The best companies now know, without a doubt, where productivityreal and limitless productivitycomes 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 voicea rolein 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 AND ATTRITION

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.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: What exactly is it? Different definitions by different people: 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. Put simply, Employee Engagement exists when the employee feels: Physically Intellectually Emotionally attached to their work (Kahn, 1990) 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)

THE

DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN

EMPLOYEE

SATISFACTION

,EFFECTIVENESS AND ENGAGEMENT 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.

ENGAGEMENT THE EVOLUTIONARY JOURNEY

Higher

Engagement
Positive Correlation With Business Performance

How much people wantand actually doimprove business results

Commitment

How much people want to improve business results

Satisfaction

How much people like it here

Lower Employee Research over Time

CATEGORIES Engagement

OF

EMPLOYEE

ENGAGEMENTategories

of

Employee

According to the Gallup Organization, there are three different types of employees 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 ooutcomes 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. Actively Disengaged--The "actively disengaged" employees are the "cave dwellers." They're "Consistently against Virtually Everything." They're not just unhappy at work; they're busy acting out their unhappiness. They sow seeds of negativity at every opportunity. Every day, actively disengaged workers undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish. As workers increasingly rely on each other to generate products and services, the problems and tensions that are fostered by actively disengaged workers can cause great damage to an organization's functioning. 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: Measuring Current Levels of Engagement Employees Are Engaged? Employee engagement satisfaction surveys determine engagement. the current level of employee Knowing the Degree in which

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 levelby taking the average rank (on a sixpoint scale) of an individuals 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

Senior Leadership Immediate Manager Coworkers Customers

Total Rewards

Work

Work Activities Job Clarity Resources

Opportunities Engagement

Pay & Benefits Recognition

Career Opportunities Learning/ Training & Development

Company Practices

Vision Policies Performance Assessment Company Reputation

Quality of Life

Work/Life Balance Physical Work Environment

(Source: Hewitt Associates Study,2004)

Mention must be made here of Gallups Q12 which lists the 12 things important to employees: 1. Knowing whats 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)