Drivers of Employee Engagement.

Drivers of Employee Engagement. 

 

Employee Engagement has transcended from being the latest business buzzword to being recognized by organizations as a tool that positively influences business performance. This linkage between organization performance and employee engagement was researched by ISR in 2006 by means of world-wide survey.

The ISR study reveals that companies with high engagement scores saw an increase of more than 25% in EPS (Earnings per Share), while companies with low engagement scores saw a decrease of 11% in EPS. The results confirm the belief of many that engagement positively influences business performance.

Hence, it is vital for companies to understand what “causes” employee engagement if they want to influence the “effect” i.e. Employee Engagement. By understanding these drivers and leveraging them, organizations can try and manage engagement levels of their employees.

So what drives employee engagement? Several theories have been propounded that focus on the rational and emotional aspects of engagement. Some even focus on the tangible and intangible aspects of engagement. Mercer’s ‘What’s Working’ studies reveal that engagement drivers differ by geography, by industry and even by time.

While there is no one panacea for leveraging employee engagement, there are some broad drivers which are presented below:

1. Work/Job Role - Employees must see a link between their role and the larger organization goal. Understanding this linkage provides an intrinsic motivation and increased engagement. Most employees will come to work on time without possessing a sense of belonging and will try and complete assigned tasks even without possessing that sense achievement on completion of task. However, an employee that sees a clear linkage on how his/her role contributes to the organization will go the extra mile and help create organization wealth.

2. Work Environment/Organization Culture - The bond between an employee and the organization is cemented when the employee identifies with the culture of the organization. An employee is engaged and motivated to stretch beyond the call of duty if he/she finds the work environment enabling and supportive.

3. Rewards and Recognition - The bottom line is that people work to earn which helps fulfil ambitions. Equitable pay coupled with rewards and recognition programs enhances motivation and leads to commitment and engagement.

4. Learning and Training Oppurtunities - As Lawyer (2006) put it - “People Enjoy Learning.” This is especially true in the case of today’s millennial workforce that constantly looks at enhancing knowledge and skill. Skill and Knowledge enhancement is not just important for the employees but providing a learning culture is essential for organizations to remain relevant in the constantly changing business landscape.

5. Performance Management - An effective performance management system contributes positively to employee engagement. Goal setting lies at the root of any performance management system. Clearly articulated goals, a fair and just means to judge performance and timely, rational feedback are critical elements in creating a bond between the employee and his/her organization.

6. Leadership - It is a well recorded fact that most resignations happen because the employee is not satisfied with his/her ‘boss.’ An organization that spends time and effort in grooming leaders who are aligned to its goals, culture and people invests well. New age industries have a young and dynamic workforce that looks for autonomy in decision making, increased responsibility and accountabilities.

7. Other Factors - Clear and open communication, quality of interaction with peers, collaboration, organization policy, organization performance are all contributing factors to employee engagement.

All of us have heard the story of 3 brick-layers who were working side by side when a passer-by asked them what they were doing.

The first said - “I am laying bricks”

The second said - “I am feeding my family”

The third said - “I am building a cathedral”

This simple story conveys the essence of an engaged employee. The last brick-layer identified his job with the larger goal and hence was able to bring that something extra that served as an inspiration to many.

Most of the employees will land up for work and try and fulfil their role requirements irrespective of their perception of the organization, its policy, pay etc. This is because the fundamental driver for most of us is (1) to utilize our time gainfully and (2) to earn a livelihood. But this does not help organizations in the long term. So, what should organizations do? How can they build an engaged workforce that will help create long term competitiveness?

Many of us become prescriptive when trying to implement employee engagement initiatives without understanding that the first step towards creating an engaged workforce is to help employees see a clear linkage between their job role and organization goal.

The following are some measures that organizations can take w.r.t (with respect to) the “job/role of employee” that will help improve engagement.

1. Clear Role Definition - Engagement begins even before the employee joins work. Carving out a clear job description will actively engage a potential hire and help convert him/her into an enthusiastic joiner and then engaged employee.

2. Paint the Larger Picture - During the peak of hiring activity, my team and I were given a tough time about new joiner renege and attrition of existing employees. Most of the time, we oscillated between bearing the brunt and/or retaliating by throwing our hands up, buying time or throwing industry data points as reference but never did we understand the true impact till one of the business leads sat us down and connected the dots for us and articulated the $(dollar) impact of each of our activity. That day, we graduated to truly becoming business partners.

3. Job Rotation - The grass on the other side is always greener. While the revenue generating/client facing entities believe that the support staff (like admin, human resources, finance) has a cushy job, the support staff often complains of a vendor like treatment at the hands of the former. An employee can contribute his best if he/she can see how his/her role ties in with the larger organization goals or explore linkages of his/her role with other teams in the organization. For this purpose, tools such as job-rotation, multi team projects, best practice sharing by teams can be leveraged effectively by organizations. Such interactions help create an informal and seamless source of information across teams which helps employees to perform effectively and efficiently.

4. Goal Setting - A realistic and time bound goal that clearly mentions linkage to the organization goal is an important aspect in building an engaged workforce. This will be dealt with in greater depth in the following chapter which deals with Performance Management as a driver of engagement.

5. Job Loading - Organizations can effectively use both ‘vertical-loading’ i.e. job enrichment and ‘horizontal-loading’ i.e. job enlargement to motivate employees. Both these approaches allow an employee to explore and use their strengths and also beat work monotony. These also help skill development and enhancement which in turn helps employee output, team output and eventually organization output.

In conclusion, engaged employees create quality output not because they have to or are forced to but because they want to, because they see a clear linkage between their work and the organization vision and results.

References

Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 33.

Macey, W. H., (2006). Toward a definition of engagement. Paper presented at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Nevile Wadia Institute of Management Studies and Research (2019)

Robinson, D. Perryman S. and Hayday, S. (2004). The Drivers of Employee Engagement.

Rupa and Sivasubraniam, (2017). Empirical Study on Employee Engagement.

Saks, A.M. (2006). Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement. Journal of Managerial Psychology.

Zhang, T. (2010). The relationship between perceived leadership styles and employee engagement.