business imperative of employee engagement

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Business Imperative of Employee Engagement

Organisations that fail to engage their employees fail to realise value.


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Defining Engagement

“The extent to which an employee is committed to their work and their organization, and the extent to which this commitment impacts their performance and intent to stay with the organization.”

“A positive attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and its value. An engaged employee is aware of business contexts and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job.”

“The extent to which employees identify with, are motivated

by, and are willing to expend energy and extra effort for their employer.”


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So What is it?

• Based on these definitions, engagement is the sum total of the behaviour employees espouse in the organisation which primarily should be characterised by:

• Belief in the organisation

• Drive to work and make things better

• Respect and support for others

• Desire to learn new skills


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Engagement is Commitment Based

Rational Commitment:• Employees believe they will personally benefit - financially,

developmentally, or professionally from the team or organization. It makes sense for them to stay with the organization.

Emotional Commitment: • Believing in, valuing, or enjoying their day-to-day work,

teams, managers or organizations. Because they can make a link between their role and organizational objectives and value system, and they enjoy or find fulfillment in the work


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Organizations with highly engaged employees have lower staff turnover, and lower absenteeism. The most dramatic results

are seen when engagement is measured in the context of other

business measures. In organizations with high levels of engagement

operating income improved by 19.2 percent over 12 months, while in

organizations with low levels of engagement it declined by 32.7 percent

ISR Report


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Rational Commitment Driven By

• Remuneration • Incentives • Career growth opportunities• Health benefits• Work environment • Learning and development opportunities • Work-life balance

Rational commitment drives intent to stay - RETENTION


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Emotional Commitment Driven By

• Enjoyment of one’s job • Role clarity • Understanding the link between one’s job and

organisational strategy • Belief in organisational values • Respect in direct manager, team and organisation

Emotional commitment drives discretionary effort - PERFORMANCE


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Tangible Business Benefits

• Better performance: engaged employees work smarter. They keep looking for ways to improve performance. This means more sales, lower costs, better quality and innovative products.

• Greater stakeholder satisfaction: engaged employees go out of their way to meet stakeholder needs leading to customer retention and reducing the cost to business of acquiring or attracting new customers.

• Lower employee turnover and greater ability to attract key talent: engaged employees don’t leave at the rate their disengaged counterparts do, despite offers to work elsewhere or opportunities arising elsewhere.


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Drivers of Engagement

One of the strongest drivers is a sense of feeling valued and involved. This has four key components:

1. The opportunities employees have to develop themselves through their jobs and career opportunities

2. The extent to which the organisation is concerned for employee’s health and wellbeing

3. Involvement in decision making, and 4. The extent to which employees feel able to voice their

ideas, and managers listen to these views and value employee’s contributions


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Complimentary Drivers

• Senior management’s interest in employees’ well-being• Challenging work• Decision-making authority• Evidence that the company is focused on customers• Career advancement opportunities• The company’s reputation as a good employer• A collaborative work environment where people work well

in teams• Resources to get the job done• Input on decision making• A clear vision from senior management about future

success.


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Dimensions of Engagement

Rational Commitment: The Extent to which employees believe that managers, teams or organisations have their interests in mind.

Rational Commitment: The Extent to which employees believe that managers, teams or organisations have their interests in mind.

Emotional Commitment: The extent to which employees value, enjoy, and believe in their jobs, managers, teamsor organisations.

Emotional Commitment: The extent to which employees value, enjoy, and believe in their jobs, managers, teamsor organisations.

Day to Day WorkDay to Day Work

TeamTeam

Direct ManagerDirect Manager

OrganisationOrganisation

Discretionary Effort: Employee’s willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Discretionary Effort: Employee’s willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Intent to stay Employee desire to stay with the organisation, based on whether they intend to look for a job within a year.

Intent to stay Employee desire to stay with the organisation, based on whether they intend to look for a job within a year.

PerformancePerformance

RetentionRetention

Source: Corporate Leadership Council


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Only Useful Engagement is Directed

• If engagement does not lead to increased effort, and or intent to stay, it is not directed.

• Engagement drivers are those things that will enhance an employees directed commitment to the organisation.

• Simply put, they are an exploration of the conditions under which are employees are either engaged or disengaged and examine what happens under both conditions.


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Why is it an issue now?

• Greater and more challenging opportunities arise for employees

• Greater mobility of the workforce

• The war for talent is intensifying

• Businesses under more pressure to perform


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Role Based Levels of Engagement

There are five work related roles that an employee can assume and these are:

– Job Holder Role: employees come to work and do the job that is listed in their job description.

– Team member role: employees go “above and beyond” to help members of their team work toward common goals.

– Entrepreneur role: employees come up with new ideas and processes and try to get those ideas implemented.

– Career role: employees do things to enhance their career in the organisation; they learn, they adapt new skills, and more.

– Organisation member role: employees do things that promote and help the company even if it’s not part of their jobs or their team’s duties.


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Role Based Levels of Engagement• Based on these role descriptions, it is clear that employees are in

highly engaged state when they are doing non-job roles. • most employees have a sense of responsibility, and even if their

employers treat them unfairly, they still show up to work and do the job.

• having employees show up at work simply doing their jobs gets an employer nowhere in terms of long term competitiveness.

• If all your employees simply show up and only do their jobs, then you are not building organisational strength and long-term competitiveness through people.

• It’s the synergy that comes from people working together and gathering creative ideas that leads to long-term organisation sustainability. That synergy and “above and beyond” behaviour is evidence of employee engagement.


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Sources of Influence

• Organisations drive engagement by proactively leveraging three sources of influence for change:1. Right employees 2. Exceptional leaders 3. Organisational systems and strategies.

• These three drivers work in concert to build an engaging work environment.

• Although engagement has multiple drivers, the ultimate ownership rests within the employee.

• Organisations hoping to drive engagement must tap into employee’s passion, commitment, and identification with the organisation.


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1. Right Employees in the Right Job• Skills to do the job (can do) and that their jobs tap into their personal

motivators (will do). • Effectively deploy talents • When job fit is high, an employee performs better and is more likely to stay

with the organisation. • Engagement propensity• In ten studies across six organisations and seven job families (using a

number of propensity test items) it was found that engagement was significantly correlated to these six factors: – Attachment to the job – Agreeableness – Emotional stability – Openness to experience– Achievement orientation – Self efficacy

• These findings show that in addition to assessing motivational job fit when hiring new employees, organisations can use appropriate and validated tests to identify employees who are more likely to be engaged on the job.


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2. Exceptional Leadership

• Employee engagement is directly affected by the quality of leadership.

• Leaders have the influence and power to serve as catalysts for higher levels of engagement, not only in one or two areas, but in all aspects of leadership.

• Our research shows that: – More engaged managers have more engaged direct reports– The direct reports of engaged managers are less likely to leave

the organisation– Higher performing managers have direct reports who are more

highly engaged • Engaged leaders understand that their role is not to take charge of

all the decisions, but to be more encouraging. • It’s about recognition for a job well done– holding people

accountable for their performance.


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COACH AND DEVELOP FOR RESULTS

Effective leaders know that team members are more engaged when they can “get it right” the first time. They spend more time coaching for success (proactively) than coaching for improvement (reactively). For long term development, leaders need to know how to position high payoff development activities that benefit the individual, and at the same time, address the team’s and organisation’s goals and needs.

DRIVE PERFORMANCE

We’ve all had that experience - one person on the team not pulling their weight and the leader is not holding the person accountable. It’s disengaging right? Engagement is higher when leaders set clear goals and they hold people accountable.

INSPIRE LOYALTY AND TRUST

Engaging leaders understand that they need to proactively build an environment where employees are motivated, engaged, and retained. Effective leaders don’t wait to get the resignation to know that an employee is dissatisfied.

SELECT TALENT

It is best to start with people who have a better change of being engaged and people who not only can do the job, but also want to do the job. Leaders who have the skills and knowledge to select highly engaged employees can make a great contribution in both the present and the future

MANAGE WORK

Leaders who do a good job of managing work understand the difference between delegation and dumping. Effective leaders distribute work appropriately, and they make it meaningful. They are also effective at making decisions, planning and organising, and following up.

PARTNER WITHIN AND ACROSS TEAMS

People are more engaged in an environment that is collaborative and not adversarial. Effective leaders have mastered not only the intra-team skills to get people engaged, but also the inter-team skills.

INFLUENCE THROUGH PERSONAL POWER

Leaders who influence versus those who ‘flex their muscles’ are clearly more engaging and have learned how to build sufficient commitment to move good ideas through their organisation.

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PROFILE OF ENGAGED LEADERS


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3. Organisational Systems and Processes• It almost has to go without saying organisations need strong

systems and strategies that support and foster engagement. • Examples of these systems are:

– Screening at hiring – promotion, – performance management, – recognition, – compensation, – training and career development.

• Aligned, these systems provide a firm foundation upon which to accelerate engagement.

• A shaky or incomplete foundation will make your efforts to build engagement more difficult, if not impossible.


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Value PropositionENGAGEMENT DRIVERS•Right employees in the rightjobs •Exceptional leadership •Organisational systems andstrategies

ENGAGEMENT DRIVERS•Right employees in the rightjobs •Exceptional leadership •Organisational systems andstrategies

WORK ENVIRONMENT•Aligned effort and strategy •Empowerment •Teamwork/collaboration•Growth and development •Support and recognition

WORK ENVIRONMENT•Aligned effort and strategy •Empowerment •Teamwork/collaboration•Growth and development •Support and recognition

ENGAGED EMPLOYEES •Intend to stay longer•Enhanced effort

ENGAGED EMPLOYEES •Intend to stay longer•Enhanced effort

ORGANISATIONAL SUCCESS•Satisfied / loyal customers•Increased retention •Higher output, productivity and/or profits•Revenue/ value growth

ORGANISATIONAL SUCCESS•Satisfied / loyal customers•Increased retention •Higher output, productivity and/or profits•Revenue/ value growth

INPUT

OUTPUT


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Introspection

• Am an engaged HR leader?

• How engaged is my workforce? • Is engagement something important for my organisation


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Conclusion

• Engagement is the extent to which an employee is committed to their job, and the extent to which this commitment drives their performance and intent to stay with the organisation.

• Engagement does not just materialise, organisations must hire employees who fit the job, develop leaders and provide support through strong systems and strategies.

• Further more, organisations must invest in understanding, measuring and developing solutions to engagement challenges.