direction from the Head.

Introduction

Employee Engagement

“Employee Engagement” has been a hot topic in corporate circles. It’s a buzz phrase that has captured the attention of workplace observers and HR managers, as well as the executive suite. And it’s a topic that employers and employees alike think they understand, yet can’t articulate very easily.

Employee engagement, also called work engagement or worker engagement, is a business management concept. An “engaged employee” is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests.

Model of Employee Engagement

Studies have shown that there are some critical factors which lead to Employee engagement. Some of them identified are-

Career Development- Opportunities for Personal Development

Organizations with high levels of engagement provide employees with opportunities to develop their abilities, learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and realise their potential. When companies plan for the career paths of their employees and invest in them in this way their people invest in them.

Career Development – Effective Management of Talent

Career development influences engagement for employees and retaining the most talented employees and providing opportunities for personal development.

Career Development- Opportunities

for personal development

Career Development – Effective

Management of talent

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Leadership- Clarity of company

values

Leadership – Respectful treatment

of employees

Feeling

valued

&

Involved

Leadership – Company’s standards

of ethical behavior

Empowerment

Image

Equal opportunities & fair treatment

Performance Appraisal

Communication

Pay & benefits

Family friendliness

Health & Safety

Co-operation

Job satisfaction

Leadership- Clarity of Company Values

Employees need to feel that the core values for which their companies stand are unambiguous and clear.

Leadership – Respectful Treatment of Employees

Successful organizations show respect for each employee’s qualities and contribution – regardless of their job level.

Leadership – Company’s Standards of Ethical Behaviour

A company’s ethical stand ards also lead to engagement of an individual

Empowerment

Employees want to be involved in decisions that affect their work. The leaders of high engagement workplaces create a trustful and challenging environment, in which employees are encouraged to dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy and to input and innovate to move the organization forward.

Image

How much employees are prepared to endorse the products and services which their company provides its customers depends largely on their perceptions of the quality of those goods and services. High levels of employee engagement are inextricably linked with high levels of customer engagement.

Other factors

Equal Opportunities and Fair Treatment

The employee engagement levels would be high if their bosses (superiors) provide equal opportunities for growth and advancement to all the employees

Performance appraisal

Fair evaluation of an employee’s performance is an important criterion for determining the level of employee engagement. The company which follows an appropriate performance appraisal technique (which is transparent and not biased) will have high levels of employee engagement.

Pay and Benefits

The company should have a proper pay system so that the employees are motivated to work in the organization. In order to boost his engagement levels the employees should also be provided with certain benefits and compensations.

Health and Safety

Research indicates that the engagement levels are low if the employee does not feel secure while working. Therefore every organization should adopt appropriate methods and systems for the health and safety of their employees.

Job Satisfaction

Only a satisfied employee can become an engaged employee. Therefore it is very essential for an organization to see to it that the job given to the employee matches his career goals which will make him enjoy his work and he would ultimately be satisfied with his job.

Communication

The company should follow the open door policy. There should be both upward and downward communication with the use of appropriate communication channels in the organization. If the employee is given a say in the decision making and has the right to be heard by his boss than the engagement levels are likely to be high.

Family Friendliness

A person’s family life influences his wok life. When an employee realizes that the organization is considering his family’s benefits also, he will have an emotional attachment with the organization which leads to engagement

Co-operation

If the entire organization works together by helping each other i.e. all the employees as well as the supervisors co-ordinate well than the employees will be engaged.

Origins

Engagement at work was conceptualized by Kahn, (1990) as the ‘harnessing of organizational members’ selves to their work roles. In engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances. The second related construct to engagement in organizational behavior is the notion of flow advanced by Csikszentmihalyi (1975, 1990). Csikzentmihalyi (1975) defines flow as the ‘holistic sensation’ that, people feel when they act with total involvement. Flow is the state in which there is little distinction between the self and environment. When individuals are in Flow State little conscious control is necessary for their actions.

Employee engagement is the thus the level of commitment and involvement an employee has towards their organization and its values. An engaged employee is aware of business context, and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organization. The organization must work to develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between employer and employee.’ Thus Employee engagement is a barometer that determines the association of a person with the organization.

Engagement is most closely associated with the existing construction of job involvement (Brown 1996) and flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Job involvement is defined as ‘the degree to which the job situation is central to the person and his or her identity (Lawler & Hall, 1970). Kanungo (1982) maintained that job involvement is a ‘Cognitive or belief state of Psychological identification. Job involvement is thought to depend on both need saliency and the potential of a job to satisfy these needs. Thus job involvement results form a cognitive judgment about the needs satisfying abilities of the job. Jobs in this view are tied to one’s self image. Engagement differs from job in as it is concerned more with how the individual employees his/her self during the performance of his / her job. Furthermore engagement entails the active use of emotions. Finally engagement may be thought of as an antecedent to job involvement in that individuals who experience deep engagement in their roles should come to identify with their jobs.

When Kahn talked about employee engagement he has given important to all three aspects physically, cognitively and emotionally. Whereas in job satisfaction importance has been more given to cognitive side.HR practitioners believe that the engagement challenge has a lot to do with how employee feels about the about work experience and how he or she is treated in the

organization. It has a lot to do with emotions which are fundamentally related to drive bottom line success in a company. There will always be people who never give their best efforts no matter how hard HR and line managers try to engage them. “But for the most part employees want to commit to companies because doing so satisfies a powerful and a basic need in connect with and contribute to something significant”.

Aspects of Employee Engagement

Three basic aspects of employee engagement according to the global studies are:-

·€ The employees and their own unique psychological make up and experience

·€ The employers and their ability to create the conditions that promote employee engagement

·€ Interaction between employees at all levels.

Thus it is largely the organization’s responsibility to create an environment and culture conducive to this partnership, and a win-win equation.

Categories of Employee Engagement

There are there are different types of people:-

Engaged–“Engaged” employees are builders. They want to know the desired expectations for their role so they can meet and exceed them. They’re naturally curious about their company and their place in it. They perform at consistently high levels. They want to use their talents and strengths at work every day. They work with passion and they drive innovation and move their organization forward

Not Engaged—Not-engaged employees tend to concentrate on tasks rather than the goals and outcomes they are expected to accomplish. They want to be told what to do just so they can do it and say they have finished. They focus on accomplishing tasks vs. achieving an outcome. Employees who are not-engaged tend to feel their contributions are being overlooked, and their potential is not being tapped. They often feel this way because they don’t have productive relationships with their managers or with their coworkers.

Actively Disengaged–The “actively disengaged” employees are the “cave dwellers.” They’re “Consistently against Virtually Everything.” They’re not just unhappy at work; they’re busy acting out their unhappiness .They sow seeds of negativity at every opportunity. Every day, actively disengaged workers undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish. As workers increasingly rely on each other to generate products and services, the problems and tensions that are fostered by actively disengaged workers can cause great damage to an organization’s functioning .

Importance of Engagement

Engagement is important for managers to cultivate given that disengagement or alienation is central to the problem of workers’ lack of commitment and motivation. Meaningless work is often associated with apathy and detachment from ones works. In such conditions, individuals are thought to be estranged from their selves. Other Research using a different resource of engagement (involvement and enthusiasm) has linked it to such variables as employee turnover, customer satisfaction – loyalty, safety and to a lesser degree, productivity and profitability criteria. An organization’s capacity to manage employee engagement is closely related to its ability to achieve high performance levels and superior business results. Some of the advantages of Engaged employees are-

·€ Engaged employees will stay with the company, be an advocate of the company and its products and services, and contribute to bottom line business success.

·€ They will normally perform better and are more motivated.

·€ There is a significant link between employee engagement and profitability.

·€ They form an emotional connection with the company. This impacts their attitude towards the company’s clients, and thereby improves customer satisfaction and service levels

·€ It builds passion, commitment and alignment with the organization’s strategies and goals

·€ Increases employees’ trust in the organization

·€ Creates a sense of loyalty in a competitive environment

·€ Provides a high-energy working environment

·€ Boosts business growth

·€ Makes the employees effective brand ambassadors for the company

A highly engaged employee will consistently deliver beyond expectations. In the workplace research on employee engagement have repeatedly asked employees ‘whether they have the opportunity to do what they do best everyday’. While one in five employees strongly agree with this statement. Those work units scoring higher on this perception have substantially higher performance. Thus employee engagement is critical to any organization that seeks to retain valued employees. As organizations globalize and become more dependent on technology in a virtual working environment, there is a greater need to connect and engage with employees to provide them with an organizational ‘identity.’

How to measure Employee Engagement?

Gallup research consistently confirms that engaged work places compared with least engaged are much more likely to have lower employee turnover, higher than average customer loyalty, above average productivity and earnings. These are all good things that prove that engaging and involving employees make good business sense and building shareholder value. Negative workplace relationships may be a big part of why so many employees are not engaged with their jobs.

Step I: Listen

The employer must listen to his employees and remember that this is a continuous process. The information employee’s supply will provide direction . This is the only way to identify their specific concerns. When leaders listen, employees respond by becoming more engaged. This results in increased productivity and employee retention. Engaged employees are much more likely to be satisfied in their positions, remain with the company, be promoted, and strive for higher levels of performance.

Step II: Measure current level of employee engagement

Employee engagement needs to be measured at regular intervals in order to track its contribution to the success of the organisation. But measuring the engagement (feedback through surveys) without planning how to handle the result can lead employees to disengage. It is therefore not enough to feel the pulse-the action plan is just as essential.

Step II1: – Identify the problem areas

Identify the problem areas to see which are the exact areas, which lead to disengaged employees

Step IV: Taking action to improve employee engagement by acting upon the problem areas

Nothing is more discouraging to employees than to be asked for their feedback and see no movement toward resolution of their issues. Even the smallest actions taken to address concerns will let the staff know how their input is valued. Feeling valued will boost morale, motivate and encourage future input. Taking action starts with listening to employee feedback and a definitive action plan will need to be put in place finally.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, one wonders whether employee engagement is just another trendy concept, or really a big deal? According to the study employee engagement is a very big deal. There is clear and mounting evidence that high levels of employee engagement keenly correlates to individual, group and corporate performance in areas such as retention, turnover, productivity, customer service and loyalty. And this is not just by small margins. While differences varied from study to study, highly engaged employees outperform their disengaged counterparts by a whopping 20 – 28 percentage points! Finally, there is some evidence that companies are responding to this employee engagement challenge – by flattening their chains of command, providing training for first-line managers and with better internal communications. Changes won’t happen overnight, but with such significant upside to the bottom line – they might happen more quickly than you think.

Employee Engagement is the buzz word term for employee communication. It is a positive attitude held by the employees towards the organization and its values. It is rapidly gaining popularity, use and importance in the workplace and impacts organizations in many ways. Employee engagement emphasizes the importance of employee communication on the success of a business. An organization should thus recognize employees, more than any other variable, as powerful contributors to a company’s competitive position. Therefore employee engagement should be a continuous process of learning, improvement, measurement and action. We would hence conclude that raising and maintaining employee engagement lies in the hands of an organization and requires a perfect blend of time, effort, commitment and investment to craft a successful endeavor.

References

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