A few days back, I came across this graphic which shows
Engagement of Employees as blocks of a house. Being in the Real Estate sector,
this obviously aroused my curiosity.
What is interesting is that the foundation
of employee engagement is the Organizational Culture and the Values being
espoused at the workplace. This in turn shapes the job / organizational content
for an employee. This content might include everything from the nature of the
job, the work conditions, the associated rewards, the perceived value of the
job, the attitude of the management towards the role, the person, and
expectations along with a feeling of contributing to the success of the
organization. All these factors in place, one can expect a great attitude from
each employee, thereby leading to what is fancily called Organizational Citizenship.
However, this is a long list of
expectations to be fulfilled, especially in the millennial workforce where the
average job tenure is starting to be counted in months rather than years. Hence, HR managers of today have to focus on
what is most relevant to the workforce and what will have maximum impact in the
shortest time.
Now what’s relevant might differ
from one employee to another. Here the HR team has to do some legwork in
identifying areas of concern / impact for employees to show to employees that
the organization cares. I’ve seen an organization where the average age of the
workforce was below 30 and they tweaked the compensation structure to maximize
the take-home for the younger lot. The relatively senior ones were still given
the option to safeguard or maximize their retirals. Small change, but high
impact.
Some obvious quick-wins visible
in the graphic:
· Communication – I have seen examples of leaders
/ top management who go out of the way to make sure that the employees stay
ahead of the rumor mills. Employees love such leaders. It gives the impression
that the top management is accessible and human and makes the employees feel
involved in the longer term vision.
· Happy Workplace – As Jack Welch famously said a happy workplace
gives us happy customers, leading to better cashflows. Small things like
impromptu public recognition meetings, go a long way in sustaining the morale of
employees. Elaborate song n’ dance routines are effective if it is ensured that
the involvement is from the larger workforce, and not restricted to the HR /
Marketing teams. The process is more important than the end result.
· Flexibility – Treating employees as humans. The
line between ‘work’ and ‘life has become blurred. So practice it both ways. Not
only work time encroaching into ‘family’ time. Give some flexibility in letting
it work the other way. And see the results for yourself.
These in no way should take one
away from the fact that the biggest X factor in employee engagement is the
immediate manager. Most other factors impacting this metric are the
responsibility of the immediate manger. Hence, a more longer-term ongoing
imperative is training managers to become human and treat their team members as
humans. The message has to be that in the longer term, only the creative and
agile organizations will survive. And creativity is fostered in a positive
environment only. So trust the team and treat them like you would want to be
treated yourself.
