Plan for Employee Engagement - Research Paper Example

Introduction Generally, companies pay their entire attention to building good products or offering good services to their s in order to increase customer satisfaction. While they recognize that the employees are the core of their business, they tend to believe that if their customers are happy, the employees would automatically be happy. However, it is not the case. Most organizations do just enough to prevent employees from leaving the organization. In response, the employees do just enough to prevent being fired. This vicious circle leads to a fall in the productivity and profitability of an organization. In addition, there are problems of attrition and hiring & severance costs (LaMalfa, 2007). Hence, it becomes imperative for the top executives of a firm to make plans and take steps for employee engagement and motivation. As a president of my company, I would make a systematic plan for employee engagement and motivation. The same is discussed here. 2. Recognizing the need and meaning of employee engagement The first step in an employee engagement plan is to recognize its real meaning and need. It has been found through research that engaged employees are those who are emotionally connected to the organization’s business. This emotional connect is above pay scale, incentives, benefits or training. Engaged employees are more enthusiastic, productive and happy in their work. The board of directors and the top executives need to understand that engaged employees lead to significant cost savings in recruitment and training and also enable to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. They allow flexibility in business due to their capability to acquire new skills and adapt to new businesses. The managers also need to realize that like other factors employee engagement can be planned and managed. 3. Measuring employee engagement The next and most important step in the employee engagement plan is to measure the current level of engagement so that the shortcomings can be identified. The best way to measure employee engagement is to use an employee engagement survey. The survey should cover a wide range of questions on various topics such as level of job satisfaction, probability of changing job, view on company’s processes & operations, compensation & benefits, training facilities, recommendation of the organization as a place to work, recommendation of company’s products or services to friends and productivity (LaMalfa, 2007). The survey must follow a 5 point or 7 point Likert scale so that the qualitative responses can be converted into quantitative data for analysis. In addition to the questions, the comments of the employees can be noted separately so that different perspectives which can’t be revealed by data can be known. On the questions, advanced data analysis techniques such as regression, factor analysis, cluster analysis and hypothesis testing would be used to generate useful insights. To measure the level of employee engagement, I would also contemplate engaging Gallup which is one of the oldest consulting organizations in conducting engagement surveys. Alternatively, I would use Gallup Q.12, the 12 question survey prepared by the company for measurement (Vazirani, 2007). The same is shown in Appendix 1. 4. Identifying and analyzing the problems The analysis of data would help to identify the problem areas. A certain threshold score should be used for each area to accept or reject it as a problem area. After this the root cause analysis of each problem must be done using 5 Whys approach or Fish Bone diagram. Also a gap analysis needs to be performed at this stage to identify the distance to be travelled for transition from current level of employee engagement to future desired level. 5. Developing an employee engagement strategy Employee engagement strategy would be developed by considering hierarchical needs of employees across 3 levels- basic, intermediate and advanced. The basic level includes meeting employee needs regarding safe working conditions, goal setting, training, feedback, supervision, fair treatment and enjoyable work environment. The intermediate level is where there starts a shift from satisfaction towards engagement. The learning and performance development needs of employees are addressed. A sense of belonging is imbibed in them by encouraging them and allowing their personal growth and fulfillment. The teams are encourages to cooperate and actively participate in brainstorming sessions. There is open communication and conflicts are addressed amiably. The highest or advanced level of employee engagement is what I would strive for as the president of the company. Here, every employee is focused on customer satisfaction, organizational growth and leadership. It is so because the employees are emotionally connected to the company and find personal value in fulfilling organizational goals. They have trust in senior executives. The employees are empowered enough to take important business decisions (Accord, 2004). 6. Action Plan Any strategy is useless unless it is worked upon religiously. Therefore, several actions need to be performed to realize the strategic goals. The first action item would be to communicate the strategic plan. The best way to do this would be to change the vision and mission statements of the company to reflect the same. A sample mission statement could be- “We strive to cultivate a learning culture based on our corporate values. We have a healthy discomfort with the status quo. We reward those who take personal responsibility in getting results to increase the profitability and growth of our business.” (WD-40 Company). In addition, the employees can be made to see the big picture by regular motivational e-mails, notice boards and bulletins. The next action item is to make use of secret or ghost shoppers or customers. This would help identify the flaws in the front end operations. This could also help identify needs of greater empowerment, new skill sets and fresh talent. The third action step is regarding training. Best to date training must be available to employees. A Learning Management system would be created for employees. Internal trainers would be preferred. Also the employees would be encouraged to pass useful certifications and get reimbursed by the company. The next step would be mentoring. This is especially true for new employees who join the organization and find no one to look forward to. A mentor would not be a supervisor of the employee. Rather, he would be senior member of the organization working in a different assignment and provide career and work related guidance. The fifth action item is to carry out team building activities. Such activities should not be treated as a waste of time and should be performed especially during initial stages of team formation. The next step is to ensure transparency in the organization so that employees feel accepted and respected. The best way to do this is to ensure effective communication. As a president I would ensure that information on quarterly and yearly business performance, new initiatives, mergers and acquisitions is communicated to every single person in the company (LaMalfa, 2007). The seventh action would be to get rid of bad managers. It is an old saying that employees don’t leave their job, they leave their manager. Hence, managers with continuous negative feedback would be fired. The eighth step is to promote a 360 degree feedback where everyone in the organization would be rated by his/her seniors, juniors as well as peers. This would ensure fairness in evaluation. Another important action item is to recognize employee contributions. The best way to do this is to reward employees for their contributions. The rewards can be in form of financial incentives, promotions or other benefits. The rewards should be based on consistent feedback (LaMalfa, 2007). Last but not the least, the pay and incentives also play a significant role in employee engagement. Hence, I would make it sure that the salaries are at least comparable with other market leaders. This factor is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for employee engagement. 7. Conclusion After implementing the action plan, it is very important to monitor the progress. The progress can be measured by conducting employee engagement survey again and noticing the changes. As a president, it is important for me to realize that employee engagement is a continuous process and not a one-time project. Hence, this has to be imbibed into the culture of the organization to yield useful results. 8. Appendix: Gallup Q.12 (Vazirani, 2007) I. Do you know what is expected of you at work? II. Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right? III. At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? IV. In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work? V. Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about you as a person? VI. Is there someone at work who encourages your development? VII. At work, do your opinions seem to count? VIII. Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important? IX. Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work? X. Do you have a best friend at work? XI. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress? XII. In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow? 9. References LaMalfa, Kyle. (2007). The Top 11 ways to increase your employee loyalty: Follow these and enjoy an immediate lift in your employee productivity, retention, and loyalty. Allegiance: The power to engage Vazirani, Nitin. (2007). Employee Engagement. SIES College of Management Studies: Working Paper Series, WPS05 Employee Engagement Strategy: A strategy of analysis to move from employee satisfaction to engagement. (2004). Accord Management Systems Read More