Human Resource Management - Essay Example

As Schaufeli, Bakker and Salonova (2006) stated employee Engagement can be defined as a positive, fulfilling work related state of mind in an organization that is characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption, which positively impacts employees. Apple Inc, headquartered in California, is known for producing best known hardware products like Mac line of computers, iPod music players and the iPhone smart phone. In the recent years, there is a remarkable growth in number of employees in Apple.

“Apple's employee headcount grew to 80,300 full-time equivalents, up from 72,800 at the end of fiscal 2012” (Silva 2013).Thus, this company becomes an apt model for discussing HRM challenges in Employee engagement. In this content, let us analyze the theories related to this HRM challenge, using Apple Inc, as an example. Employee, being the lifeline of an organization, must be assigned challenging assignments as per their interests and expectations, so that they devote their maximum potential to attain maximum production and also achieve customer satisfaction.

To engage employee’s hearts and minds, there are ten C’s namely connect, career, clarity, convey, congratulate, control, contribute, collaborate, credibility, confidence. (Zinger). All these aspects has to fall in place for the employee to become engaged to his/her allocated tasks. Employee engagement is also driven by lot of factors such as communication, performance, rewards and recognition, relationship with managers and peers, knowledge of company’s goals, vision and career development opportunities.

(Das and Vijayalakshmi 2012). Again, when all these aspects are positively managed by the organization and its managers, the employees will become engaged and will be ready to put maximum effort for the betterment of the company. The employee’s intrinsic interests are personal growth, being part of a larger process and their extrinsic interests are pays and rewards. Employees should be able to find a profound connection to the company, so that their interests correspond to the goals of the company.

Employees are the first and foremost customers to the company and organization’s policies should be framed in such a way, that it satisfies their primary customers. Employee engagement is also the prime factor in employee retention. It is very essential because of the expensive employee replacement costs. “A study conducted by SHRM (society for human resources management) that estimated that it cost $3,500 to replace just one $8 per hour employee” (Burns 2011). Thus in order to eliminate unnecessary wastages of company’s capital, employee engagement plays a pivotal role.

In our employee engagement study, the retail sector of Apple can be taken for deeper study. Employee engagement should commence from the moment of recruitment or employment. In that direction, Apple follows a unique method by employing Apple brand lovers. “Apple recruits people who love the Apple brand and provides them with a vision for their work that goes beyond selling products to enriching people’s lives” (Temkin 2011). In their induction program, employees keep on hearing the chanting of