Employee engagement, the buzz word today

"Employees are our most valuable asset". This has become a hacked statement that appears in almost all the corporate reports. It is easier said than done. Not all employees are assets. Some are liabilities for sure. Yet, one thing is quite clear. Engaged employees achieve excellent results.

Employee engagement has become a buzz word in management circles, mainly due to its attractiveness as a tool in getting work done. What do we mean by employee engagement? Interestingly, it means different things to different people.

According to research by Macey and Schneider, the meaning of employee engagement is ambiguous among academic researchers and practitioners. It captures the essence of employees' head, hands and heart involvement in work.

It refers to employee's psychological state (e.g. one's identification with the organisation), his or her disposition (e.g. one's positive feeling towards the organisation) and performance (e.g. one's level of discretionary effort).

Umbrella term

In brief, it captures affective (feeling), cognitive (thinking) and behavioural (acting) dimensions of an employee. There are overlapping aspects captured in the concept of employee engagement such as psychological contract (unwritten expectations concerning the relationship between an employee and an employer) and commitment (identification and involvement with an organisation).

Hence, it can be treated as an umbrella term encompassing many related concepts. It deals with specific human behaviour that were in existence for a long time, with a renewed focus. In essence, as some critics call it, employee engagement can also be perceived as 'old wine in new bottles'.

Global trends

If it is the case, one may ask why should we focus on it. Global trends reveal the timely need for it and vital deeds associated with it. What could be the status of employee engagement in the global arena?

This has been one of the most surveyed managerial aspects in the recent past. The Workforce Survey for 2010 done by Towers Watson is one such instance, where interesting patterns have emerged.

It pinpoints a watershed moment in the evolution of employment relationships around the world. From global recession and financial defaults to changes in business models and strategic priorities, employers and employees are being forced to revisit some fundamental assumptions about how they deal with one another.

Their study, fielded with over 20,000 employees in 22 countries, reveals a recession-battered workforce - one with lower expectations, increased anxiety and new priorities. Such a scenario calls for urgent strengthening of employee engagement.

In another front, the Gallup Management Journal published a semi-annual Employment Engagement Index. The most recent results pertaining to USA indicate that:

* Only 29 percent of employees are actively engaged in their jobs. These employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. People who are actively engaged help move the organisation forward.

* Fifty-four percent of employees are not engaged. These employees have essentially 'checked out', sleepwalking through their workday and putting time, but not passion, into their work.

* Seventeen percent of employees are actively disengaged. These employees are busy acting out their unhappiness, undermining what their engaged co-workers try to accomplish.

Rivenbark, another researcher in the field of human behaviour, said that the finding of some of these surveys have to be taken with a pinch of salt, as the employee engagement surveys are only as good as the questions they are built on.

These contain two types of engagement questions. One type covers 'core engagement issues' such as 'do I have what I need to do my job?'. The other covers 'enriching engagement issues' such as 'do you believe in the mission of the organisation?'.

As Federman, also a behaviourist, observed, while broad questions about mission are important, the core issues of day-to-day resources are vital to employee engagement. "If I don't have a computer to do my work," Federman opines, "I'm not thinking about the mission of the organisation."

Trend

Vance, a researcher in organisational behaviour, outlines ten ways of measuring employee engagement, in a more straight forward manner. These are - 1. Pride in employer. 2. Satisfaction with employer. 3. Job satisfaction. 4. Opportunity to perform well at challenging work. 5. Recognition and positive feedback for one's contributions. 6. Personal support from one's supervisor. 7. Effort above and beyond the minimum. 8. Understanding the link between one's job and the organisation's mission. 9. Prospects for future growth with one's employer. 10. Intention to stay with one's employer.

Irrespective of the constraints associated with the surveys, the general trend is a clear indication of how engaged employees are. There is ample evidence to demonstrate how employee engagement has acted as a driver for organisational success.

What are the success stories available across the globe on engaging employees for enhanced performance? A lot can be cited not only globally but locally as well. How can we improve employee engagement?

There are tested and proven techniques. Seijts and Crim, two researchers of organisational behaviour offer interesting insights through what they termed as 'ten Cs for employee engagement'.

Essentially, they deal with what corporate leaders should do to strengthen employee engagement.

The key focus in each C can be further expanded into possible initiatives. Let's discuss the details with local realities in mind.

Careers

1. Connect Leaders must show that they value employees. This can be done by maintaining open channels so that employees can approach their superiors to discuss matters in a mutually beneficial manner. Disconnect leads to disengagement, with dire consequences.

2. Career Leaders should provide challenging and meaningful work with opportunities for career advancement.

They should show employees the way forward in terms of career advancement and options, motivating them to perform in exceeding expectations. As one leading multinational claimed, "we do not offer jobs, but careers", the careers that brand them for life.

3. Clarity Leaders must communicate a clear vision. It should be shared and supported.

This includes building an awareness on vision, mission and strategic priorities among the employees, in ensuring that they are clear about why they are doing what they do.

It reminds me of the famous story of how President Kennedy went to NASA complex, during the peak of moon mission in the late sixties.

He saw a minor worker sweeping the floor and had asked her as to what she was doing. Her response was stunning. "I am helping to send a man to the moon". This is indeed a classic case of connecting to the organisation vision with clarity.

4. Convey Leaders should clarify their expectations about employees and provide feedback on their functioning in the organisation. This involves ensuring proper conduct of the performance appraisals by training the managers as to how to give constructive feedback objectively.

As the communication gurus advocate, what matters more is how you say than what you say.

5. Congratulate Leaders give recognition to others. Exceptional leaders do so a lot.

Appreciating the good performance of employees by reward and recognition, in a timely fashion is essential.

Gone are the days of 'employee of the year' or 'employee of the quarter' or even 'employee of the month'. What matters is giving due recognition to the 'employee of the moment'.

6. Contribute Leaders should make sure that employees know how their contribution matters.

This can be done by introducing a transparent mechanism of objective setting and then connecting individual objectives to broad organisational objectives. Tested and proven mechanisms such as Balanced Scorecard can be handy in this respect.

7. Control Leaders need to set the boundaries with the buy-in of the Employees.

This involves setting the boundaries of activities with proper systems in place with the involvement of employees, so that they are a part of the decision-making process.

Modern day control is a way of ensuring consistency through conformance, as opposed to coercive courses of action.

8. Collaborate Great Leaders are team builders. They create an environment that fosters trust and collaboration.

By doing so, they ensure that teamwork is given due prominence with associated mechanisms such as team-based rewards to strengthen it.

9. Credibility Leaders should strive to maintain organisational reputation and demonstrate high ethical standards. They should demonstrate being ethical in decision making, so that employees will strengthen their admiration of the organisation. Credibility can be compared to a glass tumbler. Once it is cracked, it is irreparable.

10. Confidence Good leaders help create confidence in a company by being exemplars of high standards.

It involves practicing' walk the talk' at all levels so that employees have better trust and confidence on their superiors. That has far reaching consequences, including better relationships and higher results.

The ten Cs should be appropriately blended with organisational priorities, with sound HR practices in place. Once all Cs are taken seriously and put into place, the organisation is well geared to move forward on the path to progress.

One cautionary remark however, is about having a broader perspective towards work. Employee engagement should by no means confine the employees to the workplace, depriving them of their family and social obligations.

In research literature, higher job security, increased social support and the existence of family-friendly policies have been shown to reduce the incidence of work-family conflict.

While striving for employee engagement, ensuring a proper balance of other aspects needs careful consideration.

The best way of summing up the ten Cs is to link all of them to one 'big C'. CARE. Employee-care is the surest way to ensure customer-care.

The writer is the Acting Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM)