An organization equipped with a highly engaged
workforce will have satisfied employees highly committed to their work,
resulting in higher overall productivity and lower employee turnover.
Therefore, laying down correct practices and frameworks to enable employee
engagement is an area of high focus for (Vance, 2006). Kompaso and
Sridevi (2010) highlights 10 areas of focus when defining a platform for
creating a highly engaged workforce . They are listed as below,
- Well streamlined recruiting and on-boarding process
- Top down commitment from top leadership to the ground level workforce
- Effective communication
- Allowing right level of freedom to work
- Facilitation of required resources to get the job done
- Incentives
- Cooperate culture that promotes engagement
- Fair reconditions
- Effective feedback loop
- Training and development
The below video by ADP UK(2016) speaks of how best to implement required practices and frameworks in an origination achieving improved employee engagement. It emphasizes the need for empowerment, Analytics, Faire rewards, Continuous development, Organizational brand and usage of digital platforms & patterns in establishing a sustainable framework to improve employee engagement.
Video
2
Driving Employee Engagement and
Performance
Source:
(ADP UK, 2016)
Applying the above factors to the organization
which I work which is leading Information Technology services organization,
below is a self-evaluation of how my own organization is focused on having
correct practices in place to build a highly engaged workforce.
Recruiting and On-boarding Process
Requirement is not only focused on finding
resources with the correct skillset but also focused on how a candidate, who
would fit our organization’s values system. Each new recruitment would go
through an 8 weeks on-boarding program which acts as a launchpad for any
recruits to blend into the organization culture, its values and also aligning
them to the organization's goals.
Top-down Commitment
On the very first day of an employee, he/she
would get a welcome email from the company CEO himself, welcoming the recruit
to the company and a summary of the organization's goals, values and
culture. This provides the employee a refreshing start with a personal touch
with the confidence that top to bottom the entire organization is streamlined
to one goal, one value system, and one culture.
Communication Platform
Digitized platforms are used to enable
next-generation workforces to effectively communicate with each other across
all layers of the organization. These platforms will include periodic
organizational updates, an in-house social media platform for employees to
express themselves, Usage of artificial intelligence-based chatbots to provide
on the spot assistance and continuous mail communications.
People, Processors and Tools
An in-house platform has been built around 3
pillars in the form of People, Processors, and Tools which provide employees
the required resources to get the job done. A delivery process framework has
been established by standardizing work tasks. Also, various tools have been
used as automated accelerators to enable employees to work fast and focus on
value-added tasks than repeating the same mounding tasks.
Fair Recognition & Incentives
Dashboards with various key performance
indicators (KPI) have been used to measure effective work done by employees in
terms of productivity, quality, and engagement. Leaderboards and gamification
techniques have been used with automated scoring systems to stack rank
employees with each-other. This has not only provided transparency but also
have provided actionable sights to employees to improve, creating a culture of
healthy competition among each other. All the incentives and privileges are
provided based on the above scoring system.
Feedback Loop
There are two main feedback cycles, managers
providing their perspective on how his subordinates have performed in the job
role and employees providing feedback on their managers on how manages have
fulfilled effectively managing them. All the feedback is validated based on
tangible outcomes via an automated verification engine against each set objectives.
This 360-degree cycles of feedback has ensured that correct level of
transparency and constructive feedback is provided on fair basis.
Training and Development
Training and Development plays a crucial part
in the organizational echo system making sure that the employees have the right
level of skills in a continuously changing technology-based domain. There are
various training programs organized targeting both the technical and soft
skills of an employee. The defined framework clearly states what skills and
certifications a given employee need a process to function in the currently
assigned role, as well as what skills and certifications you need to gain to
get promoted to the next level.
Organizational Culture
The organization focus on a value system of
four pillars, in the form of Passion, Innovation, Respect and Leadership. This
boils the DNA of each employee, brining all the workforce in to the same
culture and the value system.
References
ADP UK (2016). Driving Employee Engagement and
Performance. [video] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uc7XWV5AUc&t=1s [Accessed 13 Aug. 2019].
Kompaso, S. and Sridevi, M. (2010). Employee Engagement: The
Key to Improving Performance. International Journal of Business and Management, [online]
5(12), pp.89-94. Available at:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0ca0/6a76e3f030dc2b58294498300c121fa4b112.pdf
[Accessed 7 Aug. 2019].
Vance,
R.J. (2006). Employee engagement and commitment: A guide to
understanding, measuring, and increasing
engagement
in your organisation. Alexandria, VA: The SHRM Foundation.
24 Comments
I agree with as the way you have listed ten areas to create highly engaged employees, because they will perform better as self motivated , builds desire, commitment and arrangement with organisation's goals. The best on-boarding programs are well planned and efficient, and have a long-term impact on employee retention.
ReplyDeleteMake sense , The video by ADP UK (2016) nicely summarize the effect of actions taken to create a platform that fully enable employee engagement.
DeleteI agree with above and to add further, Development Dimensions International (2005), states must do five things to create a highly engaged workforce. They are; Align efforts with strategy, Empower, Promote and encourage teamwork and collaboration, Help people grow and develop, Provide support and recognition where appropriate.
ReplyDeleteYes agreed, however as per Greenberg & Baron (2003) and many other researchers my opinion is that the dimensions you have listed target the higher levels of employee motivation , while we still need some additional dimensions to focus on the lower levels.
DeleteHi Kanchana,
ReplyDeleteIn recent research suggests that the design of people’s jobs is one of the most significant factors influencing engagement levels & jobs which offer such experiences as variety, challenge, and end-to-end responsibility to facilitate high levels of engagement (Shantz et al., 2013). Thus, organisations should be very careful in designing job task of each employees. “Job design” is identified as a crucial factor in work engagement and Innovative Work Behavior (Spiegelaere et al., 2015)
Fully agreed and a valid point. I have missed the aspect of JOB design and its impact on employee engagement. Thanks for pointing it out.
DeleteEmployees are lending their best performance to obtain institutional incentives. Bonuses or performance increments are forms of the feedback given to the quality workers by management or bosses, to encourage them to achieve consistently best performance (Afroz, 2018). In today's world context most of the successful companies wisely use monetary incentives to improve employee engagement.
ReplyDeleteYes, however monetary incentives are more attractive to millennials and younger workers, who are in search of “instant gratification” rather than their older counterparts who place greater value on loyalty. Thus, studies such as those conducted by Butler, Brennan-Ing, Wardamasky, & Ashley (2014) highlights the importance of considering demographic factors such as age, when determining incentives to increase employee engagement.
DeleteI agree with all the above points as they are all valid. Further, Radda, Majidadi and Akanno (2015) explains that, Employee engagement was correlated with positive outcomes in the company. Every company seeks to retain its employee, to frown at high turnover of employees, and to improve positive organizational performance. However, “digital‟ workplace poses great challenges to management. The first challenge is to consider current practices that need a switch. Secondly, determine how new skills can be evaluated to improve existing behaviors and thirdly establish and inculcate those skills to encourage leadership for today and the next generation.
ReplyDeleteYes, the digital workplace is a challenge that needs to be well managed. For example, the study by Burch et al. (2015) highlights the disconnect employees feel when roles and responsibilities associated with their job change or evolve due to the introduction of new technology and systems to the organization.
DeleteI agreed the above main points but different researcher mentioned this five factors. Melissa Donald, General Manager of Talent & Diversity at Programmed,highlights five aspects of engagement and what influences them.five factors are Connectivity, Recognition ,Care and empathy, Visible leadership and Manage change and performance well.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to recognize the role an organization's leadership plays in connecting all these factors to improve employee engagement. Osborne and Hammoud (2017)'s study details this at length, highlighting important traits such as empathy and respect which must be practiced by leaders enabling good employee engagement strategies.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe top-down commitment is an important tool which is vital in employee engagement. Bauer (2010) emphasise the fact that welcoming a new employee the 'right way' is the key to an engaged employee. His first day at work will mold a big portion of his image towards the organization, which the organization will be expecting to see in the happier side
ReplyDeleteYes, in fact, Wynhurst Group (2007) discovered that newly hired employees are 58% more likely to still be at the company three years later if they had completed a proper structured onboarding process.
DeleteSure i agreed & if i add something more ,When creating a highly engaged workforce, development opportunities make work meaningful to the employees. since enhancing the growth and for fulfilling personal objectives of the employees (Penna, 2007).
ReplyDeleteYes. It’s possible. It boils down to answering the questions "Where do you see yourself in 5 years? How can we help you get there?". BlessingWhite (2006) study has found that almost 60% of the surveyed employees sought development opportunities to grow forward to remain satisfied in their jobs.
DeleteCoroebus is designed to keep employees active, energetic, creative and immersive state of mind. It is the best employee engagement platforms, which utilize employees abilities in the most effecient way and collaborate with a teammate to get the best collective result.
ReplyDeleteEmployee gamification platform
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