MAHARAJA AGRASEN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

(Affiliated with GGSIPU university)

A MINOR PROJECT REPORT

On
Employee engagement on strategic decision making

Submitted in partial fulfilment of requirement of bachelor

of commerce (B. Com) hons.

Bcom hons. 2nd semester (evening) (B)

Batch 2019-2022

Submitted to: - Submitted by: -

Dr. Rachna Jain Devansh Jindal
2361188819

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CONTENT

Topic Page no.

 Student undertaking 03
 Certificate 04
 Acknowledgement 05
 Executive summary 06
 Table 09
 Introduction to topic 10
 Literature review 14
 Research methodology 35
 Limitations and Strategies 38
 Recommendation and conclusions 49
 Bibliography 55

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STUDENTS UNDERTAKING

I hereby certify that this is my original work and it is never been

submitted elsewhere.

Project guides
By Dr. Rachna Jain
(faculty)

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Devansh Jindal student of B. Com 2 nd semester

has undergone in search project on Employee engagement on
strategic decision making and submitted the project based on the
same as a mandatory requirement for obtaining the degree of bachelor
of commerce B. Com. (Hons).
I further declare that I or any other person has not previously
submitted this project report to any other institution/university for any
other degree or any other person

Date
Place- Delhi (Devansh Jindal)

It is certified that this project has been made and submitted under my
guidance.

Date (Dr. Rachna Jain)

Place- Delhi (Associated professor)

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Acknowledgement
A lot of efforts have gone into this minor report. My thanks are due to many
people with whom I have been closely associated. I would like to thanks to all
those who have contributed in completing this project. First of all, I would like
to send my sincere thanks to Dr. Rachna and the director Pro. Dr. Ravi
Kumar Gupta for her helpful hand in the completion of my project. I would
like to thanks my entire beloved family and friends for providing me monetary
as well as non-monetary support, as and when required, without which this
project would not have completed on time. Their trust and patience are now
coming out in form of this.
For the information of this project I interviewed the manager who provided me
the ample information about employee engagement on strategies decision
making. I also interviewed some employee to their perception about employee
engagement in India. I consulted many books websites and journals for the
purpose of my analysis.

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Executive summary
Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all
members of an organisation to give of their best each day, committed to their organisation’s
goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, with an enhanced sense
of their own well-being.

David MacLeod: “This is about how we create the conditions in which employees offer
more of their capability and potential”.

Employee engagement is based on trust, integrity, two-way commitment and communication

between an organisation and its members. It is an approach that increases the chances of
business success, contributing to organisational and individual performance, productivity and
well-being. It can be measured. It varies from poor to great. It can be nurtured and
dramatically increased; it can be lost and thrown away.

Employee engagement is getting up in the morning thinking, “Great, I’m going to work. I
know what I’m going to do today. I’ve got some great ideas about how to do it really well.
I’m looking forward to seeing the team and helping them work well today”.

Employee engagement is about understanding one’s role in an organisation, and being

sighted and energised on where it fits in the organisation’s purpose and objectives. Employee
engagement is about having a clear understanding of how an organisation is fulfilling its
purpose and objectives, how it is changing to fulfil those better, and being given a voice in its
journey to offer ideas and express views that are taken account of as decisions are made.
Employee engagement is about being included fully as a member of the team, focussed on
clear goals, trusted and empowered, receiving regular and constructive feedback, supported
in developing new skills, thanked and recognised for achievement. Engaged organisations
have strong and authentic values, with clear evidence of trust and fairness based on mutual
respect, where two-way promises and commitments – between employers and employees –
are understood and fulfilled.

We also explore the specific roles and responsibilities of the workforce in building a more
engaged organisation. Our focus: individual employees, managers and executives. These
three roles are increment, depending on someone’s level in the organisation. Everyone is
accountable for his or her own engagement; anyone with direct reports must coach team

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members to higher level of engagement and manages his or her own engagement; and
executives set the tone for an engaged organisation plus shoulder the responsibility of
individuals and managers

What’s employee engagement for you and me as employers?

Employee engagement is about positive attitudes and behaviours leading to improved
business outcomes, in a way that they trigger and reinforce one another. Employee
engagement is about our employees feeling pride and loyalty working for our organisation,
being a great advocate of the organisation to our clients, users and customers, going the extra
mile to finish a piece of work. Employee engagement is about drawing on our employees’
knowledge and ideas to improve our products and services, and be innovative about how we
work. Employee engagement is about drawing out a deeper commitment from our employees
so fewer leave, sick absence reduces, accident rates decline, conflicts and grievances go
down, productivity increases. Employee engagement is about organisation actions that are
consistent with the organisation’s values. It is about kept promises, or an explanation why
they cannot be kept. Employee engagement cannot be achieved by a mechanistic approach
which tries to extract discretionary effort by manipulating employees’ commitment and
emotions. Employees see through such attempts very quickly and can become cynical and
disillusioned.

EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES LEADING TO GREATER EXPERIENCE

There some activities that can lead to greater employee engagement. It begins with looking at
the experience of new employee, and continues throughout the employee experience.

Some examples of the activities that can assist new employees feel engaged include:

 Providing the new employee with a realistic preview of the job

 Considering ways to welcome them on the first day of work, and in advance some
workplace has current employees send mails to welcome new employees prior to the
frost of work

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 Having through orientation that include information about the job, and also
information about how people treat each other and the climate to which every
employee is expected to contribute.
 Considering the employees development plan from day one- what would be helpful
for every employee to know? Who would be useful for the new employee to connect
with in the first couple of days?

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Chapter 1

Introduction

There is no single method to engage employees in their work and in the organisation. Instead,
there are a number of critical components that contributes to engagement. These critical
components include; workplace relationships, the workload, the amount of control within the
workplace, the reward/ recognition structure support, perceived fairness in the workplace,
and ability to have meaningful and valued word. One approach to create engagement is that
there is a level of reciprocal interdependence necessary for the individual to engage and for
the organisation to success.

Engagement, represented here as a two way relationship between employee and employer
where engaged employees are expected to also have an understanding of an unit and work to
be done, has to do with how individual employ themselves in the performance in there jobs
and involves the active use of emotions and behaviours in addition to what they know about
there jobs. Engagement is realised through a series of interactions between the employee and
the manger or supervisor (representing the organisation). The goal would be to create
interaction that would involve into trusting, loyal and mutual commitments leading to full
engagement in the work place.

Management behaviour plays a key role in developing engagement through the relationships
they build with the employees, and behaving in a way that they are supported and play a
critical role in the success of the unit. The application of these principle to developing
process for employees to be involved in decisions related to the workplace, and to the unit,
provide the significant opportunity to that end, it is important to note that employee
engagement is a long term and ongoing process that requires continued interaction over time
in order to generate obligation and a state of reciprocal interdependence.

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Define “engagement” and why the “old definition needs to be changed

The original definition of the employee engagement focused on the tools used to make
employee fell engaged and encourage employee engagement.

One tool used to determine a company’s level of employee engagement is survey. Survey are
the great way to measure employee engagement level. They provide and idea of how
satisfied employees are, and how to increase their job satisfaction. However, survey have
their flaws. Take for an example a case where a survey is used to evaluate factors in
employee engagement. An employee who might be comfortable in the current job and not
want to be promoted might give a low rating to the satisfaction with in the opportunity for the
advancement since the employee has no interest in advancing. The overall impact of the
employee’s engagement may not be affected yet the survey might miss attribute a result that
a low satisfaction score in this case leads to less employee engagement because these
ambiguities surveys can often be misleading.

Some examples include interviews, confrontation meetings and reward system. These are all
great tools, but they too can have their fowls. For this reason, a definition for employee
engagement should encompass more than just the tool it takes to make employee feel
engaged. Definition should also include condition which leads to employ engagement as well
as what it taken to create an environment where employee fell engaged.

The “New Definition” for engagement

Redefining the engagement as “the heightened emotional connection that an employee feels
for his or her organisation that influences him or her to exert greater discretionary efforts to
his or her work” provides the framework in which engagement activity operates.

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CORPORATIONS

Caterpillar

Engagement is the extent of employees' commitment, work effort, and desire to stay in an
organization.

Dell Inc.

Engagement: To compete today, companies need to win over the MINDS (rational
commitment) and the HEARTS (emotional commitment) of employees in ways that lead to
extraordinary effort.

Intuit, Inc.

Engagement describes how an employee thinks and feels about, and acts toward his or her
job, the work experience and the company.

CONSULTANTS and RESEARCHERS

Corporate Leadership Council

Engagement: The extent to which employees commit to something or someone in their

organization, how hard they work and how long they stay as a result of that commitment.

Development Dimensions International

Engagement is the extent to which people enjoy and believe in what they do, and feel valued
for doing it.

The Gallup Organization

Employee engagement is the involvement with and enthusiasm for work

Hewitt Associates

Engagement is the state of emotional and intellectual commitment to an organization or

group producing behaviour that will help fulfil an organization's promises to customers - and,
in so doing, improve business results.

Engaged employees:

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- 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 behaviours that contribute to business
success.

Institute for Employment Studies

Engagement: A positive attitude held by the employee toward the 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.

Kenexa

Engagement is the extent to which employees are motivated to contribute to organizational

success, and are willing to apply discretionary effort (extra time, brainpower and effort) to
accomplishing tasks that are important to the achievement of organizational goals.

Towers Perrin

Engagement is the extent to which employees put discretionary effort into their work, beyond
the required minimum to get the job done, in the form of extra time, brainpower or energy.

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Characteristics of Engaged Workforce

The level of employee engagement can be measured by the willingness and ability of
employees to contribute to the success of their organisation. It is their discretionary effort
which is an essential element for the good health and wellbeing of a company.

A highly engaged workforce shows the high level of engagement in their work and is always
keen to take up new challenges in order to bring a positive change or establish a highly
conducive work environment. Various studies have shown that higher level of employee
engagement is directly linked to high satisfaction among them, productivity and profitability
of organisation and satisfied and loyal customers.

The model below illustrates a few characteristics of an engaged workforce that play an
essential role in the success of any organisation.

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Mutual Trust: Trust is the base of any organisation. Letting people do their work without
telling them how to perform it is one of the best ways to engage staff. Employees welcome
each other’s opinions and find out a wide variety of ways to accomplish a particular task. A
highly engaged workforce doesn’t need directions at each step. They can perform their jobs
with mutual help and trust.

Job and Career Satisfaction: Job satisfaction is one of the main characteristics of an
engaged workforce. The individual who is satisfied with their career and the way their career
graph is raising prefers to stick to the organisation for a very long period of time. Switching
the organisations frequently is not a characteristic of satisfied employee.

Credible Leadership: As mentioned earlier, an engaged workforce doesn’t need

directions for performing a specific job from time to time. Employees know how to do it in
the best possible manner. They not only exhibit credible leadership qualities in routine tasks
but also come up with innovative ways to deal with crisis or emergencies.

Focused and Keen to Take up Challenges: An engaged workforce is entirely

focused and knows what to do and when. They are always keen to take up new challenges in
order to solve the existing problems in the organisation as well as acquire new skills. Not
only this, they are always keen to learn new things and widening their horizon.

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Better Performance: Employee engagement is directly related to better performance.
Employee performance is the only way to measure the engagement, involvement and
dedication of employees towards their jobs. If all these factors cannot be interlinked, there is
no meaning of anything. It can be said that the workforce is not engaged or actively
disengaged.

Problem Solving Attitude: Engaged workforce not only delivers its job responsibilities
but also keeps a problem-solving attitude always. A highly engaged employee displays a
sense of belongingness towards the organisation and makes every effort to solve the
problems that pose a hindrance in the organisation’s way of success.

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Chapter 2
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Companies with high employee engagement have profit margins nearly three times larger
than that of organisation with disengaged workers, according to the study by towers Watson.

Employees who believe that their companies are high performance deliver
sustainable engagement scores 16% points higher than the overall country norms, found the
global workforce study, which surveyed 32000 employees globally -1000 of which were
from Canada.

However, more than 2/3rd (67%) of Canadian workers are not fully engaged in their work and
are frustrated by insufficient support from the organisations.

“when workers are not fully engaged, it leads to increase risk for employers. It can make
companies more vulnerable to lower productivity and higher in efficiency, greater rates of
absenteeism and turnover and increased cost for chronic illnesses,”

The global workforce study breaks new grounds in understanding and measuring what
contributes to sustained employee engagement said towers Watson. the equation for
sustainable engagement is the sum of three distinct element:

Traditional engagement- Employees willingness to give effort to their employer.

Enablement- having the tools, resources and support to get the work done efficiently.

Energy- a work environment that actively supports physical, emotional and inter personal
wellbeing.

History of employee engagement - from satisfaction to sustainability

Employee engagement may seem a relatively recent concept but actually it goes back over 20
years when the term first appeared in an academic journal in 1990. Prior to that, during the
70’s and 80’s, HR’s (or as it was then ‘personnel’s’) focus was on employee satisfaction.
But this had little or no connection with performance and was more about the employee than
the organisation or the employee’s relationship with it.

The focus then moved from satisfaction to commitment (and somewhere along the way
‘personnel’ became ‘human resources.’) in return for a job, and possibly a job for life, the

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employee would be loyal and commit himself to the organisation. Whilst commitment is an
important element of and predictor of engagement it cannot replace engagement.

But then things started to change. Increased global competition and the shift from a
manufacturing economy to a service one meant employer needed to be more flexible, leaner
and competitive. Traditional industries closed or were severely cut back and employees
learned the hard way that there were no jobs for life, that to progress in their careers they too
needed to be more flexible and move to where the opportunities were.

And that’s what they did. The old contract of a job for life with a nice fat pension at the end
of it was broken. People were free – encouraged even – to move from job to job, selling their
skills and at the same time acquiring new one’s courtesy of the new employer. Loyalty didn’t
come into it, or if it did it was more fleeting, more short term. So, it benefited the employee
but employers soon realised that actually they were losing people they didn’t want to lose. It
was costing them money and affecting their ability to compete effectively.

The rise of engagement

It is at this point in the story - during the noughties - that the concept of engagement matured.
Key to this was a paper published by the Institute of Employment Studies (IES) in 1990
‘From People to Profits, the HR link to the service-profit chain’ which showed how
employee attitudes and behaviour could improve customer retention and consequently sales
performance. This clear link between engagement and performance, supported by extensive
research, helped establish engagement’s importance to both HR and business performance.
The fact that the UK had become a service-based economy made the report’s findings even
more relevant and increased the focus on employees and their interaction with customers. For
service-based businesses, the old mantra that ‘staff are your greatest asset’ became ‘staff are
your only asset.’ This led to greater incentives to invest in staff as the returns were seen as
greater employee commitment, motivation, productivity and ultimately profit (or, in the case
of not-for-profits, achieving strategic objectives).

The business case for engagement was supported by another seminal study in 2002 which
also showed the link between engaged employees and profit. What had back in 1990 been
confined to predominantly academic circles was now being discussed and implemented at
practitioner level. Organisations began to see the potential that engagement had to positively

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affect a whole raft of HR and business measures including employee retention, absenteeism
and turnover; sales; profitability and customer service/satisfaction scores.

HR or business function?

Engagement has also grown from something that was seen as being owned or ‘done’ by HR
to something that needs to be owned and driven by the CEO and senior leadership team. In
fact, to be truly effective engagement needs to be owned by everybody; it needs to be part of
an organisation’s DNA. Indeed, engagement measures are often aligned to managers’
performance through KPIs – Key Performance Indicators. Engagement’s importance to a
business and its subtle move of ownership away from the HR department (who still
ultimately have responsibility for delivering the policies around it) has seen the rise not only
of roles like Head or Director of Engagement but engagement’s place around the Board table.

Engagement and the public sector

Engagement is just as relevant to the public sector. Indeed, the impact of overworked,
stressed and demotivated staff is far more serious in the health sector than in a supermarket
or call centre. A study by Aston University in 2011 showed that patient mortality rates were
approximately 2.5% lower in health trusts with high engagement levels than in those with
medium engagement levels. So next time you have to choose a hospital for treatment, ask
how engaged the staff are, not how experienced the surgeon is…

Process of Employee Engagement

This is the hardcore fact that the future business performance and revenues and profitability
of an organisation no longer depends upon traditional capital management and investment
and portfolio management. But the success of any organisation in this constantly changing
world of work depends upon human capital management. The companies who understood
this fact long before are the most successful and highly productive organisations of the
current’s times. Those who have just realised it are still struggling to establish a reputation in
the industry.

Since the mantra of success of any organisation is the higher involvement, engagement and
dedication of employees towards their jobs and their continuous performance to attain more,
it is necessary to keep their spirits high, motivate them to perform their best always and

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generate a breed of satisfied and dedicated employees. Employee Engagement is not a
onetime process that can quickly bring results; rather it is an ending process that will go on
till the existence of an organisation.

As it is an established fact that there is a clear link between organisational performance and
employee engagement, every organisation seeking sustenance and growth in the ever-
changing world of work quickly respond to the needs of employees along with designing and
implementing a customised process to increase the levels of employee engagement. The
following are a few basic steps in this process based on the best industry practices.

1. Prepare and Design: The first step in the process is about discovering the
specific requirements of your organisation and deciding the priorities. After that a
customised design of carrying the whole process can be designed. It is recommended
to seek advice of expert management consultant in order to increase the chances of
getting it done right at the first attempt.
2. Employee Engagement Survey: Design the questions of the employee
engagement survey and deploy it with the help of an appropriate media. It can be
either in printed form or set online depending upon the comfort level of the
employees and your questionnaire evaluation process.

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 3. Result Analysis: It is the most important step in the entire process. It is time when
reports are to be analysed to find out what exactly motivates employees to perform their
best and what actually disengages them and finally compels them to leave the
organisation. The results and information can then be delivered through presentations.
4. Action Planning: ‘How to turn the results of the survey in to an action’ is a
challenging question that organisations need to deal with the utmost care. Coaching
of line managers as well as HR professionals is very important in order to tell them
how to take appropriate actions to engage employees. They should also be told about
do’s and don’ts so that they can successfully implement the changes.
5. Action Follow-up: Action follow up is necessary in order to find out if the action
has been taken in the right direction or not and if it is producing the desired results

10 Common Themes: How Companies Measure Engagement

Employers typically assess their employees’ engagement levels with company-wide attitude
or opinion surveys. (See “Employee-Engagement Survey Items: Samples” on page 5.) A
sampling of the criteria featured in such instruments reveals 10 common themes related to
engagement:

 Pride in employer
 Satisfaction with employer
 Job satisfaction
 Opportunity to perform well at challenging work
 Recognition and positive feedback for one’s contributions
 Personal support from one’s supervisor
 Effort above and beyond the minimum
 Understanding the link between one’s job and the organization’s mission
 Prospects for future growth with one’s employer
 Intention to stay with one’s employer

This broad array of concepts has come to be labelled employee engagement by virtue of
linkage research, which relates survey results to bottom-line financial outcomes. (See “About
Linkage Research.”) Workforce surveys will be covered in greater detail later in this report.

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The Link Between Employer Practices and Employee Engagement

How does an engaged workforce generate valuable business results for an organization? The
process starts with employer practices such as job and task design, recruitment, selection,
training, compensation, performance management and career development. Such practices
affect employees’ level of engagement as well as job performance.

Employers naturally want to encourage workers to perform prescribed and voluntary

activities while avoiding proscribed ones. To achieve these goals, organizations use a number
of HR practices that directly affect the person, process and context components of job
performance. Employees’ reactions to these practices determine their levels of engagement
and commitment. Next, we examine several such practices in greater detail.

Job and Task Design

Over the past 250 years, the nature of work and employment has evolved through a series of
stages. Initially, craftspeople and laborers worked on farms and in workshops. Then cottage
industries arose, in which suppliers assembled goods and products for companies that
marketed them. Later, people worked for companies in increasingly formalized employment
relationships. And today, the world of work is characterized by flat and agile organizations
that outsource production of goods and services on a global scale.

As employers broadened the scope of job responsibilities in flatter organizations with less
management oversight, researchers also began looking at the social characteristics of work,
including interdependence of job roles, feedback from others and opportunities to get advice
and support from co-workers. Analysis of work-design research revealed that social
characteristics strongly influence both employee engagement and commitment.

Recruiting

The messages your organization conveys while seeking to attract job applicants also can
influence future employees’ engagement and commitment. If your firm has designed jobs
specifically to engage employees, then you’ll want to ensure that recruiting ads extol these
positions’ attractive features—such as challenging work assignments, a highly skilled team
environment or minimal supervision. Applicants who notice and respond to these ads will
more likely be motivated by these features.

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By contrast, you recruit external candidates to both the job and your organization. For these
candidates, ensure that recruiting messages highlight attractive job features, organizational
values and commitment reciprocity. That is, in return for performance and dedication, your
company offers competitive pay and benefits, flexible work hours and learning and career
advancement opportunities.

Employee Selection

Once your recruiting efforts produce a pool of promising job candidates, you select among
them to fill available positions. When you select the right individuals for the right jobs, your
new hires carry out their work more smoothly and experience fewer performance
problems.27 The result? Greater enjoyment of—and engagement in—the job.

Most candidates will view these techniques more positively than tests with less apparent
relevance, such as personality and integrity assessments.29 Successful candidates feel good
about having “passed the test,” and see your company as careful and capable for having
selected them. A positive initial impression of an employer encourages growth of long-term
commitment. “Effective Employee Selection” summarizes lessons from this section.

Training and Development

Training and development can serve as additional levers for enhancing engagement and
commitment. For new hires, training usually begins with orientation. Orientation presents
several important opportunities—including explaining pay, work schedules and company
policies. Most important, it gives you a chance to encourage employee engagement by
explaining how the new hire’s job contributes to the organization’s mission. Through
orientation, you describe how your company is organized, introduce the new employee to his
or her co-workers, give the person a tour of the area where he or she will be working and
explain safety regulations and other procedural matters. In short, you foster person-
organization fit—vital for developing productive and dedicated employees

Compensation

Like the HR practices discussed above, compensation can powerfully influence employee
engagement and commitment. Some compensation components encourage commitment to
employers, while others motivate engagement in the job. It is possible to stimulate one and
not the other, though it’s generally better to foster both. For example, a company that offers a

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strong performance incentive system but no retirement plan will probably realize exceptional
engagement from its workers; however, they may eventually commit themselves to another
company that does offer a good retirement plan. Meanwhile, an organization that offers
generous retirement benefits but a traditional seniority-based pay grade system may have
committed employees; however, these workers might deliver pedestrian performance as they
bide their time until retirement. In designing compensation plans, you therefore need to
consider employee engagement and commitment strategically.

Performance Management

Encourage managers to include employees in the goal-setting process. This technique helps
to ensure that workers understand the goals. It also promotes acceptance of challenging
objectives, because people generally feel more committed to goals they have helped define.

In addition, consider how you and other managers will recognize and encourage
contributions that exceed expectations. For example, when a piece of equipment
malfunctions, Joe finds other ways to maintain production rather than merely shutting down
the machine and waiting for the maintenance staff to fix it. Or when a less experienced co-
worker encounters a new task, Sally offers friendly coaching, instead of standing by and
waiting for the inevitable mistakes to crop up.

Performance management processes operate on a continuous basis. Therefore, they provide

perhaps the best ongoing opportunities for employers to foster employee engagement and
commitment. For example, managers can use routine discussions about performance and
feedback sessions to learn which aspects of the job hold the most interest for each employee
and which tasks are most challenging. During such discussions, managers also can define
what “going above and beyond the call of duty” looks like and generate ideas for rewarding
such contributions.

Employee Engagement: Five Companies That Get It

1. Make it Strategic: Intel Corporation

Set the stage for employee buy-in by sharing a vision that ties engagement efforts to your

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core vision and larger business strategy—something Intel does by calculating each
employee’s annual bonus according to sustainability results. By challenging all departments
to improve their processes and products with sustainability in mind, Intel celebrates the
diversity of its professionals while increasing accountability for multiple dimensions of value
creation and impact.

2. Make it Personal: Hyatt Hotels & Resorts

Issues like climate change and biodiversity are complex, but framing these big issues in
relatable terms is not impossible. Take inspiration from Hyatt: The hospitality company’s
corporate responsibility platform, Hyatt Thrive, leverages the power of peer-to-peer
influence and social networking to connect and empower 300 Green Teams worldwide.
Employees use a Facebook-like interface to post photos, questions, and even presentations
about their local sustainability efforts.

3. Make it Flexible: Walmart

While top-down leadership is important, the best employee engagement programs are co-
created and co-owned by employees themselves. Walmart’s global engagement platform, My
Sustainability Plan (MSP), was created with the goal of helping more than two million
associates in 28 countries take everyday steps to live healthier, greener lives. The program
encourages associates to choose goals most relevant to their own lives and break those goals
into small, doable everyday actions—whether that’s eating a salad every day or biking to
work.

4. Make it Easy: Google

To encourage involvement, chunk your program into easy steps that’ll let all employees
participate. Google—a company already known for employee perks like free laundry and
locally sourced meals—educates associates about the impact of simple actions like turning
off their computers at night. Micro-kitchens built throughout the workplace are designed to
encourage the use of reusable dishes and flatware (employees can even leave their dirty
dishes in the sink).

5. Make it Last: Clif Bar

Creating an effective program is just the beginning. To encourage ongoing success, you’ve
got to treat employee engagement as an ongoing campaign. Sustainability is such a big part

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 of CLIF Bar’s culture, for example, that it’s embedded in employees’ benefits package,
including incentives for actions like purchasing a fuel-efficient car and making eco-friendly
home improvements. Momentum is ensured at weekly staff meetings, where employees share
practical tips for living greener, and at yearly award ceremonies, where individuals are
recognized for excellence according to the company’s values.

A great engagement program is a guaranteed way to recruit and retain top talent and drive
productivity. But, even more important: Engaging employees and encouraging their input
builds trust, drives innovation and inspires co-creativity from the inside out.

The 10 Cs of Employee Engagement for Leaders

1. Connect: Leaders need to project that they value the employees of their respective
organisations. To establish an emotional, connect with the employees, leaders must consider
introducing employee-focused initiatives such as profit sharing and introducing work-life
balance initiatives in the organisation. Employee engagement is a direct reflection of the
feelings of employees in an organisation about their relationship with their leaders.
Employees tend to observe whether the leaders and their organisation actually walk the talk.

2. Career: Leaders should strive to provide meaningful and challenging work scenarios with
ample opportunities for growth for the career growth of their employees. Leaders need to
ensure that they offer opportunities for job rotation for their top talents, assign such goals
which can be stretched to employees, hold employees accountable for their progress, and also
ensure if the jobs are enriched regarding responsibilities. Good leaders are ones who
constantly challenge their employees while at the same time instilling the confidence in them
so that these challenges can be met. If leaders do not provide people with the knowledge or
the tools to succeed, it is certainly unethical and demotivating for employees. This eventually
leads to frustration, stress, and disengagement from employees.

3. Clarity: It is imperative that leaders need to communicate with their employees with a clear
vision. Employees are keen to comprehend the vision of their leaders for the organisation and
the goals that their leaders decide for the department, team, or unit. In other words,
it’s important that employees clearly comprehend the organisational goals, their significance,

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 and how these goals can be accomplished in the best possible manner. When this clarity
regarding understanding is achieved, the employees can successfully contribute towards the
success of the organisation. One of the most crucial problems in American business is sheer
ignorance on the part of the employees as to how the business functions. Hence it is
important for leaders to understand that leaders use information not to intimidate employees,
or to manipulate and control them. Leaders need to use the information to teach their
employees how to function together as a cohesive unit to achieve common goals.

4. Communicate: Leaders should be able to clearly communicate their expectations from

them and also provide timely feedback as to how they are functioning in the organisation.
Good leaders are known for laying down processes and procedures that help the employees
to master important tasks and thereby help in achieving their goals. In fact, a good leader is
one who closely works with his employees on a day to day basis to improve their skills and
help them achieve small wins that will help a team or an organisation to give their best.

5. Congratulate: It is equally important for exceptional leaders to give due recognition to

their employees, and not just once, but consistently. Leaders need to ensure that they should
provide not only immediate feedback when the performance of an employee is poor, but also
provide immediate recognition when an employee performs exceedingly well too.

6. Contribute: It is common for employees to be keen to know that their input holds
importance and that they too can actively contribute towards the success of the organisation.
Leaders need to understand that when an employee comprehends the correlation between his
or her work and the strategic objectives of the organisation, it is bound to have a positive
impact on their job performance. Also, the attitude of an employee towards his or her job has
a significant impact regarding loyalty and customer service. Last but not the least, when the
attitude of employees improves, it also leads to an improvement in their job-related
behaviour. Good leaders are those who can help their employees see and feel how they are
contributing towards the overall success of the organisation.

7. Control: It holds a lot of significance for employees when they have control over the pace
and flow of their jobs. It’s up to leaders to create opportunities for exercising authority by
their employees. When employees are given some amount of flexibility based on their
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 personal needs or included in the decision-making process, it creates a feeling of trust within
the employees, and it also leads to reduced level of stress in them. Apart from this, it also
helps in creating a culture where employees will want to take up ownership of their issues
and look for solutions.

8. Collaborate: Studies have proved that when employees work in teams collaboratively and
have the trust of their colleagues, they always outperform teams and individuals which fall
short in the same. Great leaders need to create a working environment that promotes trust and
collaboration. Research supports the fact that when employees of an organisation cared for
by their peers, it predicts a healthy degree of employee engagement.

9. Credibility: Leaders of organisations should always strive to maintain the reputation of the
company and project very high ethical standards. Employees too want to be proud of their
performance, their jobs, and of course their organisation.

10. Confidence: Great leaders help in generating confidence in an organisation by being a

classic example of high ethical and performance standards. Leaders need to be actively
involved in identifying the level of employee engagement in their organisation, figure out the
factors behind any lack of employee engagement, and strive to do away with all such
reasons, and put into practice behavioural strategies that will help to facilitate complete
employee engagement. However, this is not a one-time effort, but an ongoing one.

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Elements of Employee Engagement

The term employee engagement has been defined by various researchers. A commonly
agreed upon definition would be physical, psychological or emotional involvement of the
employee while at work.

Four things are important when we talk about employee engagement; commitment,
motivation, loyalty and trust. Their level determines the quality of engagement of an
employee. Each one is briefly discussed in the coming paragraphs.

1. Commitment: Commitment means the degree to which individuals associate

themselves with the job, the responsibilities and the organisational objectives.
Engaged employees are those who are fascinated by their work and committed to face
every challenge to attain their goals. They are dependable and highly productive and
therefore, are accountable for what they do.
2. Motivation: Up till recently it was believed that the biggest motivation is
achievement. The reverse is also true, which means achievement results in more
motivation. If employees put in their 100 percent efforts to take their organisation to
the next level, this attained status motivates them more than anything. Proper rewards
and recognitions can further motivate them to achieve more and more for their

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 organisation. Motivation and achievement go hand in hand and act as the burning
fuels for the success of any organisation.
3. Loyalty: Employees who are actively engaged in their work show more loyalty
towards the organisation. The best part is that they need less focus and attention of
managers to perform their task as they themselves feel accountable for their job
responsibilities and results attained. However, it doesn’t take much time for actively
engaged employees to turn into disengaged employees if the organisation doesn’t
have a well established reward system. Recognition is a basic necessity of individuals
to remain steered up towards their job.
4. Trust: High levels of employee engagement can be fostered only when trust prevails
in the organisation from both the sides. As they share strong emotional bond with the
organisation, the latter should also show trust in their abilities. Employees must be
given autonomy to perform their tasks their way. They should not be restricted to a
specific rules and regulations and therefore, should be motivated to experiment to
perform their task in a different and innovative manner.

Dimensions of Employee Engagement

The only thing that makes highly productive organisations stand apart from rest of the
companies is the quality of the employees and the level of their commitment towards their

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work. The vice versa, the trust that an organisation shows in their employees and efforts that
it makes to keep them focussed, motivated and satisfied, also is one of the many variables
that distinguish between highly reputed workplaces and those that are not up to the mark.

Organisations cannot achieve their goals just by defining their mission statement nor can they
foster a high performing work culture until they take substantial steps. They need people to
get the jobs done and that too with excellence.

For fulfilling all their goals, organisations require actively engaged employees. Employee
engagement happens only in those organisations which treat their people as their biggest
assets and take care of their basic necessities and other psychological needs. Workplaces that
meet all these conditions of employee engagement grow much faster and sustain much longer
that those who fail to meet them.

There are different dimensions of employee engagement that make productive organisations
stand apart from the rest and determine their destiny.

Things like what employees get in exchange for the efforts they put to perform the delegated
tasks, if employees are able to perform their best, if they are treated as an important asset or
just a means to perform the job and how they can grow if they stick to their organisation are
of great importance. Actually, these are emotional elements revealing the basic employee
needs. They would like to contribute only when their efforts are recognised and awarded. Not
only this, all they can also drive them to be more efficient while delivering their jobs .

Phases of Employee Engagement

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Employee engagement is a concept that has begun to grab the attention of the corporate
world for past few years. When put simply higher levels of employee engagement mean
higher profitability of the organisation.

Employee engagement is critical. Highly productive organisations have understood this fact a
long ago where mediocre and low performing organisations have just started taking it
seriously. It makes sense to engage employees and make them find a meaning in what they
do.

Those employees who do not understand what they contribute towards the success of their
organisation will not stick to it for long. They would rather consider leaving in a few months
or years as and when they are offered a high-paying job.

Employee engagement is a long-term process and goes through various phases describing the
level of the engagement, involvement, attachment and belongingness between employee and
employer. These phases of employee engagement make a continuous cycle that each
organisation aiming to achieve increased profitability must undertake.

Phases of Employee Engagement

1. Attract

The first phase of the employee engagement cycle is attracting the best talent from
the industry. This phase involves creating a positive impression about the work
culture and employee career as a potential employer. It is all about carefully creating
an authentic, genuine and crafted image as an employer. This is although an indirect

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 yet the first impression that attracts a big pool of candidates to apply for the job
vacancies in an organisation. The first phase is the most important phase of the
employee engagement cycle.

Another aspect spreading the reputation of an organisation is its employees. They are
not only the employees but also are regarded as internal customers. Their job and
career satisfaction speaks about their workplace. Therefore, they should not be taken
for granted. Besides attracting the talent from the outside, it is important to keep the
existing employees attracted towards the organisation.

2. Acquire

The acquire image involves more than one thing. It includes (1) the way the potential
candidates are interacted while advertising a position; (2) keeping the promises that
were made while hiring them and (3) providing the new joiners a right kind of work
culture.

When an organisation advertises a position, interested candidates apply. The way

their applications are created, the reaction of the organisation and the manner in
which they are approached speak a lot about the image and work culture of an
organisation.

Hiring the best talent not only serves the purpose. During their honeymoon or initial
period with the organisation, the company must try to keep all the promises that were
made during the selection process.

Besides this, they should feel happy and satisfied when their expectations are tested
against the reality. Providing the right kind of culture also plays an important role in
keeping them engaged.

The whole idea is to prepare them to perform their best by giving them challenging
tasks right from the beginning. It’s like developing a habit or culture right from the
time they decide to work with the organisation.

3. Advance

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 Continuous moving the talent is the last but an unending phase. It not only involves
promoting the employees to a higher designation along with salary increments but
also growing them in other tangible and intangible ways. Job rotation can help them
grow in experience, responsibility and belongingness but only when it is done right.
Advancing the employees in every aspect, be it monetary or non-monetary, is the key
to retain people and develop their overall personality.

Research and Methodology

Improving employee engagement in the business is one of the very critical missions and
challenge faced by many managers and employers. Successful organizations are found to be
engaging their employees in various levels of their business, which helps them to improve
their overall business competitiveness. This research is prepared to identify the various
causes, need, and challenges involved with employee engagement in business and the
potential benefits an organization can receive.

A research methodology is the process of identifying and assessing various methods used in
research process and the identification of the various data collection methods, and the type of
approach used. In this case, the philosophy of Postmodernism is applied. Postmodern
philosophy refers to the identification of facts, issues, and objectives beyond the framework
of theories, policies, and social paradigms. According to Blaxter et al. (2006) post-
modernism approach believes that any paradigms and facts are vulnerable to change in
different conditions and situations. There is no proper definition to research as there are
many types of researches which are applicable to different areas of life and business. Some
individuals do research for educational purpose, while some attempt to research for finding
answers to existing problems in certain areas. According to Connaway & Powell (2010)
research can be defined as “a studious inquiry or examination; especially: investigation or
experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts or practical application of
such new theories and findings”. A well-recognized and accepted definition of research is
provided by Goddard & Melville (2006) which defines Research as, “a process carried out to
find answers to unanswered issues in a specific area, or creating scenarios which does not
even exist, and it’s not just the process of gathering information and gaining knowledge”.
The also stated that a research should be conducted to provide positive benefits to the
community and should be capable of answering complex scenarios and issues. The
importance of research can be found in everyday life. Everything people know and practice is

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identified, studied and discovered by somebody with the help of research process and
application of efficient research methods (Goddard & Melville, 2006). Therefore, the
identification and discovery of information is the crucial element in research and serve as the
backbone of any research. As they argue, research process is a never-ending quest. As new
issues are identified and discovered, new problems emerge in the same area. Therefore, each
research is connected to a new issue and one of the main sources of information in a research
is previous researches and literatures. These findings and evidences show the importance of
research and research methodologies in any process.

Aim of the Study

Aim of the study is a crucial element which decides the course and efficacy of the research
process. Research aims are formulated once the research problem is identified. In this case,
the research question is the improvement of employee engagement in a business to improve
the organizational process. The research aims deals with basic questions of why is researcher
conducting a research in the given scenario, what are the expected outcomes, what are the
expected problems which are envisaged to clear and so on. In a research, the research aims
can include both theoretical and practical aims; for example, development and testing of the
given issues with available theories and laws is a theoretical outcome, while identifying,
controlling, and discovering various practices and outcomes with the help of regular
observations, primary data collection such as surveys and interviews are practical aims
(Velde et al., 2004). In this case, various research aims are formulated to study the
importance of employee engagement in order to improve the organizational process.
 Critically analyses various factors which contributes to employee engagement in an
organization

 Evaluating the measures taken by the human resource department and the organization to
improve this engagement and utilize the same for the growth of the organization

 Investigate and analyse the impact of employee engagement in employee satisfaction and
loyalty which are two crucial elements which contributes to the organizational
development and enables the organization to achieve their business objectives

 Evaluating the relationship between employee engagement and financial performance of

the organization

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 Critical analysis of the demographics and other personal characteristics of the employees
with the efficacy of employee engagement

 Identifying different methods used in different areas to improve or to facilitate the

employee engagement

 Critical evaluation of employee involvement in decision making and day-to-day

management process and their impact on the organizational development

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Chapter 3
Employee Engagement Strategies

Various studies have shown that actively engaged employees are almost 50 percent
more productive than their not-engaged or disengaged colleagues. The employee
engagement cannot be improved only by designing and implementing effective
human resource strategies but their involvement and quality of output produced by
them also depends on their relationships with their colleagues, subordinates and
seniors. It is a basic need of human beings to belong and to be belonged. Such
collaborations can be a major contributor to the success of a company.

Until recently, solutions facilitating two-way communication including top-to-bottom

and bottom-to-top were given much important but nothing has been done to foster the
open communication and collaborations among employees. The way they interact
with each other determines the health of any organisation. A perfect balance of
respect, care and competitiveness should be prevailed in the organisation to keep them
actively engaged in their jobs. Mutual support and healthy relationships contribute
majorly to the organisation’s success.

Besides this, empowering employees by delegating them responsibilities and giving

them autonomy to take decisions regarding their job on their own can also increase
their productivity. It is worth going beyond the traditional management tools of
connectivity to help employees remain motivated and dedicated to perform their tasks.
To achieve this, the organisations can design effective employee engagement
strategies on the basis of the model explained below.

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1. Unify the Experiences: Conduct an employee engagement survey in order to
find the factors responsible for engaging and disengaging employees. Unify the
common experiences and problems and design employee engagement
strategies accordingly. Sharing of feedback in written is one way of
communicating the experiences and problems.
2. Evolving Through Open Communication: Open communication or face
to face communication in the form of discussions can really help in bringing
the various issues and identifying the main problems in the organisation. It is
very essential to establish a proper communication where everyone can put
their views and suggest a solution too. Most of the top organisations ask for
suggestions and new ideas from their employees and then offer rewards on
giving the best proposal.
3. Providing Proper Communication Channels: Some employees are
comfortable with open face-to-face communication styles whereas there are
some who want to give feedbacks and suggestions in written. Discovering the
best channel of communication and establishing a proper route to share
feedbacks and views plays a vital role.
4. Enabling Conversation Fluidity: Whichever way of communication you
choose, ensure that it has required fluidity. There should not be any hindrance
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 in the established method of communication. Not being able to provide
feedback or share problems and experiences can lead to frustration and distress
among employees. Therefore, ensure that there are no barriers to
communication. This can also result in disengaging the engaged employees.
5. Manage Communication: Managing communication is the last but the most
important step in the entire process. Managers should keep a check on the
entire process in order to ensure that it is not adversely affecting the health of
the organisation. They must make sure that it serves the desired purpose and is
not being used negatively.

10 Steps to Improve Employee Engagement

Engagement is particularly important in a hospital, where employee

performance largely drives overall performance on various
indicators — such as quality and satisfaction. In order to improve
engagement, Mr. Kelleher offers 10 steps — which are discussed in
more detail in his book — for hospitals and other organizations,

1. The link to high performance. Organizations must make

the business case for high performance and need to link
assessment of individual employee performance to
measurable and objectionable goals. Clear, consistent
communication should continually keep employees informed
about the organization's performance, and leaders should give
explanations for and plans to improve any underperformance.

"At Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, CEO Paul

Levy and his staff faced grave financial hurdles during the

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recession of 2009. Faced with a $20 million-dollar deficit that
might have forced 600 layoffs, Levy asked for alternative
recommendations from his employees. Suggestions from staff
included suspension of the hospital’s 401K match along with
several concessions on the part of senior staff: pay cuts
accompanied by a freeze on salary increases and bonuses.

Kelleher, B. (2010). Louder Than Words: 10 Practical Employee

Engagement Steps That Drive Results. Portland, Ore.: BLKB
publishing, pages 46-47.
By openly discussing the financial realities facing BIDMC and
seeking input, Paul was making a business case that the
hospital needed to return to high performance. "Eventually, the
hospital saw their $20 million dollar shortfall turn to a $10.3
million surplus, during which time they we able to reinstitute
pay increases," says Mr. Kelleher in his book.

2. It starts at the top. Embedding employee engagement and

high performance in an organization's culture require a high-
level champion.

"You shouldn't outsource your employee engagement or just

delegate it to HR or corporate communication," says Mr.
Kelleher. "The entire leadership team, including hospital
executives and key physicians need to practice the same
principles and values that they want the rest of the hospital to

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exhibit." Never underestimate the shadow leaders cast within
an organization.

3. Engage first-line leaders. Once high-level leaders are

committed, the organization needs to gain the buy in of line
leaders, such as department managers, and ensure they are
capable of overseeing the performance of their subordinates.
Mr. Kelleher says the importance of line leaders is sometimes
underestimated, but in actuality, one of the most significant
drivers of engagement is an employee's relationship with his
or her line manager. As a result, its critical hospitals have
engaged line managers with the skills to promote engagement
in others.

"[Hospitals may] assume that if you're a good nurse, you'll be a

good manager of nurses. Then we put someone in charge and
sit back and wonder why he or she is not successful," says Mr.
Kelleher. "They may have no training or perhaps they're better
suited just acting as an excellent care giver."

4. Communication. Mr. Kelleher calls communication the

cornerstone of engagement. "So much of an engaged culture is
driven by how leaders communicate with employees," he says.
Hospitals should promote open communication between
leaders and employees and should leverage both traditional
methods to achieve such as open-door policies and town hall
meetings as well as newer methods such as CEO blogs and
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other social media initiatives.

5. Individualize your engagement. Just as no two employees

are the same, neither are their engagement drivers. Some are
driven by personal achievement, some by recognition and
others by safety and security. Often these differences are
generational, so a hospital may consider training managers on
how motivators vary by generation. "Line managers need to
know the motivators of their employees and use those to drive
engagement," says Kelleher.

6. Create a motivational culture. While managers can

certainly take a number of steps (such as the ones outlined
here) to encourage motivated employees, Mr. Kelleher does
not believe it is the responsibility of managers to actually
motivate each employee. Instead, managers should focus on
creating an overall culture that encourages self-motivation.
Here are some questions to ask: Does the manager provide
opportunities to advance? Are employees' ideas and opinions
solicited? Are employees allowed to question the status quo?
Is there open, honest and frequent communication? Are
employees empowered to make decisions? Is there a culture
of recognition?

7. Create feedback mechanisms. Hospitals must ensure

employee feedback is actively sought and taken seriously. If

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employee opinions aren't valued, it can greatly reduce their
motivation to do "what's best for the company." Mr. Kelleher
cites employee engagement surveys as valuable feedback
mechanisms as well as 360-degree feedback programs that
are used to assess managers. Although Kelleher claims 360-
degree assessments are an important feedback tool, he
cautions that hospitals should conduct training before
implementing.

8. Reinforcement, rewards and consequences for

behaviours. In order to maintain engagement, hospitals must
demonstrate that high performance is rewarded and poor
performance has consequences. "Once you tolerate mediocre
performance, you give the impression to others
that underperformance is acceptable," Mr. Kelleher says.
"When you do this, you actually disengage your performers."

Mr. Keller provides a recent example of a company that

provided a 10 percent bonus to all employees, across the
board. While the move sounds good in theory, he argues it
rewards all performers equally, which actually undermines a
culture focused on improving performance. "An employee
who's busting his hump sees that the person not pulling his
weight got the same increase, so there's no motivation to
keep that high performer at the same level," he says. “And
there is no motivation for the underperformer to improve."

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9. Track and communicate progress and success. "We
assume that employees don't want to fail, so we have to link
failure or success to performance," says Mr. Kelleher. Creating
that link requires tracking progress through metrics and then
sharing progress openly with employees through various forms
of communication. Employees should always know what
metrics the hospital is using to assess performance and how
the organization is currently performing against those metrics.
For example, a hospital might share its rate of infections on a
regular basis as well as how it compares to other institutions
on this measure. Given that employees and their leaders share
a common goal (they both want to succeed), it is important for
all employees to understand the scorecard.

10. Hire and promote engaged employees for your culture.

"I tell some of my clients, 'you don't have an engagement
issue; what you have is a hiring issue,' says Mr. Kelleher. The
key to an engaged culture is hiring and retaining employees
that can thrive within your organization's culture of
performance. Mr. Kelleher recommends that hospitals focus on
identifying the shared behaviours and traits of the best
performers in the organization and then seek out job
applicants that share those qualities. "Skills and education are
always emphasized in the hiring process, but I would argue a
set of consistent behaviours and traits that align with the
organization are even more valuable in a hiring decision," he
says.

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How to keep employee happy and engaged

The following six engagement tactics, “The Six E’s of Engagement,” provide a
framework for different ways to spark connections with your audience. Engagement
is the best way to break through the noise and reach your goals.

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47 | P a g e
 figure 3.14
Attracting, retaining, and more importantly engaging talent is often one of the biggest
challenge’s businesses face today. As a business owner, these tasks may end up on your
endless to-do list.
Millennials are a growing workforce, a generation noted as being well-connected, digital
natives that typically thrive on collaborative, flexible, innovative work environments.

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By tailoring your business to match these needs, you could be well on your way to owning
the great business everyone wants to work for. And while it may seem daunting, creating an
optimal work environment is easier than you may think.
Attracting millennial talent might seem like a tough task, but if you take the time to adapt to
meet the needs of your workforce you can help decrease your turnover rate and increase
productivity for future and current employees. Here are a few tips.
Remain transparent and communicate often
A major component in jumpstarting a cultural or structural change in your business is to
remain transparent with employees. Harvard Business Review recently surveyed 1,700 U.S.
workers and found that while having a great manager and being a part of a positive
management culture is important to all employees, millennials place greater emphasis on
transparency. Communicating often with your employees is something that I emphasize with
my team at Farmers® --- it's important to making them feel valued and in the loop.
Offer clear paths for development and growth
I've found that millennials, among other generations, tend to think of their current roles as
stepping stones and growth opportunities. They want to work for a manager who will invest
in their personal development and give them a sense of purpose. If you can't offer employees
a clear path for career advancement and/or development opportunities, you are potentially
positioning yourself to lose talent to your competitors. Programs like employee resource
groups or talent share opportunities across departments can ensure that employees don't feel
pigeonholed in one specific role or job function.
Offer flexibility and recognition programs
Consider whether your business can break the traditional 9 to 5 mold by offering employees
some flexibility in their hours. While this isn't possible for all companies, investigate the
options that might work for your business. Also, look into recognition programs that would
allow you to reward employees for going above and beyond, both in terms of how they work
and in contributing to a positive environment. Rewarding the changes, you want to see in
your business will help you create an environment that is engaged and energized. When
employees feel valued, they are more likely to stick around, as well as recommend your
business to their friends and family.
Never stop innovating
Seventy-one percent of millennials reported themselves to be either "not engaged" or
"actively disengaged" at work, making them the least engaged generation, according to a

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study done by Gallup. Additionally, six in 10 millennials said that they are open to different
job opportunities, even if that means moving to another business. So how do you engage
people? At my organization, we have an innovation lab that employees can use for
brainstorming, collaboration activities and just as a general meeting space. You can include
different types of creative activities in your meetings or have brainstorming sessions outside
the office to help spur new ideas. By giving employees access to a range of tools and
technologies, you can help them think outside the box.
By seeking to create an innovative, transparent and flexible workplace, you are helping to set
your business up for success now and in the future. Thanks to a long career in the tech
industry, one thing that I know for certain is that change is inevitable. Build your business to
work for your employees, not the other way around, and you'll find that attracting and
retaining all employees, including millennials, comes a lot more easily.

STRATEGIES

Summarizing the points in the infographic.

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  You should have compelling positive vision.
 Provide right information at the right time.
 Hire right employees when you do.
 Keep a record of your efforts.
 Focus on continuous improvement.
 Encourage your team to work as one person.
 Celebrate each success of your team.

Chapter 4

Conclusion and recommendation

Conclusion

Employee engagement is attracting a great deal of interest from employers across

numerous sectors. In some respects, it is a very old aspiration – the desire by
employers to find ways to increase employee motivation and to win more
commitment to the job and the organisation. In some ways it is ‘new’ in that the
context within which engagement is being sought is different. One aspect of this
difference is the greater penalty to be paid if workers are less engaged than the
employees of competitors, given the state of international competition and the
raising of the bar on efficiency standards. A second aspect is that the whole nature
of the meaning of work and the ground rules for employment relations have shifted
and there is an open space concerning the character of the relationship to work and
to organisation which employers’ sense can be filled with more sophisticated
approaches.

But there is reason to worry about the lack of rigor that has, to date, often
characterised much work in employee engagement. If we continue to refer to
‘engagement’ without understanding the potential negative consequences, the core
requirements of success, and the processes through which it must be implemented,
and if we cannot agree even to a clear definition of what people are supposed to be
engaged in doing differently at work (the engaged ‘in what’ question), then
engagement may just be one more ‘HR thing’ that is only here for a short time. On a
positive note, there is now a wider array of measurement techniques with which to
assess trends in engagement and an associated array of approaches to effect some
change. Thus, aspiration can more feasibly be translated into action.

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Employment relations and employee engagement, began with a critical
consideration of employee engagement in the context of employment relations;
exploring the broader issues raised by both positive and negative conceptions of
experience at work. The concept of emotional labour was introduced as highlighting
the complex challenges of these issues in practice.

The course then considered the role of HRM in delivering effective employee
engagement practices and policies as part of organisational-level employment
relations processes. This was further explored through the case study of the New
Zealand post office. We also explored specifically the role of trust before moving to
examine the perceived relevance of employee engagement in different cultural
contexts as well as the ways to maintain engagement during times of organisational
change.

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Recommendation

 It’s not an event or something that happens when the engagement survey is
completed. The survey is a measure and snapshot of attitudes at the time.
Engagement is something that both individuals and leaders need to think about on a
daily basis. It needs to become a way of working. It’s about the HOW as much as it’s
about the WHAT.
 It’s not something that sits on your to-do list. Engagement is achieved through the
thinking and actions of your team, which in turn lead to results.
 Engagement is not a task that you do on a Tuesday between 3.00pm and
4.00pm. It acts as an enabler for your entire to-do list as a way of getting things done
faster, effectively and more innovatively.
 It’s not an HR buzz word. It’s a real catalyst for better business results! It may have
risen to the top of organisational priority lists in the recent decade but it’s been
around for years.
 It’s not a set of actions that only remove the ‘dis-satisfiers’ in an organisation –
the broken-down photocopier, the shortage of tea bags, outdated technology, payroll
errors for example. These are things that cause annoyance and frustration for people
and whilst it’s important to address these ‘dis-satisfiers’, this only tackles peoples
‘away from’ motivation by removing sources of ‘pain’. As a balance there also needs
to be a set of actions that address peoples ‘towards’ motivation. These are the
satisfiers that lead to true engagement, the things that cause people to want to come to
work, do a great job and stay with you.
 It’s not something that only a few people are responsible for. Setting up an action
team or a focus group can be a good idea to help clear obstacles, measure progress
and implement some quick wins off the back of the survey. However, the risk with
this approach is that it’s easy for the other 99.5% of the population to sit back and
wait for someone else to improve engagement.

I believe that to increase employee engagement, everyone can take a hard look at their own
levels of engagement, take personal responsibility for making it better. One way to take
responsibility is to have positive relationships with others at work to help you to succeed on

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both an individual and business level. An organisation that fosters positive relationships,
good team working and good atmosphere is likely to be more effective and profitable, plus
have a lower staff turnover and lower absenteeism. One of the key drivers of employee
engagement is relationships at work. So here are 10 practical tips to help you involve others
to improve the levels of engagement in your organisation:

1. Start with the reasons. Whenever you start a task or a new goal ask yourself the
question; ‘What might be the possible reasons to involve someone in this activity?’
This will ensure you then invite a diverse range of people to help you.

2. Identify who in your organisation could give you a fresh eyes perspective. Also
find out who at the same time would really relish the opportunity to be asked to
contribute ideas. It’s not always the expert who has all the solutions. Plus, the person
with the fresh eyes may be motivated by being asked to contribute ideas and opinions.

3. Involve your biggest critics and cynics. They might be the people who feel that
their ideas and opinions have not been valued in the past. Involving them will start to
reverse that view and in return you will find an engaged employee with ideas they
enjoy contributing.

4. Take inspiration from unlikely places! Looking for more ideas about how to
increase employee engagement and feel like you have exhausted the thinking in your
organisation? Think creatively about who you could involve. For example: your
neighbour; what does their organisation do to increase employee engagement? Your
partner; what happens in their organisation? When you are supermarket shopping;
look more closely for sign of employee engagement activity. When you visit a
supplier; ask what they do. The possibilities to learn are endless if daily you see
everyone around you in a different way.

5. Ask for feedback for yourself from a range of sources. Open up your blind spots.
What might you learn about what you could possibly change about yourself, to not
only increase your own engagement but to increase the positive impact you have on
others.

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6. Identify your people with the great attitude. Typically, an organisation has 10% of
its people that are go-getters and have helpful thoughts the majority of the time, 80%
of staff generally perform well and come to work to do their job, and then there are
the bottom 10% who do not care. They do not want to be there and generally have a
high number of hindering thoughts about the Organisation. Identify your people with
the great attitude and get them involved in making a difference that can help achieve
your engagement goals.

7. Reach out in times of need. Over the course of life, we all experience difficult times,
whether it’s sickness, the death of a loved one, divorce or some other circumstance.
Don’t be indifferent; show you care. Send a card, a note, flowers, or - my favourite -
cartons of ice cream shipped in dry ice (I kid you not). Remember that a life not lived
for others is a life not lived.

8. Reflect on your relationships at work. What is the quality of these relationships?

Consider how you could possibly improve these relationships.

9. Involve people in the ‘nice’ jobs as well as the ‘nasty’ jobs. Do you always
delegate the routine and less stretching jobs? Think about how could share some of
the excitement attached to other pieces of work. Remember ‘excitement’ and ‘boring’
are subjective words. What may be exciting for you could be very boring for someone
else! Find out what ticks the excitement boxes for them.

10. Make it okay to ask for help by giving yourself and others permission to do
this. Many people walk round with a belief in their heads that asking for help is
somehow not okay. Asking for help will not only make others feel more involved but
it could also save time and money.

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Bibliography

1. https://www.entrepreneur.com/topic/employee-engagement
2. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-
expert-views/Documents/Employee-Engagement-Commitment.pdf
3. https://www.managementstudyguide.com/understanding-employee-
engagement.htm
4. https://www.analyticsinhr.com/blog/employee-engagement-analytics/
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK299318/
6. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/employment-relations-
and-employee-engagement/content-section-5

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