Feature

Employee engagement

Why the concept of employee engagement has become so significant in IT organisations today. By Sudipta Dev.

Most organisations today realise that a ‘satisfied’ employee is not necessarily the ‘best’ employee in terms of loyalty and productivity. It is only an ‘engaged employee’ who is intellectually and emotionally bound with the organisation, feels passionately about its goals and is committed towards its values who can be termed thus. He goes the extra mile beyond the basic job responsibility and is associated with the actions that drive the business. Moreover, in times of diminishing loyalty, employee engagement is a powerful retention strategy. The fact that it has a strong impact on the bottomline adds to its significance.

Engagement is about motivating employees to do their best. An engaged employee gives his company his 100 percent. This is what makes the difference in an industry where the most valuable resource of a company walks out of the door every evening. “This is of particular importance in a knowledge industry. The quality of output and competitive advantage of a company depend on the quality of its people,” says Anupama Babbar, Senior Manager, HR, at Flextronics Software Systems.

It has been proved that there is an intrinsic link between employee engagement, customer loyalty, and profitability. Explains Sunil Kumar, Vice-president, HR, Vertex, “When employees are effectively and positively engaged with their organisation, they form an emotional connection with the company. This impacts their attitude towards the company’s clients, and thereby improves customer satisfaction and service levels.” Kumar points out that a successful employee engagement helps create a community at the workplace and not just a workforce.

Need to connect

Virtual work practices being the order of the day, one of the greatest challenges for global organisations has been engaging a dispersed workforce. Hemant Sharma, Head HR, Sun Microsystems India, focusses on the significance: “As organisations globalise and become more dependent on technology in a virtual working environment, there is a greater need to connect and engage with employees to provide them with an organisational ‘identity.’ Especially in Indian culture, this becomes more relevant given the community feeling which organisations provide in our society.”

All companies are aware that they need to do a better job of managing their people. According to Salil Bhargava, Chief Marketing Officer at Paradox Studios, Burke Inc research shows that engaged employees are more likely to stay, and be an advocate of the company, its products or

services. They contribute to the overall success of the organisation. “A greater number of loyal employees ensure low recruitment and training costs, in effect enhancing the productivity of the organisation. They are also more willing to put in extra effort when the organisation needs it,” Bhargava believes.

Their impact on the working environment is also significant as they are more focussed on organisational benefit than personal goals. This consequently reduces feelings of acrimony and internal rivalries. “They also project a positive image to new recruits and this motivates the latter to perform better and assimilate themselves in the office culture. Research also shows that engaged employees in customer-facing roles are more likely to treat customers in ways that positively influence customer satisfaction,” adds Bhargava.

Organisation initiatives

Most organisations have a range of programmes to improve the engagement level of their employees. Vivek Punekar, Associate Vice-president, HRD, HCL Infosystems, lists the initiatives made by the organisation, which start right at the selection stage:

• Choosing the right fit and giving a realistic job preview
• Strong induction and orientation programme
• Rigorous training and development, from technical to soft skills to leadership development programmes. Apart from this, there are other forums like enable@HCL which has regular technical/soft-skill updates. HCL also has a certification programme for freshers which empowers young engineers
• To keep up the morale of people and drive them towards excellent performance, HCL has various incentives such as recognition letters, profit sharing schemes, long performance awards, ESOPS, building assets like own home
• Regular feedback to all people
• Communication forums like the in-house magazine Intouch, innovate@HCL (an e-forum to develop entrepreneurship), and regular surveys and conferences
• To maintain the quality of work-life and a balance between personal/professional lives, there are recreational activities like festivities@HCL, get-togethers@HCL, sports@HCL, etc
• An open and transparent culture to empower its people and develop entrepreneurs.
  

“The result of these practices is evident through the regular feedback from our employees collected through conferences and surveys, apart from the employee engagement survey conducted every second year. The proof is the latest increase in employee engagement from 54 percent to 64 percent,” informs Punekar.

A matter of partnership

Global studies suggest that there are three basic aspects of employee engagement:

• The employees and their own unique psychological make up and experience
• The employers and their ability to create the conditions that promote employee engagement
• Interaction between employees at all levels.
  

A greater number of loyal employees ensure low recruitment and training costs, in effect enhancing the productivity of the organisation Salil Bhargava Chief Marketing Officer Paradox Studios

Atul Kunwar, Managing Director, eFunds International India, is of the opinion that employee engagement is a partnership between a company and its employees where everyone works together to achieve the business objectives of the company and the personal aspirations of the employees. It is therefore largely the organisation’s responsibility to create an environment and culture conducive to this partnership, and a win-win equation. He states, “Employee engagement is a barometer that determines the association of a person with the organisation. An associated or engaged employee is, after all, a productive employee. However, in practice, engagement transcends this. It is about creating the passion among associates to do things beyond what is expected of them. A highly engaged employee will consistently deliver beyond expectations. A productive employee who has a sense of belonging and a strong bond with the company and its brand will create a ripple effect that results in a positively charged atmosphere in the organisation.”

Kunwar points out that research and personal experience point to the fact that most employees want something more than engagement. “Pioneering work from Gallup Research suggests that engaged employees are more likely to trust their companies and promote their business agenda. Beyond the common sense from Gallup is the bigger picture, that of developing the leadership mass and core of the organisation through and beyond engagement,” he adds.

Engaging virtual teams at Sun

Hemant Sharma, Head, HR, Sun Microsystems India, explains how his organisation has successfully managed to enagage its virtual workforce: Employee engagement is imperative for an organisation like Sun as we operate in virtual teams across the globe. Employee engagement becomes that much more critical in such a virtual environment. Further, flexible working arrangements are a plus for many employees. However, flexibility comes with a trade-off—the isolation of distance. This isolation, especially when paired with the demands of work in an increasingly competitive environment, can wear down a worker’s sense of connection, commitment and excitement about the job. Keeping remote employees engaged is a critical challenge for managers. At Sun, we treat our employees with utmost importance. The concept of employee engagement starts right from the top with Scott McNealy our CEO and the senior management team. Scott interacts with our employees through WSUN, a forum on Sun’s intranet where he engages in active dialogue once a month on corporate goals and directions, and also solicits their feedback, opinions and pet peeves. Other senior management members like Jonathan Schwartz, COO, engages with employees on technology directions through his personal blog. Our business unit Heads and Executive Vice-presidents have a target of holding six ‘townhalls’ with employees every year across the globe. At the country level in India, senior management is constantly engaging employees through various forums and interactions to build excitement and passion through various communication channels and events. In fact, we also reach out to the employees’ families by inviting and involving them in some events. The internal website of Sun is updated daily, thus keeping employees abreast of the happenings and developments in their organisation.

The loyalty factor

The key to employee engagement is creating greater motivation for their work and commitment to their organisation. Sudhalini Madhusudan, Assistant Vice-president, Talent Enhancement Group, OfficeTiger, concedes that it is not possible to retain professionals only by paying high salaries and offering attractive benefits. “We need to create enthusiasm for their roles, their work and the organisation, and ensure they are well integrated. Employee engagement relates to the employee’s commitment to the organisation’s success. Engaged employees who are inspired and guided by the leadership, equipped with the right tools and managed by the right systems and processes deliver superior performance.” Empl-oyee engagement today encompasses training, development, work environment, leadership, performance management, work/life balance, communication, compensation, benefits, commitment, fun and social activities. This, asserts Madhusudan, enh-ances the bonding between employees and commitment to the company.

The quality of output and competitive advantage of a company depend on the quality of its people Anupama Babbar Senior Manager, HR Flextronics Software Systems	Employee engagement is a barometer that determines the association of a person with the organisation Atul Kunwar Managing Director EFunds International India

Sudheesh Venkatesh, Head of Human Resources at Tesco HSC (Hindustan Service Center) views employee engagement as a psychological association. When the parent company did research on employee engagement in Britain it found that certain factors made a difference. “Our early experience in India has been similar,” says Venkatesh. Employees want to work for an organisation that:

• Is successful
• Is legal
• Provides opportunities to grow
• Has managers who help employees
• Is socially responsible.

Measuring employee engagement

Employee engagement can be revealed in several ways, including ‘pulse’ to annual surveys, tracking changes in the attrition rate, increase in the number of employee referrals, and growth in productivity and business.

In many organisations, the age-old Employee Satisfaction Surveys were considered the most popular method for measuring how happy an employee was in the organisation. This is slowly being replaced by surveys that can effectively measure employee engagement. For example, Vertex conducts the annual Employee Opinion Survey across the organisation. This survey is designed and analysed by an independent body. “The analysed results help us gauge the level of employee engagement within the company. It also helps identify weak areas. After each annual survey an Action Planning Group is formed within the organisation that comprises a cross-section of people from across the company; all departments and all levels are fairly represented. This group then works on different projects leveraging the strengths identified by the survey,” informs Kumar.

Paradox Studios measures employee engagement from two dimensions: how employees feel (their emotions toward the company, the leadership, the work environment, etc) and/or how they intend to act in the future (will they stay, give extra effort, etc.) This is conducted regularly through a questionnaire and is measured on various parameters pre-defined by the HR team. Bhargava asserts that employee engagement needs to be measured at regular intervals in order to track its contribution to the success of the organisation.

eFunds measures employee engagement by conducting an Employee Engagement Survey (EES) once every two years in association with a leading global consultant. The survey is conducted at the same time across all eFunds sites worldwide. “This exercise is also supplemented by conducting dipsticks on several issues concerning employee engagement and morale,” informs Kunwar.

At Flextronics, EES is an annual feature. “It measures employee behaviour on important engagement parameters. The questions are hosted on the organisation’s Web site. There are over a hundred statements and people rate them from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree,’” says Babbar. The findings of the survey are analysed and the points that need to be addressed are acted upon accordingly.

Conducting a survey without planning how to handle the result can lead employees to disengage. It is therefore not enough to feel the pulse—the action plan is just as essential.

sudipta@expresscomputeronline.com