A MINOR PROJECT REPORTONEMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING

Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirement of Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A) General

BBA III Semester (Morning) (A)Batch 2011-2014

Submitted to:Submitted by:Dr. Ruchi Singhal Narendra BarwalDesignation 01714101711

JAGANNATH INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT SCHOOL, KALKAJI

STUDENTS UNDERTAKING

I hereby certify that this is my original work and it has never been submitted elsewhere.

Project Guides:By Narendra BarwalFaculty

CONTENTSDescriptionPage No.

Contents with page no.(i)

Acknowledgment

List of tables

List of figures

Executive Summary

Certificate of completion

Introduction to topic

Objectives

Literature review

Company Profile

Research Methodology

Analysis & Interpretation

Findings & Inferences

Limitations

Recommendations and Conclusion

Appendices

Bibliography

Acknowledgement

List of Tables

Executive summary

Employee Engagement: fact or fad? If you are reading this executive summary you are no doubt already aware of employee engagement becoming an ever more important priority for business. The vital lessons learned by some of the worlds leading businesses in creating, implementing and measuring there employee engagement programs provide benchmark data to ensure that the reader is well-informed about this critical topic.The Hay Group defines engaged performance as a result that is achieved by stimulating employees enthusiasm for their work and directing it towards organization success. The result can only be achieved when employees offer an implicit contract to their employees that elicit specific positive behavior aligned with organizations goals.Employee engagement is associated with many desirable outcomes, such as job satisfaction, intention to stay and job performance. Companies with a greater number of engaged employees typically have lower operating cost, higher customer satisfaction and higher profits. There is a tangible monetary benefit to companies investing time and resources in fostering higher engagement within their employees.We also explore the specific roles and responsibilities of the workforce in building a more engaged organization. Our focus: individual employees, managers, and executives. These three roles are incremental, depending on someones level in the organization: Everyone is accountable for his or her own engagement; anyone with direct reports much coach team members to higher level of engagement and manages his or her own engagement; and executives set the tone for an engaged organization plus shoulder the responsibility of individuals and managers. Everyday Activities Leading To Greater EngagementThere some everyday activities that can lead to greater employee engagement. It begins with looking at the experience of new employee, and continues throughout the employee experience.Some examples of activities that can assist new employees feel engaged include: Providing the new employee with a realistic preview of the job Considering ways to welcome them on the first day of work, and in advance some workplace have current employees send emails to welcome new employee prior to the first of work Having through orientation that includes information about the job, and also information about how people treat each other and the climate to which every employee is expected to positively contribute Considering the employee development plan from day one- what would be helpful for every employee to know? Who would be useful for the new employee to connect with in the first couple days?

Certificate of completion

CHAPTER 1IntroductionThere is no single method to engaging employees in their work and in the organization. Instead, there are a number of critical components that contribute to engagement. These critical components include: workplace relationships, the workload, the amount of control within the workplace, the reward/ recognition structure, support, perceived fairness in the workplace, and ability to have meaningful and valued work. One approach to creating engagement is that there is a level of reciprocal interdependence necessary for the individual to engage and for the organization to success.

Engagement, represented here as a two-way relationship between employee and employer where engaged employees are expected to also have an under0standing of the unit and work to be done, has to do with how individuals employ themselves in the performance in their job and involves the active use of emotions and behaviors in addition to what they know about their jobs. Engagement is realized through a series of interactions between the employee and the manager or supervisor (representing the organization). The goal would be to create interaction that would evolve into trusting, loyal, and mutual commitments leading to full engagement in the workplace. It was best state by Saks (2006), when employee believes that their organization is concerned about them and cares about their well-bring, they are likely to respond by attempting to fulfill their obligation to their organization by becoming more engaged.

Management behavior plays a key role in developing engagement through the relationship they build with employees, and behaving in a way that they are supported and play a critical role in the success of the unit. The application of these principles to developing a process for employees to be involved in decisions related to the workplace, and to the unit, provide a significant opportunity to that end. It is imported to note that employee engagement is a long-term and ongoing process that requires continued interaction over time in order to generate obligation and a state of reciprocal interdependence.

Define Engagement and why the Old Definition Need to be changed The original definition of employee engagement focused on the tools used to make employee feel engaged and encourage employee engagement.

One tool used to determine a companys level of employee engagement is surveys. Surveys are a great way to measure employee engagement level. They provide an idea of how satisfied employees are, and how to increase their job satisfaction. However, surveys have their flaws. Take for example a case where a survey is used to evaluate factors in employee engagement. An employee who might be very comfortable in the current job and not want to be promote might give a low rating for satisfaction within opportunity for advancement since the employee has no interest in advancing. The overall impact on the employees engagement may not be affected yet the survey might misattribute a result that a low satisfaction score in this case leads to less employee engagement. Because of these ambiguities surveys can often be misleading.

Some example include interviews, confrontation meeting and reward system. These are all great tools, but they too can have their flaws. For this reason a definition for employee engagement should encompass more than just the tool it takes to make employee feel engaged. Definition should also include condition which lead to employee engagement as well as what it takes to create an environment where employee feel engaged.

The New Definition for EngagementRedefining engagement as a heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his or her organization, that influences him or her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work provides the framework In which engagement activity operates.

Employee Engagement Defined By different companies

CORPORATIONSCaterpillarEngagement is the extent of employees commitment, work effort, and desire to stay in an organization.

Dell Inc.Engagement: To compete today, companies need to win over the MINDS (rational commitment) and the HEARTS (emotional commitment) of employees in ways that lead to extraordinary effort.

Intuit, Inc.Engagement describes how an employee thinks and feels about, and acts toward his or her job, the work experience and the company.

CONSULTANTS and RESEARCHERS

Corporate Leadership CouncilEngagement: The extent to which employees commit to something or someone in their organization, how hard they work and how long they stay as a result of that commitment.

Development Dimensions InternationalEngagement is the extent to which people enjoy and believe in what they do, and feel valued for doing it.

The Gallup OrganizationEmployee engagement is the involvement with and enthusiasm for work

Hewitt AssociatesEngagement is the state of emotional and intellectual commitment to an organization or group producing behavior that will help fulfill an organizations 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.

Institute for Employment StudiesEngagement: A positive attitude held by the employee toward the organization and its values. An engaged employee is aware of business context, and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organization. The organization must work to develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between employer and employee.

KenexaEngagement is the extent to which employees are motivated to contribute to organizational success, and are willing to apply discretionary effort (extra time, brainpower and effort) to accomplishing tasks that are important to the achievement of organizational goals.

Towers PerrinEngagement is the extent to which employees put discretionary effort into their work, beyond the required minimum to get the job done, in the form of extra time, brainpower or energy

CHAPTER 2

Companies with high employee engagement have profit margins nearly three times larger than that of organization with disengaged workers, according to a study by Towers Watson.Employees who believe that their companies are high-performance deliver sustainable engagement scores 16 percentage points higher than the overall country norm, found the Global workforce study, which surveyed 32,000 employees globally 1,000 of which were from Canada.However, more than two-third (67 per cent) of Canadian workers are not fully engaged in their work and are frustrated by insufficient support from their organizations. "When workers are not fully engaged, it leads to increased risk for employers. It makes companies more vulnerable to lower productivity and higher inefficiency, greater rates of absenteeism and turnover and increased costs for chronic illnesses," said France Deferens, leader of Towers Watson's talent and rewards practice in Montreal. "Without more attention to the fundamentals of sustainable engagement including improving on-the-job support for employees and increasing efforts to deepen employees' sense of attachment to the organization employers will have a harder time generating growth and returns." The Global Workforce Study breaks new ground in understanding and measuring what contributes to sustained employee engagement, said Towers Watson. The equation for sustainable engagement is the sum of three distinct elements:Traditional engagement: Employees' willingness to give effort to their employer. Enablement: Having the tools, resources and support to get work done efficiently. Energy: A work environment that actively supports physical, emotional and interpersonal well-being. "Enablement and energy are the really critical factors in this equation," said Ofelia Isabel, Towers Watson's Canadian leader for talent and rewards. "It's only in the last few years, when we've seen more pressure in the system, that the importance of enablement and energy has risen to the forefront." Companies have known for years that engagement is important to performance, what's now clear is the significance of effective workplace resources and interpersonal well-being, along with an understanding of the role that senior leadership plays in sustaining that well-being, said Julie Naismith, a senior talent and rewards consultant at Towers Watson. According to the study, virtually all (95 per cent) of highly engaged Canadian employees believe that that they have the work tools and resources they need to achieve exceptional performance compared to only 20 per cent of disengaged employees. Similar disparities appear with regard to the ability to sustain energy throughout the workday (97 per cent versus 32 per cent) and sense of personal accomplishment at work (99 per cent versus 33 per cent). However, amongst all Canadian survey participants, only one-third (38 per cent) believe that their organization and senior leaders encourage and support a healthy workforce and just 39 per cent think that senior leaders have a sincere interest in their well-being, found the survey.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENTOver the past decade, the way in people are managed and developed of work has comet be recognized as one of the primary factors in achieving improvement in organizational performance. This reflected by popular idioms such as people are our most important assets. Back in the good old days of cooperate world, things were pretty simple. Companies put people on career tracks straight out of college; they gave employees a job for life and waved them good bye with a gold watch at retirement. The promise of the stable life as a company employee kept both morale and productivity high. Then things changed. Competition increased, margins shrank and shareholder got more demanding. Suddenly, company staff were finding the very job security theyd counted on was disappearing, and at speed. This upheaval meant companies had to find new ways to motivate their employees in order to make them more productive since, without stability, employees were looking for something else from their employers. And thus, Engagement was born. In itself, engagement isnt really a new idea; owners and managers have been talking about engagement, in one form or another, for centuries they just used different words to express it. In former times, engagement focused more on productivity and achieving results through threat of punishment or by means of reward. But common sense- and good communication- eventually won out and, today organization everywhere are spending serious money on all forms of employee engagement. Boiled down, it simply means developing a happy and loyal workforce. Enlightened managers now realized that any company as a whole will benefit when its employees know whats going on and they feel defining what makes a workforce happy, and in understanding how this good will translates into company success. From the extant literature review, it is acknowledged that successful organizations share a fundamental philosophy of valuing and investing in their employees. In fact many research studies have described human resources management as a means of achieving competitive advantage. Consistent with this it is an equally important issue for the organization to retain their critical (core) employees. Most organization today continues to struggle with retention because they are relying on salary increase and bonuses t prevent turnover. Essentially more organization is now realizing that relation is a strategic issue and continues to be competitive advantage. The term engagement stems from the work of Kahn (1990) who distinguished between being engaged and disengaged at work. Putting the humanistic factors together, bear, spectre, Lawrence, Quinn-Mills and Walton (1984) created the Harvard Business School model of HRM which focused on people in an organization to be the key resources. In light of such critical emphasis being placed on human capital, Paula Ketter has aptly noted.

Engagement is all about creating a culture where people do not feel misused, overused, underused or abused. At a very basic level, employee engagement draws from the tenets of the Hierarchy of Needs as conceptualized by Maslow, the highest stage of which is self-actualization; the pinnacle of an individuals fulfillment of talent and potential. The theory of higher order needs was largely overlooked in the heydays of scientific assembly line manufacturing.

10 Common Themes: How Companies Measure EngagementEmployers typically assess their employees engagement levels with company-wide attitude or opinion surveys. (See Employee-Engagement Survey Items: Samples.) A sampling of the criteria featured in such instruments reveals 10 common themes related to engagement:1. Pride in employer2. Satisfaction with employer3. Job satisfaction4. Opportunity to perform well at challenging work5. Recognition and positive feedback for ones contributions6. Personal support from ones supervisor7. Effort above and beyond the minimum8. Understanding the link between ones job and the organizations mission9. Prospects for future growth with ones employer10. Intention to stay with ones employer

Employee Engagement: Five Companies That Get It1. Make it Strategic: Intel Corporation Set the stage for employee buy-in by sharing a vision that ties engagement Efforts to your core vision and larger business strategysomething Intel does by Calculating each employees annual bonus according to sustainability results. By Challenging all departments to improve their processes and products with sustainability in mind, Intel celebrates the diversity of its professionals while increasing accountability for multiple dimensions of value creation and impact.

2. Make it Personal: Hyatt Hotels & ResortsIssues like climate change and biodiversity are complex, but framing these big issues in relatable terms is not impossible. Take inspiration from Hyatt: The hospitality companys corporate responsibility platform, Hyatt Thrive, leverages the power of peer-to-peer influence and social networking to connect and empower 300 Green Teams worldwide. Employees use a Facebook-like interface to post photos, questions, and even presentations about their local sustainability efforts.

3. Make it Flexible: Wal-MartWhile top-down leadership is important, the best employee engagement programs are co-created and co-owned by employees themselves. Wal-Marts global engagement platform, My Sustainability Plan (MSP), was created with the goal of helping more than two million associates in 28 countries take everyday steps to live healthier, greener lives. The program encourages associates to choose goals most relevant to their own lives and break those goals into small, doable everyday actionswhether thats eating a salad every day or biking to work.

4. Make it Easy: GoogleTo encourage involvement, chunk your program into easy steps thatll let all employees participate. Googlea company already known for employee perks like free laundry and locally sourced mealseducates associates about the impact of simple actions like turning off their computers at night. Micro-kitchens built throughout the workplace are designed to encourage the use of reusable dishes and flatware (employees can even leave their dirty dishes in the sink).

5. Make it Last: Cliff BarCreating an effective program is just the beginning. To encourage ongoing success, youve got to treat employee engagement as an ongoing campaign. Sustainability is such a big part of CLIF Bars culture, for example, that its embedded in employees benefits package, including incentives for actions like purchasing a fuel-efficient car and making eco-friendly home improvements. Momentum is ensured at weekly staff meetings, where employees share practical tips for living greener, and at yearly award ceremonies, where individuals are recognized for excellence according to the companys values.A great engagement program is a guaranteed way to recruit and retain top talent and drive productivity. But, even more important: Engaging employees and encouraging their input builds trust, drives innovation and inspires co-creativity from the inside out..Is there a crisis in employee engagement?We believe that executives must be concerned about the level of engagement in the workplace. For example, the Gallup Management Journal publishes a semi-annual Employment Engagement Index. The most recent U.S. results 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 that are actively engaged help move the organization 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. These people embody what Jack Welch said several years ago. To paraphrase him: Never mistake activity for accomplishment. Seventeen percent of employees are actively disengaged. These employees are busy acting out their unhappiness, undermining what their engaged co-workers are trying to accomplish.A Towers Perrin 2005 Global Workforce Survey involving about 85,000 people working full-time for large and midsized firms found similarly disturbing findings. Only 14 percent of all employees worldwide were highly engaged in their job. The number of Canadians that reported being highly engaged was 17 percent. Sixty-two percent of the employees surveyed indicated they were moderately engaged at best; 66 percent of employees in Canada were moderately engaged. And 24 percent reported that they are actively disengaged; the corresponding number in Canada was 17 percent. (See article by Towers Perrin authors elsewhere in this issue.)The survey also indicated that on a country-by-country basis, the percentages of highly engaged, moderately engaged, and actively disengaged employees varied considerably. And the results showed some interesting, perhaps counter-intuitive, results. For example, Mexico and Brazil have the highest percentages of engaged employees, while Japan and Italy have the largest percentages of disengaged employees. In their report, the authors interpreted these and other findings as and indication that employee engagement has relatively little to do with macro-economic conditions. Instead, it is the unique elements of the work experience that are most likely to influence engagement.

Does engagement really make a difference?Should executives be concerned about these findings? Perhaps a more interesting question to executives is: Is there a strong relationship between, say, high scores on employee engagement indices and organizational performance? It seems obvious that engaged employees are more productive than their disengaged counterparts. For example, a recent meta-analysis published in the Journal of Applied Psychology concluded that, employee satisfaction and engagement are related to meaningful business outcomes at a magnitude that is important to many organizations. A compelling question is this: How much more productive is an engaged workforce compared to a non-engaged workforce?Several case studies shine some light on the practical significance of an engaged workforce. For example, New Century Financial Corporation, a U.S. specialty mortgage banking company, found that account executives in the wholesale division who were actively disengaged produced 28 percent less revenue than their colleagues who were engaged. Furthermore, those not engaged generated 23 percent less revenue than their engaged counterparts. Engaged employees also outperformed the not engaged and actively disengaged employees in other divisions. New Century Financial Corporation statistics also showed that employee engagement does not merely correlate with bottom line results it drives results.Employee engagement also affects the mindset of people. Engaged employees believe that they can make a difference in the organizations they work for. Confidence in the knowledge, skills, and abilities that people possess in both themselves and others is a powerful predictor of behavior and subsequent performance. Thus, consider some of the results of the Towers Perrin survey cited earlier: Eighty-four percent of highly engaged employees believe they can positively impact the quality of their organizations products, compared with only 31 percent of the disengaged. Seventy-two percent of highly engaged employees believe they can positively affect customer service, versus 27 percent of the disengaged. Sixty-eight percent of highly engaged employees believe they can positively impact costs in their job or unit, compared with just 19 percent of the disengaged.Given these data, it is not difficult to understand that companies that do a better job of engaging their employees do outperform their competition. Employee engagement can not only make a real difference, it can set the great organizations apart from the merely good ones.

Leading the turnaroundConsider the words of Ralph Stayer, CEO of Johnsonville Sausage. In the book, Flight of the Buffalo: Soaring to Excellence, Learning to Let Employees Lead, he writes.I learned what I had to in order to succeed, but I never thought that learning was all that important. My willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed is what fueled Johnsonvilles growth. In 1980 I hit the wall. I realized that if I kept doing what I had always done, I was going to keep getting what I was getting. And I didnt like what I was getting. I would never achieve my dream. I could see the rest of my business life being a never-ending stream of crises, problems, and dropped balls. We could keep growing and have decent profits, but it wasnt the success I was looking for.The CEO observed that his employees were uninterested in their work. They were careless dropping equipment, wasting materials, and often not accepting any responsibility for their work. They showed up for work, did what they were told to do, and, at the end of their shift, went home; the same routine would be repeated the next day. An employee-attitude survey showed average results. To Stayer, it appeared that the only person who was excited about Johnsonville was himself. He began to feel like a baby-sitter for his executives and staff. Stayer also realized that he could not inspire Johnsonville to greatness and as a result, the business he was running was becoming vulnerable.Stayer found solutions to these problems in a meeting with Lee Thayer, a communications professor. Thayer explained to Stayer that a critical task for a leader is to create a climate that enables employees to unleash their potential. It is not the job of a CEO to make employees listen to what you have to say; it is about setting up the system so that people want to listen. The combination of the right environment and a culture that creates wants instead of requirements places few limits on what employees can achieve. Thayers message resonated with Stayer, as it should among business executives.Stayer began to recognize the difference between compliance and commitment, and that an engaged workforce was what he needed to help improve organizational performance. He also learned that he needed to change his own leadership behavior first. Leaders cannot demand more engagement and stronger performance; they cant stand on the sideline and speak only when the play goes wrong if an engaged workforce and great performance are what they desire. But what should leaders do, or consider doing, to increase the level of engagement among employees?

The ten Cs of employee engagementHow can leaders engage employees heads, hearts, and hands? The literature offers several avenues for action; we summarize these as the Ten Cs of employee engagement.1. Connect: Leaders must show that they value employees. In First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman argue that managers trump companies. Employee-focused initiatives such as profit sharing and implementing worklife balance initiatives are important. However, if employees relationship with their managers is fractured, then no amount of perks will persuade employees to perform at top levels. Employee engagement is a direct how employees feel about their relationship with the boss. Employees look at whether organizations and their leader walk the talk when they proclaim that, Our employees are our most valuable asset.One anecdote illustrates the Connect dimension well. In November 2003, the CEO of WestJet Airlines, Clive Beddoe, was invited to give a presentation to the Canadian Club of London. Beddoe showed up late, a few minutes before he was to deliver his speech. He had met with WestJet employees at the London Airport and had taken a few minutes to explain the corporate strategy and some new initiatives to them. He also answered employees questions. To paraphrase Beddoe, We had a great discussion that took a bit longer than I had anticipated. Beddoes actions showed that he cares about the employees. The employees, sensing that he is sincere, care about Beddoe and the organization; they reward his behavior with engagement.

2. Career: Leaders should provide challenging and meaningful work with opportunities for career advancement. Most people want to do new things in their job. For example, do organizations provide job rotation for their top talent? Are people assigned stretch goals? Do leaders hold people accountable for progress? Are jobs enriched in duties and responsibilities? Good leaders challenge employees; but at the same time, they must instill the confidence that the challenges can be met. Not giving people the knowledge and tools to be successful is unethical and de-motivating; it is also likely to lead to stress, frustration, and, ultimately, lack of engagement. In her book Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End, Rosabeth Moss Kantar explains that confidence is based on three cornerstones: accountability, collaboration, and initiative.

3. Clarity: Leaders must communicate a clear vision. People want to understand the vision that senior leadership has for the organization, and the goals that leaders or departmental heads have for the division, unit, or team. Success in life and organizations is, to a great extent, determined by how clear individuals are about their goals and what they really want to achieve. In sum, employees need to understand what the organizations goals are, why they are important, and how the goals can best be attained. Clarity about what the organization stands for, what it wants to achieve, and how people can contribute to the organizations success is not always evident. Consider, for example, what Jack Stack, CEO of SRC Holdings Corp., wrote about the importance of teaching the basics of business:The most crippling problem in American business is sheer ignorance about how business works. What we see is a whole mess of people going to a baseball game and nobody is telling them what the rules are. That baseball game is business. People try to steal from first base to second base, but they dont even know how that fits into the big picture. What we try to do is break down business in such a way that employees realize that in order to win the World Series, youve got to steal x number of bases, hit y number of RBIs and have the pitchers pitch z number of innings. And if you put all these variables together, you can really attain your hopes and dreams dont use information to intimidate, control or manipulate people. Use it to teach people how to work together to achieve common goals and thereby gain control over their lives.

4. Convey: Leaders clarify their expectations about employees and provide feedback on their functioning in the organization. Good leaders establish processes and procedures that help people master important tasks and facilitate goal achievement. There is a great anecdote about the legendary UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden. He showed how important feedback positive and constructive is in the pursuit of greatness. Among the secrets of his phenomenal success was that he kept detailed diaries on each of his players. He kept track of small improvements he felt the players could make and did make. At the end of each practice, he would share his thoughts with the players. The lesson here is that good leaders works daily to improve the skills of their people and create small wins that help the team, unit, or organization perform at its best.

5. Congratulate: Business leaders can learn a great deal from Woodens approach. Surveys show that, over and over, employees feel that they receive immediate feedback when their performance is poor, or below expectations. These same employees also report that praise and recognition for strong performance is much less common. Exceptional leaders give recognition, and they do so a lot; they coach and convey.

6. Contribute: People want to know that their input matters and that they are contributing to the organizations success in a meaningful way. This might be easy to articulate in settings such as hospitals and educational institutions. But what about, say the retail industry? Sears Roebuck & Co. started a turnaround in 1992. Part of the turnaround plan was the development of a set of measures known as Total Performance Indicators which gauged how well Sears was doing with its employees, customers, and investors. The implementation of the measurement system led to three startling conclusions. First, an employee understands of the connection between her work as operationalized by specific job-relevant behaviors and the strategic objectives of the company had a positive impact on job performance. Second, an employees attitude towards the job and the company had the greatest impact on loyalty and customer service than all the other employee factors combined. Third, improvements in employee attitude led to improvements in job-relevant behavior; this, in turn, increased customer satisfaction and an improvement in revenue growth. In sum, good leaders help people see and feel how they are contributing to the organizations success and future.

7. Control: Employees value control over the flow and pace of their jobs and leaders can create opportunities for employees to exercise this control. Do leaders consult with their employees with regard to their needs? For example, is it possible to accommodate the needs of a mother or an employee infected with HIV so that they can attend to childcare concerns or a medical appointment? Are leaders flexible and attuned to the needs of the employees as well as the organization? Do leaders involve employees in decision-making, particularly when employees will be directly affected by the decision? Do employees have a say in setting goals or milestones that are deemed important? Are employees able to voice their ideas, and does leadership show that contributions are valued? H. Norman Schwarzkopf retired U.S. Army General, once remarked:I have seen competent leaders who stood in front of a platoon and all they saw was a platoon. But great leaders stand in front of a platoon and see it as 44 individuals, each of whom has aspirations, each of whom wants to live, each of whom wants to do well.A feeling of being in on things, and of being given opportunities to participate in decision making often reduces stress; it also creates trust and a culture where people want to take ownership of problems and their solutions. There are numerous examples of organizations whose implementation of an open-book management style and creating room for employees to contribute to making decisions had a positive effect on engagement and organizational performance. The success of Microsoft, for example, stems in part from Bill Gates belief that smart people anywhere in the company should have the power to drive an initiative. Initiatives such as Six Sigma are dependent, in part, on the active participation of employees on the shop floor.

8. Collaborate: Studies show that, when employees work in teams and have the trust and cooperation of their team members, they outperform individuals and teams which lack good relationships. Great leaders are team builders; they create an environment that fosters trust and collaboration. Surveys indicate that being cared about by colleagues is a strong predictor of employee engagement. Thus, a continuous challenge for leaders is to rally individuals to collaborate on organizational, departmental, and group goals, while excluding individuals pursuing their self-interest.

9. Credibility: Leaders should strive to maintain a companys reputation and demonstrate high ethical standards. People want to be proud of their jobs, their performance, and their organization. WestJet Airlines is among the most admired organizations in Canada. The company has achieved numerous awards. For example, in 2005, it earned the number one spot for best corporate culture in Canada. On September 26, 2005, WestJet launched the Because Were Owners! campaign. Why do WestJet employees care so much about their organization? Why do over 85 percent of them own shares in the company? Employees believe so strongly in what WestJet is trying to do and are so excited about its strong performance record that they commit their own money into shares.

10. Confidence: Good leaders help create confidence in a company by being exemplars of high ethical and performance standards. To illustrate, consider what happened to Harry Stone cipher, the former CEO of Boeing. He made the restoration of corporate ethics in the organization a top priority but was soon after embarrassed by the disclosure of an extramarital affair with a female employee. His poor judgment impaired his ability to lead and he lost a key ingredient for success credibility. Thus the board asked him to resign. Employees working at Qwest and Continental Airlines were so embarrassed about working for their organizations that they would not wear their companys uniform on their way to and from work. At WorldCom, most employees were shocked, horrified, and embarrassed when the accounting scandal broke at the company. New leadership was faced with the major challenges of regaining public trust and fostering employee engagement.Practitioners and academics have argued that competitive advantage can be gained by creating an engaged workforce. The data and argument that that we present above are a compelling case why leaders need to make employee engagement one of their priorities. Leaders should actively try to identify the level of engagement in their organization, find the reasons behind the lack of full engagement, strive to eliminate those reasons, and implement behavioral strategies that will facilitate full engagement. These efforts should be ongoing. Employee engagement is hard to achieve and if not sustained by leaders it can wither with relative ease.

The Link between Employer Practices and Employee EngagementHow does an engaged workforce generate valuable business results for an organization? The process starts with employer practices such as job and task design, recruitment, selection, training, compensation, performance management and career development. Such practices affect employees level of engagement as well as job performance. Performance and engagement then interact to produce business results. Figure depicts these relationships.

Figure . Employer Practices Ultimately Influence Business Results

Employer PracticesJob PerformanceEmployee Engagement and CommitmentBusiness Results

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN INDIAThe recent work ASIA research study by Watson Wyatt worldwide indicate that India has highest percentage of highly engaged work at 78% in Asia as compare to Japan, which has the lowest employee engagement at 39%. Head to head with China, the engagement level of the Indian worker is 20% more than his Chinese counterpart. These are all encouraging signs- but the challenges and the opportunity ahead are manifold. The imminent US slow down, shrinking of talent pool, slowdown in hiring, large employee expectations are all challenges for internal communication to cope with. The Gallup organization describe employee engagement as the the involvement with and enthusiasm for work. The challenges faced by organizations in India are around attrition, career development and engagement while trying to keep pace with the explosive growth. Outsourcing outfits have the highest attrition rates losing staff at a rate of between 100% and 200% a year. It is widely believed that organization spend an average of 36% of their revenues on their employees but do not have a tangible way to measure its Impact. A mercer study Whats working a series of national research on worker insights, highlights factors that make different to employee engagement. The surveys 125 questions elicit views in the areas defined by Mercers Human Capital Strategic Model and cover training and development, work environment, leadership, performance management, work/life balance, communication, compensation, benefits, and engagement. The India study throws up some fascinating directions for Hr and internal communication professionals. Employee engagement is no more just about the employees intent to leave. The employees commitment to the organization and motivation to contribute to the organizations success plays a significant role. The top three drivers in India are trust in senior management, how the organization is perceived for customer service and fair pay. Surprisingly, from an Indian context, the least valued factors in the continuum were benefits, compensation and performance management. In India, having a long-term career is considered positive and stable. Frequent job changes are viewed negatively and therefore the high scores around the commitment count are in line with the mind set. Internal communication and HR professionals need to take note of the employees need for giving feedback and to observe action taken from this. Employees seem to be getting very little information on the organizations vision and future plans, a cause of concern. Other areas for action include the organizations reputation in the market congruent to other research in this space which believes that organizations which are socially responsible are considered better places to work. In the talent management bracket, managers fare poorly for their involvement, understanding and support as well as for merit based appraisals.In India, with a large number of global players entering the market, the talent pool has now a plethora of choices and even these multinationals are finding it tough to retain staff. The Canadian HR Reporter writes that employees want to know where their careers are heading and that is a critical component of the talent retention strategy organizations need to focus on softer styles of leadership have a better impact in India and china leaving organization to develop or seek leaders who can fill this need.

10 Steps That Ensure Employee Engagement Success

Improving Employee Engagement is not the product of one initiative. Organizations need a framework to achieve significant improvement in engagement. Sequencing and content of the initiative are critical, as is communication.There have been many traditional approaches to improving Employee Engagement, including Leadership Training, Company-wide Programs, Learning & Development and other such initiatives.Given the experiences of the traditional approaches outlined above, most organizations struggle to shift Employee Engagement more than a couple of percentage points. In discussing this with CEOs, as well as Human Resources and Organizational Development Executives, it became clear that new approaches were required to create a significant shift in Employee Engagement.With old or new approaches, the factors that need to be addressed remain the same: Job Importance: An employee needs to know how their job is important to the organization. Clarity of what is expected of them: Employees need to know what their manager expects of them. Career Advancement: Employees want to know that there is a fair and equitable system for career advancement and that, if they perform, they will be considered for advancement. Improvement and Reward: Employees want to make improvements to the organization and, if they do, would like to be compensated where possible (a reward and a sincere thank-you). Regular Feedback: Employees want to know when they, the department and the organization are doing well (or not so well). Good Relationship: Employees want to communicate with their manager, even if the news is not good. Clear values: Employees want to know the values and behaviors that will be looked upon favorably; they dont want to be left in a vacuum to guess. Good Communications: Employees want to know what is happening so theyre not the last to find out important information. In order to address the above needs, the solution needs to incorporate all of the above factors and then some. The following is a 10-point outline of a comprehensive solution that addresses each of the major influencers outlined above.

1. Define and Map the Strategy

Organization leaders need to be clear on what they are trying to achieve before they communicate this to the organization. If the Level 1 Strategy (Organization Level) is not well defined, then leaders need to conduct a Strategy Workshop where Executive Management defines and refines a clear strategy. The Strategy needs to be converted into a Strategy Map. This Map is a pictorial representation of the Strategy showing dependencies and relationships of the major parts of the Strategy. Most people understand a picture far better and have much more information than from a complicated, written strategic plan.

2. Define Values, Behaviors and Measurement Criteria

The Executive and Management teams need to determine the values and behaviors they believe are important to the organization. These need to be clearly defined and unanimously supported, as well as clearly articulated so that they can be readily understood. Executive Management needs to define what part values and behaviors will play in employee evaluations or reviews. If employees arent going to be evaluated on these values and behaviors, then management is wasting its time defining them. The Executive Management team needs to decide on the weighting for these values and behaviors in employee reviews.

3. Conduct Strategy Mapping in Every Major Business Unit

Each Department must complete a Strategy Map with each employee being allocated a part of the Strategy. This might sound difficult, but in practice its not. Once you complete Strategy Mapping in each department or work unit, employees know their part of the plan. You have now achieved the first influencing factor of Employee Engagement Job Importance. Each employee now knows what is important and his or her part of the plan.

4. Create a Performance Management/Talent Management System

Set up an automated Performance Management and Development system. Ensure the system has the capability for regular feedback, at least monthly. This is the platform that will deliver the clarity of role and communications aspect of Employee Engagement. The Talent Management component should enable an objective way of short-listing potential candidates for promotion. This is also the platform that will deliver the Career and Succession Planning component of Employee Engagement.

5. Link Incentive Compensation to the Outcomes of Performance Management

To achieve the Reward component of Influencing Improvement and Reward, link compensation to Performance. Whether its a salary increment, bonus, or some other compensation consequence, there needs to be some linkage to compensation to achieve and satisfy this component.

6. Set Objectives Based on the Department Strategy Map

Each Manager should sit down with their team and discuss each employees role in achieving the Strategy Map. Objectives are set with each employee and each employee understands his/her part of the Strategy, how their work is important and how other employees and managers rely and depend upon their work.

7. Make Every Manager Accountable

If your Performance Management system is capable of delivering a quick touch-base progress review each month, this becomes easy. Managers sit down with employees for 10-15 minutes each month and do a quick update. The Performance Management system should restate a summary of the employees objectives and values and behaviors. After the meeting, managers should record progress in the system. Note that Communication will require more than just one-on-one meetings with the manager or CEO. Internal communications will need to be planned at regular scheduled intervals as well.

8. Conduct Career/Succession Planning

Design a communications program that will advise all employees that Succession Planning will now be based on merit, not just who someone knows or who plays golf with whom. This Talent Management System should be able to produce a short list of employees based on objective criteria, for example:Career Aspirations Match QualificationsHistorical Performance RatingPotential RatingCompetencies Match/RatingMobilityAge-Based Retirement

9. Foster Positive, Supportive Relationships

This is a factor that is not as easily achieved by any single initiative except that improvements will have been made through: :Clarifying purpose managers will interact with staff in the Strategy Mapping phase.Setting Objectives Managers will spend time with their staff while setting objectives. They can no longer avoid staff contact.One-on-One Meetings Managers should be required to conduct 10-15 minute touch-base meetings to share progress on projects. This ongoing communication helps to improve relationships between employees and managers.

10. Communicate Constantly and Consistently

At every step along the way, employees must be clear on how they are connected to the organization strategy. They specifically need to know their part of the plan and they need to see that their part of the plan is important to the organization.

The following are a few basic steps in this process based on the best industry practices.

1. The specific requirements of your organization and deciding the priorities. Prepare and Design: The first step in the process is about discovering after that a customized design of carrying the whole process can be designed. It is recommended to seek advice of expert management consultant in order to increase the chances of getting it done right at the first attempt.2. Employee Engagement Survey: Design the questions of the employee engagement survey and deploy it with the help of an appropriate media. It can be either in printed form or set online depending upon the comfort level of the employees and your questionnaire evaluation process.3. Result Analysis: It is the most important step in the entire process. It is time when reports are to be analyzed to find out what exactly motivates employees to perform their best and what actually disengages them and finally compels them to leave the organization. The results and information can then be delivered through presentations.4. Action Planning: How to turn the results of the survey in to an action is a challenging question that organizations need to deal with the utmost care. Coaching of line managers as well as HR professionals is very important in order to tell them how to take appropriate actions to engage employees. They should also be told about dos and donts so that they can successfully implement the changes.5. Action Follow-up: Action follow up is necessary in order to find out if the action has been taken in the right direction or not and if it is producing the desired results.Strategies to improve Employee engagementManagers may take up following steps for creating and sustaining employee engagement: 1) Let go off any negative opinions you may have about your employeesApproach each of them as a source of unique knowledge with something valuable to contribute to the company. Remember that you are co-creating the achievement of a vision with them.

2) Make sure employees have everything they need to do their jobs. Why not build just such an opportunity into your department simply by asking each staff member, or the team as a whole, "Do you have everything you need to be as competent as you can be?" Remember, just as marketplace and customer needs change at daily, so do your employees' needs change.

3) Clearly communicate what's expected of employees - What the company values and vision are, and how the company defines success. Employees can't perform well or be productive if they don't clearly know what it is they're there to do and the part they play in the overall success of the company. Be sure to communicate your expectations - and to do it often.

4) Get to know your employees - Especially their goals, their stressors, what excites them and how they each define 'success. Show an interest in their well being and that, when appropriate, you do what it takes to enable them to feel more fulfilled.5) make sure they are trained - and retrained - in problem solving and conflict resolution skills.These critical skills will help them interact better with you, their teammates, customers and suppliers. Its common sense - better communication reduces stress and increase positive outcomes.

6) Constantly ask how you are doing in your employees' eyes.Although it can be difficult for managers to request employee feedback - and it can be equally if not more challenging for an employee to give the person who evaluates them an honest response. To get strong at this skill and to model it for employees, begin dialogues with employees using conversation starters such as, "It's one of my goals to constantly improve myself as a manager. What would you like to see me do differently? What could I be doing to make your job easier?" Be sure to accept feedback graciously and to express appreciation.

7) Reward and recognize employees in ways that are meaningful to them That's why getting to know your employees is so important. And remember to celebrate both accomplishments and efforts to give employees working on long-term goals a boost.

8) Be consistent for the long haul.If you start an 'engagement initiative' and then drop it , your efforts will backfire, creating employee estrangement. People are exhausted and exasperated from 'program du jour' initiatives that engage their passion and then fizzle out when the manager gets bored, fired or moved to another department. There's a connection between an employee's commitment to an initiative and a manager's commitment to supporting it. A manager's ongoing commitment to keeping people engaged, involved in and excited about the work they do and the challenges they face must be a daily priorityHow to keep employee happy and engagedBut exactly how do that? Here in one handy chart is a summary of approximately 85,927 hours of engagement research something we call THE MAGICAL WHEEL OF ENGAGEMENT:Employees desperately want their leaders to: ENVISION a bold, clear and inspirational future; EMPATHIZE with them to understand their motivations and strengths; ENHANCE their skills through education, exposure and experience; EMPOWER them to do meaningful work; EVALUATE them on a truthful and timely basis; ENCOURAGE them as much as humanly possible

To help you understand your company-specific objectives, here are some general objectives of employee engagement: A Workplace With Involvement Perhaps the most important objective of employee engagement is to create a workplace with involvement of employees. This means that when you have a company picnic or quality circle meeting, you should have employees that want to be there and contribute. This desire to participate is a sign that you have actively engaged employees. Pride In Work Employees should be proud of what they do and how they do it. A sense of pride in big projects shows that employees actually care about what they are doing. This pride is a sign of employee engagement and involvement with business decisions. A Sense Of Community Employees should feel a sense of community in the workplace. This means that rather than viewing co-employees as just co-employees, your employees should view everyone working around them as a crucial part of the team. When your employees value each other, they will strive to make decisions that will benefit the organization as a whole. CHAPTER 3

Analysis and FindingsQ1. Do you know what is expected of you at work?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.168% of the sample agreed to the fact that they are aware about the work which they have to perform while 32% are strongly agree on this fact.

Q2. At work do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.2Majority (53%) of the employees get the opportunity to do best of work every day while 29% of them disagreed on this and 18% of them strongly agreed.

Q3. In the last three months, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.384% of the employees have received recognition or praise in the last three months for doing good work while 11% of the employees are highly satisfied with recognition in their organization and 5% of them have not received any praise in the last 3 months.

Q4. Is there someone at work who encourages your development?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.4Generally people feel sense of belongingness when someone is there at their workplace to support them and 84% of the employees agreed on this fact while 8% have strongly agreed and the other 8%disagreed.

Q5. At work, do your opinions seem to count?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.5Employees participation in decision making is again a criterion of measuring employee engagement. 87% of the employees have agreed that their decision seems to count, 10% strongly agreed to this and only 3% have disagreed.

Q6. Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.679%of the sample agreed that their fellow employees are committed to do quality workwhile 11% have disagreed on this fact.5% of them have chosen strongly on this and the other5% has given no comments on this.

Q7. In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicationAnalysis:

Figure 3.7Learning and development is one of the most important aspects to find out the employee engagement in the organization. 66% have agreed that they get the opportunity to learn and grow in the organization while 21% of them have strongly agreed on it. 8% of the employees have not given any reply and 5% were disagreed.

Q8. Are the pay and benefits in your organization comparable to similar companies?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.842% of the sample is satisfied with pay and packages of their organization while 32% are highly satisfied with it. 16% disagree on the competitive pay and benefits packages.

Q9. Are job promotions in this organization fair and objective?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.9Half the percentage (50%) of the employees believes that the promotions are done objectives, 31% strongly agree to the fairness of the same while 13% doubt the fairness and objectivity of the process.Q10. Are organization policies clearly communicated in the organization?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.1047% of the sample has agreed to be clear on the policies that prevail in their respective organization. A good proportion of 425 strongly agreed on the clarity while only 11% reported ambiguity on the policies.

Q11. Do you see yourself continuing to work for this organization two years from now?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.11A majority of 50% has agreed to continue to serve in the same organization for next two years, 24% are very much willing to do the same whereas a striking 26% of the employees are those who are on the verge to leave the organization since they are not even committing for next two years.

Q12. Do you recommend your friends/relatives in your organization?a) Strongly Agreeb) Agreec) Disagreed) Strongly Disagreee) Not ApplicableAnalysis:

Figure 3.1224% of the sample surveyed strongly believes in recommending friends and relatives to their organization, 63% agreed to this while 13% has disagreed the option.

Q13. Select and rank the following engagement tools applicable in your organization. Please rate the options, from 1-8(being the lowest and 8 being the highest).a) Stress Managementb) Work Life Balancec) Career Developmentd) Employees Participation In Decisions Makinge) Counseling/ Feedbackf) Rewards And Recognition Schemesg) Employee Referral Schemeh) Retirement PlansAnalysis:

Figure 3.13Reward and recognition schemes to be the most popular engagement toll amongst the employees, next is efforts on career development. Employee participation in decision making and counseling/feedback seems to be equally effective, next in line is Employee referral scheme. Stress management is then regarded as important but Retirement plans and work life balance surprisingly seem to be least effective.

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