Learning Outcome Source: 2. Introduction

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2 Quadrant I Module 10: Improving Employee Engagement 1. Learning Outcome 2. Introduction 3. Zinger Model of Employee Engagement 4. Methods to Improve Employee Engagement in the organization 5. Status of Employee Engagement in India 6. Some corporate examples of good employee engagement 7. Summary Module 10: Improving Employee Engagement 1. Learning Outcome After completing this module the students will be able to: Learn about the meaning and significance of Employee Engagement. Learn about the Zinger Model of Employee Engagement Study the various methods of Improving Employee Engagement Understand the status of employee engagement in India Source: 2. Introduction

3 Human Resource is one of the most valued and crucial resource for a business to sustain in this highly competitive market. Acquiring and retaining talent in an organization is one of the key concerns for the top management these days. In any organization, employees play a very crucial role in increasing the organizational effectiveness and depict the real picture of an organizations environment and culture. Productivity and Efficiency of employees have become very important for all businesses to run efficiently and sustainably in this fast growing business era. Employee engagement in this fast growing business situation is of great significance. Engagement can be described as a two way process that builds between the employees and the organization. It is a well adopted strategy to increase the performance and productivity of employees. It is described as a process to ensure the contribution, commitment and motivation of an employee towards fulfilling the goals and values. Various researches show that employee engagement not only enhances the nonmonetary performance (i.e. service proficiency, absenteeism and retention etc.) but also the financial performance (i.e. real profit) of an organization. Engagement is mainly about the responsibility of every employee to enhance team building, group dynamics, cultural democracy and a great learning environment. The top management must work to increase the engagement of employees which enhances and motivates them to develop required behavior and positive attitudes which in turn will enable employees to increase their efficiency to meet the objectives of an organization. Employee Engagement is one of the trends which in past has proved very useful in retaining employees for longer periods and also produce efficient results. The changing scenario and the evolving market in the recent years have laid a great deal of importance to the employees performance which in turn leads to higher performance of the organization. The development in the IT industry has removed the barriers on the working time and the employees are expected to work round the clock. The increased competition has made an impact on the employees as they constantly feel pressurized to perform at any cost. This results in the disturbance of work life balance of employees. In the longer period, the effect on work life balance of employees lead to their disinterest in work, absenteeism, lesser productivity and a stressful life. The employees psychological well-being has been negatively affected due to lack of proper policy from management, lack of a good work environment, communication gap between the management and employees etc. To come up with a solution to this problem, the term Employee Engagement has been introduced. Initially in 70s and 80s, the focus was on Employee satisfaction but it did not depict any relation with the performance and laid more focus on the employees rather than organization or employees relationship with it. Employee Engagement is a relatively new concept. It is defined as An individual s involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for, the work he or she does. (Source: Organization Behavior by Stephen P. Robbins) Or Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organization to give of their best each day, committed to their organization s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being. (source :

4 Employee engagement is driven by two primary factors: i. Engagement with Organization ii. Engagement with the Managers Engagement with Organization measures the engagement of employees with the top management and the organization as a whole. It relates with the confidence as well as trust the employees develop in the top management resulting from the transparent system full of values being followed in the organization. Engagement with Manager relates with how the employees feel about their managers i.e. their direct supervisors. Engagement at this level is of at most importance as employees feel most committed to the organization when they are being valued, being treated fairly, and receiving feedback and mentored by their immediate supervisor. A strong relationship between the employees and their manager leads to better employee engagement and satisfaction at work place. The employees are divided into four major categories in terms of employee engagement. Firstly are the Highly engaged comprising of the employees who are totally engaged, Second are the moderately engaged employees who are nearly engaged followed by passively engaged i.e. the employees who are almost disengaged and lastly are the actively disengaged employees who are totally disengaged with the organization. The engagement of workforce at work includes social, intellectual and emotional engagement in the organization. In the task of engaging employees, the management of the organization should take into consideration the proper assessment of employees behavior, attitude, values and priorities and address the problems being faced by the employees at workplace. The process can be nurtured and produce the best results through a two way communication process which motivates the employees to achieve their individual as well as organizational goals. The organizations need to execute specific engagement plans and create an inclusive environment to inculcate higher confidence level and enthusiasm to learn and innovate for successful job roles. The various parameters of assessing engagement can be: level of job satisfaction, commitment, involvement, emotional attachment and feelings of empowerment.

5 3. Zinger Model of Employee Engagement David Zinger, a Canadian based management consultant combined the current researches with practical approach to achieve substantial results. Based on his detailed work on employee engagement, he produced a model that throws light on various aspects of employee engagement, dedication and involvement. The model lists down the 12 key factors that the managers and employers must adopt in order to achieve significant results

6 Source: i. 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. ii. Craft Strategies: Devising appropriate strategies for the achievement of higher levels of employee engagement is the most important task. It involves excessive planning and considerations of employees and organizational requirements. Managers generally seek help from professional management consultant for preparing the effective strategies. iii. Enliven Roles: Employees tend to love their work when it appears interesting and creative to them. Managers should work on restructuring the tasks and responsibilities in a way that eliminates boredom from employees job and keep them interested in the work. iv. Excel at Work: Motivating employees to excel in performing work pays off. An organization must incorporate a system for recognizing and awarding those employees in a better way. v. Get Connected: Managers must maintain some kind of connect with their subordinates so that employees can share their problems with managers and ask for advice. Communication is the backbone of any and every managerial process. vi. Be Authentic: Being genuine and real is what is expected from a manager. Top management, HR people as well as line managers should show concern towards the

7 problems the employees are facing and make sincere efforts to help employees get rid of it. vii. Live Recognition: Recognizing the efforts of employees in front of all other employers which will not only boost employees moral but also encourages them to prolong their with the organization and perform exceptionally well always. viii. Fully Engage: The organizations desired results can be achieved in the quickest possible way only if employees are fully engaged. A comprehensive study detailing about what engages or disengages the employees must be conducted. Designing and implementing these strategies is the next step. ix. Identify with Organization: Employees stay in organization for prolonged period only if they feel some connected with the organization. Management should understand that employees are their most important assets and organizations cannot work without them. x. Serve Customers: Only well engaged employees can successfully serve the customers in the best possible manner. Making employees aware of the organization s tradition and culture from time to time can help a great deal. xi. Develop Personally: Organization should not only keep their focus on attaining the goal but also should focus on the overall development of its employee. Employees who grow with the organization have a deep connect with their workplace and are always ready to go an extra mile to achieve success for organization. xii. Attain Happiness: Satisfied and happy employees are the important assets of an organization. The secret behind the success of very efficient businesses is their happy employees. 4. Methods to Improve Employee Engagement in the organization In today s job market, employees easily get bored or lose interest in their jobs and start job hunting for a new job. This is not a very favorable scenario for an organization, so to avoid such circumstances the management should employ various employee engagement activities to help employees feel connect with the organization. Some of the activities include: i. Introducing health and wellness programs in the organization: Instituting wellness and health program is one very important factor for increasing employee engagement at workplace. It not only improves the efficiency and productivity of the employees but also reduces total turnover in the organization as it leads to reduction in the work stress amongst the employees which is the highest reason for employees quitting their job. ii. Providing healthier food options to the employees: Employee engagement can be increased by making available healthier food options at work place. About 75% of the employees feel this is one of the main requisite but employers generally don t offer it as a benefit to their employees. iii. Acknowledge Personal wins: Managers should acknowledge personal wins of the employees no matter how small they are and also should try relating these wins with the department or the teams. Announce such wins to the whole teams and then celebrate it with a team lunch or informal outing with team.

8 iv. Increased importance to work life balance: This is one of the most important and needed thing that the employers can do to their employees in todays highly competitive work environment. Laying more focus in maintaining a balance between and work and life help employees feel good which in turn empowers their productivity and efficiency at work. v. Introduce fun related activities in the organization: Various fun related activities should be organized either on a weekly or fortnightly basis so that employees can take some out of their busy work schedule and have some fun at work. Engage in some outdoor activities like bowling or paint ball etc. Such activities lead to better bonding between the teams and better engagement at workplace. vi. Get informed about the employees passion: Knowing the teams and their passion in a better way would help managers to connect with their team well and make them feel that their managers are genuinely interested in their passion and value it as well. vii. Ditch the concept of cubicles: Lately many organizations have started ditching the ideas of cubicles and moving towards open office décor that promote collaboration and comfort and avoid too much of privacy. Open desks promote a healthy environment with more face to face communication and better engagement. viii. Familiarize the fresh hires to the teams: When fresh recruitment takes place, make sure to familiarize the new employees to all the teams. This way the employees feel that they are cared about by the management and are likely feel more engaged and happy at work. ix. Provide freedom to the employees to move laterally in the organization: There are many employees who are unsure about their career paths and are still figuring it out. In such cases management should provide freedom to the employee to pursue what they are passionate about and are interested in pursuing. Also management should them in creating roadmap so that they can get there. This helps organizations retain some young talent for longer times. x. Apart from assigning more tasks, give the employees more responsibility as well: Important projects as well as initiatives should be given to the employees so that they can take ownership of the objectives. Employees exhibit goal-oriented behavior so when they are given some tasks worth achieving, Employees would exhibit exceptional behavior and perform them with full sincerity. xi. Align your recruitment process with the company s values and culture: Clearly study the company s value and culture and keep these in mind during the recruitment process of the company. Only the employees who suit best to the culture and environment of the organization should be taken onboard. xii. Encourage the employees to volunteer: Encouraging employees by promoting volunteerism by giving the employees some hours each month to leave their office space and participate in the volunteer work with community. xiii. Build bonds and trust amongst the peers: Bonds between the teams is one of the important aspects of employee engagement. Also organization should show some trust in the employees to complete the work that has been assigned without constantly nagging them about 3-4 times a day. xiv. Create a detailed roadmap to achieve employees professional goals: A detailed plan should be laid out for all employees goals and also these goals should be properly aligned with the organizations goal.

9 xv. Ban mailbox for a day every month: This practice should be followed by the organizations, wherein mails are banned for a day every month. This would encourage employees to interact more with peers and even if the interaction just for a few seconds, face to face conversations are very good and leave an impact on people s mind. xvi. Take proper feedback and act on the feedback on an immediate basis: Monthly feedback should be encouraged in the organizations and the process should not stop at this stage only. Proper procedures should be followed to act on these feedbacks so that employees feel that their opinions are valued for the top management. xvii. Provide creative space so that employees brain storm: Instead of having regular meetings, engage employees to brain storm with each other and come up with creative and more efficient ideas. Many organizations have separate creative spaces where they encourage their employees to brainstorm with each other. xviii. Engage employees in long term important projects: Include employees in the projects that are important for the organization as this would lead to their engagement with the higher management as well. The employees can learn new skills from one another and also get to know people they won t work otherwise on a daily basis. 5.Status of Employee Engagement in India A recent report by Dale Carnegie Training shows that Indian employees are more engaged than their global counterparts. The report states that the number of fully engaged working professionals in the Indian workforce stands at 46% while the global average for the same is 34% and that of the US is at 30%. The survey conducted by Dale Carnegie Training in conjunction with NHRDN, surveyed more than 1200 executives, individual contributors, managers and chief officers across the country in The key factors influencing the engagement levels in India were identified as: The relationship with the immediate Supervisor Belief in Senior Leadership Pride in the Organization

10 (Source: But there are certain challenges that are affecting the efficiency of the working population in context with Indian companies and the competitiveness amongst the companies. About only one third of the employees feel that they are very satisfied with the senior management while one fourth are clearly very dissatisfied with the top management and this very clearly depicts that the level of confidence that the employees have in their managers is very low and this has emerged as one of the reasons which lesser the productivity of the organization as a whole. The question which arises now is that what is holding the companies from reaching the required level of engagement? The gaps need to be identified and target the problem areas and work upon so that a trust is build amongst the employers and employees. A complete and holistic approach needs to be followed and engagement solution should be devised and better methods should be followed so that the charts are reversed and more and more employees feel engaged with their employees as well as organization. 6. Some corporate examples of good employee engagement Top companies following best employee engagement practices all over the world according to managers.org.uk are American Express Focus on Behavior American Express follows a different approach in a world where even today the companies are more focused on results and achievement goals and it had been this way since last 25 years. The company gives equal importance to the achievement of goals and how these goals are being achieved. It believes that it is just not possible to achieve best results without considering the behaviors of the employees. Behavior include how the employees conduct themselves, how they act and react to the situations and people around them. It has been observed that the successful companies have an understanding about how behaviors are leaving an impact on the employees emotional level in the companies where much engagement with the employer takes place. John Lewis Empowering John Lewis expresses very strong focus on its employees; one way could be by calling them partners instead of employees and it is not just a word, it s a connection that gets build with this word partner. By calling employees as partners, the company also shares the responsibilities with them and make them more accountable and responsible for the outcomes of the organization. This result in increasing the engagement of the employees and making them feel more empowered. Hyatt Employee Development The organization s high employee retention and long employee tenures as compared to its competitors speak clearly for its high employee turnover. The reason behind the same is employee development and promoting from within in the culture. Continuous development and clearer career roadmap is one of the best engagement techniques present in today s competitive market.

11 Southwest Airlines Purpose This airline sees their purpose as connecting people with what s important to them. They don t just see themselves as transporters of people, but as enablers who help people get to people or places they care about. This may be seen as a small differentiation, but it can make a big difference in how important an employee perceives his/her job. A strong, clear purpose connects emotionally with employees, it engages. In our experience, purpose is becoming more and more important to employees. To see that you are doing something more profound than just selling a product or service, makes you feel important. It s no longer enough to just do a job, we re seeing that people want to make a difference, to contribute to something bigger than themselves. Virgin Listening The multi industry organization believes in listening to its employees which shows that how much they value them. This practice also builds trust between the employees and the employer and it is a win-win situation; the organization keeps on growing and employees feel important and engaged with the organization. Learning is the soul and heart of employee engagement, everyone wants to be heard and keep its perspective forward and also it s the minimum requirement of effective leadership, yet often ignored by the employers and the top management. 7. Summary Employee Engagement is a measurable construct. Organization should shift more and more of their focus on the importance of engaging employees in a better and much efficient way. Already many companies across India as well as around the world are following different strategies to engage the employees in more effective ways. The various strategies used by

12 companies may or may not be same and the end results which are, better efficiency and productivity will also vary with the method adopted. Some of them are highly efficient and produce the end desired results whereas others might not be very effective and not produce the desired results. Management should be very careful in adopting the different strategies and should trust the ones that are already tried and tested. Apart from Employee Engagement there is one more trend that is very common in the market these days- Post Offer Engagement. After the recruitment and selection process is over and candidates are selected and before the joining dates of the new employees are rolled out, companies have started engaging them in some forms of engagement. This practice was adopted because the ratio of number of employees selected to the number that actually joining the organization was decreasing at a very pace. To curb this problem, several engagement activities like formal dinners with the top management, making the new employees familiarize with the company s policies and culture, sending personalized merchandise to the employees etc has been adopted by the companies. As discussed earlier, Employee engagement is the most important factor in the process of increasing the business performance. An Engaged Employee is someone who understands his/her role in the business strategy, has a stronger emotional commitment and connection for the organization, is more involved and also strives for great success and is also a very good team person etc. Employee Engagement improves Competitiveness and this efficient duo of Management and Employees can increase the productivity of the organization by great folds. Despite various very traditional factors of improving employee engagement like Salary hike, Opportunities, Training, Improving work environment etc. management should always check the level of employee engagement from time to time. Appreciation, Respect or Value at work and a Personal touch of Management motivates employees to engage with complete commitment. Employees should be given various opportunities and training to improve their skills and enhance their performance. Networking with Employees, Open communication, Rewards, Talent Management, Recognition of their efforts and constant feedback encourages employees to stay for a prolonged period with the organization. Employees learn to enhance their skillset through different opportunities available for them and improve their Performance accordingly without any sense of threat. Inclusion of employees opinion in the decision making process is also a great factor in motivating them for working in alignment with goal of the organization. Employees in reality are the actual Representatives and Brand bearers of organization, their belief and strength in the organization creates value for it.