Win-Win with Employee-Engagement

Employee Engagement has been an area of academic interest and organizational focus in recent years. In Cascade’s annual study on HR landscape, it topped the list of organization’s biggest challenge for the second year running. Their concern is genuine as according to the latest State of the American Workplace report, only 34% of employed residents in the United States are engaged at work, 53% ‘not engaged’, and 13% ‘disengaged’. Globally the number of engaged employees is even more dismal at only 13%. Also, earlier it was about hiring the best talent to drive organizational success and growth but with talent so scarce versus ever-increasing demand, the focus is shifting from ‘War for talent’ to ‘War on talent’. The war on talent warrants a more engaged workplace, where employees feel empowered and self-motivated to give their 100% for the organization’s success. The article reviews:

• Importance of Employee Engagement
• Insights from I/O Psychology
• Measuring Employee Engagement
• Adoption of Technology
• Ecosystem for an engaged workplace

Decode Employee Engagement: Employee engagement is often confused with employee satisfaction. Employees can be satisfied yet not engaged if their physiological needs like compensation, rewards, benefits, etc. are covered by their job. Employee engagement goes beyond that and aims for employees’ psychological investment in their organization and motivation to produce outstanding results. They are driven by intrinsic motivators such as recognition, constant feedback & encouragement, challenging work, and ability to live their true self and purpose at the workplace. Employee engagement is a proactive and continuous care-and-receive experience between employers and employees. Organizations proactively work towards understanding and delivering on the aspirations, values, and interests of the employees. In return, employees reward organizations by going the extra mile in aligning with and delivering the organization’s mission, vision, and goals.

“Employee engagement is a proactive and continuous care-and-receive experience between employers and employees.”

The Win-Wins: A lot of scientific literature has been published since Prof. William A. Kahn published “Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work” in 1990. The studies conducted over the past three decades suggest that higher employee engagement boosts employee wellbeing, improves productivity and enhances organizational performance. Thanks to a growing focus on its adoption in mainstream organizations and by many startups in the past ten years, the percentage of engaged employees has steadily increased while that of disengaged employees has decreased, according to Gallup data (Fig. 1). It benefits both employees and the organization. Engaged employees consistently bring discretionary effort in their roles. They are more driven at work, productive, achieve higher results, are socially more engaged, enjoy better health, wellbeing, work-life balance, etc. At the same time, organizations have shown to achieve reduced turnover, absenteeism, higher customer satisfaction, growth, productivity, profitability, employee cost-to-value augmentation, are able to attract and retain top talent, etc. Overall it creates a more inspiring organizational culture with employees not just contributing positively to their organization but also infuse positivity in their associations with other colleagues and in their personal as well as social life. 

Fig. 1 (Source: Gallup)

Psychology of Employee Engagement: Employee engagement comes inherently from the employees. Even the best perks or facilities (extrinsic factors) have failed to achieve high employee engagement. Therefore when it comes to matters related to human capital, drawing insights from I/O (Industrial-Organizational) psychology to understand human behavior is essential. There are two aspects of it which can be explained using the care-and-receive paradigm. To start with, organizations need to understand the key drivers of employee motivation at work. And later, when organizations plan initiatives to boost employee engagement, it is also valuable to study the personality traits in employees which are most likely to respond favorably to those initiatives.

Research studies have found higher employee engagement where employees’ professional aspirations and personal values are congruent with their work and workplace. Employees are looking for workplaces which provide them a fair opportunity to learn, deliver, grow, and also to connect with others inside and outside the organization. Not to ignore that millennials are an exceptionally purpose-driven generation and Gen X is specifically targeting companies which can also support their purpose for life. Considering these drivers in human capital strategies is key to employee engagement.

An HR initiative for employees may work well for some but not for everyone and that’s why understanding individual personality that guides employee’s behavior is so helpful. With reference to The Big Five personality traits; a high score on Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and a low score on Neuroticism have been found to be a good determinant of engagement. For example, people high on Openness are considered to be creative, curious about other people, eager to learn new thing, etc. all of which positively influence their engagement with work, colleagues, and organization. Hence, a personality test can help assess employees who are more likely to be engaged at work. An important point to remember here is that personality assessment tests are not meant to be descriptive but are supposed to be prescriptive in helping the employee develop on areas important to excel in their work. 

"To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace." - Douglas Conant

Insights to Complement Intuition: Human capital decisions have long been based primarily on intuition. However, with the help of surveys and new SaaS/HRIS engagement platforms, intuition can be complemented with insights from employee data to derive correct inferences and make unbiased decisions. It is important to measure employee engagement using a proven methodology and track it regularly. The Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) based on Net Promoter Score (NPS) developed in 2003 by Fredrick F. Reichheld and Bain & Company to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty is a reliable practice to measure the same for employees. The first step is to use employee surveys to capture employee engagement. It is important to frame the correct questions which should capture both the physiological and psychological factors using quantitative assessment (answers in the scale of 1-10) and qualitative assessment (employee comments/feedback). A few examples of survey questions are:

• I have opportunities for new learnings at work.
• My manager provides feedback on my work.
• I receive recognition for doing good work.
• I see a path to advance my career in my organization.
• My manager encourages my development.
• I can count on my colleagues for help when needed.
• I understand how my work supports the goals of my team and organization.
• How likely are you to recommend your organization as a good place to work?

Source: Peakon's guide to creating EE survey

The scores are then used to calculate employee engagement. Employee comment/feedback provides additional context on areas most relevant to employees and also helps decode the reason behind the trend in employee engagement score. Regarding the frequency of surveys, the annual survey has been found to be ineffective. At least a quarterly survey is recommended but a weekly survey covering 3-5 questions has been found to be most effective. It avoids survey fatigue from lengthy surveys, enhances regular communication, ensures good survey participation and authentic feedback.

Tech & Touch: As the Fourth Industrial Revolution brings the digital and physical worlds together to transform the way we live and work, there is a growing demand for the adoption of technology in talent management. It helps improve efficiency and effectiveness in workforce planning and development and has been instrumental in reducing biases in talent decisions. SaaS platforms from Glint, Peakon, Culture Amp, Namely, Lattice, etc. (to name a few) unite technology with touch to provide digital solutions for employee engagement. These platforms are based on scientific research in I/O psychology and human capital management, built on the latest technology, enriched with smart analytics, are intuitive and engaging, and also compatible with other HRIS platforms/tools. The wealth of data, analytics, and insights generated from these platforms can empower managers/business leaders/ HR to real-time assess employee engagement and take effective steps to improve it. In addition, they can be instrumental in deriving insights about employee wellbeing, employee flight risk, identify effective current and prospective future leaders, etc. 

“Thanks to a growing focus on its (employee engagement) adoption in mainstream organizations in the past ten years, the percentage of engaged employees has steadily increased while that of disengaged employees has decreased, according to Gallup data.”

Culture, Communication & Commitment: When it comes to organizational success, I/O psychologists have stressed time and again on the importance of organizational culture. It tells us about the psychological rewards the organization provides to its employees. In addition, continuous company-wide communication and commitment of the top management, board members, and senior business leaders are key to achieving high employee engagement. Organizations can constantly engage with employees to reiterate the organization’s business goals and commitment towards the well being of their employees and employees encouraged to raise their concerns openly, give-and-receive feedbacks. Finally, managers play a key in employee engagement as they are the first connection between employees and the organization. Their individual values and actions play a pivotal role in how they lead and what culture they build in the team, and hence have a direct impact on their’s and their team members’ engagement level. Unfortunately, according to a Gallup survey, managers or team leaders account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores. Moreover, if the manager is not engaged or disengaged, it not only undermines the manager’s duty towards the organization but also has a damaging effect on their team members’ engagement level. A large onus is on business leaders and team managers to drive employee engagement for achieving organizational success. Therefore sensitizing and training business leaders and team managers on employee engagement is essential.

"Connect the dots between individual roles and the goals of the organization. When people see that connection, they get a lot of energy out of work. They feel the importance, dignity, and meaning in their job." - Ken Blanchard

Research studies and practices in employee engagement are now available for every organization to review and adopt. If a team or organization is consistently failing to achieve its goals, experiencing high employee turnover and absenteeism, etc., poor employee engagement could be a potential reason. Ignoring it can lead to failure in the organization engaging effectively with their biggest assets (employees). Whereas, an honest and committed focus on employee engagement can help the organization create an inspiring workplace, motivated and happy workforce, and unleash the power of human capital in achieving organizational success beyond expectations; a win-win for both employees and the organization. 

[The article is based on the author's personal views, professional experiences, research, and discussions. ]

Key References:

• Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work - Prof.William A Kahn
• [Book] The Talent Delusion - Prof.Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
• Peakon's guide to creating EE survey
• Gallup data