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1846

Employee Engagement / Key Players in enhancing Employee Engagement

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:49:04 PM »

Most companies think that it is their performance management system and appraisal and reward strategies that enhance the levels of employee engagement. True but partially!

Most companies do not realize that human interaction is perhaps one of the most important elements in keeping the employees geared up to perform their best and enhance their competency levels. It is not only a basic need but the sole of an organisation that keeps it going.

Everyone who interacts with employees including top management, senior leaders, immediate supervisors and human resource team members play a vital role in shaping the mentality of an individual.

Though it is the fact that they need well designed policies and practices to support business functions and other programmes for enhancing the morale and improving the performance of an employee by enhancing their engagement level but the importance of human interaction cannot be denied. After all the process of employee engagement involves behaviour management.

It is no surprise that disengaged employees have an adverse effect on your standing in the business world. The world’s most admired companies have attained this status only by keeping their employees engaged by assigning them more challenging tasks according to their abilities. Employee development is high on their agenda.

But the question is who will find out why they’re not able to perform their best. What will keep them focussed towards their aims? How can you have the impact on their as well as business performance?

It is obvious that all this can be known through their interaction with their immediate superiors and the members of Human resource Department. Once the data is collected, the top management can support the entire process of employee engagement by deciding the priorities, making investments and designing and implementing various processes.

Key Players in Enhancing Employee Engagement

    Immediate Supervisors and Managers

    Lying on the bottom of the pyramid, immediate supervisors and managers play the most important role in enhancing the levels of employees. As they spend more time with them as compared to the HR people and senior leadership, they can easily determine their actions and find out what will keep them motivated.

    Although the directions come either from top management or HRD but they are the one who execute the process and determine the satisfaction level of their workforce. They can interact with the employees and fill scorecards with columns such as actions of employees, what motivates them and job satisfaction level. This is the initial as well the most important step in the entire process.

    Human Resource Department

    Human Resource Department works on the data collected by the managers and determine the trend among the employees. They identify the most common factors that decrease the engagement levels among employees and the most common opportunities that can enhance it. They study all the cases thoroughly to identify the loopholes in the system and bring it to the notice of top management.

    Senior Leadership or Top Management

    They review the entire report and the process designed by the HRD or a management consulting firm to enhance the employee engagement levels. They support the process by deciding the priorities and making investments.

1847

Employee Engagement / Employee Engagement Initiatives

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:47:17 PM »

The highly productive and the most reputed companies across the world have understood the fact that it was employee engagement that made them stand apart from all other companies. Different companies had taken different initiatives to enhance the level of engagement among employees towards their jobs and the organisation. Some offer custom-made incentives while some stick to provide extra facilities like crèche for kids, schools for children of employees, pick and drop, provision of food, movie tickets and many other things.

Each company has its own reasons to establish a specific type of reward-motivation programme depending upon their financial status, region in which they are operating and level which they function at and the backgrounds of the employees. In the year 201, an annual study conducted by the research arm of Kenexa, a leading global HR solution provider, revealed that Indian giants rank highest as compared to their peers in other countries when it comes to employee engagement and effective leadership.

When compared on the national level, India with 71 percent employee engagement ratio secured the topmost rank while Japan was at the lowest position with 38 percent ratio. This was a surprising fact as it is believed that Indian companies have miles to cover in order to achieve what global companies have done already. Factors that made India stand apart from rest of the countries were employee recognition, emphasis of improvement of quality, show of genuine responsibility of organisation towards employees and opportunities to grow.

The research conducted by Kenexa included India, US, UK, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Denmark, China, France, Finland, Germany, Japan, Spain, Russia, Sweden, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Mexico and Gulf countries. The most surprising fact is that the Indian companies took creative and unique initiatives to enhance the level of engagement and involvement of their employees.

According to a study conducted by Hewitt Associates in 2009, the software giant HCL Technologies was ranked as the best Indian employer in that year. The reasons being, creation of a positive work culture and its long term approach in the midst of challenging conditions. The other companies who made to the list of top employers were Hindustan Zinc, Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, Cisco Systems, ITC Welcome Group, Eureka Forbes, LG Electronics India, Domino’s Pizza India and Marriott Hotels India.

Infosys in year 2011 plans to have its own radio in establishing a healthy and quick interaction and communication amongst employees. The company also plans to host talk shows where top management would interact with the employees. Besides this, the company also has a social networking portal like Facebook. Named as Bubble, it helps employees connect to their colleagues, seniors, subordinates and top management. Infosys had also created Infosys Television.

Indian giants like Mahindra & Mahindra, Mercer, KPMG and Wipro offer democracy to choose their wages and perks depending upon their lifestyles. It is done to decrease as well as prevent dissatisfaction amongst employees. It has worked out very well and companies are successful in drawing and retaining the best talent. The trend began in these IT giants can now be seen in FMCG, banking and other industries.

1848

Employee Engagement / Types of Employees based on Level of Engagement

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:42:02 PM »

An organisation is a collection of individuals who come together and work towards the realisation of a common objective. Larger the number of people working together, larger is the size of the organisation and vice-versa. However, for an organisation to flourish it is important for the employees to operate at their full potential, which unfortunately is not the case in most of the organisations.

Not all employees in the organisation work utilising their full potential. There may be many reasons responsible for the same. They may not associate with the goal of the company, they may have problem with their team, the boss or the subordinate or it may be a general problem of attitude. This fact necessitated the classification of the people into three categories – engaged, not engaged and actively disengaged.

Although there are other classifications also, but this one is based upon the level of commitment or engagement of employees. A brief description about the three is given below:

    Actively Disengaged: This is the first category of people who are unhappy and they spread unhappiness in the organisation. They are the disease centres in the company and spread the negative word, provoking and convincing people to leave their jobs. However they are the ones who stay the longest and removing the perceived people competition is their thought of getting to the top or next level in the job.

    Engaged: The second category of people are those who are can be identified with words like passion, alignment and innovation; which means that they are passionate, connected to the company and are innovative. They contribute new ideas and turn ideas into reality. These employees are positive in their outlook and they spread positivity. They are proactive; can anticipate the future market conditions are prepare well in advance.

    Not Engaged: The third type of employees is the large majority present in organisations almost 50% in number. These do what is told only and they like only one instruction at a time. They put in time but not energy and passion. They may be either positive or negative in their outlook and opinion about the organisation. They are not proactive and fail to anticipate what might be required next or what the next step is? They wait for instruction from their superiors.

In a research conducted by Gallup, it was found out that 16% of the people working in organisations are actively disengaged, 28% are engaged and almost 56% are not engaged. Although these statistics cannot be generalised, but they hold true for majority of the cases and there may be deviation of 5% here and there for each category and not more.

The research therefore points out that people who are engaged are more efficient and deliver results optimally. They have a better understanding of the business, more client focussed and committed to make it big with the organisation they work for.

Within an organisation the percentage of people in these three brackets can help determine the health of the company. For example, greater percentage of actively disengaged employees connotes into even greater losses in productivity, erosion of employee morale and reduction in the bottom line.

1849

Employee Engagement / Employee Engagement Strategies

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:34:54 PM »

   

Various studies have shown that actively engaged employees are almost 50 percent more productive than their not-engaged or disengaged colleagues. The employee engagement cannot be improved only by designing and implementing effective human resource strategies but their involvement and quality of output produced by them also depends on their relationships with their colleagues, subordinates and seniors. It is a basic need of human beings to belong and to be belonged. Such collaborations can be a major contributor to the success of a company.

Until recently, solutions facilitating two-way communication including top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top were given much important but nothing has been done to foster the open communication and collaborations among employees. The way they interact with each other determines the health of any organisation. A perfect balance of respect, care and competitiveness should be prevailed in the organisation to keep them actively engaged in their jobs. Mutual support and healthy relationships contribute majorly to the organisation’s success.

Besides this, empowering employees by delegating them responsibilities and giving them autonomy to take decisions regarding their job on their own can also increase their productivity. It is worth going beyond the traditional management tools of connectivity to help employees remain motivated and dedicated to perform their tasks. To achieve this, the organisations can design effective employee engagement strategies on the basis of the model explained below.

Employee Engagement Strategies

    Unify the Experiences: Conduct an employee engagement survey in order to find the factors responsible for engaging and disengaging employees. Unify the common experiences and problems and design employee engagement strategies accordingly. Sharing of feedback in written is one way of communicating the experiences and problems.

    Evolving Through Open Communication: Open communication or face to face communication in the form of discussions can really help in bringing the various issues and identifying the main problems in the organisation. It is very essential to establish a proper communication where everyone can put their views and suggest a solution too. Most of the top organisations ask for suggestions and new ideas from their employees and then offer rewards on giving the best proposal.

    Providing Proper Communication Channels: Some employees are comfortable with open face-to-face communication styles whereas there are some who want to give feedbacks and suggestions in written. Discovering the best channel of communication and establishing a proper route to share feedbacks and views plays a vital role.

    Enabling Conversation Fluidity: Whichever way of communication you choose, ensure that it has required fluidity. There should not be any hindrance in the established method of communication. Not being able to provide feedback or share problems and experiences can lead to frustration and distress among employees. Therefore, ensure that there are no barriers to communication. This can also result in disengaging the engaged employees.

    Manage Communication: Managing communication is the last but the most important step in the entire process. Managers should keep a check on the entire process in order to ensure that it is not adversely affecting the health of the organisation. They must make sure that it serves the desired purpose and is not being used negatively.

1850

Employee Engagement / Drivers of Employee Engagement

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:31:11 PM »

Employee Engagement has transcended from being the latest business buzzword to being recognized by organizations as a tool that positively influences business performance. This linkage between organization performance and employee engagement was researched by ISR in 2006 by means of world-wide survey.

The ISR study reveals that companies with high engagement scores saw an increase of more than 25% in EPS (Earnings per Share), while companies with low engagement scores saw a decrease of 11% in EPS. The results confirm the belief of many that engagement positively influences business performance.

Hence, it is vital for companies to understand what “causes” employee engagement if they want to influence the “effect” i.e. Employee Engagement. By understanding these drivers and leveraging them, organizations can try and manage engagement levels of their employees.

So what drives employee engagement? Several theories have been propounded that focus on the rational and emotional aspects of engagement. Some even focus on the tangible and intangible aspects of engagement. Mercer’s ‘What’s Working’ studies reveal that engagement drivers differ by geography, by industry and even by time.

While there is no one panacea for leveraging employee engagement, there are some broad drivers which are presented below:

    Work/Job Role - Employees must see a link between their role and the larger organization goal. Understanding this linkage provides an intrinsic motivation and increased engagement. Most employees will come to work on time without possessing a sense of belonging and will try and complete assigned tasks even without possessing that sense achievement on completion of task. However, an employee that sees a clear linkage on how his/her role contributes to the organization will go the extra mile and help create organization wealth.

    Work Environment/Organization Culture - The bond between an employee and the organization is cemented when the employee identifies with the culture of the organization. An employee is engaged and motivated to stretch beyond the call of duty if he/she finds the work environment enabling and supportive.

    Rewards and Recognition - The bottom line is that people work to earn which helps fulfil ambitions. Equitable pay coupled with rewards and recognition programs enhances motivation and leads to commitment and engagement.

    Learning and Training Oppurtunities - As Lawyer (2006) put it - “People Enjoy Learning.” This is especially true in the case of today’s millennial workforce that constantly looks at enhancing knowledge and skill. Skill and Knowledge enhancement is not just important for the employees but providing a learning culture is essential for organizations to remain relevant in the constantly changing business landscape.

    Performance Management - An effective performance management system contributes positively to employee engagement. Goal setting lies at the root of any performance management system. Clearly articulated goals, a fair and just means to judge performance and timely, rational feedback are critical elements in creating a bond between the employee and his/her organization.

    Leadership - It is a well recorded fact that most resignations happen because the employee is not satisfied with his/her ‘boss.’ An organization that spends time and effort in grooming leaders who are aligned to its goals, culture and people invests well. New age industries have a young and dynamic workforce that looks for autonomy in decision making, increased responsibility and accountabilities.

    Other Factors - Clear and open communication, quality of interaction with peers, collaboration, organization policy, organization performance are all contributing factors to employee engagement.

We shall explore in each of the above mentioned drivers of engagement in the following chapters.

1851

Employee Engagement / Job Role as a Driver of Employee Engagement

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:29:57 PM »

All of us have heard the story of 3 brick-layers who were working side by side when a passer-by asked them what they were doing.

The first said - “I am laying bricks”

The second said - “I am feeding my family”

The third said - “I am building a cathedral”

This simple story conveys the essence of an engaged employee. The last brick-layer identified his job with the larger goal and hence was able to bring that something extra that served as an inspiration to many.

Most of the employees will land up for work and try and fulfil their role requirements irrespective of their perception of the organization, its policy, pay etc. This is because the fundamental driver for most of us is (1) to utilize our time gainfully and (2) to earn a livelihood. But this does not help organizations in the long term. So, what should organizations do? How can they build an engaged workforce that will help create long term competitiveness?

Many of us become prescriptive when trying to implement employee engagement initiatives without understanding that the first step towards creating an engaged workforce is to help employees see a clear linkage between their job role and organization goal.

The following are some measures that organizations can take w.r.t (with respect to) the “job/role of employee” that will help improve engagement.

    Clear Role Definition - Engagement begins even before the employee joins work. Carving out a clear job description will actively engage a potential hire and help convert him/her into an enthusiastic joiner and then engaged employee.

    Paint the Larger Picture - During the peak of hiring activity, my team and I were given a tough time about new joiner renege and attrition of existing employees. Most of the time, we oscillated between bearing the brunt and/or retaliating by throwing our hands up, buying time or throwing industry data points as reference but never did we understand the true impact till one of the business leads sat us down and connected the dots for us and articulated the $(dollar) impact of each of our activity. That day, we graduated to truly becoming business partners.

    Job Rotation - The grass on the other side is always greener. While the revenue generating/client facing entities believe that the support staff (like admin, human resources, finance) has a cushy job, the support staff often complains of a vendor like treatment at the hands of the former. An employee can contribute his best if he/she can see how his/her role ties in with the larger organization goals or explore linkages of his/her role with other teams in the organization. For this purpose, tools such as job-rotation, multi team projects, best practice sharing by teams can be leveraged effectively by organizations. Such interactions help create an informal and seamless source of information across teams which helps employees to perform effectively and efficiently.

    Goal Setting - A realistic and time bound goal that clearly mentions linkage to the organization goal is an important aspect in building an engaged workforce. This will be dealt with in greater depth in the following chapter which deals with Performance Management as a driver of engagement.

    Job Loading - Organizations can effectively use both ‘vertical-loading’ i.e. job enrichment and ‘horizontal-loading’ i.e. job enlargement to motivate employees. Both these approaches allow an employee to explore and use their strengths and also beat work monotony. These also help skill development and enhancement which in turn helps employee output, team output and eventually organization output.

In conclusion, engaged employees create quality output not because they have to or are forced to but because they want to, because they see a clear linkage between their work and the organization vision and results.

1852

Employee Engagement / How to Engage Women Employees ?

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:28:58 PM »

   

There has been a flurry of conferences, studies and researching on why women employees are likely to leave their companies earlier as compared to men employees. Why is the number of unhappy female employees growing? Why great leaders are unsuccessful in retaining women employees even after spending a lot of money, time and effort?

Although women show more stability than men when it comes to their job but recent studies have shown that the number of unhappy and unsatisfied women is on a continuous increase. Unlike men, women prefer to explore multiples work areas and different jobs instead of going up vertically. They desire for widening their horizons and perspectives rather than going up on mere designations. Despite this strange characteristic of theirs, organisations these days are finding a lot of difficulties in retaining their women employees.

Most women when decide to move, the most common reason is their family. They mostly engage their families while making a decision to move whereas the matter with the men is absolutely different. According to various independent surveys, men associate their leaving of company with the imbalance and unrest in their families. They tend to think that their low or no income would upset their family dynamics.

The women when decide to quit, the chances of their resuming the work are extremely low. Economic instability or crisis may compel them to work again but under normal circumstances, it is almost negligible.

While the number of women employees is continuously on increase, organisations can not afford to keep employee retention on the back burner. They should actively involve them in finding what really disengages women employees and make them quit and even if it is their family behind their decision, organisations should come up with something that can motivate them to resume work.

“How to engage women employees and retain them” is the question that most organisations are facing today. The question points out the need of keeping the women employees engaged and fulfilling all their specific needs and requirements to keep them motivated to pursue their career and take it to the next level no matter what.

Companies that do not make effort in retaining their women employees have already lost some of their business or will certainly lose out in the coming years. The reason being, the women employees nowadays are also a part of top and middle management. Their one decision to quit the organisation can have a severe impact on the working as well as business of the organisation.

Providing them more meaningful tasks depending upon their comfort level, affirming their contribution, giving them an open, collaborative and innovative environment, engaging them in challenging tasks, keeping the doors open when they feel the need to work after delivering the baby or raising their kids and coming up with the options to help them take care of their family, especially kids can keep them motivated to work and perform their best.

Moreover, women prefer working in the environment where there are least hierarchies. Therefore, designing the work that engages everyone equally can help a great deal in engaging and retaining women employees.

1853

Employee Engagement / Enhancing Employee Engagement - Getting Beyond Money

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:28:37 PM »

   

Why companies around the world are cutting back on their financial-incentive or reward programmes? Why they have been looking out for some other techniques to inspire and motivate their employees? Is it economic slump or something else?

Well, it has been revealed that employees who have achieved a financial stability to some extent require non-financial motivators that can offer them freedom to take their work-related decision, let them feel accountable for whatever they do, inspire them to take up challenges and enhance their overall personality.

People with satisfactory salaries along with few perks look for non-monetary initiatives from the organisation that can help them acquire new skills in professional contexts. Indeed, organisations need to focus more on balancing the financial and nonfinancial motivators. Short-term rewards can boost their energy and motivate them to perform their jobs in the best possible manner whereas long-term benefits help them retain in the organisation for long.

The various studies conducted by global management consulting firms have revealed that after financial incentives, the second biggest motivators are praise from the immediate supervisors and managers, an opportunity to lead a particular task or responsibility and attention from top management.

Non-financial motivators can be more effective for a certain set of employees but the importance of financial incentives cannot be understated. They are equally important. In such a scenario, management should try and establish custom made perks and motivators to enhance employee engagement.

As there are different types of individuals working in the organisation who have different needs and ways to weigh their motivators. Some look for more and more money while some for other things related to their professional and personal development. Motivating employees in the short run is not a big deal what is more challenging is to make them to stay in the organisation.

Strong talent management and establishing a balanced incentive programme are required to retain people and enhance their involvement, engagement and satisfaction level. According to a McKinsey Survey, employee motivation and engagement is sagging tremendously in companies around the globe. They make frequent job switches. This has compelled more than 70 percent of the organisations to adjust their motivation and reward programmes. They have cited that dropping employee motivation is the main reason behind the alteration and modification of their reward and motivation strategies.

In this economic slump, when it is hard to find cash, organisations need to rework on their strategies to cut back on financial-incentives. Understanding the needs of employees can also help them restructure their policies. In order to win commitment from the managers, companies need to have non-financial motivators such as delegating the responsibility, autonomy to make decisions and support from management in case they are going through a bad phase in their personal life.

For low level managers and bottom-line employees, financial incentives certainly matter a lot. The HR people should design such a system that they can make the best of the incentives they receive from the company. Besides this, several other programs to help them in financial crisis can be a great idea. Opening a school for their children supporting free or subsidised education can be one of the initiatives to make them stay with the organisation.

1854

Employee Engagement / Employee Engagement Trends Across the World

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:27:45 PM »

It has always been a challenge to hire, retain and reward the best talent. Even in 2012, the conditions are almost similar. Although the economy is showing a few signs of recovery but it will not be possible for employers to go back to their usual way of operating business. They still have a long way to go to achieve that kind of liberty again but now till then their biggest concern should be to improve and enhance the levels of employee engagement in order to sustain and grow in today’s highly volatile business environment.

With the beginning of the year 2012, both organisations and individuals continue to be challenged. Since the economy has not recovered to a considerable extent, the organisations will face immense pressure to hold down their operating costs. But on the other hand, they will have to make investment on all possible ways to attract, recruit and retain the best industry talent.

While companies will have to manage their operations ensuring the optimum utilisation of resources, the individuals will need to try to associate them with an organisation where all their monetary and career requirements are fulfilled. Even if they face a slight cut back in their perks and other facilities, they will have to perform their best in order to help top people improve the financial standing of the company.

Over the past few years, both organisations and individuals have faced the aftermaths of economic crisis. Started in 2008, it had its impact on almost everyone in every corner of the world. Even highly productive organisations offering excellent facilities and employees reward programmes had to struggle to maintain their established trends. Even they had to cut back a few things in order to create a balance. In 2012 also, it will continue to challenge the organisations.

Employee Engagement Trends

Usually, there are a few main employee engagement drivers that motivate employees to work harder and perform better. These include quality of life, people such as senior managers, peers, colleagues and subordinates, career and personal development opportunities, company policies and practices, company reputation and total rewards including, pay, additional benefits and perks.

Different employees rank these factors at different levels. This means that for some career opportunities may be the biggest factor of being associated with the company while for some money is the driving factor. Many people want to work for a reputed organisation whereas some prefer a better working environment over anything else. Preferences differ. They depend upon the regions and backgrounds they belong to and of course, their personal thought process and mind setup.

In Asia Pacific region, career opportunities are ranked first. It is followed by brand alignment, recognition, pay and HR practices respectively. In European countries, of course career opportunities rank first but their second preference is good HR practices. These two are followed by brand alignment, pay and recognition respectively.

In North America, again the career opportunities are ranked first by the employees followed by performance management, organisation reputation, brand alignment and then recognition. Overall, people prefer career opportunities over any other thing no matter where companies are operating. Regardless of their backgrounds and regions, this is something that every working professional looks for. Therefore, organisations will have to create excellent opportunities for their employees to make them stay and grow with it.

1855

Employee Engagement / How can Employee Engagement help increase Customer Satisfaction ? i

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:26:58 PM »

Numerous management studies and researches support the proposal that there exists a relationship between employee engagement and customer satisfaction. It has been observed that the actively engaged employees are extremely loyal towards their organisation and are always ready to walk that extra mile to ensure success for their company.

The studies such as ‘Loyalty Effects’ show that when people have a sense of belongingness towards their workplace and feel great about being associated with it, they provide better customer service. They treat them as a company and therefore, strive to achieve excellence in whatever they do to serve customers better. Employee engagement correlates positively with customer satisfaction and increased productivity of the organisation as a whole.

As employees are considered the internal customers of an organisation, their satisfaction level plays an important role in keeping the company in good health. When they are satisfied, it is obvious that they will treat the external customers including buyers and end users in the best possible manner.

It is guaranteed that customers keep coming back when they are treated well. Not only this, it also helps in growing the loyalty level of customers towards the company.

Experts say that every company that is looking to sustain in this ever changing business world must try to enhance the engagement level of their employees and those who want to take their business to the level must make a dedicated effort and figure out the way of engaging almost every employee of the organisation. Employee commitment towards their job keeps them engaged and results in high levels of satisfaction.

The productivity of an organisation not only depends on the time the employees spend in the company but it also takes into account the effort they put in executing their jobs ensuring the optimal use of resources. This in turn helps them grow and acquire more skills.

Organisation must have a proper system of building the careers of its highly engaged employees to their spirits up and motivate them to perform their best always. Employee engagement depends upon how effectively and efficiently the systems and procedures of the organisation are followed. Just having well defined procedures is not enough; in fact, they need to be duly followed and upgraded from time to time.

When companies make efforts to enhance the employee engagement levels, they automatically work towards improving customer satisfaction. The studies have revealed that organisations working on this aspect have experienced a significant decrease in the rate of employee turnover.

Companies like Born experienced a downfall of 48 percent in employee turnover rate. Earlier it was 50 percent which has now reduced up to 2 percent. Monsanto found out in a survey that the strongest factors that can influence customer satisfaction dramatically include employee satisfaction and employee work-life balance.

Sun Microsystems has also found out that their actively engaged employees recommend the company as the best place to work. This has resulted in increased employee satisfaction, low employee turnover rate, increased customer loyalty and increased pool of potential employees.

The studies conducted by all these and other Fortune 500 companies have put a stamp on the idea that there is a positive link between the employee engagement and customer satisfaction.

1856

Employee Engagement / Reasons to Conduct Employee Engagement Survey

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:26:04 PM »

Conducting employee engagement survey in order to find out the involvement and willingness of employees to perform their jobs and contribute to the success of their organisation is not a new idea; however, it has become more popular than ever. The reason being, nowadays, managers are keener in knowing what actually can engage or disengage employees.

Various independent researches and specific investigations carried out by organisations have shown that there is a direct link between the employee engagement and the productivity and profitability of an organisation. Apart from this, it has been found out that employees who actively respond to the questions of employee engagement survey are enthusiastically engaged in their jobs and want to offer their feedbacks as well as put forward the problems and challenges that they usually come across while performing their jobs when asked.

On the other hand, the employees who do not take the questions of employee engagement survey seriously and take it like any other questionnaire are not engaged in their jobs. It can be said that either they are unhappy with their job profile and organisation or they are under the impression that their feedback doesn’t matter as it can’t change their present circumstances.

The main aim of conducting an employee engagement survey is to find out the factors that actually drive employees to perform their best and also the ones that can put them off. It is important in order to establish sync between what top management offers and what employees expect or vice versa.

The highly productive organisations keep on conducting employee engagement surveys from time to time so that they can design or redesign the already established policies and implement key changes in order to increase the efficiency, output, involvement, dedication and productivity of employees. Not only this, it also helps them in retaining the best talent within the organisation. Moreover, when companies focus on the problem, they come up with effective solutions which significantly increase the number of engaged employees, resulting in a considerable increase in their productivity and organisation’s profitability.

Employee engagement also establishes a comprehensive two-way communication process overcoming all barriers. A study of engagement and involvement of employees certainly helps in taking the business to the next level establishing a strong work culture. The surveys definitely work provided companies assess the employee feedback, understand their requirements, work on designing new policies and practices and commit to implement them otherwise; there is no meaning of such surveys. They are not only wastage of time and money but also play with the feelings of employees who actually look at them a way to communicate their views and opinions to their immediate managers and top management.

Once top management decides to conduct an employee engagement survey, the next step is to consider what type of survey and questionnaire format should be chosen in order to get maximum possible results. The companies may seek advice from professional management consultants to decide the most appropriate type of employee engagement survey considering the nature of their business and the level they are operating it. Conducting a survey under professional guidance will show greater results.

1857

Employee Engagement / Maslow’s Hierarchy and Employee Engagement

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:25:21 PM »

How to tap the potential of employees who are not actively engaged or are disengaged? Yes, the management studies conducted over last few years have revealed that only 11 percent of the total employee strength is actively engagement and feels a strong commitment towards their work and workplace. The rest 89 percent of the employees are either not actively engaged or disengaged. This means that the organisations are able to tap the potential of only 11 percent employees. Encouraging the rest of the workforce is still a big challenge for them.

Any organisations looking to bring the best out of their employees and engage them thoroughly in their job must prioritise its response towards the various needs of its employees. To align their response, they can utilise the Maslow’s Hierarchy model.

Maslows Hierarchy

Response of the Organisation

Biological and Physiological Needs: These are basic human needs including food, water and shelter. Organisations can buy them lunch, offer gift cards and give time off for necessary day-to-day tasks. It not only makes their life easier but also gives them a chance to retain with the organisation.

Safety Needs: Safety needs include good shelter, protection, safety, security, law and order and stability. Once human beings have enough for food, water and shelter, they want to live a comfortable and safe life. Again the mantra of keeping them with the organisation is to pay. Pay for food and loan them an amount to build their own home or buy a vehicle. Organisations can also support their children education.

Belonging Needs: It is a basic human need that they always want to be associated with something. They want to belong and to be belonged. The managers can establish friendly relationships with their subordinates so that they feel that they are an important asset of the organisation and they add value to it. Including them in decision making process or any other sensitive issue springing up within the workplace is a good idea. Also involve them in improvement teams where they really can contribute something substantial.

Self Esteem: According to Maslow’s Hierarchy model, the fourth stage of one’s life is to attain a status in the society as well as in professional life. Besides this, a sense of achievement and recognition of their efforts play a vital role. Organisations which are successful in recognising the efforts of employees and reward them for their performance and contribution are able to retain their talent. Issuing newsletters recognising their contribution or giving a think you card or awarding them with a trophy can serve the purpose.

Self Actualisation: It is the last stage in the Maslow’s Hierarchy model that is about growth and fulfilment in personal and professional life. By this time, individuals are well settled in life and are able to contribute through their work experiences. It is the time when organisations can make them feel empowered by giving them leadership authority, autonomy to take decisions and training opportunities.

Employee engagement is a science as well as an art. It takes into account all tangible and intangible factors related to human life directly or indirectly.

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Employee Engagement / Zinger Model of Employee Engagement

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:20:06 PM »

An expert on engagement, David Zinger is a Canadian based management consultant whose work is designed to fostering relationships to increase the employee engagement in your organisation. With an experience of more than 25 years in this field, he is able to combine the current researches with practical approaches in order achieve substantial results.

Based on his extensive and thorough work on employee engagement, he has introduced a workable model that throws light on various aspects of employee involvement, dedication and engagement. The model is called Zinger Model on Employee Engagement. The model provides organisations with 12 keys that a manager must follow to achieve significant results.

Zinger Model of Employee Engagement

    Achieve Results: Achieving the desired results, i.e., higher levels of employee engagement is the ultimate aim of the Zinger model; however, the process is well supported by various other steps. The managers need to work on self as well as the employees of the company through well crafted strategies.

    Craft Strategies: Crafting appropriate strategies to achieve higher levels of employee engagement is the first and foremost task. It involves a lot of planning and considerations of employee as well as organisational requirements. Managers can seek helps from professional management consultants in order to craft effective strategies.

    Enliven Roles: Employees will love their work when it seems interesting to them. Managers should work on redefining their tasks and responsibilities in a manner that eliminates the element of boredom from their job to keep them interested in their work.

    Excel at Work: Motivating employees to perform work certainly pays off. An organisation must have a system for recognising and rewarding employees for their efforts so that they remain stimulated to perform better and better.

    Get Connected: Managers must remain connected to their subordinates so that they can share their problems and ask for advice to perform their tasks. Communication is the backbone of every managerial process.

    Be Authentic: Being real and genuine is what is expected from a leader. Top management, HR people as well as immediate managers should show genuine concern towards the problems of employees and make dedicate efforts to help them get rid of it.

    Live Recognition: Recognising the efforts of employees in front of everyone not only boost their moral but also encourages them to stay with the organisation and perform their best always.

    Fully Engage: The desired results can be achieved in the fastest possible way only if employees are fully engage. A comprehensive study about what actually engages or disengages the employees must be conducted. Designing and implementing appropriate strategies is the next step.

    Identify with Organisation: Employees stay in organisation for long years if they feel connected to their organisation. Management should understand that they are their most important assets without which nothing can be achieved.

    Serve Customers: Only engaged employees can serve their customers in the best possible manner. Maintain a tradition and culture to offer the best services to the customers. Making employees aware of this tradition of the organisation from time to time can help a great deal.

    Develop Personally: Organisation should not only focus on attaining its goal but also on the overall development of an employee. Employees who grow with the organisation are deeply connected to their workplace and always ready to walk that extra mile to achieve success for it.

    Attain Happiness: Happy and satisfied employees are the most important assets of an organisation. The secret behind the success of highly productive businesses is their happy employees.

David Zinger Model on Employee Engagement considers all important aspects that could impact the involvement, engagement and dedication of employees.

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Employee Engagement / How Does Employee Engagement affect Financial Performance of a Company ?

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:18:30 PM »

Experts say that the engagement, involvement and satisfaction of the employees should be the biggest concern of the organisations. When they are actively engaged, it can directly affect the productivity and financial standing of the company. While it may not directly add to your profits but it certainly helps in several indirect ways.

There are numerous indicators that show that employee engagement has a strong impact on the financial performance of a company. However, the direct results are still debatable. There have been umpteen numbers of studies showing the link between employee engagement and financial profitability of an organisation but none of them produces sufficient evidences to establish it as a hard core fact.

Let’s take a glance at those factors related to employee engagement that indirectly contribute to the profitability of an organisation.

Indicators of Improved Financial Performance

Increased Productivity

When employees like to do what they are assigned, they are completely involved in their job to perform their best and bring desired results. The survey conducted by Hay Group, a global management consulting firm, revealed that engaged workforce are 40 percent more productive than those who are not engaged. When engagement level among employees increases, it increases their productivity which in turn, improves the financial standing of the organisation. Although the financial performance is not directly related to the employee engagement levels but it is believed that it is the main reason behind it.

Lower Employee Turnover

When employees are engaged in their jobs and are fully satisfied with their career as well as their organisation, they grow with it. There can be two main reasons why they look for alternatives. One, they are not interested in doing what is assigned to them and two, they are not happy with the organisation. But when they like their workplace, they stay with it and grow as it grows. This decreases the cost of finding new employees and training them from the beginning to perform a specific task. Without spending much time on training new employees, an organisation can continue to move forward with its existing employees without affecting the pace of business operations.

Improved Customer Satisfaction

When employees love their job, they will make every effort and go extra mile to offer complete assistance to the customers. The studies conducted by consulting firms and universities have shown the link between the employee engagement and customer satisfaction. This means when employees are satisfied, they happily serve customers resolving all their queries and doubts. They offer them genuine consultation and guidance. This helps in establishing long term relationships with the customers. It in turn, increases the number of loyal customers which is again a good sign for the organisation as a whole.

Besides this, there are many other factors that go into the productivity and profitability of an organisation. But like the above mentioned, they lack evidence for establishing a cause and effect or direct relationship between employee engagement and company’s financial performance. Besides this, there are numerous other factors apart from employee engagement level that have a strong impact on the financial status of a company. This is not the only one but is one of the most important ones.

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Employee Engagement / Hewitt Employee Engagement Measure

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:15:31 PM »

Headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois in United States, Hewitt Associates was a global management consulting and HR outsourcing firm. Established in 1940, the firm delivered a wide range of HR and management services to the companies across the world to in managing their Human resource operations, policies and procedures, enhancing the level of employee engagement and involvement and improving their overall management.

The firm later on in 2010 was purchased by Aon Corporation and since then the new subsidiary of Aon Group is known as Aon Hewitt.

Hewitt conducted a research on employee engagement in year 2007 and published a report mentioning that the best employers have earned their ranks and reputation because of high level of employee engagement. The study revealed that more than 77 percent of the employees were actively engaged in highly productive organizations as compared with 50 percent at other organizations.

Hewitt included almost 10,000 employees working in Canada in more than 120 organizations in the survey and revealed some specific traits of the best employers. These traits included the lower turnover rates, better financial platform and ease of attracting new talent. The consulting firm revealed the fact that employee engagement is not only about creating loyal or satisfied employees but it extends to the state of intellectual and emotional involvement and a strong sense of commitment of the workforce.

Specific Traits of the Best Employers

    Ease of Attracting New Employees

    The best employers have an easy access to the best industry talent. Because of their reputation, they can attract more than 100 applications for each job posted whereas an average company doesn’t receive more than 30 applications for a particular job.

    This is the ratio when a job is advertised externally. When it comes to employee references, they have ample choices and therefore, have a strict internal employee reference policy; whereas, this is hardly the case with average employers. They may have choices but the number of references is very low.

    Low Employee Turnover Rates

    It was found out that the rate of voluntary employee turnover rate for full time employees was approximately 9 percent with the best employers. When it comes to part-time or home-based jobs, the employee turnover rate was around22 percent.

    An average organization faces approximately 13 percent voluntary employee turnover annually for full time staff whereas for home-based or part-time staff the percentages goes up to 34 percent.

    Better Financial Platform

    Higher employee engagement levels in best companies benefit their financial status ultimately. When employees are completely engaged in their jobs, they are more productive. They are able to fulfill all customer requirements plus handle all their queries and issues with complete enthusiasm. This in turn increases the customer loyalty towards the organization.

    The study revealed that the annual growth rate in service and sales experienced by the best employers was 13 percent approximately whereas average employers experienced an increase of only 5 percent in their net sales.

Although the study was conducted in year 2007, but it still holds its effectiveness in the current scenario also. It has been a challenge in front of the managers to increase the employee engagement levels and take their organization to the next level.