A MINOR PROJECT REPORTONEMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN STRATEGIC
DECISION MAKING
Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirement of Bachelor of
Business Administration (B.B.A) General
BBA III Semester (Morning) (A)Batch 2011-2014
Submitted to:Submitted by:Dr. Ruchi Singhal Narendra
BarwalDesignation 01714101711
JAGANNATH INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT SCHOOL, KALKAJI
STUDENTS UNDERTAKING
I hereby certify that this is my original work and it has never
been submitted elsewhere.
Project Guides:By Narendra BarwalFaculty
CONTENTSDescriptionPage No.
Contents with page no.(i)
Acknowledgment
List of tables
List of figures
Executive Summary
Certificate of completion
Introduction to topic
Objectives
Literature review
Company Profile
Research Methodology
Analysis & Interpretation
Findings & Inferences
Limitations
Recommendations and Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Acknowledgement
List of Tables
Executive summary
Employee Engagement: fact or fad? If you are reading this
executive summary you are no doubt already aware of employee
engagement becoming an ever more important priority for business.
The vital lessons learned by some of the worlds leading businesses
in creating, implementing and measuring there employee engagement
programs provide benchmark data to ensure that the reader is
well-informed about this critical topic.The Hay Group defines
engaged performance as a result that is achieved by stimulating
employees enthusiasm for their work and directing it towards
organization success. The result can only be achieved when
employees offer an implicit contract to their employees that elicit
specific positive behavior aligned with organizations
goals.Employee engagement is associated with many desirable
outcomes, such as job satisfaction, intention to stay and job
performance. Companies with a greater number of engaged employees
typically have lower operating cost, higher customer satisfaction
and higher profits. There is a tangible monetary benefit to
companies investing time and resources in fostering higher
engagement within their employees.We also explore the specific
roles and responsibilities of the workforce in building a more
engaged organization. Our focus: individual employees, managers,
and executives. These three roles are incremental, depending on
someones level in the organization: Everyone is accountable for his
or her own engagement; anyone with direct reports much coach team
members to higher level of engagement and manages his or her own
engagement; and executives set the tone for an engaged organization
plus shoulder the responsibility of individuals and managers.
Everyday Activities Leading To Greater EngagementThere some
everyday activities that can lead to greater employee engagement.
It begins with looking at the experience of new employee, and
continues throughout the employee experience.Some examples of
activities that can assist new employees feel engaged include:
Providing the new employee with a realistic preview of the job
Considering ways to welcome them on the first day of work, and in
advance some workplace have current employees send emails to
welcome new employee prior to the first of work Having through
orientation that includes information about the job, and also
information about how people treat each other and the climate to
which every employee is expected to positively contribute
Considering the employee development plan from day one- what would
be helpful for every employee to know? Who would be useful for the
new employee to connect with in the first couple days?
Certificate of completion
CHAPTER 1IntroductionThere is no single method to engaging
employees in their work and in the organization. Instead, there are
a number of critical components that contribute to engagement.
These critical components include: workplace relationships, the
workload, the amount of control within the workplace, the reward/
recognition structure, support, perceived fairness in the
workplace, and ability to have meaningful and valued work. One
approach to creating engagement is that there is a level of
reciprocal interdependence necessary for the individual to engage
and for the organization to success.
Engagement, represented here as a two-way relationship between
employee and employer where engaged employees are expected to also
have an under0standing of the unit and work to be done, has to do
with how individuals employ themselves in the performance in their
job and involves the active use of emotions and behaviors in
addition to what they know about their jobs. Engagement is realized
through a series of interactions between the employee and the
manager or supervisor (representing the organization). The goal
would be to create interaction that would evolve into trusting,
loyal, and mutual commitments leading to full engagement in the
workplace. It was best state by Saks (2006), when employee believes
that their organization is concerned about them and cares about
their well-bring, they are likely to respond by attempting to
fulfill their obligation to their organization by becoming more
engaged.
Management behavior plays a key role in developing engagement
through the relationship they build with employees, and behaving in
a way that they are supported and play a critical role in the
success of the unit. The application of these principles to
developing a process for employees to be involved in decisions
related to the workplace, and to the unit, provide a significant
opportunity to that end. It is imported to note that employee
engagement is a long-term and ongoing process that requires
continued interaction over time in order to generate obligation and
a state of reciprocal interdependence.
Define Engagement and why the Old Definition Need to be changed
The original definition of employee engagement focused on the tools
used to make employee feel engaged and encourage employee
engagement.
One tool used to determine a companys level of employee
engagement is surveys. Surveys are a great way to measure employee
engagement level. They provide an idea of how satisfied employees
are, and how to increase their job satisfaction. However, surveys
have their flaws. Take for example a case where a survey is used to
evaluate factors in employee engagement. An employee who might be
very comfortable in the current job and not want to be promote
might give a low rating for satisfaction within opportunity for
advancement since the employee has no interest in advancing. The
overall impact on the employees engagement may not be affected yet
the survey might misattribute a result that a low satisfaction
score in this case leads to less employee engagement. Because of
these ambiguities surveys can often be misleading.
Some example include interviews, confrontation meeting and
reward system. These are all great tools, but they too can have
their flaws. For this reason a definition for employee engagement
should encompass more than just the tool it takes to make employee
feel engaged. Definition should also include condition which lead
to employee engagement as well as what it takes to create an
environment where employee feel engaged.
The New Definition for EngagementRedefining engagement as a
heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his or
her organization, that influences him or her to exert greater
discretionary effort to his or her work provides the framework In
which engagement activity operates.
Employee Engagement Defined By different companies
CORPORATIONSCaterpillarEngagement is the extent of employees
commitment, work effort, and desire to stay in an organization.
Dell Inc.Engagement: To compete today, companies need to win
over the MINDS (rational commitment) and the HEARTS (emotional
commitment) of employees in ways that lead to extraordinary
effort.
Intuit, Inc.Engagement describes how an employee thinks and
feels about, and acts toward his or her job, the work experience
and the company.
CONSULTANTS and RESEARCHERS
Corporate Leadership CouncilEngagement: The extent to which
employees commit to something or someone in their organization, how
hard they work and how long they stay as a result of that
commitment.
Development Dimensions InternationalEngagement is the extent to
which people enjoy and believe in what they do, and feel valued for
doing it.
The Gallup OrganizationEmployee engagement is the involvement
with and enthusiasm for work
Hewitt AssociatesEngagement is the state of emotional and
intellectual commitment to an organization or group producing
behavior that will help fulfill an organizations promises to
customers and, in so doing, improve business results.
Engaged employees: Stay They have an intense desire to be a part
of the organization and they stay with that organization; Say They
advocate for the organization by referring potential employees and
customers, are positive with co-workers and are constructive in
their criticism; Strive They exert extra effort and engage in
behaviors that contribute to business success.
Institute for Employment StudiesEngagement: A positive attitude
held by the employee toward the 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.
KenexaEngagement is the extent to which employees are motivated
to contribute to organizational success, and are willing to apply
discretionary effort (extra time, brainpower and effort) to
accomplishing tasks that are important to the achievement of
organizational goals.
Towers PerrinEngagement is the extent to which employees put
discretionary effort into their work, beyond the required minimum
to get the job done, in the form of extra time, brainpower or
energy
CHAPTER 2
Companies with high employee engagement have profit margins
nearly three times larger than that of organization with disengaged
workers, according to a study by Towers Watson.Employees who
believe that their companies are high-performance deliver
sustainable engagement scores 16 percentage points higher than the
overall country norm, found the Global workforce study, which
surveyed 32,000 employees globally 1,000 of which were from
Canada.However, more than two-third (67 per cent) of Canadian
workers are not fully engaged in their work and are frustrated by
insufficient support from their organizations. "When workers are
not fully engaged, it leads to increased risk for employers. It
makes companies more vulnerable to lower productivity and higher
inefficiency, greater rates of absenteeism and turnover and
increased costs for chronic illnesses," said France Deferens,
leader of Towers Watson's talent and rewards practice in Montreal.
"Without more attention to the fundamentals of sustainable
engagement including improving on-the-job support for employees and
increasing efforts to deepen employees' sense of attachment to the
organization employers will have a harder time generating growth
and returns." The Global Workforce Study breaks new ground in
understanding and measuring what contributes to sustained employee
engagement, said Towers Watson. The equation for sustainable
engagement is the sum of three distinct elements:Traditional
engagement: Employees' willingness to give effort to their
employer. Enablement: Having the tools, resources and support to
get work done efficiently. Energy: A work environment that actively
supports physical, emotional and interpersonal well-being.
"Enablement and energy are the really critical factors in this
equation," said Ofelia Isabel, Towers Watson's Canadian leader for
talent and rewards. "It's only in the last few years, when we've
seen more pressure in the system, that the importance of enablement
and energy has risen to the forefront." Companies have known for
years that engagement is important to performance, what's now clear
is the significance of effective workplace resources and
interpersonal well-being, along with an understanding of the role
that senior leadership plays in sustaining that well-being, said
Julie Naismith, a senior talent and rewards consultant at Towers
Watson. According to the study, virtually all (95 per cent) of
highly engaged Canadian employees believe that that they have the
work tools and resources they need to achieve exceptional
performance compared to only 20 per cent of disengaged employees.
Similar disparities appear with regard to the ability to sustain
energy throughout the workday (97 per cent versus 32 per cent) and
sense of personal accomplishment at work (99 per cent versus 33 per
cent). However, amongst all Canadian survey participants, only
one-third (38 per cent) believe that their organization and senior
leaders encourage and support a healthy workforce and just 39 per
cent think that senior leaders have a sincere interest in their
well-being, found the survey.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENTOver the past
decade, the way in people are managed and developed of work has
comet be recognized as one of the primary factors in achieving
improvement in organizational performance. This reflected by
popular idioms such as people are our most important assets. Back
in the good old days of cooperate world, things were pretty simple.
Companies put people on career tracks straight out of college; they
gave employees a job for life and waved them good bye with a gold
watch at retirement. The promise of the stable life as a company
employee kept both morale and productivity high. Then things
changed. Competition increased, margins shrank and shareholder got
more demanding. Suddenly, company staff were finding the very job
security theyd counted on was disappearing, and at speed. This
upheaval meant companies had to find new ways to motivate their
employees in order to make them more productive since, without
stability, employees were looking for something else from their
employers. And thus, Engagement was born. In itself, engagement
isnt really a new idea; owners and managers have been talking about
engagement, in one form or another, for centuries they just used
different words to express it. In former times, engagement focused
more on productivity and achieving results through threat of
punishment or by means of reward. But common sense- and good
communication- eventually won out and, today organization
everywhere are spending serious money on all forms of employee
engagement. Boiled down, it simply means developing a happy and
loyal workforce. Enlightened managers now realized that any company
as a whole will benefit when its employees know whats going on and
they feel defining what makes a workforce happy, and in
understanding how this good will translates into company success.
From the extant literature review, it is acknowledged that
successful organizations share a fundamental philosophy of valuing
and investing in their employees. In fact many research studies
have described human resources management as a means of achieving
competitive advantage. Consistent with this it is an equally
important issue for the organization to retain their critical
(core) employees. Most organization today continues to struggle
with retention because they are relying on salary increase and
bonuses t prevent turnover. Essentially more organization is now
realizing that relation is a strategic issue and continues to be
competitive advantage. The term engagement stems from the work of
Kahn (1990) who distinguished between being engaged and disengaged
at work. Putting the humanistic factors together, bear, spectre,
Lawrence, Quinn-Mills and Walton (1984) created the Harvard
Business School model of HRM which focused on people in an
organization to be the key resources. In light of such critical
emphasis being placed on human capital, Paula Ketter has aptly
noted.
Engagement is all about creating a culture where people do not
feel misused, overused, underused or abused. At a very basic level,
employee engagement draws from the tenets of the Hierarchy of Needs
as conceptualized by Maslow, the highest stage of which is
self-actualization; the pinnacle of an individuals fulfillment of
talent and potential. The theory of higher order needs was largely
overlooked in the heydays of scientific assembly line
manufacturing.
10 Common Themes: How Companies Measure EngagementEmployers
typically assess their employees engagement levels with
company-wide attitude or opinion surveys. (See Employee-Engagement
Survey Items: Samples.) A sampling of the criteria featured in such
instruments reveals 10 common themes related to engagement:1. Pride
in employer2. Satisfaction with employer3. Job satisfaction4.
Opportunity to perform well at challenging work5. Recognition and
positive feedback for ones contributions6. Personal support from
ones supervisor7. Effort above and beyond the minimum8.
Understanding the link between ones job and the organizations
mission9. Prospects for future growth with ones employer10.
Intention to stay with ones employer
Employee Engagement: Five Companies That Get It1. Make it
Strategic: Intel Corporation Set the stage for employee buy-in by
sharing a vision that ties engagement Efforts to your core vision
and larger business strategysomething Intel does by Calculating
each employees annual bonus according to sustainability results. By
Challenging all departments to improve their processes and products
with sustainability in mind, Intel celebrates the diversity of its
professionals while increasing accountability for multiple
dimensions of value creation and impact.
2. Make it Personal: Hyatt Hotels & ResortsIssues like
climate change and biodiversity are complex, but framing these big
issues in relatable terms is not impossible. Take inspiration from
Hyatt: The hospitality companys corporate responsibility platform,
Hyatt Thrive, leverages the power of peer-to-peer influence and
social networking to connect and empower 300 Green Teams worldwide.
Employees use a Facebook-like interface to post photos, questions,
and even presentations about their local sustainability
efforts.
3. Make it Flexible: Wal-MartWhile top-down leadership is
important, the best employee engagement programs are co-created and
co-owned by employees themselves. Wal-Marts global engagement
platform, My Sustainability Plan (MSP), was created with the goal
of helping more than two million associates in 28 countries take
everyday steps to live healthier, greener lives. The program
encourages associates to choose goals most relevant to their own
lives and break those goals into small, doable everyday
actionswhether thats eating a salad every day or biking to
work.
4. Make it Easy: GoogleTo encourage involvement, chunk your
program into easy steps thatll let all employees participate.
Googlea company already known for employee perks like free laundry
and locally sourced mealseducates associates about the impact of
simple actions like turning off their computers at night.
Micro-kitchens built throughout the workplace are designed to
encourage the use of reusable dishes and flatware (employees can
even leave their dirty dishes in the sink).
5. Make it Last: Cliff BarCreating an effective program is just
the beginning. To encourage ongoing success, youve got to treat
employee engagement as an ongoing campaign. Sustainability is such
a big part of CLIF Bars culture, for example, that its embedded in
employees benefits package, including incentives for actions like
purchasing a fuel-efficient car and making eco-friendly home
improvements. Momentum is ensured at weekly staff meetings, where
employees share practical tips for living greener, and at yearly
award ceremonies, where individuals are recognized for excellence
according to the companys values.A great engagement program is a
guaranteed way to recruit and retain top talent and drive
productivity. But, even more important: Engaging employees and
encouraging their input builds trust, drives innovation and
inspires co-creativity from the inside out..Is there a crisis in
employee engagement?We believe that executives must be concerned
about the level of engagement in the workplace. For example, the
Gallup Management Journal publishes a semi-annual Employment
Engagement Index. The most recent U.S. results indicate that: Only
29 percent of employees are actively engaged in their jobs. These
employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their
company. People that are actively engaged help move the
organization forward. Fifty-four percent of employees are not
engaged. These employees have essentially checked out, sleepwalking
through their workday and putting time but not passion into their
work. These people embody what Jack Welch said several years ago.
To paraphrase him: Never mistake activity for accomplishment.
Seventeen percent of employees are actively disengaged. These
employees are busy acting out their unhappiness, undermining what
their engaged co-workers are trying to accomplish.A Towers Perrin
2005 Global Workforce Survey involving about 85,000 people working
full-time for large and midsized firms found similarly disturbing
findings. Only 14 percent of all employees worldwide were highly
engaged in their job. The number of Canadians that reported being
highly engaged was 17 percent. Sixty-two percent of the employees
surveyed indicated they were moderately engaged at best; 66 percent
of employees in Canada were moderately engaged. And 24 percent
reported that they are actively disengaged; the corresponding
number in Canada was 17 percent. (See article by Towers Perrin
authors elsewhere in this issue.)The survey also indicated that on
a country-by-country basis, the percentages of highly engaged,
moderately engaged, and actively disengaged employees varied
considerably. And the results showed some interesting, perhaps
counter-intuitive, results. For example, Mexico and Brazil have the
highest percentages of engaged employees, while Japan and Italy
have the largest percentages of disengaged employees. In their
report, the authors interpreted these and other findings as and
indication that employee engagement has relatively little to do
with macro-economic conditions. Instead, it is the unique elements
of the work experience that are most likely to influence
engagement.
Does engagement really make a difference?Should executives be
concerned about these findings? Perhaps a more interesting question
to executives is: Is there a strong relationship between, say, high
scores on employee engagement indices and organizational
performance? It seems obvious that engaged employees are more
productive than their disengaged counterparts. For example, a
recent meta-analysis published in the Journal of Applied Psychology
concluded that, employee satisfaction and engagement are related to
meaningful business outcomes at a magnitude that is important to
many organizations. A compelling question is this: How much more
productive is an engaged workforce compared to a non-engaged
workforce?Several case studies shine some light on the practical
significance of an engaged workforce. For example, New Century
Financial Corporation, a U.S. specialty mortgage banking company,
found that account executives in the wholesale division who were
actively disengaged produced 28 percent less revenue than their
colleagues who were engaged. Furthermore, those not engaged
generated 23 percent less revenue than their engaged counterparts.
Engaged employees also outperformed the not engaged and actively
disengaged employees in other divisions. New Century Financial
Corporation statistics also showed that employee engagement does
not merely correlate with bottom line results it drives
results.Employee engagement also affects the mindset of people.
Engaged employees believe that they can make a difference in the
organizations they work for. Confidence in the knowledge, skills,
and abilities that people possess in both themselves and others is
a powerful predictor of behavior and subsequent performance. Thus,
consider some of the results of the Towers Perrin survey cited
earlier: Eighty-four percent of highly engaged employees believe
they can positively impact the quality of their organizations
products, compared with only 31 percent of the disengaged.
Seventy-two percent of highly engaged employees believe they can
positively affect customer service, versus 27 percent of the
disengaged. Sixty-eight percent of highly engaged employees believe
they can positively impact costs in their job or unit, compared
with just 19 percent of the disengaged.Given these data, it is not
difficult to understand that companies that do a better job of
engaging their employees do outperform their competition. Employee
engagement can not only make a real difference, it can set the
great organizations apart from the merely good ones.
Leading the turnaroundConsider the words of Ralph Stayer, CEO of
Johnsonville Sausage. In the book, Flight of the Buffalo: Soaring
to Excellence, Learning to Let Employees Lead, he writes.I learned
what I had to in order to succeed, but I never thought that
learning was all that important. My willingness to do whatever it
takes to succeed is what fueled Johnsonvilles growth. In 1980 I hit
the wall. I realized that if I kept doing what I had always done, I
was going to keep getting what I was getting. And I didnt like what
I was getting. I would never achieve my dream. I could see the rest
of my business life being a never-ending stream of crises,
problems, and dropped balls. We could keep growing and have decent
profits, but it wasnt the success I was looking for.The CEO
observed that his employees were uninterested in their work. They
were careless dropping equipment, wasting materials, and often not
accepting any responsibility for their work. They showed up for
work, did what they were told to do, and, at the end of their
shift, went home; the same routine would be repeated the next day.
An employee-attitude survey showed average results. To Stayer, it
appeared that the only person who was excited about Johnsonville
was himself. He began to feel like a baby-sitter for his executives
and staff. Stayer also realized that he could not inspire
Johnsonville to greatness and as a result, the business he was
running was becoming vulnerable.Stayer found solutions to these
problems in a meeting with Lee Thayer, a communications professor.
Thayer explained to Stayer that a critical task for a leader is to
create a climate that enables employees to unleash their potential.
It is not the job of a CEO to make employees listen to what you
have to say; it is about setting up the system so that people want
to listen. The combination of the right environment and a culture
that creates wants instead of requirements places few limits on
what employees can achieve. Thayers message resonated with Stayer,
as it should among business executives.Stayer began to recognize
the difference between compliance and commitment, and that an
engaged workforce was what he needed to help improve organizational
performance. He also learned that he needed to change his own
leadership behavior first. Leaders cannot demand more engagement
and stronger performance; they cant stand on the sideline and speak
only when the play goes wrong if an engaged workforce and great
performance are what they desire. But what should leaders do, or
consider doing, to increase the level of engagement among
employees?
The ten Cs of employee engagementHow can leaders engage
employees heads, hearts, and hands? The literature offers several
avenues for action; we summarize these as the Ten Cs of employee
engagement.1. Connect: Leaders must show that they value employees.
In First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
argue that managers trump companies. Employee-focused initiatives
such as profit sharing and implementing worklife balance
initiatives are important. However, if employees relationship with
their managers is fractured, then no amount of perks will persuade
employees to perform at top levels. Employee engagement is a direct
how employees feel about their relationship with the boss.
Employees look at whether organizations and their leader walk the
talk when they proclaim that, Our employees are our most valuable
asset.One anecdote illustrates the Connect dimension well. In
November 2003, the CEO of WestJet Airlines, Clive Beddoe, was
invited to give a presentation to the Canadian Club of London.
Beddoe showed up late, a few minutes before he was to deliver his
speech. He had met with WestJet employees at the London Airport and
had taken a few minutes to explain the corporate strategy and some
new initiatives to them. He also answered employees questions. To
paraphrase Beddoe, We had a great discussion that took a bit longer
than I had anticipated. Beddoes actions showed that he cares about
the employees. The employees, sensing that he is sincere, care
about Beddoe and the organization; they reward his behavior with
engagement.
2. Career: Leaders should provide challenging and meaningful
work with opportunities for career advancement. Most people want to
do new things in their job. For example, do organizations provide
job rotation for their top talent? Are people assigned stretch
goals? Do leaders hold people accountable for progress? Are jobs
enriched in duties and responsibilities? Good leaders challenge
employees; but at the same time, they must instill the confidence
that the challenges can be met. Not giving people the knowledge and
tools to be successful is unethical and de-motivating; it is also
likely to lead to stress, frustration, and, ultimately, lack of
engagement. In her book Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing
Streaks Begin and End, Rosabeth Moss Kantar explains that
confidence is based on three cornerstones: accountability,
collaboration, and initiative.
3. Clarity: Leaders must communicate a clear vision. People want
to understand the vision that senior leadership has for the
organization, and the goals that leaders or departmental heads have
for the division, unit, or team. Success in life and organizations
is, to a great extent, determined by how clear individuals are
about their goals and what they really want to achieve. In sum,
employees need to understand what the organizations goals are, why
they are important, and how the goals can best be attained. Clarity
about what the organization stands for, what it wants to achieve,
and how people can contribute to the organizations success is not
always evident. Consider, for example, what Jack Stack, CEO of SRC
Holdings Corp., wrote about the importance of teaching the basics
of business:The most crippling problem in American business is
sheer ignorance about how business works. What we see is a whole
mess of people going to a baseball game and nobody is telling them
what the rules are. That baseball game is business. People try to
steal from first base to second base, but they dont even know how
that fits into the big picture. What we try to do is break down
business in such a way that employees realize that in order to win
the World Series, youve got to steal x number of bases, hit y
number of RBIs and have the pitchers pitch z number of innings. And
if you put all these variables together, you can really attain your
hopes and dreams dont use information to intimidate, control or
manipulate people. Use it to teach people how to work together to
achieve common goals and thereby gain control over their lives.
4. Convey: Leaders clarify their expectations about employees
and provide feedback on their functioning in the organization. Good
leaders establish processes and procedures that help people master
important tasks and facilitate goal achievement. There is a great
anecdote about the legendary UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden. He
showed how important feedback positive and constructive is in the
pursuit of greatness. Among the secrets of his phenomenal success
was that he kept detailed diaries on each of his players. He kept
track of small improvements he felt the players could make and did
make. At the end of each practice, he would share his thoughts with
the players. The lesson here is that good leaders works daily to
improve the skills of their people and create small wins that help
the team, unit, or organization perform at its best.
5. Congratulate: Business leaders can learn a great deal from
Woodens approach. Surveys show that, over and over, employees feel
that they receive immediate feedback when their performance is
poor, or below expectations. These same employees also report that
praise and recognition for strong performance is much less common.
Exceptional leaders give recognition, and they do so a lot; they
coach and convey.
6. Contribute: People want to know that their input matters and
that they are contributing to the organizations success in a
meaningful way. This might be easy to articulate in settings such
as hospitals and educational institutions. But what about, say the
retail industry? Sears Roebuck & Co. started a turnaround in
1992. Part of the turnaround plan was the development of a set of
measures known as Total Performance Indicators which gauged how
well Sears was doing with its employees, customers, and investors.
The implementation of the measurement system led to three startling
conclusions. First, an employee understands of the connection
between her work as operationalized by specific job-relevant
behaviors and the strategic objectives of the company had a
positive impact on job performance. Second, an employees attitude
towards the job and the company had the greatest impact on loyalty
and customer service than all the other employee factors combined.
Third, improvements in employee attitude led to improvements in
job-relevant behavior; this, in turn, increased customer
satisfaction and an improvement in revenue growth. In sum, good
leaders help people see and feel how they are contributing to the
organizations success and future.
7. Control: Employees value control over the flow and pace of
their jobs and leaders can create opportunities for employees to
exercise this control. Do leaders consult with their employees with
regard to their needs? For example, is it possible to accommodate
the needs of a mother or an employee infected with HIV so that they
can attend to childcare concerns or a medical appointment? Are
leaders flexible and attuned to the needs of the employees as well
as the organization? Do leaders involve employees in
decision-making, particularly when employees will be directly
affected by the decision? Do employees have a say in setting goals
or milestones that are deemed important? Are employees able to
voice their ideas, and does leadership show that contributions are
valued? H. Norman Schwarzkopf retired U.S. Army General, once
remarked:I have seen competent leaders who stood in front of a
platoon and all they saw was a platoon. But great leaders stand in
front of a platoon and see it as 44 individuals, each of whom has
aspirations, each of whom wants to live, each of whom wants to do
well.A feeling of being in on things, and of being given
opportunities to participate in decision making often reduces
stress; it also creates trust and a culture where people want to
take ownership of problems and their solutions. There are numerous
examples of organizations whose implementation of an open-book
management style and creating room for employees to contribute to
making decisions had a positive effect on engagement and
organizational performance. The success of Microsoft, for example,
stems in part from Bill Gates belief that smart people anywhere in
the company should have the power to drive an initiative.
Initiatives such as Six Sigma are dependent, in part, on the active
participation of employees on the shop floor.
8. Collaborate: Studies show that, when employees work in teams
and have the trust and cooperation of their team members, they
outperform individuals and teams which lack good relationships.
Great leaders are team builders; they create an environment that
fosters trust and collaboration. Surveys indicate that being cared
about by colleagues is a strong predictor of employee engagement.
Thus, a continuous challenge for leaders is to rally individuals to
collaborate on organizational, departmental, and group goals, while
excluding individuals pursuing their self-interest.
9. Credibility: Leaders should strive to maintain a companys
reputation and demonstrate high ethical standards. People want to
be proud of their jobs, their performance, and their organization.
WestJet Airlines is among the most admired organizations in Canada.
The company has achieved numerous awards. For example, in 2005, it
earned the number one spot for best corporate culture in Canada. On
September 26, 2005, WestJet launched the Because Were Owners!
campaign. Why do WestJet employees care so much about their
organization? Why do over 85 percent of them own shares in the
company? Employees believe so strongly in what WestJet is trying to
do and are so excited about its strong performance record that they
commit their own money into shares.
10. Confidence: Good leaders help create confidence in a company
by being exemplars of high ethical and performance standards. To
illustrate, consider what happened to Harry Stone cipher, the
former CEO of Boeing. He made the restoration of corporate ethics
in the organization a top priority but was soon after embarrassed
by the disclosure of an extramarital affair with a female employee.
His poor judgment impaired his ability to lead and he lost a key
ingredient for success credibility. Thus the board asked him to
resign. Employees working at Qwest and Continental Airlines were so
embarrassed about working for their organizations that they would
not wear their companys uniform on their way to and from work. At
WorldCom, most employees were shocked, horrified, and embarrassed
when the accounting scandal broke at the company. New leadership
was faced with the major challenges of regaining public trust and
fostering employee engagement.Practitioners and academics have
argued that competitive advantage can be gained by creating an
engaged workforce. The data and argument that that we present above
are a compelling case why leaders need to make employee engagement
one of their priorities. Leaders should actively try to identify
the level of engagement in their organization, find the reasons
behind the lack of full engagement, strive to eliminate those
reasons, and implement behavioral strategies that will facilitate
full engagement. These efforts should be ongoing. Employee
engagement is hard to achieve and if not sustained by leaders it
can wither with relative ease.
The Link between Employer Practices and Employee EngagementHow
does an engaged workforce generate valuable business results for an
organization? The process starts with employer practices such as
job and task design, recruitment, selection, training,
compensation, performance management and career development. Such
practices affect employees level of engagement as well as job
performance. Performance and engagement then interact to produce
business results. Figure depicts these relationships.
Figure . Employer Practices Ultimately Influence Business
Results
Employer PracticesJob PerformanceEmployee Engagement and
CommitmentBusiness Results
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN INDIAThe recent work ASIA research study
by Watson Wyatt worldwide indicate that India has highest
percentage of highly engaged work at 78% in Asia as compare to
Japan, which has the lowest employee engagement at 39%. Head to
head with China, the engagement level of the Indian worker is 20%
more than his Chinese counterpart. These are all encouraging signs-
but the challenges and the opportunity ahead are manifold. The
imminent US slow down, shrinking of talent pool, slowdown in
hiring, large employee expectations are all challenges for internal
communication to cope with. The Gallup organization describe
employee engagement as the the involvement with and enthusiasm for
work. The challenges faced by organizations in India are around
attrition, career development and engagement while trying to keep
pace with the explosive growth. Outsourcing outfits have the
highest attrition rates losing staff at a rate of between 100% and
200% a year. It is widely believed that organization spend an
average of 36% of their revenues on their employees but do not have
a tangible way to measure its Impact. A mercer study Whats working
a series of national research on worker insights, highlights
factors that make different to employee engagement. The surveys 125
questions elicit views in the areas defined by Mercers Human
Capital Strategic Model and cover training and development, work
environment, leadership, performance management, work/life balance,
communication, compensation, benefits, and engagement. The India
study throws up some fascinating directions for Hr and internal
communication professionals. Employee engagement is no more just
about the employees intent to leave. The employees commitment to
the organization and motivation to contribute to the organizations
success plays a significant role. The top three drivers in India
are trust in senior management, how the organization is perceived
for customer service and fair pay. Surprisingly, from an Indian
context, the least valued factors in the continuum were benefits,
compensation and performance management. In India, having a
long-term career is considered positive and stable. Frequent job
changes are viewed negatively and therefore the high scores around
the commitment count are in line with the mind set. Internal
communication and HR professionals need to take note of the
employees need for giving feedback and to observe action taken from
this. Employees seem to be getting very little information on the
organizations vision and future plans, a cause of concern. Other
areas for action include the organizations reputation in the market
congruent to other research in this space which believes that
organizations which are socially responsible are considered better
places to work. In the talent management bracket, managers fare
poorly for their involvement, understanding and support as well as
for merit based appraisals.In India, with a large number of global
players entering the market, the talent pool has now a plethora of
choices and even these multinationals are finding it tough to
retain staff. The Canadian HR Reporter writes that employees want
to know where their careers are heading and that is a critical
component of the talent retention strategy organizations need to
focus on softer styles of leadership have a better impact in India
and china leaving organization to develop or seek leaders who can
fill this need.
10 Steps That Ensure Employee Engagement Success
Improving Employee Engagement is not the product of one
initiative. Organizations need a framework to achieve significant
improvement in engagement. Sequencing and content of the initiative
are critical, as is communication.There have been many traditional
approaches to improving Employee Engagement, including Leadership
Training, Company-wide Programs, Learning & Development and
other such initiatives.Given the experiences of the traditional
approaches outlined above, most organizations struggle to shift
Employee Engagement more than a couple of percentage points. In
discussing this with CEOs, as well as Human Resources and
Organizational Development Executives, it became clear that new
approaches were required to create a significant shift in Employee
Engagement.With old or new approaches, the factors that need to be
addressed remain the same: Job Importance: An employee needs to
know how their job is important to the organization. Clarity of
what is expected of them: Employees need to know what their manager
expects of them. Career Advancement: Employees want to know that
there is a fair and equitable system for career advancement and
that, if they perform, they will be considered for advancement.
Improvement and Reward: Employees want to make improvements to the
organization and, if they do, would like to be compensated where
possible (a reward and a sincere thank-you). Regular Feedback:
Employees want to know when they, the department and the
organization are doing well (or not so well). Good Relationship:
Employees want to communicate with their manager, even if the news
is not good. Clear values: Employees want to know the values and
behaviors that will be looked upon favorably; they dont want to be
left in a vacuum to guess. Good Communications: Employees want to
know what is happening so theyre not the last to find out important
information. In order to address the above needs, the solution
needs to incorporate all of the above factors and then some. The
following is a 10-point outline of a comprehensive solution that
addresses each of the major influencers outlined above.
1. Define and Map the Strategy
Organization leaders need to be clear on what they are trying to
achieve before they communicate this to the organization. If the
Level 1 Strategy (Organization Level) is not well defined, then
leaders need to conduct a Strategy Workshop where Executive
Management defines and refines a clear strategy. The Strategy needs
to be converted into a Strategy Map. This Map is a pictorial
representation of the Strategy showing dependencies and
relationships of the major parts of the Strategy. Most people
understand a picture far better and have much more information than
from a complicated, written strategic plan.
2. Define Values, Behaviors and Measurement Criteria
The Executive and Management teams need to determine the values
and behaviors they believe are important to the organization. These
need to be clearly defined and unanimously supported, as well as
clearly articulated so that they can be readily understood.
Executive Management needs to define what part values and behaviors
will play in employee evaluations or reviews. If employees arent
going to be evaluated on these values and behaviors, then
management is wasting its time defining them. The Executive
Management team needs to decide on the weighting for these values
and behaviors in employee reviews.
3. Conduct Strategy Mapping in Every Major Business Unit
Each Department must complete a Strategy Map with each employee
being allocated a part of the Strategy. This might sound difficult,
but in practice its not. Once you complete Strategy Mapping in each
department or work unit, employees know their part of the plan. You
have now achieved the first influencing factor of Employee
Engagement Job Importance. Each employee now knows what is
important and his or her part of the plan.
4. Create a Performance Management/Talent Management System
Set up an automated Performance Management and Development
system. Ensure the system has the capability for regular feedback,
at least monthly. This is the platform that will deliver the
clarity of role and communications aspect of Employee Engagement.
The Talent Management component should enable an objective way of
short-listing potential candidates for promotion. This is also the
platform that will deliver the Career and Succession Planning
component of Employee Engagement.
5. Link Incentive Compensation to the Outcomes of Performance
Management
To achieve the Reward component of Influencing Improvement and
Reward, link compensation to Performance. Whether its a salary
increment, bonus, or some other compensation consequence, there
needs to be some linkage to compensation to achieve and satisfy
this component.
6. Set Objectives Based on the Department Strategy Map
Each Manager should sit down with their team and discuss each
employees role in achieving the Strategy Map. Objectives are set
with each employee and each employee understands his/her part of
the Strategy, how their work is important and how other employees
and managers rely and depend upon their work.
7. Make Every Manager Accountable
If your Performance Management system is capable of delivering a
quick touch-base progress review each month, this becomes easy.
Managers sit down with employees for 10-15 minutes each month and
do a quick update. The Performance Management system should restate
a summary of the employees objectives and values and behaviors.
After the meeting, managers should record progress in the system.
Note that Communication will require more than just one-on-one
meetings with the manager or CEO. Internal communications will need
to be planned at regular scheduled intervals as well.
8. Conduct Career/Succession Planning
Design a communications program that will advise all employees
that Succession Planning will now be based on merit, not just who
someone knows or who plays golf with whom. This Talent Management
System should be able to produce a short list of employees based on
objective criteria, for example:Career Aspirations Match
QualificationsHistorical Performance RatingPotential
RatingCompetencies Match/RatingMobilityAge-Based Retirement
9. Foster Positive, Supportive Relationships
This is a factor that is not as easily achieved by any single
initiative except that improvements will have been made through:
:Clarifying purpose managers will interact with staff in the
Strategy Mapping phase.Setting Objectives Managers will spend time
with their staff while setting objectives. They can no longer avoid
staff contact.One-on-One Meetings Managers should be required to
conduct 10-15 minute touch-base meetings to share progress on
projects. This ongoing communication helps to improve relationships
between employees and managers.
10. Communicate Constantly and Consistently
At every step along the way, employees must be clear on how they
are connected to the organization strategy. They specifically need
to know their part of the plan and they need to see that their part
of the plan is important to the organization.
The following are a few basic steps in this process based on the
best industry practices.
1. The specific requirements of your organization and deciding
the priorities. Prepare and Design: The first step in the process
is about discovering after that a customized design of carrying the
whole process can be designed. It is recommended to seek advice of
expert management consultant in order to increase the chances of
getting it done right at the first attempt.2. Employee Engagement
Survey: Design the questions of the employee engagement survey and
deploy it with the help of an appropriate media. It can be either
in printed form or set online depending upon the comfort level of
the employees and your questionnaire evaluation process.3. Result
Analysis: It is the most important step in the entire process. It
is time when reports are to be analyzed to find out what exactly
motivates employees to perform their best and what actually
disengages them and finally compels them to leave the organization.
The results and information can then be delivered through
presentations.4. Action Planning: How to turn the results of the
survey in to an action is a challenging question that organizations
need to deal with the utmost care. Coaching of line managers as
well as HR professionals is very important in order to tell them
how to take appropriate actions to engage employees. They should
also be told about dos and donts so that they can successfully
implement the changes.5. Action Follow-up: Action follow up is
necessary in order to find out if the action has been taken in the
right direction or not and if it is producing the desired
results.Strategies to improve Employee engagementManagers may take
up following steps for creating and sustaining employee engagement:
1) Let go off any negative opinions you may have about your
employeesApproach each of them as a source of unique knowledge with
something valuable to contribute to the company. Remember that you
are co-creating the achievement of a vision with them.
2) Make sure employees have everything they need to do their
jobs. Why not build just such an opportunity into your department
simply by asking each staff member, or the team as a whole, "Do you
have everything you need to be as competent as you can be?"
Remember, just as marketplace and customer needs change at daily,
so do your employees' needs change.
3) Clearly communicate what's expected of employees - What the
company values and vision are, and how the company defines success.
Employees can't perform well or be productive if they don't clearly
know what it is they're there to do and the part they play in the
overall success of the company. Be sure to communicate your
expectations - and to do it often.
4) Get to know your employees - Especially their goals, their
stressors, what excites them and how they each define 'success.
Show an interest in their well being and that, when appropriate,
you do what it takes to enable them to feel more fulfilled.5) make
sure they are trained - and retrained - in problem solving and
conflict resolution skills.These critical skills will help them
interact better with you, their teammates, customers and suppliers.
Its common sense - better communication reduces stress and increase
positive outcomes.
6) Constantly ask how you are doing in your employees'
eyes.Although it can be difficult for managers to request employee
feedback - and it can be equally if not more challenging for an
employee to give the person who evaluates them an honest response.
To get strong at this skill and to model it for employees, begin
dialogues with employees using conversation starters such as, "It's
one of my goals to constantly improve myself as a manager. What
would you like to see me do differently? What could I be doing to
make your job easier?" Be sure to accept feedback graciously and to
express appreciation.
7) Reward and recognize employees in ways that are meaningful to
them That's why getting to know your employees is so important. And
remember to celebrate both accomplishments and efforts to give
employees working on long-term goals a boost.
8) Be consistent for the long haul.If you start an 'engagement
initiative' and then drop it , your efforts will backfire, creating
employee estrangement. People are exhausted and exasperated from
'program du jour' initiatives that engage their passion and then
fizzle out when the manager gets bored, fired or moved to another
department. There's a connection between an employee's commitment
to an initiative and a manager's commitment to supporting it. A
manager's ongoing commitment to keeping people engaged, involved in
and excited about the work they do and the challenges they face
must be a daily priorityHow to keep employee happy and engagedBut
exactly how do that? Here in one handy chart is a summary of
approximately 85,927 hours of engagement research something we call
THE MAGICAL WHEEL OF ENGAGEMENT:Employees desperately want their
leaders to: ENVISION a bold, clear and inspirational future;
EMPATHIZE with them to understand their motivations and strengths;
ENHANCE their skills through education, exposure and experience;
EMPOWER them to do meaningful work; EVALUATE them on a truthful and
timely basis; ENCOURAGE them as much as humanly possible
To help you understand your company-specific objectives, here
are some general objectives of employee engagement: A Workplace
With Involvement Perhaps the most important objective of employee
engagement is to create a workplace with involvement of employees.
This means that when you have a company picnic or quality circle
meeting, you should have employees that want to be there and
contribute. This desire to participate is a sign that you have
actively engaged employees. Pride In Work Employees should be proud
of what they do and how they do it. A sense of pride in big
projects shows that employees actually care about what they are
doing. This pride is a sign of employee engagement and involvement
with business decisions. A Sense Of Community Employees should feel
a sense of community in the workplace. This means that rather than
viewing co-employees as just co-employees, your employees should
view everyone working around them as a crucial part of the team.
When your employees value each other, they will strive to make
decisions that will benefit the organization as a whole. CHAPTER
3
Analysis and FindingsQ1. Do you know what is expected of you at
work?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not
ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.168% of the sample agreed to the fact that they are
aware about the work which they have to perform while 32% are
strongly agree on this fact.
Q2. At work do you have the opportunity to do what you do best
every day?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly
Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.2Majority (53%) of the employees get the opportunity to
do best of work every day while 29% of them disagreed on this and
18% of them strongly agreed.
Q3. In the last three months, have you received recognition or
praise for doing good work?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed)
Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.384% of the employees have received recognition or
praise in the last three months for doing good work while 11% of
the employees are highly satisfied with recognition in their
organization and 5% of them have not received any praise in the
last 3 months.
Q4. Is there someone at work who encourages your development?a)
Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not
ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.4Generally people feel sense of belongingness when
someone is there at their workplace to support them and 84% of the
employees agreed on this fact while 8% have strongly agreed and the
other 8%disagreed.
Q5. At work, do your opinions seem to count?a) Strongly Agreeb)
Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.5Employees participation in decision making is again a
criterion of measuring employee engagement. 87% of the employees
have agreed that their decision seems to count, 10% strongly agreed
to this and only 3% have disagreed.
Q6. Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing
quality work?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly
Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.679%of the sample agreed that their fellow employees
are committed to do quality workwhile 11% have disagreed on this
fact.5% of them have chosen strongly on this and the other5% has
given no comments on this.
Q7. In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to
learn and grow?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly
Disagreee) Not ApplicationAnalysis:
Figure 3.7Learning and development is one of the most important
aspects to find out the employee engagement in the organization.
66% have agreed that they get the opportunity to learn and grow in
the organization while 21% of them have strongly agreed on it. 8%
of the employees have not given any reply and 5% were
disagreed.
Q8. Are the pay and benefits in your organization comparable to
similar companies?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly
Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.842% of the sample is satisfied with pay and packages
of their organization while 32% are highly satisfied with it. 16%
disagree on the competitive pay and benefits packages.
Q9. Are job promotions in this organization fair and
objective?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly
Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.9Half the percentage (50%) of the employees believes
that the promotions are done objectives, 31% strongly agree to the
fairness of the same while 13% doubt the fairness and objectivity
of the process.Q10. Are organization policies clearly communicated
in the organization?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly
Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.1047% of the sample has agreed to be clear on the
policies that prevail in their respective organization. A good
proportion of 425 strongly agreed on the clarity while only 11%
reported ambiguity on the policies.
Q11. Do you see yourself continuing to work for this
organization two years from now?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec)
Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.11A majority of 50% has agreed to continue to serve in
the same organization for next two years, 24% are very much willing
to do the same whereas a striking 26% of the employees are those
who are on the verge to leave the organization since they are not
even committing for next two years.
Q12. Do you recommend your friends/relatives in your
organization?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly
Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:
Figure 3.1224% of the sample surveyed strongly believes in
recommending friends and relatives to their organization, 63%
agreed to this while 13% has disagreed the option.
Q13. Select and rank the following engagement tools applicable
in your organization. Please rate the options, from 1-8(being the
lowest and 8 being the highest).a) Stress Managementb) Work Life
Balancec) Career Developmentd) Employees Participation In Decisions
Makinge) Counseling/ Feedbackf) Rewards And Recognition Schemesg)
Employee Referral Schemeh) Retirement PlansAnalysis:
Figure 3.13Reward and recognition schemes to be the most popular
engagement toll amongst the employees, next is efforts on career
development. Employee participation in decision making and
counseling/feedback seems to be equally effective, next in line is
Employee referral scheme. Stress management is then regarded as
important but Retirement plans and work life balance surprisingly
seem to be least effective.
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