BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Employee engagement is a practice by which an organization expands the commitment and contribution towards attaining business goals (Ologbo and Saudah, 2012). Most of the business leaders over long periods of time were forced to make sure that employees are physically mentally and emotionally engaged in working towards a common goal (Madhura and Deepika, 2014). According to Armstrong (2009), the importance of employee engagement is about the performance and behavior and what will enhance the achievement of the goals and objectives of both the employee and the organization.

The need to attract and retain best performing employees in a company has become one of the key needs during the last two decades due to globalization and economic reasons (Lee and Timothy, 2010). Jamie and Alan (2011) argues that fostering engagement of employees is a very important factor when it comes to increasing employee performance. Furthermore change in financial indicators are associated with engagement level changes (David, 2014).

BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

CIPD (2010) states the main benefits of employee engagement is that, an employee who is engaged, will have more energy compared to those employees who are not engaged, engaged employees are more productive at work, and reduces attrition and gives more important to work. In order to support this view, Andrew and Sofian (2012) has also explained that, having an opportunity to voice out views, and the feelings that activities within the organizations are thoroughly communicated to its employees are sole drivers.

In addition to the above, Saks (2006) determined that engagement of employees impacted negatively in intentions of quitting the organizations, while engagement of employees impacted positively in commitment of the organization. Saks (2006) also concluded that, engagement of employees will reduce the encouragement of the employee leaving the organization.

Being involved in challenging job roles, availability of career advancement, development opportunities, learning opportunities, getting a fair salary, having the support of the management, and being valued, recognized and also appreciated for excellent work are some of the benefits of employee engagement, in an employee’s point of view (Hewitt Associates, 2004; The Corporate Leadership Council, 2004; The Conference Board, 2003). According to various practitioners, the outcomes of employee engagement are positively connected to the profitability and financial outcomes of an organization (Saks, 2006; Gibbons, 2008; Schaufeli et al., 2009).

INCREASING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

As an example, I would like to bring in some of the initiatives taken by the organization I am currently working for. This is a leading Multi National company for the BPM (Business Process Management) Industry located in Sri Lanka. Operating from two different locations in Sri Lanka, and also branching out in 10 different countries worldwide, this company faces the challenge of getting its employees engaged in a way that it will positively connect towards the benefits to the organization, as discussed above. Jamie and Alan (2011) argues that, in the past five years, the subject of employee engagement has attracted a lot of attention I many press and consultancy firms, being the key factor of organizational success and competitive advantage.

Miller (2014) states that the senior leadership team in an organization needs to take initiatives in communicating the vision of the company as well as the goals and objectives to all employees. Additional social responsibility can increase the wellbeing of the mind of an organization’s employees, which can reduce the risk of employees when actively engaging in their work process (Macey et al., 2011). Employees need to be helped out to see the bigger picture of the organizational goals, in order to understand where they fit in to the company strategy (Anne, 2011). Coaching from an employee’s supervisor is shown as a key area, although support from colleagues is also required in employee engagement, according to Jamie and Alan (2011).

Furthermore, it is said that, “ignite engagement by empowering people to share stories, exchange ideas, disseminate best practices in accordance with achieving the vision and goals and living out the values ”(Miller, 2014, p.09). Wellins and Concelman (2005) identified that a company can enhance the engagement of their workforce by developing a learning culture which includes individual development of employees as well. It is also supported by Marcey et al. (2011, p.126) as “All other things being equal, when people have the opportunity to do work in a way that: (a) effectively use their skills; (b) fits their values; (c) provides them the freedom to exercise choice, they will be fully “motivated” to engage in their work”. This idea was also justified by Miller (2014) as extending appreciation by rewarding best performers in the organization for good work done to accomplish company goals and live the values. Evans and Lindsay (2012) reminds that motivation is a main factor when it comes to employee engagement.

Further to all that were stated above, Miller (2014) puts down the importance of how individual career potential of employees help in achieving the objectives of an organization. Bharthvajan (2014) states that exit interviews can give true insights on working conditions, work relationships, pay, company policies and information regarding problem areas in order to take corrective actions.

Connecting the above mentioned facts to the example of the BPM organization mentioned, below mentioned are the initiatives taken regarding employee engagement.

·        Wide conduct of workshops and training sessions to create awareness regarding employee engagement and benefits to the organization, and to clearly communicate goals of the organization. Many training sessions and discussions take place, regardless of the team a certain employee belongs to. The idea is to give them an understanding of the bigger picture of the organization’s strategy. Overseas training programs and workshops are carried out, to open opportunities for capable employees, which will later give them additional responsibilities apart from their daily deliverable.

·        Establishing clubs and forums which can enhance positive engagement of employees and serve as out of office space to interact freely in CSR activities. This will also help increase the image of the organization in a positive note. Employees get the opportunity to mingle with co-workers across locations in order to promote good faith and understanding f different cultures as well.

·        Being a Multi National organization, this company faces the challenge of managing diversity. In order to overcome this issue, business leaders have come up with an idea of appointing a RAW committee (Respect at Work) to make sure that all employees are treated equally and fairly, regardless of gender, religious background, sexual preference or qualifications and are provided with a respectable work environment to carry out their work successfully.

·        The company has taken initiatives in appointing a team for training and development facilities, combined with the HR department, in order to make sure that all employees’ training needs are covered by rotationally selecting employees.

·        Entertainment events are organized such as, “Karaoke Nights”, “Quarterly bash”, annual outings and “Bravo Quiz” in order to enhance employee engagement.

·        Rewarding of employees take place monthly, quarterly and annually in the company. Employees are also rewarded by the most prestigious “MD’s Award”, once in three months.

·        In addition, brainstorming sessions are conducted and separate portals are available to log new ideas. All employees, regardless of their role band are made welcome to this portal to give their new ideas and are accordingly rewarded for the weight age and importance of each idea.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The sole idea of this blog is to mark the benefits of employee engagement to an organization and its employees. As discussed above employee engagement is a vital part in physically and mentally engaging employees to attain set goals of a company.

Although many areas were covered in the example of the above BPM Company, there are some areas of further improvement as well. Internal job posting systems need to be added as an important factor in the organization. This needs to allow employees to be able to apply for preferred and capable work teams as well. By adding this to the initiatives, the company can look forward to build a more capable workforce. Mentoring and coaching sessions need to be conducted in order to better fledge the employees. This will provide them to have a positive though on employee relationships. Further declaring the “open door policy” helps employees of all levels to come up with their ides and concerns. Regardless of the organizational  hierarchy, employees will feel more comfortable in speaking up, which will make them feel important too.

List of References

Andrew, O. and Sofian, S. (2012). Individual Factors and Work Outcomes of Employee Engagement. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 40, pp.498-508.

Anne, G. (2011) Employee Engagement at Norfolk County Council – Strategic HR Review 1(1), pp.27-32

Armstrong, M. (2009) Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 11th ed. London, Replika Press Pvt Ltd

Bharthvajan, R. (2004) Exit Interviews- International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, 3(5)

Boehm, J.K. & amp; Lyubomirsky, S. (2009), “The promise of sustainable happiness”, in S.J. CIPD. (2010). CIPD Chartered Institute for Human Resources and People Development. [Online] Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018]

David, G. (2014) Employee Engagement: A Skeptical Analysis – Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance 1(1), pp.141-156

Evans, J. R. and Lindsay, W. M. (2012) The Management and Control of Quality, 8th ed. New Delhi, Cengage Learning India Pvt Ltd

Jamie, A. G. and Alan, M. S. (2011) Performance Management and Employee Engagement – Human Resource Management Review 1 (1), pp.123-136

Lee, W. and Timothy, J. (2010) The Engagement Factor: Building a High Commitment Organization in a Low Commitment World- Journal of Business Strategy 1(1), pp.14-24

Macey,W., Schneider, B., Barbara, K. and Young, S. (2011) Employee Engagement 1st ed. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons

Madhura, B., Deepika, P. (2014) The Study on the Drivers of Employee Engagement Impacting Employee Performance, ICTMS-2013, 1(1), pp.106-115

Miller, H. S. (2014) The 10 Best Practices for Enhanced Employee Engagement. Los Gatos: The Henry Miller Group LLC

Ologbo, C., Saudah, S (2012) Individual Factors and Work Outcomes of Employee Engagement, The 2012 International Conference on Asia Pacific Business Innovation & Technology Management, 1(1), pp.498-508

Saks, A M (2006) Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21 (6), pp 600–619

Schaufeli, W. (2018). Employee engagement – Wilmar Schaufeli. [Online] Wilmarschaufeli.nl. Available at: https://www.wilmarschaufeli.nl/tag/employee-engagement/ [Accessed 12 Nov. 2018]