5ENG

The purpose of this briefing paper is to explore how the business can create a more
engaged workforce so that as a business we can achieve the growth we are aiming for. The
briefing paper is supported by a PowerPoint presentation.

As more and more businesses recognise that enthusiastic and committed employees add
value to their organisation not just in terms of productivity but also customer satisfaction,
retention, profitability and long-term stake-holder value, ‘employee engagement’ is a much
talked about issue at the highest levels in organizations today (Cook 2008).

The key three Principle Dimensions to an engaged team are:

 Emotional engagement – involves interest, boredom, happiness, anxiety, and other

affective states, any of which factors could affect learners’ involvement with learning
or their sustained effort in playing games, such as in the context of playing a game.
Within the British Army HR, the chain of command conduct, this fortnightly on
meetings by playing a quiz game (Who knows More) of what the employees have
learnt over that week. Showing an interest in their well-being and development
makes them feel like one team and want to learn and be there.

 Cognitive engagement – refers to employees’ beliefs about the work place, its
leaders and the culture. In the British Army, staff officers have to double hat at jobs
at work, which entails longer working hours, stress and commitment. They have to
focus hard while at work, while trying to be professional at all times when tired or
stressed.

 Physical engagement – involves employees applying their physical and mental

energies wholly to their job performance. In the British Army taking the younger
soldiers on extra build up training in their own time, shows the moral support to
encourage them to train harder physically to go that extra mile to achieve the end
goal – passing the 8-mile march. Pushing themselves demonstrates their physical
stamina and engagement mentally and physically making them motivated soldiers.

When analysing the components of employee engagement and how it differs, if at all, an
employer needs to take into account two approaches (CIPD 2019):

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  Focus on specific and well-established definitions.
 If using ‘engagement’ as a wider umbrella term, break it down into more specific
areas that can be understood and acted upon more clearly.

A broad employee engagement strategy might focus on:

 Motivation: how workers guide their efforts to achieve goals, including intrinsic
motivation (enjoying work for its own sake) and extrinsic motivation (working to get a
reward).
 Organisational citizenship behaviour: going the extra mile and helping colleagues
or the organisation beyond what the job requires.
 Organisational commitment: feeling attached to the organisation and intending to
stay.
 Job satisfaction: how content workers are with various aspects of their work,
employment and organisational life. Are they employed as directed by their contract,
do they feel part of the team.

Case Study (W L Gore)

There are no magic formulas as each culture and environment is different W.L Gore. For
example, has come three times highest in the Sunday Times list of the 100 best companies
to work for. Positive scores from staff for belief in the values of the organisation, pride in
working for Gore, being able to make a difference and loving their job. All employees are
associates, not directors, secretaries or managers and teamwork is so important that
colleagues rating of each other is one of the things pay is based on. To work for W L Gore
he drives innovation, trust and great leaders.

It is important that any Employee Engagement that is employed by an organisation is not

launched in isolation or as a ‘one off’ solution. Any type of concept must be aligned at an
organisational level across all areas. To not align all of these areas would in effect be
tightening the wheels of a bike while the rest of the bike was neglected. The organisation
must account and develop all its people and not those they favour due to their outputs.
Engaging with all employees will deliver high outputs and may high light areas of concerns,
which could be down to bad leadership.

There are a large number of areas and corporate functions where this need to be examined.
At a strategic level this would mean aligning the Employee Engagement with the Business
Strategy as well as the Company Mission Statement. Engaged employees are well
motivated employees and this change would in effect be the performance equivalent of

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trading in the steady, reliable family saloon for a high-performance sports car. As such this
would also reflected in the Company Values and Standards. Aligning Employee Engagement
at a high level would be the ‘nod’ to middle and junior managers about the direction the
organisation was moving in. This type of high level engagement should have a cascade
effort on all levels of management. With Middle and Lower-level Managers ‘on board’ this
should provide the framework onto which to drape the remainder.

Case Study – Using WIFI Model (First Direct)

As award winning telephone banking centre, employee engagement scores improved over a
two-year period owing in part to Final Direct recognising the key drivers of employee
engagement to their business. First Direct created a leadership development programme to
address its needs of its employees via the business strategy mission. Other initiatives that
have increased engagement scores include mentoring by senior managers of new call
centre operators, job swapping, senior managers ‘back to the floor’ initiatives and job
shadowing. The average length of employee stay is six years (Cook 2008).

Other areas that could see alignment include Performance Management. While this is not a
new function (annual employee reports and appraisals) (CIPD 2019), there could be more
emphasis on the development and a ‘where next’ aspect of performance management.

Such a function could also overlap the Learning and Development Role within an
organisation where opportunities for training and continuous professional development can
be utilised. This will instil confidence in managers and employees alike and increase the
sense of achievement in terms of pride, confidence and a sense of investment by the
organisation (CIPD 2019).

A series of incentives can be employed which could include a number of perks or discounts
are also useful mediums to demonstrate alignment of Employee Engagement. Even
something as small as ‘dress down Friday’ where employees can wear casual clothes to
work is a small victory and an easy win. Dress down days are easy wins within the fashion
industry and New Look clothes shop does this to show case some of their clothes in the
shop but also to give their employees the change to be an individual.

Innovation schemes can also be employed, this can take forms such as a corporate social
media outlet where employees can float ideas or ‘kick an idea about’ which may streamline
services, optimise performance or increase profitability. Alternatively, something as simple
as a suggestion box or suggestion board can glean excellent results, management after all
does not have the monopoly on good ideas.

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Case Study – Volvo Group

In 2003 Volvo Group executives developed an employee engagement strategy that

promoted strong employee involvement. Part of the strategy was to improve communications
about and involve employees more in, the attainment of the group’s new strategy objectives.
Volvo Group set up a network of communications representatives across each division, to
support them in this task a website was set up linked to the company’s intranet. The board
recognised that managers were the gatekeepers to disseminating information upwards and
down to achieve the objectives set. The CEO kept an eye on the development, and to
ensure all employees felt heard (Cook 2008).

A number of bonding activities can also be utilised such as Team Bonding Exercises or
activities. This can be anything from attending an industry or organisation conference or
open day together as a team to something more adventurous such as an adventure training
package or ‘paintball activity’. This is something that would tie in with the Social Engagement
Factor and is a good way to not only mix with colleagues outside of a normal work setting
but also as a management task for an employee/manager to organise.

Other alignment practices could include financial changes that may include changes or
improvements to the organisation’s Pension Scheme. A revision of salaries or instituting
Performance Related Pay scheme (CIPD 2019) or even the implementation of a bonus
scheme or points/rewards scheme.

These factors can also be used as part of the organisation’s Communication Strategy. This
would have secondary effects on Social Media and Marketing as well as Recruitment and
Retention. In terms of long-term expenditure, it would save money by ensuring employees
are engaged enough to want to stay thus justifying the cost of training staff and employees
as well as attracting (potentially) the right kind of future employee of the organisation. The
initial roll out of alignment of Employee Engagement across the organisation would require
financial investment but if such a change in direction and culture is managed correctly the
long-term benefits will start to be realised by way of increased productivity and less attrition.

There are a number of primary drivers of Employee Engagement within organisations. These
are defined by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD 2019) as:

 Leadership – The Leadership provide the Mission and the Vision, it provides the
direction and outlines what it wants to achieve. More essentially, by providing this
strategic outlook it lets employees know what the organisation is striving towards

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 overall. By communicating this to all employees it is allowing them to buy into that
concept. Employees who buy into the big picture will be able to strive towards those
goals because they know what the ultimate aim is. Employees who do not know will
miss opportunities and fail to realise that the seemingly small event or piece of
information gleaned was an opportunity missed and will spend their time working
blind and not appreciating what they are working towards or why.

 Line Management – Line Managers motivate the employers, this is so simple task
as each employee is different and the motivation will be different for all of them. This
can only be achieved by knowing their employees (or getting to know them) and in
essence what makes them ‘tick’. This is an area which is difficult particularly for junior
or inexperienced Line Managers and is a test of Leadership to be able to get the very
best from a group or team. This is the coal face of the whole Employee Engagement
between management and employee. If this goes right, then the majority of the battle
to engage employees has been won. If this goes wrong, then the effort can be
detrimental and catastrophic. Within the Army if leadership and trust with the Line
Manager comes into question this could lead to a serious accident or even death.

 Employee Voice – Allowing the employee to speak up and effectively empower

them across a range of issues and decisions to either support current practices and
procedures or alternatively challenge and change them. This is all about giving
employees the power to point out problems or highlight good practice and procedure
across the organisation and ultimately makes the employee feel part of the process
and part of something larger than themselves. This sense of belonging can do lots to
foster a feeling of belonging and lies in with the Affective Engagement theory (CIPD
2019). John Lewis would be a great Case Study to demonstrate the Affective
Engagement theory – all staff from chairman down to the Saturday shelf-stackers
receive the same percentage pay outs which rises or falls in line with its financial
fortunes. The retailer’s employee-owned partnership model works well and any
profits flow to the staff in the form of an annual bonus. John Lewis is a leading band
and that because each employee has a voice.

 Organisational Integrity – The ability to stick by the organisation’s values and

culture across all areas and levels of an organisation. This is the ultimate in
demonstrations of Leadership by management at all levels. The visual realisation of
‘do as I do’ cannot be understated. When employees see management adhering to
the organisational integrity and values of the company they work for, this not only
fosters a sense of fairness but also reinforces the sense of togetherness and
belonging. When employees (particularly management figures) breach or disregard

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 Values and Organisational Integrity then this breeds resentment, a sense of
unfairness and injustice and reinforces the sense of ‘us and them’. This type of
environment can be tense and toxic and subsequently lead to disengagement and
attrition (Engage for Success 2016).

Job design is an area of Employee Engagement that is important and often overlooked. The
bringing together of a number of tasks or duties into one role or job is a fine balance to
strike. Firstly, the duties within the job must be organised in a way that provides for
maximum efficiency and optimisation within an organisation. This is where a deep analysis
of the job, its characteristics and what is required of it is of paramount importance and a
model to conduct this analysis has broken down the motivational factors as follows
(Hackman and Oldman 1976):

 Skill variety – The range of skills that might be required for an employee to carry out
a job or task.

 Identify – How an employee identifies with their job, is there an element of the job
that can be measured as being under the remit of a particular employee or
responsibility of an area or phase of a task from beginning to end?

 Significance – How much a particular job feeds into the overall product and what
significance a job can play within the organisation overall.

 Autonomy – The amount of scope that an employee has freedom to act within their
own field without the constant referring to management or strict adherences to rules.

 Feedback – What is required in terms of performance to conduct the job.

When designing a new job, it sometimes makes sense to take duties from another job role
because it makes sense if this task is carried out as part of the new job role. In addition to
this, it’s important to factor in how this new job work is in conjunction with other job roles.
The overall effect can be likened to a jigsaw with an empty space within it and finding a
piece which is the best fit.

In addition to all of this however the job must be designed so as to provide maximum
satisfaction to the employee who will carry it out. Clearly there will be aspects of many jobs
within an organisation that will not always be satisfying all of the time, but this is where the
balance between job satisfaction and efficiency must be found. If the right balance is found
then the job design has been carried out correctly.

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A model of the four elements of Job Design has been produced (Truss, Baron et al 2014).
These are:

 Job Content – This is what the job involves and how worthwhile the employee finds
it. What impact the job has in the big picture and what freedom to act that each
employee can exercise within their area.

 Job Context – This involves the working environment and conditions, what
technology must be used. How safe is the working environment? Again, the freedom
to act within the employees own area or field.

 Work Relationships – How the employee interacts with those around them and how
these relationships feed into the employee’s own wellbeing.

 Line Manager – A line manager who is supportive and can provide clarify and
illumination on the job.

Job design contributes significantly to Employee Engagement often before the employee has
started the job.

Fig 1. The Elements of Job Design (Truss, Baron et al, 2014).

Discretionary Behaviour is phenomena that can emerge within some employees and is an
indicator that the employee feels engaged with their job. Discretionary Behaviour is going the
extra mile to conduct whatever job requires doing and can be something that on the face of it
seems small or insignificant but the effect that this will have on customers, stakeholders or
other employees cannot be understated. It may be additional customer care, the
development of a rapport with stakeholders to bringing chocolates into work for other team
members. This can sometimes be seen as more of a question of personality than Employee
Engagement however if the employee isn’t engaged it’s unlikely that Discretionary Behaviour

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of any sort would ever occur. The other thing with discretionary behaviour is that it’s often
contagious and has a positive effect on other employees.

One reoccurring theme in Employee Engagement is that of Role Autonomy. This is

empowering the employee to feel that within their own area of work or field of expertise that
they have the freedom of action to conduct their task and make any changes or innovations
as they see fit without constant need to refer such a decision to management or also without
interferences. In addition to this, the need to not be stifled by bureaucratic rules which will
smother such freedom and stifle initiative. Empowering employees by giving them autonomy
is an excellent contributor to Employee Engagement.

Organisational Citizenship is the degree to which an employee feels ‘part of the team’. This
can be measured in various ways and can manifest itself in certain behaviours such as
punctuality, dependability, compliance and altruism to name, but a few (Bateman and Organ
1983). The key to understanding Organisational Citizenship and the behaviour surroundings
it is to think of it as a sense of belonging or attachment to a group or organisation. This can
vary from the employee who knows that they are part of an organisation and the employee
that feels part of an organisation. Employees who demonstrates healthy levels of
Organisational Citizenship are more likely to be engaged with their organisation as opposed
to those who view their job as ‘just a job’.

There are a number of different methods to measure and engage workforce attitude with an
organisation and by ‘Employee Engagement’. Care must be taken however that there is not
a tendency to make data fit pre-conceived assumptions. In all cases the results gleaned by
such methods must be sifted and looked at meticulously from a number of different
perspectives.

One of the quickest and more common means of getting a feel of Employee Engagement is
by way of surveys. Surveys can (if used correctly) provide a good snapshot of how an
organisation’s workforce is engaged and to what degree. They are very useful in terms of
gaining a feel of the general consensus and ‘lay of the land’ in terms of attitude and is also a
tool to ascertain lessons learned. This however is only a snapshot in time and should not be
a singular method to gauge Employee Engagement (CIPD 2019).

Another used method is the employment of Key Performance Indicators (KPI). If an

organisation has good KPIs then this could indicate a motivated and possibly well engaged
workforce. KPIs however require analyses as it’s not enough to make the assumption that a
high KPI score translate to a high level of employee engagement. In some cases, a high KPI

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score could be down to business procedures, design analysis or shrewd marketing
(Melchert, Winter and Klesse 2004). A deeper level of analysis must be carried out.

Case Study – Top 5 KPI’s for a Fitness Industry (Business Solutions 2017)

 Revenue per client/Member (RPC). The most common, and probably the easiest KPI
to track is Revenue Per Client – a measure of productivity. A simple calculation
(annual revenue divided by number of clients.).

 Average Class Attendance (ACA). Another popular KPI, not surprisingly is Average
Class Attendance (ACA). If classes are full or nearly so, it indicates a highly desired
class and theoretically a profitable class.

 Client Retention Rate. The percentage of clients you review, is critical to long-term
profitability.

 Profit Margin (PM). If it costs you more to generate the revenue than the revenue you
generate, that’s a negative profit margin and the business is not going to last long.

 Average Daily Attendance (ADA). A simple KPI but one that can get blurry. There are
lots of methods to achieve your goal. Give away free promo items, run special
promotions, bring a friend.

Another commonly used tool to assess Employee Engagement is a ‘Dashboard’. If the

survey and KPI are the ‘data capture’ function in ascertaining Employee Engagement then
the dashboard is a tool from which an analysis can be made. By pulling all the data together
and seeing it compared to other data sets then patterns and correlations can occur, theories
be developed and suggestions for improvements be created. This alone however is
worthless as a sole driver of Employee Engagement (Lawler III and Boudreau 1976). Again,
a deeper analysis is required.

There are also other methods that can be utilised such as brain storming, groups to forums
and even social media web pages. With the drive from modern technology, a lot of these
methods are the electronic version of the old suggestion boxes. The organisation must move
with the times and the next generation. Of, course an organisation that does not engage its
employees and whose employee’s attitudes towards the job or organisation is not good will
be able to measure the level of Employee Engagement against poor productivity.

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In order to maximise Employee Engagement, it is suggested that Employee Value
Proposition (or EVP) is adopted. This would need to be adopted and driven across the
organisation in five key areas:

Culture

 Mission Statement – In order that employees and customers alike know what the
organisation is about, a clear, concise and ‘punchy’ mission statement should be
written. Once it has been produced and management agree that it sends out the right
message then this should be seen in as many places as possible. Company e-mails
and documents should have a small version of it on display either as a letter head or
as part of the header or footer. This should also be displayed on noticeboards and at
key parts within the organisation’s facilities. For the mission statement to work the
organisation needs to know its employees and their language and understanding if
the employee understands the language used.

 Values and Standards – As with the mission statement, a series of ethical and
morally based values and standards should also be produced to show that the
company has a moral and ethical standing and cares about its employees, customers
and stakeholders alike to demonstrate our Corporate Social Responsibility. There will
be opportunities which the organisation should capitalise on to conduct some
charitable activities within the context of local communities. This may include raising
money for the local hospice or employees taking part in ‘Race for Life’. An example
of this would be TESCO. Activities such as this should be highlighted in
Organisational Publications and Newsletters and any social media outlets.

Work Environment

 Impact – In order for there to be a successful transition to this EVP, there must be a
lot of input in to the impact of the organisation’s work and what the organisation
produces. The aim is to make employees feel proud of what they do here.

 Job Recognition – There should be recognition in all jobs across the organisation
and the impact each job has on the organisation. Where possible employees must be
allowed to exercise autonomy in their field and do not feel constrained by petty rules
and overzealousness on the part of the junior mangers (this however must be
tempered by health and safety procedures which take priority).

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  Work/Life Balance – There must be an evenly weighed work/life balance with
employees not feeling like they are being ‘worked to death’. There should also be
more flexible work options so that employees who may have certain commitments
outside of work that they need to attend to are given the option to work more flexibly.

 Fairness – A concept of justice and fairness should be adopted across all areas of
work which should tie with the organisation’s values and standards.

 Equal Pay – Equal Pay for two employees engaged on the same job role should also
be realised regardless of sex, ethnicity or physical disability (assuming the disability
doesn’t impede the employee for carrying out their job).

People

 Recognition – Employees who do particularly well in a certain field of endeavour

either in or out of the work.

 Recruitment – Use our own employees to spread the message that working for the
organisation is good and fulfilling.

 Champions – Appoint certain individuals as champions for certain areas within the
organisation such as Mothers, ethnic minorities. Community engagement and
continuous professional development.

Rewards and Benefits

 Pensions – The Organisation should highlight the pension plan and the differing
schemes available.

 Maternity Wage – In line with legislation the organisation needs to also show that it
maintains a maternity wage for employees who are pregnant in line with current
legislation.

 Company Cars – In certain job roles (particular those that are ‘on the road’) a
company car should be provided.

Career

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  Career Opportunities – Employees must be made aware of career opportunities
and promotions within the organisation. They must also be made aware that the
organisation will always seek to promote or move an employee internally before
advertising job vacancies externally.

 Learning Developments – Highlight the fact that employees are able to involve
themselves in the Organisations Learning and Development whether that be for Low
Level Managers conducting Leadership and Managerial courses and workshops to
budget holders who require to be qualified in handling budgets and financial matters
or even a First Aid at Work Course. These should be aligned with the organisation’s
business plan.

Barriers

There may be a number of barriers that may stop or impede the EVP form being realised
such as:

 Culture – This EVP needs to be broadcast from the top down so that the Middle and
Junior Management are aware that this is a concept that Senior Management take
very seriously, and they need to be ‘on board’ with it. Some of these may even be
appointed as champions for various groups. Change is never easy but the sooner it’s
embraced then the sooner it becomes normal.

 Cost – Clearly there are going to be budget constraints and this means that each
element of the EVP particularly with regard to cost will happen gradually as opposed
to a knee jerk reaction which may see too much expenditure too quickly.

 Confidence – There may be a lack of confidence in the new concept particularly

from junior employees who are still remembering the old construct. These employees
must be nurtured and made aware that there has been a change and that the change
is good, this will be something that can only change and grow with time.

 Lacklustre – Some members of the organisation may view the change with
lacklustre and cynicism. This may be something that erodes with time however junior
managers must monitor employees to ensure that negativity is kept in check. At best
it should be disregarded, at worse it needs to be addressed with the employee who is
demonstrating negativity.

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 ‘When employees respect each other and get along in the workplace, it’s amazing how
productivity increases, morale increases and employees are more courteous to customers’
(Maureen Wild).

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Reference

Business Solutions (2017) Top 5 Key Performance Indictors in a Fitness Industry Available
http://www.fit-pro.com [Accessed on 30 January 2020]

CIPD (2013) Inspiring the Future [Podcast] [Accessed on 28 December 2018]

CIPD (2015) A collection of thought pieces Lawler III and Boudreau [online] Available
http://www.cipd.co.uk/images/changing-operating-models [Accessed on 5 January 2020]

CIPD (2019) Employee engagement and motivation | Factsheets | CIPD [online] Available at
http://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/engagement/factsheet [Accessed
28 December 2019]

CIPD (2019) Engage for Success 2016 [online] Available at http://www.engageforsucess,org

[Accessed on 5 January 2020]

Job Design and Employee Engagement Truss, Baron et al (2014) [online] Available at
http://www.engageforsuccess,org/wp-content/uploads.com [Accessed on 28 December
2019]

Jo Owen, The Leadership Skills Handbook [United Kingdom] (2017)

Lumen Boundless Management Hackman and Oldman (1976) [online] Available at

http://www.courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-managementdesign.com [Accessed on 5
January 2020]

Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Bateman and Organ (1983) [online] Available at

http://www. Organisational Citizenship Behaviour.org [Accessed on 5 January 2020]

Thinkmind KPI Melchert, Winter and Klesse (2004) [online] Available at

http://www.thinkmind,org [Accessed on 5 January 2020]

Sarah Cook, The Essential Guide to Employment Engagement [United Kingdom] (2008)

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