Employee Engagement

By

Ms. Chitra Krishnan
Lecturer
Amity International Business School
Amity University
Noida
 

Abstract

The paper analyzes. How employee engagement is handled in an organization to still maximize its profits and gains. A floundering economy can contribute to or even be primary motive influencing employee theft. With housing prices falling, food prices rising, and credit being crunched, employees are feeling pinched at a time when employers may not be able to help out with a much-needed raise. It is important to retain the skilled and dexterous employees in the organization. In such times it becomes crucial for the organizations to retain their employees and also to engage them in such a way that there's no distraction in the minds of people regarding their work and the organization. Special focus would be given to the various employee engagement activities that influences each organization such that the performance of the employees keep on increasing even at the time of the slump.

Introduction

In the past, it has been labeled the biggest commercial untruth since "the cheque is in the post". Today, however, there is clear evidence that business leaders are not simply saying that "our people are our most important asset" – they are actually beginning to mean it too.

Why the change of heart? Because the body of evidence that employee engagement is a key driver of organisational performance grows almost daily. But with recent research by Towers Perrin highlighting the fact that employee disengagement is a global epidemic; organisations still clearly have much work to do to ensure that their workforce can be properly inspired and motivated.

Defining Employee Engagement

What is employee engagement exactly? Alpha Measure defines employee engagement as the level of commitment and involvement an employee has towards their organization and its values. The primary behaviors of engaged employees are speaking positively about the organization to coworkers, potential employees and customers, having a strong desire to be a member of the organization, and exerting extra effort to contribute to the organization's success. Many smart organizations work to develop and nurture engagement. It is important to note, the employee engagement process does require a two-way relationship between employer and employee.

Why is Employment Engagement so important?

Recruitment enables the organization to select suitable employees for different jobs. It is the most important function of the personnel department. It is concerned with the discovery of the sources of manpower and tapping of these sources so that the potential employees are properly evaluated and the new employees are placed and inducted to fill up the vacant position in the organization. In today's hypercompetitive world when there has been an economic downfall throughout the world. It has become crucial to pay attention to the employee engagement which is crucial for their motivation and improving performance.

Employee engagement is not just about employee satisfaction - it is about the discretionary effort that differentiates high-performing staff. Many employers regularly survey staff on how happy they are at work, but a smaller number actually make the link between engagement and business performance. By helping employees to understand how they fit into the company structure, HR and line managers can ensure everyone in the organisation is working in harmony as ambassadors for the brand. The problem often begins on the employee's first day with their new company. The manager is so keen to ensure that their new recruit understands the core role requirements that they forget to explain other important aspects of the job, such as how the employee can help the organisation to achieve its broader business goals and embody its culture and values.

It is all too easy for the individual to feel like a small cog in a big machine, and lack a wider business perspective. They are likely to feel disconnected from other departments and fail to appreciate the objectives and priorities of colleagues in other teams. This has a detrimental effect on both productivity and morale.

As we all know that the global economic cycle is going through a slowdown and as a cost cutting measure companies are right sizing or laying off the employees to survive in this lean period. The translation of employee engagement into shareholder value is the bit that is missing in a lot of companies.

"Knowing that the engagement score of a particular segment of your organisation is 89% is absolutely meaningless unless one understands how one can improve it and what benefits there are to improving it."

The year 2008 turned out to be the year "best forgotten". As 2009 wound down 'financial meltdown' and 'economic recession' became amongst the more frequently used words in business journals and business meetings. In India, the US and elsewhere, business leaders who until had tried to get government out of business are now urging governments to vigorously save businesses. It is crucial for the organizations across the world to sustain them. The worst affected are the employees who are in terror of losing their jobs. These days we get to hear the news about the layoffs and rightsizing which makes it more important that how significant is the process of recruitment, termination and employee engagement in the era of global recession. Thus emphasis should be given on the strategic policies to be implemented at the time of such crisis.

The recession can be a very interesting period for the HRM Function. The HRM Professionals can design, develop and implement a lot of new HRM Processes in the recession, which are simple and really efficient. But they need to have a clear vision of the HRM behavior in the recession to be really successful.

The HR Management has to define the HRM Vision for the Recession. The employees in Human Resources have to understand the goals for the difficult period of the recession. Many activities in the organization can be cancelled, but the HRM Employees have to understand the reasons.

The HRM Vision for the Recession is needed for the employees of the HRM Function as they should serve the organization as the change agents. Many procedures, policies and processes can be cancelled during the recession or they can be strongly changed and the HRM Employees have to be able to explain the reasons for the change or cancellation of the policies.

The HR Management has to push the top management to define the vision of the organization for the recession as the roles in the organization can be clearly defined. The top management has to set the vision for the strategic initiatives as the whole organization can share the same goals. It is very painful for the top management to define such goals, but the employees and managers can support the painful way to prosperity, when they believe and trust their leaders.

The HRM Function can serve as the navigator and facilitator for employees, but the HRM Vision for the recession has to be defined and clearly communicated and explained to HRM employees. The HR Management has to communicate the full story as the HRM Employees have usually access to confidential information and they can build a good picture of the organization's health very quickly.

The HRM Vision for the Recession should be about the trust and honesty. The HRM Employees have to understand the need to make changes and to make the cuts in the procedures they introduced and run for the organization. The HR Management has to be proud to announce the cutting of job positions in the HRM Function and to explain the reasons for selecting the employees to be fired.

The HRM Vision for the Recession can play a significant role in the success of the HRM Function in the recession. The HR Management Team has to set it as a priority and the vision has to be transformed into actions quickly.

Studies have shown that only 29% 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. 84% of highly engaged employees believe they can positively impact quality of their organization's products, compared with only 31% of the disengaged. 72% of highly engaged employees believe they can positively affect customer service, versus 27% of the disengaged. 68% of highly engaged employees believe they can positively impact costs in their job or unit, compared with just 19% of the disengaged. Engaged employees feel a strong emotional bond to the organization that employs them. This is associated with people demonstrating willingness to recommend the organization to others and commit time and effort to help the organization succeed. It suggests that people are motivated by intrinsic factors (e.g. personal growth, working to a common purpose, being part of a larger process) rather than simply focusing on extrinsic factors (e.g., pay/reward).

To keep the employee engaged it is crucial that recruitment procedure is done keeping in mind the requirements of the organization. Over staffing does not help and so doesn't under staffing.

The study revealed that the organizations with the most effective hiring policies were more likely to use the following four practices:

• Job interviews in which candidates are asked to describe specific examples of their skills
• Automated resume screening and search
• Assessments that predict whether candidates are motivated by the factors associated with a particular job or a company's values and ways of doing things
• Simulations that gauge specific job-related abilities and skills

References

1. Employee Engagement and Creative Workers By David Zinger
2. Employee Engagement: Tools for Analysis, Practice, and Competitive Advantage (TMEZ - Talent Management Essentials) by William H. Macey Benjamin Schneider , Karen M. Barbera , Scott A. Young
3. Tyson Shaun and York Alfred, Essentials of HRM, New York,  Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000, Pg 117-134
4. Cooper Donald R and Schindler Pamela S., Business Research Methods, New Delhi, Tata McGraw Hill, 2007, Pg 135-150, 358-374
5. http://performance-appraisals.org/appraisal-library/
6. ezinearticles.com/?Increasing-Employee...Employee-Engagement
7. http://www.management-issues.com/employee-engagement.asp
 

Ms. Chitra Krishnan
Lecturer
Amity International Business School
Amity University
Noida
 

Source: E-mail June 24, 2009

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