Strategies That Improve Employee Engagement - Case Study Example

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT Name Institution Class Professor Date Table of Contents Introduction 3 Strategies That Improve Employee Engagement 4 Right managers 5 Transparency in the work place. 5 Providing incentives that improve the health of the office 6 Investing in employees development 7 Setting up a measuring mindset 8 Annual reviews 8 Conflicts when implementing strategies and how they can be avoided. 9 High cost of conducting surveys 9 Sensitive information 9 Employee incentives may be too costly 10 Creation of flexible working environment may encourage absenteeism 10 Giving frequent feedback may be expensive and time consuming 11 Lack of Confidence in the loyalty of employees 11 Community projects are at times expensive 11 Conclusion 12 References 12 Introduction One of the major functions of human resource management is to ensure that the employees in the organization are engaged in the firm. Employee engagement refers to the state or the relationship between employees and the organization that they work for. Employee engagement strategies are aimed at creating right conditions and the right environment in the work place that enables all members of the organization to give their best in their work every day. It is an approach that is aimed at improving the morale of employees and hence increasing their efficiency at the work place. Engaged employees are hard to come by. A study carried out by Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace reported that worldwide only thirteen percent of all employees are engaged at work. The highest level of engaged employees among the countries surveyed went to New Zealand at twenty three percent. Australia’s engagement levels stood at twenty four percent. The United States have a much higher engagement level with thirty percent of the workforce being engaged in their work. [Rob14] An engaged employee will put a lot of effort in their work compared to employees who are not engaged or those that are disengaged. Many organizations today are putting a lot of effort to improve their employee engagement levels so as to boost efficiency, improve communication and increase profit margins. In the attempt to engage their employees more, there are a few conflicts of interests that may arise. This paper aims at discussing the strategies that an organization can adopt to improve employee engagement, the conflicts that may arise when implementing these strategies, how to avoid the conflicts and how they can be resolved when they occur.[Sak06] Strategies That Improve Employee Engagement Employees can be classified into three categories. One is those that are engaged in their work who work diligently and are passionate about their work and their positions. The second category is the not-engaged employees who go through the daily motions at the workplace but are not passionate about their work and do not put much effort into their work. The third type are those employees who are dissatisfied and unhappy about their positions and their work and they are always complaining. An engaged employee performs better and this has prompted organization to come up with strategies to improve employee engagement. These strategies are discussed below in detail. Using the proper employee engagement survey. Many companies carry out surveys that are aimed at studying the level of employee engagement. These surveys should be carried out in a way that ensures data collected is relevant and actionable. A common mistake that is made during surveys occurs when employees are asked for their opinion and made to think that action will take place and then nothing happens. Data collected during surveys should be relevant for all departments, specific and actionable. After data has been collected, the organization should then aim at acting on the findings. Frishco’s Human Resource Management has taken up carrying out surveys as an integral program. They carried out an employee survey whose results were used to create strategic plans for change focused on improving employee engagement and trust.[Lut02] Right managers Right managers are a major determinant when it comes to employee engagement. Organizations should seek to employ managers that recognize that employees form an important component in the organization. Right managers are sincerely concerned about their employees and seek ways to empower them. Such managers are aware of the important role employees play and the contribution they make and hence they actively seek ideas and opinions of the employees. Frishco had adopted a leadership scheme that is democratic in nature which ensures that employees are heard and that the advice and ideas they give are used to make improvements in the company. [Lut02] Transparency in the work place. Management being transparent has a very direct correlation with employee contentment and happiness. When employees are trusted with sensitive information they feel a sense of connection and deeper investment in the company. This helps create teams that are more cooperative and enhances a team environment within an organization. It removes the notion of “us against them” in the employee- management relationship.[Mar10] Providing incentives that improve the health of the office This involves creating an environment where employees enjoy working at and one where they loving going to every day. Some companies such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook excel at this. Google does this by providing benefits such as free meals cooked by a cafeteria chef, reimbursing tuition and providing other bonuses. These perks increase innovation, motivation to work, low sickness rates, low employee turnover and increases the productivity of workers. There are many other activities that an organization can endorse to improve engagement. These activities can include taking a half-day Friday to enjoy an activity together as an office, offering snacks that are healthy, offering simple awards to hard-working teams to keep them motivated, or even hiring a masseuse for a day to attend to employees. Frischo began offering incentives to employee in order to reduce employee turnover that has been high.[off17] Creating a flexible work environment. One way of improving employee engagement is by giving employees the freedom to achieve results in the way that they can best. This involves freedom to perform tasks without focusing on micromanagement or focusing on the amount of time spent at work. Organizations should seek to monitor and encourage behaviors that produce results among different employees. An example of this is allowing flexibility such as allowing employees to go to the gym and run errands in the middle of the day so long as they are producing the expected results and working at their optimal productivity level. Flexibility shows respect and allows work-life balance.[Mar10] Investing in employees development Great things happen in organizations where managers and employers are committed to the development of their team members and employees. Commitment to personal and professional development of employees show them their great value to the company. Providing employees with growth and the ability to increase their knowledge encourages them to produce more results, increases loyalty to the organization and motivates them to stay in the organization longer. An organization can encourage personal development by paying for professional or personal development courses, books or seminars. Departments within the organization can also set apart time each week or month to discuss personal and professional development topics. This strategy has been taken up by Frishco to increase employee engagement. They have done this by spotting talents among the employees and encouraging them and also by providing mentorship and coaching to employees.[Mar10] Offering frequent and specific feedback. Employees like getting feedback frequently. They want feedback to be as specific as possible so that they are able to act on it. Managers should aim at providing specific comments about work done by the employees. Instead of telling the employees that they did something wrong only, managers should take time to explain the specific thing that was done wrongly, why it was wrong and teach the employees how they can correct their mistakes and do the work better the next time. A sales department can provide frequent reports of sales made and the value of the sales in order to motivate employees to make more sales. Frishco has strategies that ensure the flow of information among the employees is high. These include an internal employee magazine, morning briefing, use of intranet and adopting quarterly employee forum. Setting up a measuring mindset Managers should put up a system that enables data to speak for them. This involves not relying only on opinions but relying on facts backed by data when giving feedback and making other decisions within the company. This can be done by running small tests to see how the affairs of the organization are running, what has improved, what has reduced in productivity and by what margin. This approach will show employees that management is not biased as facts and figures rarely lie.[Att09] Annual reviews It is important to have frequent feedback sessions within an organization. However these frequent sessions should not replace a formal annual review session whose aim is to look back on the entire year and analyze the events of the whole year. The annual review provide an opportunity to see what went right, what went wrong and what can be improved in the future. Frishco has morning briefing sessions, quarterly employee forum and other means where employees and managers talk.[Rob14] Giving back to society. An organization or company should be willing to give back to the community and to provide value to the whole society. Involvement in community developing activities make employees become passionate about the company as they feel that they are ultimately serving a greater purpose. Millennials expect companies to make a commitment and public pledge to noble cooperate citizenship. One study indicated that eighty one percent of them remain and feel a sense of loyalty to companies that build philanthropy into their businesses. [off17] Conflicts when implementing strategies and how they can be avoided. There are some conflicts that arise when implementing the strategies identified above. There exists measures that a company can take to avoid these conflict and where conflict is unavoidable, an organization should aim at reducing the level and incidence of the conflict. The possible conflicts that can arise are discussed below together with their solutions.[Car06] High cost of conducting surveys Using the right survey is one of the ways of improving employee engagement. This may be hard as it requires expertise that may not be readily available within an organization. The management might find it difficult to hire qualified personnel to carry out the surveys. This will bring about a conflict of interest. This conflict can be resolved by setting aside finance for the survey when budgeting for other company expenses. This will ensure that the surveys are planned for in terms of finances and will hence not stress or strain the budget. Sensitive information Complete transparency within an organization may be an issue. Some information in an organization is very sensitive to trust too many people with. The management might find it hard to totally trust employees as some can trade the secrets of a company to rival companies. For example, when a company wants to purchase a new property or office in a prime area, they may wish to keep it secret for some time to prevent competitors from outbidding them. This conflict can be reduced by entrusting employees with information that cannot compromise the company.[Sak06] Employee incentives may be too costly Providing perks in the company to motivate employees may prove expensive for the company. Advantages such as hiring a masseuse are expensive and in a company with many employees it may be unreasonable. This conflict can be resolved by the management choosing benefits that it can handle and that will not strain its finances such as fun days in the office, outdoor activities that are not expensive or even healthy snacks that are affordable. Frischo adopted non-financial ways of motivating employees such as promise of promotion, giving employees the opportunity to make decisions and to contribute to a team as well as diversifying the tasks that employees perform. Creation of flexible working environment may encourage absenteeism Creating a flexible working environment may be a source of conflict. Some workers may take advantage of the flexibility of the system to avoid working and use company time to serve their own selfish gains. It may also be difficult for employees who offer banking services, such as cahiers or tellers, during working hours to leave their stations unattended. Some employees may take advantage and take long absent leaves and still do substandard work. This conflict can be resolved by setting a certain conditions which employees must meet before getting authorization to be out of the workplace during working hours. The case study of Frishco human resource department has shown that employee satisfaction results to low employee turnover and high performance.[Car06] Giving frequent feedback may be expensive and time consuming Offering frequent and annual feedbacks can improve employee engagement. However this can cause some challenges for management as it consumes time to prepare reports, analyze them and present them to the employees. It may also be costly in terms of human capital to prepare and analyze them. This conflict can be reduced by the management setting up a calendar that stipulates when reports should be given and the time they should take. Calendars and time set should then be followed to ensure no time is wasted. With appropriate planning, surveys need not be costly as is the case with Frischo and Michael Kors Holding limited. Lack of Confidence in the loyalty of employees Investing in employees’ development and growth can be a source of conflict Many companies fear teaching their employees very many things or providing them with too many skills because they fear that they will leaved or be poached by other companies. Management should know that this is unlikely to happen for engaged employees. Knowing that employees are loyal to organizations that support their growth will help reduce conflicts. Community projects are at times expensive Giving back to society sometimes scares some companies. Some community projects are very expensive and may strain a company with limited finances. This conflict can be resolved by engaging in activities in the society that are not necessarily very costly for the firm. Some activities such as community clean up where employees meet to clean the environment are cheap and they providing opportunities for employees to work together outside the office therefore offering opportunity for bonding.[Att09] Conclusion The benefits of employee engagement are more than any damages and costs that may be incurred at reducing conflicts. There are many other strategies that a company can adopt to improve employee engagement that have not been mentioned above. Strategies that work perfectly in one company may not work as well in another different company. This is because companies have different internal structures and unique features and diverse method of management. It is therefore prudent for companies to choose strategies that are most reasonable and applicable for them. Right strategies applied correctly will lead to success and achievement of the set goals. Conflicts are bound to occur when implementing employee engagement strategies and policies. This should not discourage management from engaging their employees as the conflicts can be resolved. All conflicts are resolvable with the right attitude and a willingness to succeed. Conflicts that cannot be totally avoided can be reduced and this should be the goal of all managers and employers in the pursuit of high employee engagement. Employee engagement is good for every company, firm or organization and even for the whole economy.[Att09] References Rob14: , (Reilly, 2014), Sak06: , (Saks, 2006), Lut02: , (Luthans, 2002), Lut02: , (Luthans, 2002), Mar10: , (Markos, 2010), off17: , (officevibe, 2017), Att09: , (Attridge, 2009), Rob14: , (Reilly, 2014), off17: , (officevibe, 2017), Car06: , (Cartwright, 2006), Read More