Factors affecting employee engagement; Effective Communication and feedback
Effective Communication and feedback
Effective communication plays a significant role in employee engagement (Osborne et al, 2017). A two-way communication between the employer and employee is important (IQN, 2017). Employer should clearly communicate their expectations, organizational goals and targets to their employees and employees in return should be given a chance to report their grievances and concerns. This employee voice to be heard by the management and this makes the organization “an employer of choice” (Armstrong, 2010). Organizations should look for leaders that can both communicate the organization’s vision and secure employees’ support in achieving organizational goals (Osborne et al, 2017) and employees to be given a chance to open up without any repercussions. The best way to gain employee views are the anonymous surveys in which people feel completely safe to speak their minds. Its proven that majority of people open up, and ideas come out at informal meetings or gatherings (Kompaso & Sridevi, 2010)
Feedback is a great way of creating a learning environment, when feedback is extended by a genuine leader who truly cares about employees. The time the employees realize the leader truly cares about them, they starts respecting the leader and will listen and obey. Further, will be ready to hear any feedback extended since staff realizes the intention is for their own good and the success of the organization (Cook, 2015). Therefore, managers should use every opportunity for gathering feedback without waiting for the annual appraisal (Walker, 2012). Management needs to create a feedback culture and the leaders to invite feedback from others on their performance, their behaviour and its impact on others(Cook, 2015). As per MacLeod and Clarke (2009) Tesco Chief Executive Terry Leahy has recorded his reaction when he realized that the company knew more about its customers than it did about its employees, and laid foundation to learn about their employee’s strengths and needs which motivated staff to give their best to the organization.
List of References
Armstrong, M (2010) Armstrong's Essential Human Resource Practice: A Guide to People Management
Cook, S.(2015) Training Journal. Sarah Cook looks at the role in people developers have in improving employee engagement. https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/feature/leading-engagement. (Accessed online on 07/12/2018).
Employee Engagement
Strategy – Short Film accessed on
line on 02/11/2019 by Kevin Kruse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNr4tE74xUE
IQN, ( 2017) Diploma in Human Resource Management Course Book by International Qualifications Network
Kompaso, S. M.&Sridevi, M. S.(2010) (Accessed online on 08/12/2018) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49586552_Employee_Engagement_The_Key_to_Improving_Performance.
MacLeod, D and Clarke, N (2009) Engaging for success: Enhancing performance through employee engagement, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, London.
Walker, S (2012) Employee Enagagement & Communication Research- Measurement Stratergy & Action.
In work groups that employees are highly engaged, have better performance and retention due to these incidents it is to examine engagement works best with individually or working groups or both ? (Endres & Smoak, 2008).
ReplyDeleteHewitt Associates statement on engagement:
DeleteEngagement is the state of emotional and intellectual commitment to an organization or group producing behavior that will help fulfill an organization's promises to customers - and, in so doing, improve business results. Engaged employees:
*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 behaviors that contribute to business success. (Vance, 2016)
Hi Lakshmi,
ReplyDeleteOther than what you have implied, another construct that impacts employee engagement is leadership. According to Yukl et al., (2009), participative leader behavior increases the positive valence of work for subordinates who require more independence, while directive leader behavior is thought to be especially effective with achievement focused employees, because the leader will clarify objectives and guide their subordinates accordingly (Malik, 2013). Zhu et al. (2009) revealed that a transformational leadership style is linked with engagement and the development of dynamic, visionary and creative employees. Leaders demonstrating high levels of engagement encourage employees to be innovative and move the organization onward, as engagement impacts the cognitive and emotional aspects of the employees (Kular et al., 2008).
In addition to what you have mentioned above, Transformational leaders encourage employees to go beyond their own self-interests and self-realization. The leaders of this type improve the sensitivity of the subordinates about the issues of consequence, growth, self actualization and ideals. They show “superior leadership performance” as they are able to motivate the subordinates to go beyond their individual self-interest, which is engagement (Mansor et al., 2017)
DeleteHi, In addition: Engagement can affect employees’ attitudes, absence and turnover levels and
ReplyDeletevarious studies have demonstrated links with productivity, increasingly pointing
to a high correlation with individual, group and organisational performance, a
success measured through the quality of customer experience and customer
loyalty (Hemsley Fraser, 2008, cited in The HR Director, 2008; The Conference
Board, 2006). Organisations with higher engagement levels tend to have lower
employee turnover, higher productivity, higher total shareholder returns and
better financial performance (Baumruk, 2006)
For example: The U.S. Department of Labor (2015) identified employee engagement as a challenge, with a negative percentage of 35% or higher for organizations. Therefore, organizational leaders are rapidly finding ways to engage employees for long-term employment. Engaged employees are noted to having lower turnover rates and higher retention. Thirty percent of U.S. employees are engaged at work, and a staggeringly low 13% worldwide were engage. In addition, within the past 12 years, these percentages have changed minimally, meaning that worldwide, a high number of employees fail to develop and contribute at work (Osborne & Hammoud, 2017)
Delete"I agreed with you that it is important to keep a positive employment relationship with management and employees. Researchers show that keeping up strong relationships with others create satisfied and motivated employees in the company and they try in every possible ways to achieve the company goals. Also they feel positive and confidence to stay in the company (Civil Services, 2008).
ReplyDelete"
To add to your comments, MacLeod and Clarke (2009) pointed out that engagement is a two-way process: ‘organizations must work to engage the employee, who in turn has a choice about the level of engagement to offer the employer. Each reinforces the other.’ They also noted that ‘Engagement is about establishing mutual respect in the workplace for what people can do and be.’
Delete"To be able to do anything about engagement it is necessary to understand the factors that affect this – its antecedents and drivers. Crawford et al (2013:59–62) listed the following drivers:
ReplyDelete●● Job challenge
●● Autonomy
●● Variety
●● Feedback
●● Fit
●● Opportunities for development
●● Rewards and recognition"
Hi Nalin, Employee engagement should Start from the top management: Employee engagement requires authority responsibility through building up clear mission, vision and qualities. Unless the general population at the top have faith in it, own it, pass it down to chiefs and representatives, and improve their authority, worker engagement will never be more than only a "corporate prevailing fashion" or "another HR thing"(Tripathi & Sharma, 2016)
DeleteFurther, it is not required to have lengthy HR policies to control the behaviour of the employee as they are emotionally attached to produce the maximum energy for the organisation (Reck, 2016).
ReplyDeleteOne study (Harter et al., 2002) found that both employee satisfaction and engagement have a direct relationship to business outcomes. Their research involved 36 organisations, from a variety of public and private sector areas, and sought to examine the relationship between employee satisfaction, engagement and business unit outcomes. These included
Deletecustomer satisfaction, productivity, profit, employee turnover, and workplace accidents.
More over to what you have explained here, Tredgold, (2018) illustrate five steps that drives employee engagement as Create sense of purpose, Employee involvement, Not over complicated things, Empowerment and Recognition. Though these factors drive engagement, Motivation plays a major role in employee engagement (Comaford, 2018). Engaged employees results in sustainable competitive advantage (Pandey, 2013)
ReplyDeleteYes agreed. For a organisation employee engagement can improve performance and productivity, release innovation and creativity, lead to high levels of customer service, facilitate the management of change, increase retention levels and boost interest in employee development. It is also a valuable source of competitive advantage (Charted Management Institute, 2015)
Delete