Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Employee engagement is the level of commitment and involvement an employee has towards their
organization and its values. An engaged employee is aware of business context, and works with
colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organization. It is a positive
attitude held by the employees towards the organization and its values. The paper focuses on how
employee engagement is an antecedent of job involvement and what should company do to make the
employees engaged. The paper also looks at the Gallup 12 point questionnaire, twelve-question survey
that identifies strong feelings of employee engagement and the steps which shows how to drive an
engaged employee.
“The best companies now know, without a doubt, where productivity—real and limitless
productivity—comes from. It comes from challenged, empowered, excited, rewarded teams of people.
It comes from engaging every single mind in the organization, making everyone part of the action,
and allowing everyone to have a voice—a role—in the success of the enterprise. Doing so raises
productivity not incrementally, but by multiples.”
-Jack Welch
Former Chairman and CEO of General Electric
Human Resources, 10 September 2003
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Introduction:
For several years now, 'employee engagement' has been a hot topic in corporate circles. It's a buzz
phrase that has captured the attention of workplace observers and HR managers, as well as the
executive suite. And it's a topic that employers and employees alike think they understand, yet can't
articulate very easily.
Different surveys and research undertaken over the past few years have defined the term differently,
and as a result, come up with different key drivers and implications. Engagement at work was
conceptualized by Kahn, (1990) as the ‘Harnessing of Organizational Members selves to their work
roles’, In engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally
The second related construct to engagement in organizational behavior is the notion of flow advanced
by Csikszentmihalyi (1975, 1990). Csikzentmihalyi (1975) defines flow as the ‘Holistic Sensation’ that,
people feel when they act with total involvement. Flow is the state in which there is little distinction
between the self and environment. When individuals are in Flow State little conscious control is
their organization and its values. An engaged employee is aware of business context, and works with
colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organization. The organization
must work to develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between
employer and employee.’ Thus Employee engagement is a barometer that determines the association of
Engagement is most closely associated with the existing construction of job involvement (Brown 1996)
and flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Job involvement is defined as ‘The degree to which the job situation is
central to the person and his or her identity (Lawler & Hall, 1970). Kanungo (1982) maintained that job
depend on both need saliency and the potential of a job to satisfy these needs. Thus job involvement
results form a cognitive judgment about the needs satisfying abilities of the job. Jobs in this view are tied
to one’s self image. Engagement differs from job in as it is concerned more with how the individual
employees his/her self during the performance of his / her job. Furthermore engagement entails the
active use of emotions. Finally engagement may be thought of as an antecedent to job involvement in
that individuals who experience deep engagement in their roles should come to identify with their jobs.
When Kahn talked about employee engagement he has given important to all three aspects physically,
cognitively and emotionally. Where as in job satisfaction importance has been given more to cognitive
side.
HR practitioners believe that the engagement challenge has a lot to do with how employee feels about
the about work experience and how he or she is treated in the organization. It has a lot to do with
emotions which are fundamentally related to drive bottom line success in a company. There will always
be people who never give their best efforts no matter how hard HR and line managers try to engage
them. “But for the most part employees want to commit to companies because doing so satisfies a
powerful and a basic need in connect with and contribute to something significant”.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT:
Engagement at work was conceptualized by Kahn, (1990) as the ‘harnessing of organizational members’
selves to their work roles. In engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively,
and emotionally during role performances.
“Employee engagement is the involvement with and enthusiasm for work” (The Gallup Organization)
Employee engagement is "a heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his or her
organization, that influences him or her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work". (The
Conference Board).
“Engagement is the energy, passion, or ‘fire in the belly’ employees have for their employer. It is the
state of emotional and intellectual commitment to an organization or group producing behavior that will
help fulfill an organization's promises to customers - and, in so doing, improve business results.”(Hewitt
Associates)
Satisfaction, effectiveness, and engagement are all inter-related in an upward progression. Each item
has different drivers, but they build on one another to increase performance in the workplace. Just
because employees are satisfied with their job does not mean they are effective or engaged. It is
possible for an employee to be completely satisfied with his or her job, and not be fully engaged. To
further complicate matters, an employee can be both satisfied and effective, yet not be engaged. All
three components work together to create an environment where employees are highly motivated and
committed to giving their best performance.
Higher
How much people
want—and actually
Engagement
Positive
do—improve
Correlation business results
With
Business
Performance
Satisfaction
How much people
like it here
Lower
Engaged--"Engaged" employees are builders. They want to know the desired expectations for their role
so they can meet and exceed them. They're naturally curious about their company and their place in it.
They perform at consistently high levels. They want to use their talents and strengths at work every day.
They work with passion and they drive innovation and move their organization forward
Not Engaged---Not-engaged employees tend to concentrate on tasks rather than the goals and
outcomes they are expected to accomplish. They want to be told what to do just so they can do it and
say they have finished. They focus on accomplishing tasks vs achieving an outcome. Employees who are
not-engaged tend to feel their contributions are being overlooked, and their potential is not being
tapped. They often feel this way because they don't have productive relationships with their managers
or with their coworkers.
Every organization should try to increase and maintain the number of ‘engaged’ employees, convert the
‘not engaged’ to ‘engaged’ and decrease /convert the actively disengaged employees.
MEASURING CURRENT LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT:?
Employee engagement satisfaction surveys determine the current level of employee engagement.
Engaged employees:
Stay - They have an intense desire to be a part of the organization and they stay with that
organization;
Say - They advocate for the organization by referring potential employees and customers, are positive
with co-workers and are constructive in their criticism;
Strive - They exert extra effort and engage in behaviors that contribute to business success. (Hewitt
Associates,2004)
Engagement can be measured at the individual level—by taking the average rank (on a six–point scale)
of an individual’s responses to the Engagement items around ‘Say’, ‘Stay’ and ‘Strive’ we can determine
whether they are engaged or not engaged
Drivers of Employee Engagement :
Numerous surveys conducted over the past few years and various studies have arrived at as many as 26
different drivers of employee engagement. However the below six have been agreed upon as most
important. (We also need to take into consideration the differences in thought and priorities due to
geographical and cultural diversities.)
People Work
Senior Leadership Work Activities
Immediate Manager Job Clarity
Co–workers Resources
Customers
Mention must be made here of Gallup’s Q12 which lists the 12 things important to employees:
1. Knowing what’s Expected ( Job Clarity )
2. Having the Right Materials & Equipment (Resources)
3. Opportunity to Do What I Do Best (Career Opportunities)
4. Recognition & Praise (Recognition)
5. Caring for Me as a Person ( Quality of Life)
6. Encourages Development ( opportunities)
7. My opinion Counts (Recognition)
8. Connection with Mission of Organization (Leadership & Company vision)
9. Co-Workers Committed to Quality Work (Team)
10. I have a Best Friend at Work (Team)
11. Someone Has talked with Me About my Progress (Team)
12. Opportunities to Learn and Grow (Development)
Three basic aspects of employee engagement according to the global studies are:-
The employees and their own unique psychological make up and experience
The employers and their ability to create the conditions that promote employee engagement
Thus it is largely the organization’s responsibility to create an environment and culture conducive to this
Importance of Engagement
Engagement is important for managers to cultivate given that disengagement oralienation is central to
the problem of workers’ lack of commitment and motivation (Aktouf). Meaningless work is often
associated with apathy and detachment from ones works (Thomas and Velthouse). In such conditions,
individuals are thought to be estranged from their selves (Seeman, 1972) .Other Research using a
different resource of engagement (involvement and enthusiasm) has linked it to such variables as
employee turnover, customer satisfaction – loyalty, safety and to a lesser degree, productivity and
high performance levels and superior business results. Some of the advantages of Engaged employees
are
Engaged employees will stay with the company, be an advocate of the company and its products
They form an emotional connection with the company. This impacts their attitude towards the
company’s clients, and thereby improves customer satisfaction and service levels
It builds passion, commitment and alignment with the organization’s strategies and goals
workplace research on employee engagement (Harter, Schmidt & Hayes, 2002) have repeatedly asked
employees ‘whether they have the opportunity to do what they do best everyday’. While one in five
employees strongly agree with this statement. Those work units scoring higher on this perception have
Thus employee engagement is critical to any organization that seeks to retain valued employees. The
Watson Wyatt consulting companies has been proved that there is an intrinsic link between employee
environment, there is a greater need to connect and engage with employees to provide them with an
organizational ‘identity.’
Studies have shown that there are some critical factors which lead to Employee
Organizations with high levels of engagement provide employees with opportunities to develop their
abilities, learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and realize their Potential. When companies plan for
the career paths of their employees and invest in them in this way their people invest in them.
Career development influences engagement for employees and retaining the most
Empowerment Image
Performance Appraisal
Job satisfaction
Communication
Family friendliness
Co-operation
Employees need to feel that the core values for which their companies stand are unambiguous and
clear.
Successful organizations show respect for each employee’s qualities and contribution –regardless of
Employees want to be involved in decisions that affect their work. The leaders of high engagement
workplaces create a trustful and challenging environment, in which employees are encouraged to
dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy and to input and innovate to move the organization forward.
Image
How much employees are prepared to endorse the products and services which their company provides
its customers depends largely on their perceptions of the quality of those goods and services. High levels
of employee engagement are inextricably linked with high levels of customer engagement.
Other factors
The employee engagement levels would be high if their bosses (superiors) provide equal opportunities
Performance appraisal
Fair evaluation of an employee’s performance is an important criterion for determining the level of
employee engagement. The company which follows an appropriate performance appraisal technique
(which is transparent and not biased) will have high levels of employee engagement.
The company should have a proper pay system so that the employees are motivated to work in the
organization. In order to boost his engagement levels the employees should also be provided with
Research indicates that the engagement levels are low if the employee does not feel secure while
working. Therefore every organization should adopt appropriate methods and systems for the health
Job Satisfaction
essential for an organization to see to it that the job given to the employee matches his career goals
which will make him enjoy his work and he would ultimately be satisfied with his job.
Communication
The company should follow the open door policy. There should be both upward and downward
communication with the use of appropriate communication channels in the organization. If the
employee is given a say in the decision making and has the right to be heard by his boss than the
Family Friendliness
A person’s family life influences his wok life. When an employee realizes that the
Co-operation
If the entire organization works together by helping each other i.e. all the employees as well as the
more likely to have lower employee turnover, higher than average customer loyalty, above average
productivity and earnings. These are all good things that prove that engaging and involving employees
make good business sense and building shareholder value. Negative workplace relationships may be a
big part of why so many employees are not engaged with their jobs.
Step I: Listen
The employer must listen to his employees and remember that this is a continuous process. The
information employee’s supply will provide direction. This is the only way to identify their specific
concerns. When leaders listen, employees respond by becoming more engaged. This results in increased
productivity and employee retention. Engaged employees are much more likely to be satisfied in their
positions, remain with the company, be promoted, and strive for higher levels of performance.
Employee engagement needs to be measured at regular intervals in order to track its contribution to the
But measuring the engagement (feedback through surveys) without planning how to handle the result
can lead employees to disengage. It is therefore not enough to feel the pulse—the action plan is just as
essential.
well-administered satisfaction survey will let us know at what level of engagement the employees are
operating. Customizable employee surveys will provide with a starting point towards the efforts to
The key to successful employee satisfaction surveys is to pay close attention to the
feedback from the staff. It is important that employee engagement is not viewed as a one time action.
implementing.
The employee survey is a diagnostic tool of choice in the battle for the hearts of
employees. Studies of Gallup, Mercer, Hewitt and Watson Wyatt (consulting companies) asked workers
number of questions relating to their job satisfaction. Gallup being one of oldest the consulting
organization {in conducting engagement survey} creates a feedback system for employers that would
identify and measure elements of worker engagement most tide to the bottom line. Things such as
sales, growth, productivity and customer loyalty are all accessed. After Hundreds of focus group and
thousands of interviews with employees in a variety of industries, Gallup came up with Q. 12, a twelve-
question survey that identifies strong feelings of employee engagement. They have identified 12
questions that most effectively measure the links (the Gallup Q12).
2. Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?
3. At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about you as a person?
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?
12. In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
The interpretation of the questionnaire and one of the companies engagement level is summarized in
Know what is expected of me at work- employees should know exactly what is expected of them. If
expectations are unclear, employees will inevitably face frustration, and will be open for other
opportunities where they do know what's expected of them, and where their contributions are
Materials and equipment- Employees need the right tools and equipment to support their skills,
Do what I do best every day - Are your employees cast in the right roles? Knowing the critical demands
for every role is a key to ensuring that talents fit those demands.
Supervisor/Someone at work cares -Managers must spend most of their time with their most
productive talent. Many managers give their greatest degree of attention to employees who are falling
behind. Talented, productive people crave time and attention from their managers, and will leave your
company if they have a weak relationship (or no relationship) with their manager or supervisor.
Co-workers committed to quality -Many companies arbitrarily put teams together without considering
that employees only psychologically commit to teams if they perceive their team members will support
their high level of commitment and performance. Talented employees set high standards and depend
towards excellence.
Opportunities to learn and grow- The Company should create an environment that encourages
employees to drive towards innovation or to create better systems for more productive results. Great
managers always ask what skills and knowledge need to accompany talent to result in the greatest
A positive attitude held by the employee towards the organization and its values. An engaged employee
works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organization. The
organization must work to develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship
between employer and employee.
Most organizations today realize that a satisfied employee is not necessarily the best employee in terms
of loyalty and productivity. It is only an ENGAGED EMPLOYEE who is intellectually and emotionally
bound with the organization who feels passionate about its goals and is committed towards its values
thus he goes the extra mile beyond the basic job. Employee engagement is a powerful retention
strategy. An engaged employee gives his company his 100 percent. When employees are effectively and
positively engaged with their organization, they form an emotional connection with the company.
Employee engagement is a barometer that determines the association of a person with the
organization. It is about creating the passion among associates to do things beyond what is expected
from him.
- training
- development
- career
- performance appraisals
- performance management
- communication
- equal opportunity
- fair treatment
- pay
- benefits
- health
- safety
- cooperation
- family orientation
- friendliness
- job satisfaction
We can also have a HR folder or an intranet for employees have you have sections like motivation
stories, quotes, Support grievances jokes, etc... Some entertainment for employees
- EMPLOYEE RETENTION
- COMPANY PERFORMANCE
- CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
- PROFITABILITY
1. Education @ Work
2. Redesign work place
3. Letters to Family
4. Fun @ work
5. Cross Training
6. Team Huddles
7. FLA Growth Card
8. Life Enrichment Activities
9. Job Rotation
10. Clubs/Projects
11. Active Team Leader
Education @ Work
Education @ Work Prepares employees for success by offering relevant programs from premier
institutes across the world, using multiple delivery methodologies and making it convenient for
employees to ‘Learn while you Earn’ and helping to build career and helps in contributing to the
organization’s growth.
1. Banking
2. Finance and Accounting
3. Language
4. Management
5. Risk Management
6. Supply Chain Management
7. Information Technology
8. Project Management\
9. Customer Service
10. Mortgage
11. Insurance
12. Analytics
13. Software
14. Collections
Revamping the Floor: - Action plan was made to Revamp the floor by
Following Activities:
1. Improving Ambience-
As per this plan in Genpact- Personalized letters were to be sent to the families of all employees for the
following:
Fun @ Work
Fun @ Work activities are considered to be backbone in a team bounding. Every team has a fun spoc
whose responsibilities includes various games and other team building activities with the help of which
internal team bounding can be improved. At the same time it can also be considered to provide ample
of time as to relieve the stress that a normal BPO employee has to face.
Different activities include various indoor games, Seasonal activities celebrating festivals, Bay
decoration, and Birthday celebration.
Fun at Work" might sound like an oxymoron, but it is a reality in the corporate world today. The most
successful of organizations add a healthy dose of play into their routines because
research shows that when people have fun at work, they enjoy their jobs and this
translates them into being more creative, more productive and more committed to
doing their job well.
It’s also no secret that having fun at work can help boost morale, reduce stress, improve staff retention,
mean less sick days and increase team building and spirit.
Having true fun at work is very similar to the kind of fun one has when playing a sport or performing. For
example, the last time I played a sport in front of an audience, I channeled all my
attention and energy to the point where I was solely focused on my performance. I
remember how much fun it was getting congratulations from my teammates and the
audience! And even though I was completely exhausted following my performance, I
remember how great I felt afterwards.
I think this is the type of fun that best fits the workplace - playful and competitive games that generate
congratulations and cheers from coworkers. Additionally, sporting or performance types
of fun fit well within the workplace where employers generally want us to have energy,
drive, talent, determination, competitive spirit, and be goal orientated.
This kind of fun is successfully being implemented at Genpact. We’ve already had a Football
Championship which involved a lot of employees. Emotions were shared and the teams
really had intensive fun. Now Genpact has its own football team, who represents the
company at the biggest football tournament dedicated to all companies.
Cross Training :
Cross-training (Also known as conditioning) refers to training in different ways to improve overall
performance. It takes advantage of the particular effectiveness of each training method, while at the
same time attempting to neglect the shortcomings of that method by combining it with other methods
that address its weaknesses.
Cross-training in business operations involves training employees to engage in quality control measures.
Employees are trained in tangent job functions to increase oversight in ways that are impossible through
management interactions with workers alone.
Advantages:
Helps patrons/customers/clients in the long run, as employees are empowered to answer questions
about the entire organization.
Requires staff to re-evaluate the reasons and methods for accomplishing their work; inefficient
methods, outdated techniques and bureaucratic drift are challenged, if not eliminated.
Raises an awareness of what other departments do.
Routine scheduling is enhanced with the ability to move staff about the "Operation".
Better coverage, increased flexibility and ability to cope with unexpected absences, emergencies, illness,
etc.
Can increase the "employability" of staff that has the opportunity to train in areas they were not
originally hired for.
Other advantages include
Team Huddle:
A huddle is when a team gathers together, usually in a tight circle, to strategise, motivate,
and/or celebrate. It is a popular strategy for keeping opponents insulated from sensitive information,
and acts as a form of insulation when the level of noise in the venue is such that normal on-field
communication is difficult. Commonly the leader of the huddle is the team captain and it is the captain
who will try and inspire his fellow team members to achieve success. Similarly after an event a huddle
may take place to congratulate one another for the teams success (or commiserate a defeat). The term
"huddle" can be used as a verb as in "huddling up".
FLA Growth Card:
Goal sheets for each team member created, which is monitored on a daily basis. The result of
the goal sheet decides the cheer winner for the month. The categories on which the FLA’s are assessed
are:
2. Compliance: It Includes:
Job Rotation: Change in roles and responsibilities, like SME,QC, Dashboard, IT, HR, Quality, Logistics.
Life Enrichment Activities: Though life enrichment activities stress and health of the Employees
can be taken care of.
It includes:
Introduction of Yoga
De-Stress Activities
Office Ergonomics
COMPANY PROFILE
COMPANY PROFILE
ORGANISATION DESCRIPTION:
The development of the Refractories industries in India and other parts of the globe is
inextricably linked with the growth of steel industries and Tata Refractories Limited (TRL) played a vital
role in it. To achieve the twin objectives of self reliance and development of backward areas, TRL was
setup in 1958 by Tata Steel and Didier-Werke AG at Belpahar in Orissa.
With an annual capacity of 245,600 MT the company has also equity participation from SAIL, the
largest public sector steel producer of India. Its main Works is strategically located at Belpahar,
Jharsuguda dist. Orissa, which is nearer to major steel plants and some raw material sources. TRL has
also plants and operations in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) and Karuppur (Salem, Tamilnadu)and captive
mines in Chhuinpali and Talbasta in Orissa. A new green field plant has been setup in China to
manufacture Magnesite based bricks. Also a new operation has come up in Gujarat to manufacture High
Alumina Castables and bauxite.
Refractories are used in all high temperature processes to protect the reactors and personnel
from the influence of heat and hot materials when processed. Thus Refractories are critical consumables
in metallurgical, other industries and industries where pyro processes are involved.
TRL has today grown into the leading Refractories manufacturer in India meeting the demands
of sophisticated Refractories for the steel, glass, non- ferrous and petro- chemical Industries both in
India and abroad. TRL today, is the largest Refractories maker in India. It has pioneered Refractories
making in the country and is the number one Refractories company in India with around 22% of the
market share. TBEM has been adopted as the key change driver since last 12 years, one of the first Tata
Steel group company to go for it
TRL strives rapidly towards becoming a Global Refractories company. With a clear strategic
direction of achieving Rs.2000 crore turn over by 2012-13 under 'Mission 2000' programme, TRL is
working out all the possibilities on strategic front for achieving this goal. It becomes more imperative for
going ahead in this journey as the global competition is very challenging. TRL is working with all options
for securing itself on raw materials which is about 45% of its cost. Today TRL has overcome the critical
situation faced in late nineties, gathered itself up, transformed itself and poised to grasp every
opportunity that can catapult it as a globally competitive and dominant player. It must be appreciated
that this is an ever present requirement and therefore we cannot truly say that this programme is now
completed.
It remains to be an ongoing work. The future shows an aggressive growth path, taking forward
the Tata Group's aspirations to think bold, think big and to innovate being a climate friendly
organization.
ORGANISATION CULTURE
Consistent with Tata Group's philosophy, TRL has developed a unique culture, which is
articulated in its vision, mission and values.
VISION
A Global Refractories Company
MISSION
Tata Refractories shall be high performance and technology driven organization committed to
create value for all its stakeholders
VALUES
Customer delight
Leadership by example
Integrity and transparency
Fairness
Furthering excellence
TRL firmly believes that the purpose of an industrial enterprise is to improve the quality of life of
the people and community it serves. Towards this, it creates economic, social and environmental values.
The vision, strategic goals, objectives and the behavior it demonstrates are guided by this philosophy.
TRL is an equal opportunity employer and promotes high ethical values, improvement orientation,
innovation, agility with respect to manpower, technology and products, learning and sharing and equal
opportunity to all.
HISTORY
1958 - Promoted jointly by Tata Steel and Didier-Werke
AG of Germany- Belpahar Refractories Ltd
1959 - Production of Basic, High Alumina and Silica
Refractories
1971 - R & D facility established
1986 - Re-christened as “Tata Refractories Limited”
MANUFACTURING PLANTS
Belpahar(Orissa):Main Works
Installed capacity-246,000MT/annum
Products - Basic, dolomite, silica, high alumina, flow control products, monolithic, Refractories binder.
INORGANIC GROWTH
Domestic
TRL Gujarat operation
Products - Bauxite, based high alumina bricks, monolithic-36,000MTA
Operation started from Jan 2006
Abroad
TRL China operation
Magnesia-carbon& direct bonded, Mg-chrome refractories-60,000MTA
Operation started from Jan 2007
HIGHLIGHTS 2007-08
Installed capacity - 380,000MTPA
Production - 230,300MTPA
Sales - 270,000MTPA
Revenue - INR764cr/US $152 million
PRODUCT RANGE
SERVICE PROFILE
In order to free the customers from the challenges of refractory technological issues, TRL has taken up
the responsibility of “Total Refractories Management”(TRM) &“Total Refractories Solution”(TRS)
Scope of TRM
Design and material selection
Refractory inventory management and installation
Regular maintenance
Co-development
Benefits to customer
Stable specific refractory cost
Free from the hassle of day to day refractory problems
Free to concentrate only on core business processes
Scope of TRS
Lining design and development
Furnace design and construction
Heat flow and Thermo-mechanical stress studies of refractory linings
Turnkey jobs
Consultancy and Expert Supervision services
Lining installation and maintenance
IT FACILITIES
State of Art facilities exist with:
LAN of 100 MBPS (optical fibre networking) with unlimited 512KBPS Internet VPN connectivity
Outside locations (KOL, JSR, SALEM) are connected through VPN communication
ERP BaaN) In all areas including China and Gujarat. Internet connection to Home PCs
Knowledge Management through Internet.
COLLABORATORS
Krosaki, Japan
MgC Bricks
Basic monolithic
Slide plates
Stopinc, Switzerland
L.S system for slidegate
Monocon, U.K
Basic spraying mass
Lichtenberg, Germany
Coke oven repair materials
PRODUCTION FACILITIES
Longest Silica tunnel kiln in Asia-180mt long
High temperature kiln(+1850deg)
Fully automated and state-of-art Monolithic plant
7 nos of high capacity microprocessor controlled SACMI presses
High capacity inclined mixer machines
2 n0s of 100 TPD rotary kiln
FIFO system aided by latest logistics for smooth and speedy dispatch
R & D FACILITIES
X Ray Diffractometer
X RF
Creep testing machines
High temperature furnaces upto (1850degC)
Hot MOR
Hot stage microscope
Thermal conductivity(DIN)
Climate chamber
CAPTIVE MINES
CHHUIINPALLI MINES TALBASTA MINES
Mineral quartzite fire clay
Lease area 102hects 171hects
Lease period 20 yrs from now 20yrs from
1995
Reserve 716 million MT 0.8 millionMT
AWARDS
Every year no.of national and state level Quality Circle awards
Productivity award from IMRA
CAPEXIL award for exporter consecutive last 12yrs
State safety award for occupational health care from govt of Orissa in 95-96,96-97,99-00
1996 – ISO9001 certification for total product range
2002 – PCRA award for fuel conservation
2002 - Golden Peacock award for best EMS(Environment
Management System)
2005 - award for active promotion of Tata Business
Excellence Model(TBEM)
2006 – Green Tech Silver award for environment
Management
2006 – IMS certification covering QMS,EMS & OSHA
2007 – Golden Peacock innovation award for products
IN 2008-09
EMPLOYEE PROFILE
TRL has achieved significant improvements by building a competent work force. TRL's
employees are in two broad categories of officers and workmen. The workmen have formed Tata
Refractories Shramik Sangh - the only bargaining unit. TRL injects fresh talents from campus interviews
from reputed engineering colleges, Institutes and lateral recruitments. Contract workers are employed
in areas having a fluctuating and non-permanent nature of work (such as cleaning, sorting & packing) or
in such areas where the specialized agencies can provide better services (e.g. security, gardening
packaging etc.). Marketing personnel are located across the country and abroad near the clusters of
customers to provide prompt service. TRL's employees are from diverse back ground represented by
female employees and employees from other states.TRL has the highest percentage of professional and
well-trained staff for any Refractories company in India and compares favorably even with the global
Refractories companies.
ORGANISATIONAL CHALLENGES
COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
The global Refractories industry has a size of around Rs 70,000 Crores and about 20 Million
Tonnes in volume. The domestic industry has a size of approx. Rs 3600 Crore and approx. 1.25 Million
tonne in volume. With Tata Steel's acquisition of Corus, it has opened us a new market of about Rs 1000
Crore . This has prompted TRL to have a foothold in Corus. Domestic Refractories industry is a
fragmented one having a total of about 150 companies out of which 22 companies are in large/medium
scale and rest are in small scale. TRL has highest market share (22% )in India.
Global challenges: Large refractory manufacturers such as RHI have now targeted Indian
Refractories market.
Business challenge: Existence of large number of small Refractories in the unorganized sectors
operating at 40-50% capacity utilization.
Customers: customers of Refractories product generally belongs to large industrial organization
therefore have strong negotiating position.
Suppliers: In highly competitive environment & ever increasing customer expectations. Key
challenge is to meet the need of continuous cost reduction demand through efficient supply chain
management.
COMPETITORS OF TRL
As other fields have competitors, the Refractories market also has a competition. Here we are discussing
about the main competitors of TRL.
ODISHA CEMENT- It has the turnover of 200 crores & export worth Rs.25 crore. Presently they
are trying to establish the production & quality of ladle tundish shrouds. OCL is capturing order
of the mini steel plant for well blocks in LCC 90 quality & feedback report from mini steel is very
good.
BHARAT REFRACTORIES- BRL as around 125 M.T of specialty product per month as INDO
FLOGATES is presently taking from OAL, the slide plates. They are approaching MSP & TISCO for
supply specialty product.
ACC CEMENT- It has turnover for the year was 179 crores. Along with other competitors, acc is
also making his presence in domestic market.
IFGL REFACTORIES
VISHUVYAS REFRACTORIES.
TRL's approach is to optimize the price performance balance and offer value for money.
Brand image
Product consistency and performance
Timely delivery
Large volume and multiproduct capabilities
Design and application solution.
Opportunities for innovation
In 2002~03, a strategic initiative named Fortune 500 was initiated which crafted the growth
story of TRL. Fortune 500 program meant Rs. 500 Crore revenue with Rs. 50 Crore profit within 5 years,
i.e. by 2007~08.However the land mark of crossing Rs 500 Crore turnover has been achieved in 2006~07,
one year before the schedule. Under this program, apart from major expansions and modernization
program at Belpahar, TRL has established a green field project in China in 2007 to take advantage of best
quality magnesite (a critical raw material) in JV and enhancing our core competencies. Another joint
venture (MAPL) plant has been established in Gujarat for bauxite based products for taking advantage of
proximity to raw material source and also to address the cement sector. Fortune 500 has made TRL a
“Young TRL”. After the success of Fortune 500, TRL has initiated another program called Mission 2000
which will take the company to a revenue of Rs 2000 Crore within in next 5 years time.
LITERATURE REVIEW
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
An organization’s productivity is measured not in terms of employee satisfaction but in terms of
employee engagement. Employees are said to be engaged when they show a positive attitude towards
the organization and express a commitment to remain with the organization. It is the level of
commitment and involvement an employee has towards the organization and its values. An engaged
employee is aware of the business context and works with colleagues to improve performance within
the job for the benefit of the organization.
Engagement at work was conceptualized by Kahn (1990)as the harnessing of organizational
members’ selves to their work roles. In engagement people employ and express themselves physically,
cognitively and emotionally during role performances.
The second related construct to engagement in organizational behavior is the notion of flow
advanced by Csikszentmihalyi (1975).He defines ‘Flow’ as the holistic sensation that people feel when
they act with total involvement .Flow is the state in which there is little distinction between the self and
environment. When individuals are in flow state little conscious control is necessary for their actions.
Employee engagement is thus the level of commitment and involvement an employee has towards their
organization and its value. The organization must work to develop and nuture engagement which
requires a two way relationship between employer and employee. Thus employee engagement a
barometer that determines the association of a person with the organization.
Engagement is most closely associated with the existing construction of ‘Job Involvement’,
Brown(1996).Job Involvement is defined as the degree to which the job situation is central to the person
and his/her identity. Kanungo(1982)maintained that job involvement is thought to depend on need
saliency and the potential of a job to satisfy these needs. Thus job involvement results from a cognitive
judgement about the need satisfying abilities of the job. Jobs in this view are tied to one’s self image.
Furthermore engagement entails the active use of emotions. Finally engagement may be thought of as
an antecedent to job involvement in that
individuals who experience deep engagement in their roles should come to identify with their jobs.
When Khan talked about employee engagement he gave importance to all three aspects, physical,
cognitive and emotional. Whereas in job satisfaction importance has been more given to cognitive side.
According to the study of WatsonWyatt, the profit chain establishes relationship between
profitability, customer loyalty and employee satisfaction, loyalty and productivity.
The links in the chain (which should be regarded as propositions) are as follows; profit and
growth are stimulated primarily by customer loyalty. Loyalty is a direct result of customer’s satisfaction.
Satisfaction is largely influenced by the services provided to customers. Satisfied, loyal and productive
employee create value. Employee satisfaction in turn results primarily from high quality support
services and policies that enable employees to deliver results to customers.
HR practioners believe that the engagement challenge has a lot to do with how employee feels
about the work experience and how he/she is treated in the organization. It has a lot to do with
emotions which are fundamentally related to drive bottom line success in a company.
Employee engagement represents an alignment of maximum job satisfaction with maximum job
contribution. By plotting a given population against these two axes, five distinct employee segments are
identified-fully engaged, almost engaged, honeymooners & hamsters, crash & burn and disengaged.
According to BW-HR global survey 34% of the employees in India are fully engaged and 13%
disengaged. As many as 29% are almost engaged.
FOCUS ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Engagement by industry - With the exception of government sector which has relatively low
engagement levels some high tech industries (pharma, biotech)score low whereas some service focused
industries(retail, consumer products)score high.
Engagement by level - Studies show that people higher up in the organization experience
higher engagement. However there is a drop in engagement past the vice-president level.
Engagement by gender - the survey reveals a larger disparity between men and women. Men
count 8%more fully engaged and 6%less disengaged than women.
Taking global figures into account, it can be said that Indian workers are among the most focused and
satisfied in the world.
BASIC ASPECTS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
There are three basic aspects of employee engagement:
The employees and their own unique psychological makeup and experience.
The employers and their ability to create the conditions that promote employee engagement.
Interactions between employees at all levels.
Thus employee engagement is a partnership between a company and its employee where everyone
works together to achieve the business objectives of the company and fulfill their personal aspirations.
It is therefore largely the organization’s responsibility to create an environment and culture conducive
to this partnership and a win-win equation.
CATEGORIES OF EMPLOYEES
There are three different types of employees. They are engaged, not engaged, actively disengaged.
1. ENGAGED - Engaged employees are builders. They want to know the desired expectations for
their role so that they can meet and exceed them. They are naturally curious about their
company and their place in it. They perform at consistently high levels. They want to use their
talents and strengths at work everyday. They work with passion and they drive innovation and
move their organization forward.
2. NOT ENGAGED - Not engaged employees tend to concentrate in tasks rather than the goals and
outcomes they are expected to accomplish. They want to be told what to do just so that they
can do it and say they have finished. They focus on accomplishing tasks vs achieving an
outcome. Employees who are not engaged tend to feel their contributions are being overlooked
and their potential is not being tapped. They often feel this way because they don’t have
productive relationships with their managers or with their co-workers.
3. ACTIVELY DISENGAGED - The actively disengaged employees are the cave dwellers. They are
consistently against ‘virtually everything’. They are not just unhappy at work they are busy
acting out their unhappiness. They sow seeds of negativity at every opportunity. Everyday
actively disengaged workers undermine what their engaged co-workers accomplish. The
problems and tensions that are fostered by actively disengaged workers can cause great damage
to an organization’s functioning.
In general we find that most employees have a sense of fairness and even if their employer
treats them poorly most will show up to work and do the job role. But having employee show up at work
simply doing their jobs gets an employer nowhere in terms of long term competitiveness.
If all your employees show up and only do their jobs, then you are not building organizational
strength and long term competitiveness through people because anyone can hire those same
employees and duplicate what you are doing.
It is the synergy that comes from people working together and gathering creative ideas that
leads to long term organizational wealth creation. That synergy and above and beyond behavior is
evidence of employee engagement.
EINSTEIN’S THEORY ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
ATTITUDE:- Once the stakeholders have internalized the knowledge, they need to form an
attitude about what they know .generally this means that they must see tangible, positive
evidence that the organization is serious about and committed to the programme .Evidence of
behaviour change emerges in key leaders, managers and employees as, for example, process
begin to evolve and changes are made.
BEHAVIOUR:- Once stakeholders have internalized the information and formed an attitude
about the change and what it means to them, it is essential that they are given the tools,
guidance and support needed to change their behaviours and must be visibly intolerant of
behaviours that do not align with achieving the objectives behind the overall engagement
efforts.
However, if employees’ relationship with their managers is fractured, then no amount of perks
will persuade employees to perform at top levels. Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how
employees feel about their relationship with the boss. Employees look at whether organizations and
their leader walk the talk when they proclaim that, “Our employees are our most valuable asset.”
2. Career: Leaders should provide challenging and meaningful work with opportunities for career
advancement. Most people want to do new things in their job. For example, do organizations provide
job rotation for their top talent? Are people assigned stretch goals?
Do leaders hold people accountable for progress? Are jobs enriched in duties and
responsibilities? Good leaders challenge employees; but at the same time, they must instill the
confidence that the challenges can be met.
3. Clarity: Leaders must communicate a clear vision. People want to understand the vision that senior
leadership has for the organization, and the goals that leaders or departmental heads have for the
division, unit, or team. Success in life and organizations is, to a great extent, determined by how clear
individuals are about their goals and what they really want to achieve.
4. Convey: Leaders clarify their expectations about employees and provide feedback on their
functioning in the organization. Good leaders establish processes and procedures that help people
master important tasks and facilitate goal achievement. Good leaders work daily to improve the skills of
their people and create small wins that help the team, unit, or Organization performs at its best.
5.Congratulate: Business leaders can learn a great deal from Woo den’s approach. Surveys show that,
over and over, employees feel that they receive immediate feedback when their performance is poor, or
below expectations. These same employees also report that praise and recognition for strong
performance is much less common. Exceptional leaders give recognition, and they do so a lot; they
coach and convey.
6. Contribute: People want to know that their input matters and that they are contributing to the
organization’s success in a meaningful way. First, an employee understands of the connection between
her work – as operational zed by specific job-relevant behaviors – and the strategic objectives of the
company had a positive impact on job performance. Second, an employee’s attitude towards the job
and the company had the greatest impact on loyalty and customer service than all the other employee
factors combined. Third, improvements in
employee attitude led to improvements in job-relevant behavior; this, in turn, increased customer
satisfaction and an improvement in revenue growth. In sum, good leaders help people see and feel how
they are contributing to the organization’s success and future.
7. Control: Employees value control over the flow and pace of their jobs and leaders can Create
opportunities for employees to exercise this control A feeling of “being in on things,” and of being given
opportunities to participate in decision making often reduces stress; it also creates trust and a culture
where people want to take ownership of problems and their Solutions.
8. Collaborate: Studies show that, when employees work in teams and have the trust and cooperation
of their team members, they outperform individuals and teams which lack good relationships. Great
leaders are team builders; they create an environment that fosters trust and collaboration. Surveys
indicate that being cared about by colleagues is a strong predictor of employee engagement. Thus, a
continuous challenge for leaders is to rally individuals to collaborate on organizational, departmental,
and group goals, while excluding individuals pursuing their self-interest.
9. Credibility: Leaders should strive to maintain a company’s reputation and demonstrate high ethical
standards. People want to be proud of their jobs, their performance, and their
10. Confidence: Good leaders help create confidence in a company by being exemplars of high ethical
and performance standards. Practitioners and academics have argued that Competitive advantage can
be gained by creating an engaged workforce.
Leaders should actively try to identify the level of engagement in their organization, find the
reasons behind the lack of full engagement, strive to eliminate those reasons, and implement behavioral
strategies that will facilitate full engagement. These efforts should be ongoing. Employee Engagement is
hard to achieve and if not sustained by leaders it can wither with relative ease.
THE LOYALTY FACTOR
The key to employee engagement is creating greater motivation for their work and commitment
to their organization. It is not possible to retain professionals only by paying high salaries and offering
attractive benefits. We need to create enthusiasm for their roles, their work and the organization and
ensure they are well integrated.
Employee engagement relates to the employee’s commitment to the organization’s success. Engaged
employees who are inspired and guided by the leadership equipped with the right tools and managed by
the right systems and process deliver superior performance. Employee engagement today encompasses
training, development, work environment, leadership, performance management, work- life balance,
communication, compensation, benefits, commitment, fun and social activities.
The quality of output and competitive advantage of a company depends on the quality of people.
Employees want to work for an organization that is-successful, legal, provides opportunities to grow, has
managers who help employees and is socially responsible.
FACTORS LEADING TO EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
The critical factors which lead to employee engagement are;
1. Career development
Opportunities for personal development - Organizations with high levels of engagement provide
employees with opportunities to develop their abilities, learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and
realize their potential. When companies plan for the career paths of their employees and invest in them,
then they prove to be the assets of the organization.
Effective management of talent - Career development influences engagement for employee and
retaining the most talented employees and providing opportunity for personal development.
2. Leadership
Clarity of company values - Employees need to feel that the core values for which their company stands
are unambiguous and clear.
Respectful treatment of employees - Successful organizations show respect for each employees’ qualities
and contribution regardless of their job level.
3. Empowerment - Employees want to be involved in decisions that affect their work. The leaders
of high engagement work places create a trustful and challenging environment in which
employees are encouraged to dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy and to input and innovate
to move the organization forward.
4. Image - How much the employees are prepared to endorse the products and services which
their company provides its customers depends largely on their perception of the quality of those
goods and services. High levels of employee engagement and are inextricably linked with high
levels of customer engagement.
5. Equal opportunity and fair treatment - The employee engagement levels would be high if their
superiors provide equal opportunities for growth and advancement to all the employees.
6. Re- inforcement of people focused policies - Continuous re-inforcement exists when senior
management provides staff with budgets and resources to accomplish their work and empowers
them.
7. Communication - The company should follow the open door policy. There should be both
upward and downward communication with the use of appropriate communication channels in
the organization. If the employee is given a say in the decision making and has the right to be
heard by his boss then the engagement levels are likely to be high
8. Quality of working relationships with peers,superiors & subordinates - If employees’
relationship with their managers is fractured, then no amount of perks will persuade the
employees to perform at top levels. Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how
employees feel about their relationship with the boss.
9. Perception of the ethos and values of the organization -‘inspiration and values’ are the most
important factors that influence engagement. Inspirational leadership is the ultimate perk. In its
absence it is unlikely to engage employees.
10. Performance appraisal - Fair evaluation of an employees performance is an important criterion
for determining the level of employee engagement. The company which follows an appropriate
performance appraisal technique (which is transparent and not biased)will have high levels of
employee engagement.
11. Pay and benefits - The company should have a proper pay system so that the employees are
motivated to work in the organization. In order to boost his engagement levels the employee
should also be provided with certain benefits and compensation.
12. Health and safety - Research indicates that the engagement levels are low if the employees do
not feel secure while working. Therefore every organization should adopt appropriate methods
and systems for the health and safety of their employees.
13. Job satisfaction - Only a satisfied employee can become an engaged employee. Therefore it is
very essential for an organization to see to it that the job given to the
employee matches his career goals which will make him enjoy his work and he would ultimately
be satisfied with his job.
14. Family friendliness - A person’s family life influences his work life. When an employee realizes
that the organization is considering his family’s benefits also, he will have an emotional
attachment with the organization which leads to engagement.
15. Co-operation- If the entire organization works together by helping each other i.e., all the
employees as well as superiors co-ordinate well then the employees will be engaged.
DOES ENGAGEMENT REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE?
Should executives be concerned about these findings? Perhaps a more interesting question to
executives is: “Is there a strong relationship between, say, high scores on employee engagement indices
and organizational performance?” It seems obvious that engaged employees are more productive than
their disengaged counterparts. For example, a recent meta-analysis published in the Journal of Applied
Psychology concluded that, “… employee Satisfaction and engagement are related to meaningful
business outcomes at a magnitude that is important to many organizations.” A compelling question is
this: How much more productive is an engaged workforce compared to a non-engaged workforce?
Several case studies shine some light on the practical significance of an engaged workforce. For
example, New Century Financial Corporation, a U.S. specialty mortgage banking company, found that
account executives in the wholesale division who were actively disengaged produced 28 percent less
revenue than their colleagues who were engaged. Furthermore, those not engaged generated 23
percent less revenue than their engaged counterparts. Engaged employees also outperformed the not
engaged and actively disengaged employees in other divisions. New Century Financial Corporation
statistics also showed that employee engagement does not merely correlate with bottom line results – it
drives results.
BENEFITS TO THE ORGANISATION
Employee engagement builds passion, commitment and alignment with the organization’s
strategies and goals.
Attracts more people like existing employee.
Increases employees’ trust in organization.
Creates a sense of loyalty in a competitive environment.
Lowers attrition rate.
In many organizations the age old employee satisfaction surveys were considered the
most popular method for measuring how happy an employee was in the organization. This is
slowly being replaced by surveys that can effectively measure employee engagement. For
example, employee opinion survey.
The analysed results help us gauge the level of employee engagement within the company. It
also helps to identify the weak areas. After each survey Action Planning Group is formed within
the organization that comprises a cross-section of people from across the company; all
departments and all levels are fairly represented. This group then works on different projects
leveraging the strengths identified by the survey.
Conducting a survey without planning how to handle the results can lead employees to
disengage. It is therefore to feel the pulse, the action plan is just as essential.
Employee engagement should be measured at regular intervals in order to track its contribution
to the success of the organization.
concerns will let the staff know how their input is valued. Feeling valued will boost morale, motivate and
encourage future input. Taking action starts with listening to employees’ feedback and a definitive
action plan will need to be put in place finally.
IMPORTANCE OF ENGAGEMENT
Engagement is important for managers to cultivate, given that disengagement or alienation is
central to the problem of worker’s lack of commitment and motivation. Meaningless work is often
associated with apathy and detachment from ones works(Thomas& Velthouse ).In such conditions,
individuals are thought to be estranged from their selves. An organization’s capacity to manage
employee engagement is closely related to its ability to achieve high performance levels and superior
business results.
In the workplace research on employee engagement(Harter,Schmidt&Hayes,2002)have
repeatedly asked employee whether they have the opportunity to do what they do best everyday. While
one in five employees strongly agree with this statement. These work units scoring higher on this
perception have substantially higher performance. Thus, employee engagement is critical to any
organization that seeks to retain valued employees.
As organizations globalize and become more dependent on technology in a virtual working
environment, there is a greater need to connect and engage with employees to provide them with an
organizational identity.
Engaged employees are more likely to stay and be an advocate of the company’s product and
services. They contribute to the overall success of the organization. A greater number of loyal
employees ensure low recruitment and training costs, in effect enhancing the productivity of the
organization. They are also more willing to put in extra effort when the organization needs it. Their
impact on the working environment is also significant as they are more focused on organizational
benefit than personal goals. This consequently reduces feelings of acrimony and internal rivalries. They
also project a positive image to new recruits and this motivates the latter to perform better and
assimilate themselves in the office culture. Research also shows that engaged employees in customer-
facing roles are more likely to treat customers in ways that positively influences customer satisfaction.
ORGANISATIONAL INITIATIVES
Most organizations have a range of programmes to improve the engagement level of their
employee. It should start right at the selection stage.
Choosing the right fit and giving a realistic job preview.
Strong induction and orientation programme.
Rigorous training and development from technical to soft skills to leadership development
programme.
To keep up the morale of people and drive them towards excellent performance, incentives can
be given such as recognition letters, profit sharing schemes, long performance awards, ESOPs,
building assets like own home.
Regular feedback to all people.
Communication forums like the in-house magazine and regular surveys and conferences.
To maintain the quality of work-life and a balance between personal/professional lives, there
are recreational activities like festivities, get-togethers, sports etc.
An open and transparent culture to empower its people and develop entrepreneurs.
Celebrate individual, team and organizational success. Catch employee doing something right
and say,” Thank-You”.
Be consistent in your support for engagement initiatives. If you start one and then drop it, your
efforts may backfire. There’s a strong connection between employees’ commitment to an
initiative and management’s commitment to supporting it.
Engagement improving efforts must start at top and work their way down. The most
senior executive must be assured that they are engaging their senior team and that team
has to work on creating a high engagement environment for its direct reports & so on.
Engagement must be done by leadership through example. This process of top down
engagement is owned by each level of management. Each manager himself benefits from
the process, and then they share the benefits with their own employees. In this learning process
managers “own” employee engagement.
We bring people to work, then put lots of obstacles in the way of their being
able to succeed. Creating an engaged workforce means getting barriers out of the way for your
employees to be effective. We cannot create a magic set of 20, 40, 80 survey questions that will
assess the things that are getting in the way of productivity and performance. These things can
be lumped into categories but they differ from company to company, department to
department and employee to employee. These productivity blockers and de motivators are not
taught in a basic introduction to management book. They are not going to disappear with the
purchase of some new technology or from hiring the latest management guru. Engagement will
happen when each individual manager learns what’s getting in the way of his/her employees’
performance and each manager chooses to take action.
4. The process of engagement is a process , you can’t get it right at the year end. You have to
create a continuous learning, continuous improvement, continuous measurement and
continuous action process to maximize productivity.
CONCLUSION
Employee engagement is the buzz word term for employee communication. It is a positive
attitude held by the employees towards the organization and its values. It is rapidly gaining
popularity, use and importance in the workplace and impacts organization in many ways. Employee
engagement emphasizes the importance of communication on the success of business. An
organization should thus recognize employees more than any other variable, as powerful
contributors to a company’s competitive position. Therefore employee engagement should be a
continuous process of learning, improvement, measurement and action. Research studies have thus
made a contribution in adding an additional ‘P’ to the 4Ps of marketing i.e., Product, Price, Place,
Promotion and now People to the mix.
CONCEPT OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN TRL
The people are the most important assets and through their capabilities and use of their
knowledge, TRL has been able to maintain the leadership position in the market.
Tata Refractories limited belongs to Tata steel group of companies and it is leader in Indian refractory
industries. The human resource department of TRL experiments and conducts surveys to develop new
concepts relating to employee well being, satisfaction and organizational Behaviors for the development
of the employees in the organization.
Engagement of an employee is an important factor of consideration for every organization for
the prosperity and integrity of the organization. Satisfied knowledgeable workforce is therefore
instrumental in achieving organizational success. If an employee is not satisfied in any of the factors
which are basic ,prior and unavoidable like good and secured job, working environment ,salary, proper
and effective interpersonal communication among all the level of the organization, scope of
development ,recruitment policy, reward and appraisal system ,organizations discipline, training facility,
recreation facility, complete understanding of the work, goals and values, decisions making policies then
they will feel de motivated to work and the organization will not get the desired output even from the
best employee working within it. In other words, job dissatisfaction leads to psychological withdrawal,
dispensary visits, poor mental health, poor performance, lower attractiveness of the job and
absenteeism. they will find opportunities elsewhere, where they can avail a better job that can satisfy all
their needs. This will in fact lead to the increase in the level of absenteeism.
Hence the human resource management conducts a survey on the employee satisfaction, every
year, to find out the various factors of sin whish employee feels satisfied. This survey also helps them to
find out in which an employee feels satisfied. survey also helps them to find out new factors apart from
the standardize factors that are usually being prescribed as factors of satisfaction. Therefore these
factors eventually help the department and the management to take proper action in future for the well
being, motivation, satisfaction and development of the employees working within it from the human
relations and organizational behavior point of view.
Employee training & development, competency mapping through HRRA, career progression,
succession planning is given utmost attention by top management for developing a world class
workforce. HR programs are tailored to meet these objectives.
WORKFORCE FOCUS
In alignment with the company's vision, mission and values, TRL's workforce focus aims at
creating a flexible, knowledgeable & satisfied workforce. The company achieves high performance by
creating agile & flexible organization design, understanding workforce needs through various listening
and learning posts, promoting innovation and creativity through Cross Functional Teams, motivating
employees through performance management and professional development and providing a safe and
supportive environment.
WORKFORCE ENGAGEMENT
Determination of workforce engagement and satisfaction
Determination of key factors for employee engagement and satisfaction starts with classifying
employees into appropriate groups based on hierarchical, functional levels etc. and capturing workforce
needs through different listening and learning posts. The identified factors for workforce satisfaction
and engagement are validated through reviews in the HR Council meetings correlating the same with
the organizational results.
MOTIVATION
Senior leaders use many formal and informal means to motivate workforce through out the
company. Some of the steps taken by senior leaders in this regard are
Creating an environment of achievement by setting challenging targets for the subordinates,
Giving adequate resources for enabling people to succeed,
Personal involvement and
Reward and recognition based on consideration on meritorious performance.
EMPOWERMENT
An environment of empowerment is built through:
(a) Enabling workforce through training and development to take decisions closest to the front line.
(b) Delegations of authority with trust & support, to take actions and make decisions, to satisfy the
customers at first contact. General Managers and Chief Managers have been given both financial
powers to reward workforce under them.
(c) Providing easy access to the senior leadership (through “open house”, e-mail and freedom to meet
informally).
(d) De-layering for more freedom to act, job enrichment through task forces to work for special projects.
REWARD AND RECOGNITION
Reward and recognition system is one of the most important elements of a high performance
work culture at TRL. Important R & R schemes are CPI, PPI, Bonus, Sabash awards, Gunwant Karmachari
award etc. In addition to this, senior leaders take active part in rewarding people in annual JDC
meetings, Safety week, productivity week and innovation week celebration and quality nite etc. MD is
personally present in the annual functions of rewarding the winners. This encourages workforce to take
part in improvement groups such as QCs, VE and other innovation projects in most of the forums in
India. Contract workmen are also rewarded during the Safety week celebration by the Senior leaders.
CO-OPERATION
The change in the organization design from functional orientation to SBU-wise structure has resulted in
improved cooperation and communication amongst production, marketing, technology and support
services since these have become part of the individual
SBUs. This has resulted in improved productivity and business results. The company's vision and
strategic plan (Mission-2000) has been communicated across the organization; thus providing
a clear big picture to the entire workforce about company's objectives and growth plans.
a) Documentation of all work procedures and instructions (in IMS) and their communication to all
employees through training
b) Availability of these on in the intranet and as hard copies, which can be accessed by all,
c) Through positional training where a highly skilled worker/officer trains a group assigned to him
on-the-job as per the needs of his colleagues
d) Knowledge Management system (KM site) where the knowledge champions and experts gather
and place knowledge pieces including all successful CIPs on the K.M. site,
e) Departmental meetings for knowledge sharing.
f) Logbooks maintained by departments,
g) Job rotation.
Central Safety Committee is the apex committee which decides the strategy for safety and its
successful implementations. Safety initiatives in the company include hazard identification & risk
analysis (HIRA), preparation of job safety analysis, housekeeping and safety surveys, mock drills,
reporting and analysis of near miss incidents/accidents etc. Employee's involvement in improving the
safety standard is ensured through their participation in the departmental safety committees, plant
safety committee and other forums.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
TRL is the first Refractories company in India to establish a full-fledged environment protection
department. The system for air and water pollution monitoring, measurement, corrective, preventive
action & periodic review are in place.
HEALTH INITIATIVES
Considering the nature of operations, system has been established to prevent occurrence of
silicosis, a major health hazard by ensuring effective dust control systems, use of dust masks, job
rotation and conducting health awareness classes regularly. PMC are conducted for all employees &
contract labour as E&I. Replacing old producers by modern ones and replacing coal with petcoke has
minimized toxic gas pollution in Gas Producers area, and gas monitoring is done regularly to check gas
levels. TRL also proactively encourages its employees to preventing problems related to health by
exposing them to knowledge on different aspects of health under the “Work Life Balance” and program
which is conducted by doctors of JG
Hospital. Special programmes on 'meditation' are also conducted by Bramhakumaris from time to time
to improve physical, mental & spiritual health of employees.
This is done by an annual survey called EES (Employee Engagement Survey). The findings are
analyzed and actions are initiated in low score areas to improve them. The absenteeism rate of 2.0% is a
benchmark in Refractories industry. Method of measurement of employee well-being and
satisfaction/dissatisfaction are: absenteeism, b) grievances) loss due to strikes (zero since last 20 years).
The assessment method takes care of segmentation of the workforce such as employees at
different levels, women employees, employees located at different locations. For workmen there is a
separate survey which is administered in Oriya language.
These are presented in the BEC meeting to the senior leaders along with their correlation to the
business results e.g. CBSC and AOP targets. Recognition was an area of concern in the last ESS. Hence a
new set of recognition measures were designed for the employees and executed e.g. best housekeeping
competition, Shabash award for Gunwant Karmchari. The improvements brought about based on the
employee satisfaction survey and their correlation with the key business results are given in needs are
identified during annual strategy planning process. Based on the 5 year business plan which gives
projections of different business, VP (HR) in consultation with SBU Heads / GM's of production,
maintenance and project departments make HR plan which take into account capability & capacity
needs. The HR strategy focuses on three HR elements (i) Attract (ii) Retain and (iii)Develop of Strategy
Planning Process. The recruitment process addresses (i) additional manpower requirement for business
growth (ii) to fill up vacancies arising out of attrition.
OBSERVATION
This place under this heading is the most appropriate place for me to pour my heart and acknowledge
my observation with due integrity and earnestness. Here I have made up my mind to discuss my survey
work including Employee Engagement, Employee Suggestion, their opinion and problems at length .I
have segregated the different aspects of the survey into different sub-heading. I commence with the
discussion above.
OBSERVATION OF TRL
I first went through the structure and a function of the TRL whose over all ambience was aesthetically
maintained. In the process I came to know the rationale behind the tag line of TRL “always satisfying”
After observing all the departments meticulously. I tried to elicit the information as to which part or the
aspect of the activity is taken care of by whom. I gradually got the information of the roles and duties of
each head of the departments.(Refer chart below)
Affective Approach – Suggests that attitudes are based on affect (emotions).A person’s
emotions or feelings towards an object comprise the affective component of an attitude.Such
feelings,which are called the Affective component of attitude,may transform themselves into
emotionally charged states such as anger,happiness,shame,distress,guilt and so on .
Every organization is unique, that is shaped by the organization’s needs - articulated in the
form of vision and goals. Consequently, the key drivers of employee engagement differ from
one organization to another. In other words, what would drive employee engagement in an
organization would be not fully relevant for another organization.
Therefore, the core tenets of Ma Foi’s approach to enhancing employee engagement are as
follows:
Loyalty intent;
Broadly, the dimensions that would go under the microscope of an employee engagement study
are as follows:
Customer orientation and practices: Opinions about organization’s products and services
vis-à-vis customer needs, complaint resolution and other relevant aspects.
PMS, Career intent & growth opportunities: People’s disposition to build a career and
opinions about succession planning.
While the above dimensions are a starting point, the specific and relevant dimensions as well as
the areas under each dimensions to be studied in an organization are finalized based on a
rigorous research process that encompasses the organization’s needs as well as employees
expectations and experiences.
3.0 Methodology:
Initial Sensing:
Organization’s needs, People’s
experiences & expectations
Questionnaire Customization
Data Collection
Blueprint
3.1 Initial Sensing:
The ‘initial sensing’ phase is a rigorous qualitative process with the objective of developing a
customized questionnaire.
In the first stage, Ma Foi consultants will have discussions with key executives of the
organization. The objective would be to understand the organization in terms of its
businesses, its goals and various aspects related to employees.
In the second stage, Ma Foi consultants will hold in-depth, one-on-one interviews with a
sample of employees. This is aimed at understanding employees’ experiences and
expectations in their working with the organization. These employees would be chosen
across level, tenure and employees’ performance. In addition, we will conduct such
interviews with a sample of employees who have exited Kalyani Lemmerz.
We will conduct interviews with about 20 employees. These interviews will be conducted by skilled
consultants.
A findings report will be prepared based on the above. This report will be the basis for customizing
the questionnaire.
The findings from the above will be the basis for questionnaire development. Specifically, the issues
will be converted into positive statements with a five-point scale ranging from strongly agree –
strongly disagree.
In addition, the questionnaire design will ensure continuity with any similar studies conducted in the
past. Specifically, all the critical statements asked in the earlier studies will be included in the
questionnaire.
Typically, the questionnaire will comprise about sixty statement spread over six to seven
dimensions. There will be a demographics section to capture employee’s level, location, function
and such others. The questionnaire design will ensure confidentiality of employees’ responses.
The questionnaire would be bi-lingual of English and Marathi.
All employees numbering approximately 350 across Pune will be targeted for coverage.
The data collection can be done through the electronic as well as the paper-pen method.
The data collection process will be organized to ensure confidentiality of employees’ responses.
The following are the essential steps in preparation for data collection through the electronic
method:
Personalized letter from the CEO/MD detailing the objectives of the study, Ma Foi’s
involvement and assuring confidentiality.
Questionnaire testing.
The following will be the process to complete the data collection through paper pen method:
Personalized letter from the CEO/MD detailing the objectives of the study, Ma Foi’s
involvement and assuring confidentiality.
Employees taking part in the survey will be divided into groups of 25 each on a one hour slot
to finish the questionnaire.
Ma Foi consultants will brief each group of employee on the questionnaire and assure
confidentiality.
These boxes will be taken by the Ma Foi consultants to their office every evening.
The data analysis is a rigorous process with the help of time-tested statistical techniques. The
following will be outputs as a result of the data analyses:
Dimensions and specific areas (within each dimension) where employees are positive and
negative respectively, in their working with Kalyani Lemmerz.
Employee engagement index and the key drivers (motivators) of employee engagement.
All the above analyses will be done separately for workmen and executives.
Factor analysis is a classical statistical technique that looks for patterns across employees’
responses and groups attributes that employees’ see as being related to one another. In
other words, factor analysis will help unearth the model through which employees’ relate to
Kalyani Lemmerz.
Regression analysis helps in prioritizing the ‘factors’, which then become the key drivers of
employee engagement.
Attribute-Sensitivity analysis will prioritize the attributes in terms of their significance to
employees.
3.5 Blueprint:
The findings will be collated and sent across to key executives of Kalyani Lemmerz for
familiarization with the findings. A presentation will need to be organized a week thereafter
where senior Ma Foi consultants would discuss the implications of the findings, based on its past
experience and in the perspective of organization’s needs.
The blueprint will detail the key strengths of the organization that needs to be consolidated and
key action areas that will enhance employees’ engagement. These would be organization-wide
and wherever relevant, specific to a department or a workgroup.
Ma Foi has conducted numerous such assignments. Some of our clients include the following:
Thomas Cook
WNS Global
Tata Honeywell
DHL, UAE and Bahrain
ENOC Group, Dubai
DIFX, Dubai
Mphasis
JCB
Addison
SKF
OWSC, Muscat
Nations Trust Bank, Colombo
Hatton National Bank, Colombo
Infinite Computer Solutions
Syntel
Amrit Fields
Bonfiglioli
Vodaphone
Kumaran Software
Knowledgeworks Global
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
Centurion Bank of Punjab
Reliance Life Insurance
Oilco Services Limited
Keld Ellentoft
Times Internet
Royal Orchid
LM Glasfibre
BASF – The Chemical Company
5.0 Profile of key consultants in Employee Engagement Studies:
4. Years of Experience: 14
Key Qualifications:
Expert in: Organizational diagnostics – Employee Engagement Studies, Exit Diagnostic studies
Ram specializes in determining the key motivators for employees through employee
engagement studies. He has developed a framework of employee engagement that combines
organizations needs as well as employees’ needs so as to draw-forth key issues relating to their
alignment. Ram is skilled at qualitative and quantitative research techniques that helps derive
key insights that help organizations move closer its goals. He has handled numerous studies for
a wide range of organizations in the sectors of engineering, IT, ITES, services, petrochemicals
and FMCG.
A second area of his focus is exit diagnostic. This is aimed at arriving at a prioritized set of
actionable inputs to control attrition.
Ma Foi (‘my trust’, in French) has within a decade of its existence grown to be one of the
country’s most renowned integrated HR services company, with a core team of over 400
professionals bringing diversity in background and domains of experience.
Ma Foi’s HR Consulting arm has worked with over a hundred organizations across India in areas
spanning employee satisfaction studies, organization structuring, manning, HR policy
development and deployment, training, compensation studies and structuring, assessment.
Ma Foi’s consulting approach has been built on a preliminary diagnostic platform, the depth of
which has often been guided by the scope of engagement. This ensures that the consultant
achieves clarity of the client context and deliverables, and realistically communicates
capabilities, expectations that can be fulfilled and those that cannot be. Our interface with our
partners is marked by candor rather than obfuscation, professional integrity in delivery rather
than expediency.
Ma Foi’s quest for installation of quality processes in all its services led it to model its quality system
consistent with ISO 9001 standards. It was awarded the ISO 9001 certificate in 2000. It is also aware
that such certification is a beginning in the quality journey rather than the pinnacle, and focuses on
on-going review and improvement of its processes.
In a nutshell, Ma Foi’s internal structuring along practices, its manning composition that ensures
diversity of experience and expertise, its internal processes that enable transfer of resources
and expertise across teams and locations, and its client centered systems come together to in
the consulting context and make for a meaningful and fulfilling consulting experience.
Today Ma Foi Management Consultants is India’s leading company in the area of HR Services.
With offices across 10 locations in India and 4 locations internationally (London, Singapore,
Dubai and Malaysia), we are India’s first domestic international player in this industry.
There are two key principles that have brought us to this position:
1. A belief that there is great value in our Indian-ness. A key learning for us from the Indian
systems of knowledge is the ability to see holism in whatever we do. Thus, when we work
on a consulting assignment with an organization we first see it as a whole and subsequently
as interrelated parts.
2. We believe in combining internal wisdom with external insights. In all our work we spend
time trying to understand the “Internal Wisdom” while providing the “Insights” of a
consultant. Thus our recommendations are close to what is most likely to work within your
particular organization.
Govind Viswanathan
Consultant HRC
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: GETTING TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER
By Joanne Dustin
Calling all Executives and Managers! Are you engaging the hearts and minds of your employees”? You’re
probably thinking, “This line has been used so often that it’s become a cliché. Of course I am!” But … are
you really?
According to Gallup research, 29% of employees are engaged, 54% are not engaged, and 17% are
actively disengaged. Gallup researchers estimate that the lower productivity of actively disengaged
workers costs the U.S. economy about $370 billion annually. With employee disengagement so
prevalent, could it be that managers don’t understand what “engaging the hearts and minds of our
employees” really means?
Rational engagement, another way of saying “engaging the mind”, is the intellectual commitment that
people make to their organizations. It’s their understanding of how they can help their organizations
succeed. And it’s recognizing what’s in it for them as well as for the organization.
Rational engagement is conditional. The expectations that you define with your employee at the
beginning of a new assignment determine its conditions. With each assignment and with each change of
direction in the organization, these expectations are renegotiated.
Emotional engagement, on the other hand, is about something more fundamental, and much deeper.
It’s about the visceral connections your employees have with your organization. It’s how your
employees feel about what you’re asking them to do. They may not tell you what they’re feeling, but it
nevertheless has a huge impact on your organization’s success.
Emotional engagement is unconditional. Your employees’ expectations are defined by your relationship
with them. Your relationship becomes a lens through which your employees view your organization.
Here’s a story of a manager who believed her employees were highly engaged. What do you think?
Diane was a project manager in an I.T. support group in a large retail organization. She thought of her
management style as “tough but fair”. The project lead and the other six members of her project team
were just wrapping up a six-month project. They had received acceptance sign-off from the users and
were preparing to implement the new software that evening. The users were excited that the project
was finally coming to an end and that their system would be ready for them when they came into the
office the next day. The project team had spent some late nights reworking the software because of the
users’ changing requirements, and the users had expressed their appreciation to Diane about the
project team’s efforts, especially the project lead “going way above and beyond”. Diane didn’t pass their
feedback along to the team. She thought the team members weren’t working up to their capabilities,
and if she gave them the users’ feedback, they would probably slack off more than they already were.
The organization had not been doing as well as expected, and there were rumors of layoffs. The team
had heard the rumors and they expressed their concern to Diane. She said she had heard them too, but
they should not be worried - no layoffs were being planned. In reality, Diane had known for several
months that layoffs were coming.
The I.T. Operations Manager approached Diane at 3:00 pm. He had just learned about the pending
implementation. He asked if they had tested the software on the new equipment that had been
installed earlier that week and was being moved into production that night. Diane was momentarily
speechless – she had not heard about any new equipment, much less tested the software on it. She told
the Operations Manager they would test now, and continue with the implementation as planned.
Diane met with her team and explained the situation. She said the Operations Manager had failed to tell
her about the new equipment, and that the team would just have to work late until the testing and
implementation were complete. The team members grumbled and complained, as Diane had expected,
but they agreed. She said, “I’ll stay and help you.”
At 4:30, Diane received a call from her daughter reminding her that this was school parents’ night. Diane
had completely forgotten about it. She left the office at 5:00, asking her project lead to let the team
know, and asked him to call her cell phone when the system had been implemented.
After she left, the team got together. What really happened? they speculated. Diane didn’t have the
best relationship with the Operations Manager. One team member said he thought the Operations
Manager had “set her up – there’s no love lost there”. Another said, “Well … she deserves it. Here we
are – again. And where is she?” The project lead stepped in and said, “Forget it – let’s get this over
with.”
The project team began the test. They encountered many problems. By 11:00 pm, they decided that
they couldn’t complete the work that night. They would finish it in the next morning.
When Diane arrived at the office in the morning, she was greeted by the V.P. of I.T., who asked her to
join him in his office. Her project lead was already there. He closed the door and demanded to know
what had happened. His phone was ringing off the hook! Diane immediately blamed the project lead for
not calling her, and she blamed the team for not getting the work done. “They’re simply not reliable,”
she said. The V.P. of I.T. shouted, “Get them all in here!” Diane nodded and assembled the team. The
V.P. said, “We were going to meet on this later, but I might as well tell you now. You’re all being laid off.
We’re going to outsource I.T. Support.” The project team was stunned, all except the project lead who
responded, “Since you’ve put your cards on the table, I will, too. I’m leaving. I’ve only stayed on until
now to complete the project”. Diane was stunned.
There are two key elements in a relationship that foster emotional engagement: Trust and Respect.
Openness – Keeping your employees “in the loop” through sharing as much information as possible
about the direction of your organization and the importance of the roles they’re playing in it.
Diane didn’t keep her team “in the loop” about the positive feedback they were receiving from the
users, or about the problems the organization was experiencing.
Honesty – Responding to questions truthfully, except in those situations in which you are constrained by
your organization’s confidentiality requirements.
When asked about the layoffs, Diane didn’t respond truthfully. This is one of the most difficult questions
for a manager to answer because he/she may be under an organizational directive to not divulge
anything about the layoffs. A guideline to follow is instead to say, “When I have information to share, I
will let you know”.
Integrity – Keeping your word by doing what you say you will do.
Diane had said she would stay and help, but she didn’t. She had a reasonable excuse under ordinary
circumstances, but these were not ordinary circumstances. As the project manager, she was ultimately
responsible for the successful completion of the project. If she had stayed, she might have averted the
situation.
Respect is created through treating your employees in the same way you wish to be treated by your
manager.
Diane openly disrespected the project manager and the team in the meeting with the Vice President.
The bottom line? Diane had not “gotten to the heart of the matter” with her team. How about you?
Examples of Employee Engagement Approaches
A successful employee engagement strategy helps create a community at the workplace and not just a
workforce. When employees are effectively and positively engaged with their organisation, they form an
emotional connection with the company. This affects their attitude towards both their colleagues and
the company’s clients and improves customer satisfaction and service levels.
Most organisations have a range of practices to improve the engagement level of their employees.
One of the pitfalls of any employee engagement program is a failure – whether real or perceived - to
follow through on the initial that the company is felt by their employees If your organisation is to
succeed you must look use as many different approaches as you can.
Communications activities
These help employees find out what is going on within the company outside of their immediate
team. They also help to create an environment of trust and openness within the organisation where
they are able to talk openly. Employees who feel they are listened to are able to express
dissatisfaction and work together to resolve their causes, without it affecting their performance.
Reward schemes
Reward schemes are an important part of a company's overall employee engagement program. Studies
have long shown that, while money in itself is not a motivating factor, the absence of financial reward
can be a significant demotivator. Thus the role of reward schemes in boosting employee engagement is:
· to remove barriers to satisfaction in the organisation;
· to provide a framework for rewarding everyone in the organisation for their performance;
· to give those who are motivated by financial gain an opportunity to achieve this.
Culture-building activities are great for generating a feeling of belonging, but all organisations are
build out of smaller teams who can get on and work together.
At Sun the virtual nature is partly due to flexible working practices. While flexible working arrangements
are a plus for many employees and reduces facility costs for the organisation, that flexibility comes with
some downsides like; isolation, loneliness and an increase in personal distractions
Isolation, especially when paired with the demands of work in an increasingly competitive environment,
can wear down the sense of connection, commitment and excitement about any job. Thus a critical
challenge for managers of virtual teams is how to keep remote employees engaged.
At Sun, the concept of employee engagement starts right from the top:
· Scott McNealy, the CEO, interacts with Sun employees through WSUN, a forum on Sun’s intranet. He
uses this to sustain an active an ongoing dialogue on the corporate goals and direction. Through this
interactive on-line resource he also solicits their feedback and opinions
· Other senior management members like Jonathan Schwartz, the COO, engages with employees on
technology directions through his personal blog
· Business Unit Heads and Executive Vice Presidents have a target of holding six ‘town halls’ with
employees every year across the globe
· At the country level, Senior Management is tasked with constantly engaging employees through
various forums, communication media and events to build excitement and passion including some that
also reach out to the employees’ families.
1. Improve pride of the corporate-partners will have a feeling of corporate pride among their staff by
showing off their commitment to a sustainable development. Staff’s deep attention to the program also
shows that their development is highly in accordance with the agenda of the organization.
2. Putting fellowship into practice of HR-When the programs are included in the partner’s HR strategy,
they may become an important part of plans on professional development.
3. Motivational driver – the management can use placements as a reward for staff but not use pay.
4. Identify internal champions for change – The program of employee engagement helps practitioners of
CR to discover and establish internal “champions” that are expected to create a great change in the
company.
5. Increased productivity – employees will feel relaxed and inspired. Direct managers will report greater
productivity in returning employees.
6. Improved competency of employee –soft skills can be built through experiences but not in the
environment of a training room. After such experiences, participants can improve their confidence in all
aspects of lives, helping them do job more effectively. In additions, your skills of team building,
communication, analytical thinking, leadership, diplomacy, flexibility, conflict resolution, change-
readiness, problem-solving and listening will be improved.
7. Recruitment – Research has shown that in case of making decision on two equal companies, highly
8. qualified staff will select the one which has better environmental performance/stance. The program
forms part of value proposition to graduate recruits (CPI Shell Research 2005).
9. Retention – Showing commitment to corporate citizenship is considered to be a string factor in
keeping staff. Aligning individual’s personal values with those of the company is a powerful motivator.
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 2001, 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.
The surveys must also be integrated with the culture survey s and since the culture varies within the
organization, the companies must aim at measuring the engagement at work group level.
Employee Engagement Approaches
There can be more than one way to improve the level of employee engagement in a company. In fact,
there are many different things that companies not only can do, but also need to do. Most organization
has a range of practices to improve the engagement level of their employees. Best practice recommends
starting right at the selection or recruitment stage by having the right employees working in the right
jobs and having a strong induction and orientation program in place. Besides giving the employees
clarity on the vision and goals of the organization, it is essential for organizations to put into place
regular technical / soft – skill training and development programs and the certification programs to drive
people towards excellent performance as it so happens at HCL info systems.
Once the employees become a part of the system, efforts have to be put into place to engage
employees to their highest level. Beyond initial recruitment and induction, employee engagement
activities can be broken into a number of groups. These include:
Communication: A proper communication system helps employees in finding out what is going on
within the company outside their immediate team. They also help to create an environment of trust and
openness within the organizations where they are able to talk openly. Employees who feel they are
listened to are able to express dissatisfaction and work together to resolve their causes, without it
affecting their performance.
The initiative must be taken by the leaders at the top as it happens at the Sum Microsystems where
the CEO interacts with Sun employees through WSUN, a forum on Sun’s intranet. He uses this to
sustain an active, an ongoing dialog on the corporate goals and direction.
The organizations must work towards implementing the communication forums to provide regular
feedback to all people, including team meetings and conferences. For example encourages
employees to bring forward their questions or concerns through such programs as let’s talk It Over,
Between Us and various internal and external help lines.
Besides using the regular employee opinion and satisfaction surveys, an update on the various
organizational issues can be tracked by the organizations through the usage of in-house magazines
and online communications, including discussion boards by company personnel including the senior
management.
Reward Schemes: These form an important part of a company’s overall employee engagement
program. Studies have long shown that while money in itself is not a motivating factor the absence of
financial reward can be a significant demotivator. Thus the role of reward schemes in boosting. Thus the
roles of reward schemes in boosting employee engagement are? To remove barriers to satisfaction in
the organization and provide a framework for rewarding everyone in the organization for their
performance. This may be achieved through right compensation and benefit programs, stock ownership
and profit sharing plans and recognition programs. People want to know if their input matters and that
they are contributing to the organization’s success in a meaningful way, for which there must be
performance based reward scheme in place.
In fact, organizations must have flexible benefit schemes, as Hewitt Associates does, to attract and
retain their talent, which provides employees with the freedom to choose how they receive their
benefits tailoring a package to suit their lifestyle.
Developing the right culture: The organizations must have clear and humane HR policies and take
initiatives to maintain the quality of work life of its employees. Opportunities must be provided for
social interaction such as family gathering barbeques, and trips to the cinema or picnics.
At HCL Info systems, a balance between personal / professional lives of employees is maintained
through recreational activities like festivities @ HCL, get-togethers @HCL, sport@HCL. The company
also encourages an open and transparent culture to empower its people and develop
entrepreneurs.
The organizations must demonstrate a commitment to employees’ well –being by providing
opportunities for career advancement and be developing a safe, clean and inspiring work
environment for their all-round growth. The employees must be provided with enough resources to
solve their day-to-day problems or to do a job well. Culture – building activities are great for
generating a feeling of belongings. Giving employees a feeling of belongingness is crucial in creating
a thriving organization that people feel committed to and others want to join.
Leadership: Effective leaders who help in setting the tone for creating an engaged workforce can really
differentiate an organization from its competitors. Everyone in the organization with leadership
responsibility must have the emotional intelligence and leadership skills needed to switch and
employees on they must act as role models, demonstrate and set high standards to which others can
aspire. Good practices include effective performance management and a fair evaluation of performance.
The leaders must act as coaches and mentors and must give an honest feedback and guidance to their
employees.
Ideas should be sought from all employees and the frontiline employees should be allowed to
exercise a degree of discretion during service delivery E.g., allowing employees to spend up to a
certain amount to correct a customers problem or handle a complaint. The success of Microsoft, for
example, stems in part from Bill gates’ belief that smart people anywhere in the company should
have the4 power to drive an initiative. Initiatives such as Six Sigma are dependent, in part on the
active participation of employees on the shop floor.
For great managements, the path towards engaging employees and keeping them engaged beings
with asking them what they want and what is important in order to be effective in their roles.
Effective leaders don’t wait to get the resignation to know that an employee is dissatisfied.
An organization can always gain a competitive advantage by creating an engaged workforce. It
therefore, becomes, imperative for the organizations to identify the level of engagement in their
organization, strive to eliminate the reasons behind the disengaged workforce and implement
strategies to make them fully engaged. Employee engagement is something that is very difficult to
accomplish but if efforts are made on an ongoing basis, it can shrivel with relative ease.
Methods of increasing employee engagement,
An organization’s productivity is measured not in terms of employee satisfaction but by employee
engagement. Employees are said to be engaged when they show a positive attitude toward the
organization and express a commitment to remain with the organization.
Organizations that believe in increasing employee engagement levels focus on:
Culture: It consists of a foundation of leadership, vision, values, effective communication, a strategic
plan, and HR policies that are focused on the employee
Continuous Reinforcement of People-Focused Policies: Continuous reinforcement exists when senior
management provides staff with budgets and resources to accomplish their work, and empowers them.
Meaningful Metrics: They measure the factors that are essential to the organization’s performance.
Because so much of the organization’s performance is dependent on people, such metrics will naturally
drive the people-focus of the organization and lead to beneficial change.
Organizational Performance: It ultimately leads to high levels of trust, pride, satisfaction, success, and
believe it or not, fun.
Employee engagement can be revealed in several ways, including ‘pulse’ to annual surveys, tracking
changes in the attrition rate, increase in the number of employee referrals, and growth in productivity
and business.
In many organizations, the age-old Employee Satisfaction Surveys were considered the most popular
method for measuring how happy an employee was in the organisation. This is slowly being replaced by
surveys that can effectively measure employee engagement. Conducting a survey without planning how
to handle the result can lead employees to disengage. It is therefore not enough to feel the pulse—the
action plan is just as essential.
Conclusion
Employee engagement is a concept that is generally viewed as managing discretionary effort, that is,
when employees have choices, they will act in a way that furthers their organization's interests. An
engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work. Engaged
employees care about the future of the company and are willing to invest the discretionary effort.
Engaged employees feel a strong emotional bond to the organization that employs them.
Most organizations today realize that a ‘satisfied’ employee is not necessarily the ‘best’ employee in
terms of loyalty and productivity. It is only an ‘engaged employee’ who is intellectually and emotionally
bound with the organisation, feels passionately about its goals and is committed towards its values who
can be termed thus. He goes the extra mile beyond the basic job responsibility and is associated with the
actions that drive the business. Moreover, in times of diminishing loyalty, employee engagement is a
powerful retention strategy. The fact that it has a strong impact on the bottom-line adds to its
significance.
Engagement is about motivating employees to do their best. An engaged employee gives his company
his 100 percent. This is what makes the difference in an industry where the most valuable resource of a
company walks out of the door every evening. “This is of particular importance in a knowledge industry.
The quality of output and competitive advantage of a company depend on the quality of its people
It has been proved that there is an intrinsic link between employee engagement, customer loyalty, and
profitability. When employees are effectively and positively engaged with their organisation, they form
an emotional connection with the company. This impacts their attitude towards the company’s clients,
and thereby improves customer satisfaction and service levels. A successful employee engagement
helps create a community at the workplace and not just a workforce.
Employee Engagement
A positive attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and its values. An engaged employee
works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organisation. The
organisation must work to develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship
between employer and employee.
Most organizations today realize that a satisfied employee is not necessarily the best employee in terms
of loyalty and productivity. It is only an ENGAGED EMPLOYEE who is intellectually and emotionally
bound with the organization who feels passionate about its goals and is committed towards its values
thus he goes the extra mile beyond the basic job. Employee engagement is a powerful retention
strategy. An engaged employee gives his company his 100 percent. When employees are effectively and
positively engaged with their organization, they form an emotional connection with the company.
Employee engagement is a barometer that determines the association of a person with the
organisation. It is about creating the passion among associates to do things beyond what is expected
from him.
The result of these practices can be evident through the regular feedback from our employees collected
through surveys,
- training
- development
- career
- performance appraisals
- performance management
- communication
- equal opportunity
- fair treatment
- pay
- benefits
- health
- safety
- cooperation
- family orientation
- friendliness
- job satisfaction
which helps to create - feeling valued and involved which is
- ENGAGEMENT.
We can also have a HR folder or an intranet for employees have you have sections like motivation
stories, quotes, Support grievances jokes, etc... Some entertainment for employees
- EMPLOYEE RETENTION
- COMPANY PERFORMANCE
- CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
- PROFITABILITY
Employee engagement can be defined as an employee putting forth extra discretionary effort,
as well as the likelihood of the employee being loyal and remaining with the organization over the long
haul. Research shows that engaged employees: perform better, put in extra efforts to help get the job
done, show a strong level of commitment to the organization, and are more motivated and optimistic
about their work goals. Employers with engaged employees tend to experience low employee turnover
and more impressive business outcomes.
Employee engagement is more than just the current HR 'buzzword'; it is essential. In order for
organizations to meet and surpass organizational objectives, employees must be engaged. Research has
proven that wholly engaged employees exhibit,
§ Higher self-motivation.
§ Confidence to express new ideas.
§ Higher productivity.
§ Higher levels of customer approval and service quality.
§ Reliability.
§ Organizational loyalty; less employee turnover.
§ Lower absenteeism.
Focus on employee engagement:
Current studies show that organizations are focusing on the meaning of employee engagement
and how to make employees more engaged. Employees feel engaged when they find personal meaning
and motivation in their work, receive positive interpersonal support, and operate in an efficient work
environment. What brought engagement to the forefront and why is everyone interested in it? Most
likely, the tight economy has refocused attention on maximizing employee output and making the most
of organizational resources. When organizations focus attention on their people, they are making an
investment in their most important resource. You can cut all the costs you want, but if you neglect your
people, cutting costs won’t make much of a difference. Engagement is all about getting employees to
“give it their all.” Some of the most successful organizations are known for their unique work
environments in which employees are motivated to do their very best. These great places to work have
been recognized in such lists as Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.
Several standardized tools exist for assessing employee engagement and providing feedback for
making changes. These tools tend to have several common goals and characteristics:
Create a simple and focused index of workplace engagement-Many organizations are using very short,
simple, and easy to use measures that focus on the fundamentals of a great workplace. Instead of
conducting broad culture/climate surveys with 100 or more questions, organizations are opting for a
focused approach that measures fundamental qualities of the workplace that likely will be important 10
years from now (e.g., feedback, trust, cooperation).
Allow for benchmarking-Most organizations want to know how they compare to other organizations.
Using a standard measure of engagement allows organizations to see how they compare to other
companies along a simple set of fundamental work qualities.
Direct action-Engagement measures tend to be very actionable. This means that the organization can
alter practices or policies to affect employees’ responses to every item in the measure.
Show relationship to company performance-Without a link to company performance or other critical
outcomes, measures of engagement have little value. The whole idea behind engagement is that it leads
to enhanced performance. The link to performance outcomes is a necessary underlying assumption of
all engagement measures.
Many studies have shown that investments in people (i.e., HR-related practices) have a reliable
impact on the performance of organizations. The Bureau of Labor conducted a comprehensive review of
more than 100 studies and found that people practices have significant relationships to improvements
in productivity, satisfaction, and financial performance. Research has shown that when engagement
scores are high, employees are more satisfied, less likely to leave the organization, and more productive.
Each organization is different and there are many factors that affect bottom-line outcomes;
however, engagement scores can serve as meaningful predictors of long-term success. Some
organizations use engagement scores as lead measures in their HR scorecards. When an organization
can show the relationship between engagement scores and bottom-line outcomes, everyone pays
attention to the engagement index. Establishing this critical link between people and performance helps
HR professionals prove that people-related interventions are a worthwhile investment.
Elements of Engagement
Some researches conclude that personal impact, focused work, and interpersonal harmony
comprise engagement. Each of these three components has sub-components that further define the
meaning of engagement.
Personal Impact-Employees feel more engaged when they are able to make a unique contribution,
experience empowerment, and have opportunities for personal growth. Past research (e.g., Conger and
Kanugo, 1988; Thomas and Velthouse, 1990) concurs that issues such as the ability to impact the work
environment and making meaningful choices in the workplace are critical components of employee
empowerment. Development Dimensions International’s (DDI) research on retaining talent (Bernthal
and Wellins, 2000) found that the perception of meaningful work is one of the most influential factors
determining employees’ willingness to stay with the organization.
Focused Work-Employees feel more engaged when they have clear direction, performance
accountability, and an efficient work environment. Aside from the personal drive and motivation to
make a contribution, employees need to understand where to focus their efforts. Without a clear
strategy and direction from senior leadership, employees will waste their time on the activities that do
not make a difference for the organization’s success. Additionally, even when direction is in place,
employees must receive feedback to ensure that they are on track and being held accountable for their
progress. In particular, employees need to feel that low performance is not acceptable and that there
are consequences for poor performance. Finally, employees want to work in an environment that is
efficient in terms of its time, resources, and budget. Employees lose faith in the organization when they
see excessive waste. For example, employees become frustrated when they are asked to operate
without the necessary resources or waste time in unnecessary meetings.
Interpersonal Harmony-Employees feel more engaged when they work in a safe and cooperative
environment. By safety, we mean that employee trust one another and quickly resolve conflicts when
they arise. Employees want to be able to rely on each other and focus their attention on the tasks that
really matter. Conflict wastes time and energy and needs to be dealt with quickly. Some researches also
find that trust and interpersonal harmony is a fundamental underlying principle in the best
organizations. Employees also need to cooperate to get the job done. Partnerships across departments
and within the work group ensure that employees stay informed and get the support they need to do
their jobs.
Needs Analysis-The fundamental issues measured in engagement provide a quick index of what leaders
and HR need to do to make things better. In addition, items in engagement surveys tend to be very
actionable. This means that leaders or others in the organization can take action that will affect the
score on a single item.
Evaluation-Many learning and performance interventions are designed to impact some aspect of
engagement. When an engagement measure is used as a pre-implementation baseline, the impact of
the intervention can be gauged by measuring post-implementation changes in engagement.
Climate Survey-Some organizations like to use engagement measures as simple indexes of the
workplace culture. While more extensive surveys are valuable, sometimes it’s easier to focus attention
on a few simple and proven factors.
Dear respondent,
I am a final year MBA student doing a project on “An Analysis on Employee Engagement”. I seek
your kind support in spacing your valuable time to fill up this questionnaire. Thank you very much for
your time and support.
Respondent profile
Strongly Strongly
Statement disagree Disagree Neutral Agree agree
I have the materials and
equipment I need to do my job
efficiently.
I regularly receive
recognition/praise for doing good
work.