Term Paper-Employee Engagement

HR SAVVY 6 Private Limited

Appurva Rekhi Arulmani Selvan Sirat Walia Sweta Singh Subhamalya Dey Vijyeta Priya

Contents
Term Paper-Employee Engagement.....................................................................1 HR SAVVY 6 Private Limited........................................................................................ 1 Contents..................................................................................................................... 2 Context:...................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction: .............................................................................................................. 3 Executive summary.................................................................................................... 7 .................................................................................... 8 Historical Perspective and Evolution:..........................................................................8 Employees learned the hard way that loyalty was no longer rewarded.....................9 Trends in Global Employee Engagement..................................................................11 Innovative Practices:................................................................................................ 16 Abstract Appurva Rekhi.......................................................................................... 18 Abstract Vijyeta Priya.............................................................................................. 19 Abstract - Sweta Singh............................................................................................. 22

God Give us men. The time demands strong minds, great hearts, true faith and willing hands.
- Josiah Gilbert Holland, 19th-century poet

Context:
The saying is as true in todays world as it was in Hollands time. Organizational performance, productivity and effectiveness are the key drivers for the success of the economic world and employees as lifeblood of the organizations play a key role in making the same possible. Employee engagement as a concept has been persisting in the organizations for long but due to the dynamic nature of the businesses and shift within the organizations from functional aspects to cross functional aspects has resulted in employee engagement as a concept gaining more importance. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the discussion on employee engagement. It deals with understanding employee engagement as a concept and its evolution over the years, understanding the present scenario of the engagement levels in the organization and drivers/factors contributing to it .It also suggests some of the tools or methods which can assist the employers in improving the engagement levels of their employees.

Introduction:
If one has to decode what makes organizations stand out from another? What would that be? Unique products, services, business strategy or process, its people? In a world where technology is fast changing, business is fast moving, requirements of the customers are ambiguous what benefits the organization the most is the engagement level of the employees towards the organization. Employee engagement as a concept has evolved over the years and matured to different definitions. Researchers define engagement both attitudinally and behaviorally. A definition which explains employee engagement holistically would read as follows: Employee engagement is a heightened emotional and intellectual connection that an employee has for his/her

job, organization, manager, or co-workers that, in turn, influences him/her to apply additional discretionary effort to his/her work.(Source: John Gibbons) Since employee engagement is involved with employees overall association with different stakeholders and various facets of the organizational front, there are various factors which act as drivers of employee engagement. Trust and integrity Nature of job Alignment of personal goals with organizations goals Career growth Pride about the company Team Members Personal Development Below diagram helps understand the various drivers and their impact on the employee engagement

Source: Centre for human resource strategy, Rutgens

The Human resource department of any organization plays a key role in the employee engagement

of an organization but the involvement from top down of the hierarchy ensures its success. Rewards,

recognition, recruiting the right set of people for the right jobs as per the organization fit and ensuring ways for leadership development are the key HR undertakings to ensure employee engagement. Various levels of research have identified that apart from the extrinsic factors like rewards etc employees give high importance to the type of work they are responsible to perform, the kind of freedom and innovation they are allowed to bring in. Unexplored avenues in work make employees feel engaged .Within an organization people are involved in various roles. Clear demarcated roles help employees plan their work thoroughly and avoid ambiguous situations. Self concordance theory suggests that employees feel better motivated when their personal goal/role is aligned

with organizational roles. Thus work roles should be allocated in a way where employees can contribute authentically. Coworker interactions help to create camaraderie and a sense of belongingness for the work place and rapport amongst the team members. The role of management has taken a shift from the autocratic style of working to more of a cohesive supportive style. Trust of the immediate supervisor or manager helps give the necessary freedom and confidence to the employee in his/her own abilities and gives them the determination to prove their mettle. Hot stove rules which talk about immediacy, consistency, unbiasedness and proactive warnings, if implemented in the organization instills the faith amongst the employees regarding the organizations ability to be fair.

Traits behind Employee Engagement

Source: Centre for human resource strategy, Rutgens

The above diagram highlights the linkage between the employee engagement levels and the strategic outcomes like financial performance and customer satisfaction for an organization. Its easy to say that employees who have passion for their work feel more engaged but what is the science which makes some employees feel passionate about their work and some dont. Traits like autotellic personality, trait positive affectivity etc have been linked to the state of engagement and enables the employee to feel empowered/disempowered by their work. Kahn proposed that three psychological conditions meaningfulness, safety and availability influences the degree to which one feels engaged at work. Coworker rewarding and supportive environment plays a role in psychological safety. Availability is characterized by the available resources in an organization required by the employee in order to perform. There is considerable agreement that engagement as a psychological state has a strong affective tone connoting, at a minimum, high levels of involvement (passion and absorption) in the work and the organization (pride and identity) as well as affective energy (enthusiasm and alertness) and a sense of self-presence in the work.Behaviorial engagement deals with the aspect of not just doing more things but doing it differently. A phenomenon like

organizational citizenship behavior is revolved around the fact where employee not just does hi/her work but helps other coworkers with their work. Importance associated with employee engagement is due to the intended outcome of organizational effectiveness. Keeping the employees happy makes the customers happy which in turn helps the organization achieve its financial targets.

Executive summary
Research has revealed that employee engagement has been conceptualized in many different ways. It is a multi faceted construct (Kahn, 1990). Perceptions of meaning for employees with regard to the workplace has connections with how engaged they are and their level of performance (Holbeche and Springett 2003). Findings suggest people seek more meaning in their day today work than they do in their personal lives. This implies employers should be seeking to make work meaningful by finding out what matters to their employees. There is a connection between employee engagement and business results. While it is widely accepted that employee engagement is vital to business success, there is no obvious path in pursuit of it. Hence employee engagement has become a salient topic for many workplace learning and performance professionals. 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 costs, 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. Engaged employees are ambassadors for their organizations, even when they are not in a work setting. Emotional experiences and wellbeing (Mayet al2004) are linked to an individuals personal satisfaction and the sense of inspiration and affirmation towards work. However the key factor contributing to employee engagement is the internal HR practices of an organization. Management style, employee voice and job design impact on peoples level of engagement, regardless of all other factors. Engaged employees were found to be almost three times more likely to feel their work lives positively affected their physical health than those employees who were actively disengaged, although the causal relationship between engagement and well being is unclear.

An individuals intention to leave their organization is generally regarded as an important measure of how they are feeling about their work. Whilst engaging employees can help to reduce an organizations turnover and recruitment costs, it has also been found that the longer employees stay with an organization, the less engaged they become (Ferguson 2007 and Trusset al 2006). Therefore employee engagement initiatives are a must. But employee engagement is only meaningful if there is a more genuine sharing of responsibility between management and employees over issues of substance (Purcellet al 2003). One of the main drivers of employee engagement was found to be employees having the opportunity to feed their views upwards. Research shows whenever employees have been given control over how to do their work, they are more likely to focus harder on what they are doing. Engagement has been found to be closely linked to feelings and perceptions around being valued and involved. Management needs to share control and allow employees to influence important decisions. The key factor in determining employee engagement is identifying the degree of fit between employees present view of their organizational culture and that which they desire long-term for the organization. Employee engagement is an organizational specific phenomenon.

Historical Perspective and Evolution:

Employee Engagement with a human resource perspective has gained much popularity over the past few years but it has been showing its existence at the subconscious level since as long as one can remember. Prior to the 1980s, employers expected loyalty to the organization, and in exchange for that commitment, they offered lifetime employment. Then in the 1980s organizations started to change that contract. With increased global competition, employers needed to be more flexible in their deployment of employees. Plants were closed and then reopened in countries where wages were lower, and as business became global, leaders needed more control over wage and benefit costs to compete effectively. Employees learned the hard way (through layoffs) that loyalty was no longer rewarded. College seniors were told they could no longer expect long-term employment, and career

progress became viewed as a spiral instead of a ladder. The rules of the game changed, and leaders in business initiated the evolution. The workforce has changed. Employers wanted it to change; however, in many cases, they did not quite want everyone to change. The new employment contract backfired. High-quality talent left organizations, and productivity suffered. Skilled employees were not willing to put in overtime and extra effort, and employers started to see increases in productivity slow down. This situation created the need for something new, and at least one of the initiatives was employee engagement. Employee engagement got its formal linkage to HR in 1990 with William A. Kahns article on the Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work (PDF) where he examined the conditions at work which contribute to engagement and disengagement. He discovered that the individual and contextual sources of meaningfulness, safety, and availability had a significant impact on engagement.

Employees learned the hard way that loyalty was no longer rewarded.
Until 2001, Kahns research on engagement and disengagement was amongst the only few literature research till Maslach,Schaufeli, & Leiter (2001) focused on why employees develop job burnout. According to them employee engagement is a persistent positive affective state . . . characterized by high levels of activation and pleasure. Together, Kahn (1990) and Maslach et al. (2001) provided the two earliest theoretical frameworks for understanding employee engagement by Saks, 2005.Prior to 2005 practitioner literature was the only piece of work connecting engagement drivers to employee engagement till Saks finally elaborated the linkage amongst various drivers and employee engagement. As a result, Saks defined employee engagement as a distinct and unique construct consisting of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components . . . associated with individual role performance. This definition was inclusive of previous literature by introducing the idea that employee engagement was developed from cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components. Ever since that many versions and research has taken place on employee engagement and its various drivers & antecedents. The contribution helped give employee engagement as concept a clutter free direct and helped classify it dividing it into well designed constructs. Thus we understand from the evolution that it took time for employee

engagement to find its HR linkage and find a fit within the organizations.

Trends in Global Employee Engagement

1. Engagement levels are on the rise globally but vary across regions

The economic recession that began in 2008 still looms over businesses across the globe. The complex landscape of human capital challenges mixed with financial constraints forced organizations to make tough decisions on where to invest their people, time and resources. These management decisions have impacted employee engagement levels and perceptions globally. In 2012, the global engagement score was 60%, up 2 percentage points from 58% in 2011. Engagement level by region varies. Continued improvements in engagement scores in Europe were the strongest among all four regions (up 5 percentage points, from 52% to 57%), followed by Latin America (up 3 percentage points, from 71% to 74%), contributing to the overall upward movement of global engagement. North America declined 1% (with the U.S. declining 3% between 2011 and 2012) and Asia Pacific experienced no change.

2. Four out of ten employees are not engaged, and two out of ten are actively disengaged Four out of ten employees are not engaged. These employees can be separated into two segments. First are the passive employees who show ambivalence in their response to engagement items and either slightly agree or slightly disagree with most or all the items in the engagement index. This group of passive employees makes up 23% of the average workforce and essentially does no harm, but also does not add tremendous value. Second, a certain portion of employees are actively disengagedthey are negative about the company, do not particularly want to remain with the organization and do not go above and beyond in their jobs. These employees actively destroy value and, alarmingly, make up 17% of the

workforce. There is significant opportunity cost associated with not addressing the passive and actively disengaged members of the workforce.

3. Modest improvement in all the three components of engagement- say,stay,strive. We measure employee engagement through a consistent set of survey items assessing the extent to which employees speak positively about the organization (Say), have a desire to be a part of the organization (Stay) and exert extra effort that contributes to organizational success (Strive). In general, global scores across all three areas have improved slightly from 2011 to 2012 and have been restored to 2009 levels when it comes to speaking positively about the organization, intending to remain with an organization and demonstrating discretionary effort. This indicates an overall upward trend of engagement. The largest increases appear in the way employees speak about their organizations and the likelihood employees will exert extra effort to contribute to their organizations success. This suggests that organizations, and particularly leaders, have invested more time and resources in people to help them realize the impact of their performance on the organizations success.While engagement levels have increased slightly from 2011 to 2012, these critical aspects of engagement are still falling shortoverall, only 60% of employees are engaged and less than 60% want to stay or go above and beyond. 4. Employee engagement is a leading indicator of company growthbut lags economic forces The employer is viewed as an intermediary between larger economic forces and the performance of the individuals driving such results. Market forces, employee engagement and company performance are all part of a system with a lagged chain of events that spans macro, micro and behavioral economic dynamics. The macroeconomic forces impact the microeconomic decisions companies make that can influence individuals engagement levels, which then

affects organizational performance, which in turn aggregately impacts macroeconomic indicators. The cyclical pattern shows how engagement can play a critical rolenot only in the performance of the organization, but on the economic conditions overall. 2012 Engagement Trends uncovered a lagged relationship between the gross domestic product (GDP) and employee engagement; specifically, as GDP growth turned negative in 2009, engagement decreased a year later in 2010. This lagged effect also occurred in the reverseas GDP growth came back in 2010, engagement likewise turned positive in 2011. This analysis sheds some insight into the first three elements on the previous model: Economic Forces, Company Decisions and Employee Engagement & Performance. It is not likely there is a direct causal relationship between GDP and employee engagement. The more likely scenario is that in reaction to large macroeconomic changes, companies make decisions (e.g., M&A, restructuring, people investments) that have a significant impact on the engagement levels of individuals within these organizations.

5. The general work experience is improving more than it is deteriorating Understanding and managing employee engagement requires managers to dig deeper into how employees feel about the work experience. Over the past year, some elements of employees perception of the work experience improved, while others deteriorated. Examining the global averages, we see that more areas improved in 2012 than deteriorated. The areas that are improving the most seem to pertain to organizational programs and. The areas that are deteriorating seem to be closely related to job fit and culture. 6. Many employers across the globe raised the bar and made investments in the top engagement drivers All the areas of the work experience impact employee engagement. However, some areas impact engagement more than others. All of the top five engagement drivers for

2012 improved except for organization reputation. This finding accounts for the 2% overall improvement in global employee engagement. Career opportunities remains at the top engagement driver ranking positionfollowed by organization reputation, pay, recognition and communication. 7. Engagement trend by Job level On a global basis, executives and senior managers are the most engaged (nearly 70%), followed by middle managers, team leaders and supervisors. This is not particularly surprising, since this group is likely the most involved with planning and executing efforts designed to enhance engagement. Executives and senior managers are also likely to be the group with access to the greatest career opportunities, pay and advantages of a strong organizational reputation. Senior leadership is also a segment more likely to be engaged (Say, Stay and Strive), since it is generally expected that senior leaders positively promote the organization, have an intense desire to be part of the organization and exert extra effort to contribute to the organizations success. 8. Function/Job Type There are also some differences in engagement by functional area. Sales and marketing has the highest engagement level of all of all functions globally (58%). The lowest levels of engagement globally are in information technology, where only half of the employees in this function are engaged. The chart that follows displays the drivers that are most important to improving engagement for these various functions. 9. Generational Differences There are some substantial differences in engagement by generationa consistent trend globally and across most regions. The Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) have the highest level of engagement with 65% engaged, followed by the Generation X cohort (those born between 1965 and 1978) at 58% engagement, followed by the Millennials (those born 1979 and later) at 55% engagement.

Innovative Practices:
Cross Pollination: It is the practice of promoting creativity and innovation at work place by encouraging spontaneity and unstructured agenda meetings. This practice is broadly followed in industries where creativity is highly valued. Apple is a big follower of this engagement technique where employees are given freedom to explore. Jobs designed the Pixar buildings to encourage people from different departments to run into one another. http://www.triplepundit.com/2013/02/innovation/ No More Doors: Open physical spaces at work help build camaraderie amongst the coworkers and keep the employee engaged.ZIBA a design research firm has spent countless hours observing where and how employees worked best, and did some soul-searching to uncover the values they want to encourage. The workplace does not have private offices, individuals all have the same amount of personal workspace, over 50 percent of the floor plan is dedicated to collaborative space and unstructured workspaces like the library, media lounge, and terrace are available for group or solo work. http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/29/design-for-productivityopinions-workspaces-ziba.html Time to Experiment: Google is known for their 20 percent practice that gives engineers 20 percent of their work time to pursue Google related projects that they feel personally invested in. This means that one day a week engineers can sweep their desks of everything at the top of the companys to-do list and engage with the project they are most excited about. Ideas like Gmail, Google News and employee shuttle buses have their roots in this 20-percent time. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/jobs/21pre.html?_r=0 Collaborative work culture: One of the key drivers of engagement is coworkers support. Googles peer bonus and know your noogler wall are some of the initiatives taken by HR at google to create camaraderie amongst the employees. It helps create a sense of belongingness amongst each other. http://www.peoplematters.in/articles/cover-story/1-googleindia-searching-its-way-to-the-top Wellness Programs: Traditional wellness and health programs are well received by employees and provide a significant return on investment for the companies. Citibank

debuted a wellness program in 2008 and found that every dollar spent on wellness returns $2 to the company! Companies such as Google, Target and General Mills are offering courses in meditation and mindfulness to their employees. In addition to reducing stress, employers who offer mindfulness training are finding that employees are productive. There is also evidence that job satisfaction increases while levels of emotional exhaustion decreases. http://www.triplepundit.com/2013/03/trend-wellnessprograms-enhance-employee-engagement/ Talking talent sessions: The appraisal discussion and performance evaluation is known as talking talent session in make my trip. They maintain a high level of fairness and consistency. There is exhaustive discussion amongst all the Leadership Team members and an external consultant about each candidate on performance and potential and the evaluation criteria and result is shared with the employees with utmost transparency. This makes the employees trust the senior management and abide to their decisions. http://www.ipedr.com/vol43/006-ICFME2012-M00014.pdf Managing Gen Y: Make my trip understands the need of young professionals to stay connected with each other all the time. Thus access to social networking sites at all the time is one of the policies being implemented by the makemytrip management which showcases managements trust for the employees. http://www.younghrmanager.com/hr-professionals Honest Communication: At SAP, communication is core to the culture. Employees understand the why behind their jobs what theyre expected to achieve and why its important to the greater good of the organization. Collaboration is valued and teams communicate globally to get projects accomplished. Leaders listen to employee feedback and encourage it. Employment Branding: Southwest Airlines has a reputation for outstanding employment branding. Being fast, fun and friendly is part of their DNA. Even those who dont work for the organization have the perception that its an innovative, fun and cool place to work. A strong employment brand that offers clarity on the organization culture and what it stands for ensures that the right people are attracted to the organization and the wrong people apply elsewhere. http://www.forbes.com/sites/sylviavorhausersmith/2013/08/ 14/how-the-best-places-to-work-are-nailing-employeeengagement/

Abstract Appurva Rekhi

According to me, Human resource management is a strategic approach to employee management which aims to create a competitive advantage through application of organization behavior principles and theories and aims to create a cohesive workforce using strong cultural, personal and structural techniques. In the context of the employee engagement process, application of organization behavior principles can help us understand why different drivers work differently for different employees. Where one employee is motivated by aligning his personal goals with the organization supported by the self concordance theory another finds the drive to work through freedom and power supported by Mc Clellands theory of Needs. Thus the value addition to the field of employee engagement could be the application and understanding of these OB principles

which can help the organizations decide techniques would work for their employees based on their individual motivation levels. Another very important aspect which an HR needs to keep in mind is that engagement activities will vary from age, gender, demographics and tenure of service. Thus using similar activities for the entre employee population would not help. Going to the grassroots level and understanding what the employee really wants would help ensure the success and effective implementation of such activities. Firms win in the market when they develop human resources in a way that is not easily replicated. What most organizations strive to attempt and achieve is to attain a uniform workforce where everyone is happy with their work and surroundings and there is no conflict and challenges. But the fact is humans cannot be engaged without struggle and strife. Yet one of the ways which can help motivate employees and engage them is a thorough career planning in the organization and forming techniques specific to the industry domain. For instance manufacturing firms can invest in developing the operation engineers and promising them a future and career path through skill building and higher education. Mentoring system in an organization can be effective way to engage the employees and infact act as a monitoring process for the organization.

Abstract Vijyeta Priya

What are my personal learning from the study of this system and what value addition I can think of, on this topic? Employee Engagement is an HR concept which determines the degree to which an employee is emotionally attached to his job, colleagues and organization. The degree of employee engagement in an organization influences the employees ability to learn and perform at work. Employees who are engaged at work find themselves aligned with the goals and the mission of the organization and are the positive drivers of Organizational Culture. On the other hand disengaged employees can drag down others and impact everything from customer service to sales, quality, productivity, retention and other critical business areas. The drivers of Employee Engagement differ from region to region and from person to person, but employee engagement is largely about social connections happening in organizations and aligning work experiences with employees cultural needs. For example, research shows North American and Eastern European workers place high priority on financial rewards in relation to how satisfied they are at work, but elsewhere its about simple connections and involvement meeting the more altruistic and basic human needs of feeling connected and being an important part in something bigger. In my opinion the best way to ensure a high degree of Employee Engagement in an organization is to understand the Need of Achievement in employees and also the factors which makes them feel motivated: viz for some employee motivation at work comes from Autonomy , while some consider appreciation in the group as their major driver, for some other employees compensation ,pay and incentives matter while for some others work environment plays a significant role. Hence I believe that the concept of Employee Engagement is very subjective in totality still there are some common engagement needs that must be necessarily addressed. Some of these are: 1. The management must try to understand what the employees think: Informal interactions , social gatherings and company outings etc are important means to bridge the perception gap between the Management and ground level workers. These initiatives help the management have a firsthand understanding of Employee needs and expectations and at the same time foster in Employees a sense of belongingness to the organization and

make them feel special. This is a must for the efficient working of the organization. 2. Appreciation for every contribution big or small : Every employee in fact has a need of achievement and appreciation from his supervisors for his contribution generally matters a lot. This could be either in the form of monetary rewards or in form of honoring top performers. 3. Openness to honest feedback: . Employees understand the why behind their jobs what theyre expected to achieve and why its important to the greater good of the organization. Hence management must always be open to feedback and must consider their suggestions as valuable inputs to organizational growth. 4. Supporting the Individual Career Development Path: Every employee must be considered as a unique combination of different competencies and accordingly his strengths should be leveraged through mentoring initiatives by defining his unique career development plan. 5. Storytelling about the Organisation :A strong employment brand that offers clarity on the organization culture and what it stands for ensures that the right people are attracted to the organization. It also forces a strong sense of belongingness in existing employees and makes them feel great about being the part of the organization.

Abstract - Sweta Singh

Employee engagement is a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their organisations goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, and are able at the same time to enhance their own sense of well-being. Full engagement represents an alignment of maximum job satisfaction with maximum job contribution Although there is no one size fits all approach and no master model for successful employee engagement, below are few enablers of engagement that have been proved to be useful lenses which can help organisations assess the effectiveness of their approaches. Visible, empowering leadership providing a strong strategic narrative about the organisation, where its come from and where its going. Engaging managers who focus their people and give them scope, treat their people as individuals and coach and stretch their people. There is employee voice throughout the organisations, for reinforcing and challenging views, between functions and externally, employees are seen as central to the solution

There is organisational integrity the values on the wall are reflected in day to day behaviours. There is no say do gap.

Employee engagement is a business imperativeit is the critical lynchpin between talent strategy and business results. So where do you begin if youre committed to improving engagement but feel intimidated by that laundry list of pitfalls?Communicate the purpose of the organization, and how employees individual purposes fit into that purpose. When employees clearly know their role, have what they need to fulfill their role, and can see the connection between their role and the overall organizational purpose, thats the recipe for creating greater levels of engagement. Employee engagement is a leading indicator of business performance that helps mitigate the challenges and drive future growth. This is leaderships responsibility. Now is the time.