Employee Engagement - what's it really all about?

 
Employee Engagement is currently one of the hottest topics in HR. Companies have long believed motivated and committed employees are good for business - now they have the proof.

A series of research studies from the likes of McKinsey, The Gallup Organisation, Towers Perrin and the IES have all revealed that engaged workforces have a significant positive impact on return to Shareholders.  Today, it is widely acknowledged that an active Employee Engagement strategy is a fundamental factor in business success.  But what exactly is ‘Employee Engagement’?  How do you set about building an ‘engaged workforce’? And how can you ensure your strategy engages each and every individual in your organisation?

Defining Employee Engagement

For some HR departments, Employee Engagement is seen as little more than glorified internal communications.  In their eyes, it’s about regular communication with employees, and occasional motivational conferences or employee road shows to boost morale.

Undoubtedly, good communication is central to effective Employee Engagement.  But the truth is that the best engagement strategies go far deeper than this, governing and influencing every aspect of modern HR practice.

At its simplest, Employee Engagement is about creating three things in your people – ‘will’, ‘skill’ and ‘commitment’ – to enable them to deliver outstanding shareholder returns.

Creating a ‘will’ is all about inspiring and exciting people.  It’s about creating a belief in the values of the organisation, a desire to contribute to its success, and a willingness to ‘go the extra mile’.  It’s about helping people understand the ‘bigger picture’ and communicating those visions in relevant and convincing ways so that employees choose to engage with them.

But ‘will’ without ‘skill’ is meaningless.  Once inspired, employees must be equipped with the tools and skills they need to achieve those visions.  Creating ‘skill’ is about training, education and personal development – not just amongst employees themselves, but critically amongst first line managers and leaders, who need to be equipped with their own set of skills to manage and maintain engagement amongst their teams.

The final strand of Employee Engagement is creating ‘commitment’.  Here, the emphasis is on keeping employees informed about personal and company progress, and ensuring they remain engaged through appropriate reward, incentive and recognition schemes.

Engaging the workforce

So what’s the best way to go about developing an effective engagement strategy?
For a start, Employee Engagement is the responsibility of everyone in the organisation.  HR Directors might be best placed to establish the framework, but engagement needs constant nurturing and care, and must be embraced as much by line managers as Board Directors and, ultimately, the entire workforce.

“inspiring and exciting people”

Another crucial aspect of Employee Engagement is employee ‘choice’.  Companies that try to force a particular ethos on individuals are unlikely to succeed.  Those that provide individuals with the understanding and information they need to make a positive choice to get involved, are likely to see far higher levels of genuine engagement and productivity.

Effective engagement strategies require instilling a mix of understanding, capability and ownership amongst employees in order to generate the desired blend of will, skill and commitment.

Building understanding, capability and ownership

Ironically, the best engagement strategies begin before people are even company employees.  The way you recruit speaks volumes about your organisation.  Few people pick companies solely on the basis of the package.  People want to work for companies they believe in, where they feel they will ‘belong’ and where they perceive the organisation will enable them to perform well.  It’s important to make the interview a great experience; to make prospective employees welcome; and to communicate with passion.  Even if the candidate doesn’t get the job, they’ll go away as a champion of your company.  

As soon as an appointment is made, it’s essential to continue to build engagement as the person works out their notice.  Share news and information about the company and their role; invite them to company events to welcome them on-board; get them excited about their new role.  Show a genuine desire to support and help new employees settle in – every action taken in this phase will further confirm in the candidate’s mind that they have made a great career choice.

“a fundamental factor in business success”

Effective communication is the foundation of understanding, but internal communication needs to do more than simply inform and instruct – it also needs to inspire and motivate.  The processes that organisations use to converse with their people, shape their response.  To elicit positive and energised responses from employees, new thinking and new interactive techniques must be employed.

Environment is often overlooked as a factor in Employee Engagement.  If your front of house looks great but your back offices are a mess, employees will feel you don’t care about them.  Create engaging workspaces; celebrate your products and services; display your achievements, your visions, your ideas.

Regular training and personal development are, of course, vital for ensuring employees feel they have the right resources they need to do their job properly and to progress.  People need to know what they are expected to achieve, how their performance will be measured and judged, and how their role contributes to the overall business success.  Critical within this, then, is the role of leadership.  Bad leadership was found to be a key factor in high levels of disengagement found in the ‘2005 Towers Perrin Global Workforce Study’.  To create engaged workforces, leaders must be equipped with the skills they need to coach and inspire their teams effectively.

“individual engagement triggers”

Performance management, reward and recognition mechanisms are important factors in generating a strong sense of ownership of performance.  Flexible reward packages have different engagement effects, depending on individuals and market sectors.  Younger employees might be more attracted to gyms and unpaid sabbaticals then pensions.  As they age, flexible working and private healthcare are likely to be more popular than personal development for your average investment banker, yet offer an employee of an automotive firm Grand Prix tickets, and they’ll love you for it!

With reward and recognition, the key is to find individual engagement triggers.  As marketing segments its external customers, so HR needs to segment its internal audiences for maximum relevance.  Typically this is best done either on age bracket, by life stage, or by job role.  Different packages can then be designed for each, enabling each employee to choose the most engaging reward mix.

The size of the business and stage in its lifecycle also affects what strategies are most appropriate.  For start-ups, it tends to be all about the thrill of the job and the challenge in making it work, whereas in more mature companies, people tend to favour incentive and bonus schemes that reward individual performance.

Pulling it all together

Pulling together an effective engagement strategy takes time and effort – but the rewards are clear.  Engaged employees lead to increased productivity, lower staff turnover, more loyal customers and higher profitability.

Because every individual is unique, the challenge of uniting a disparate workforce behind a single engagement strategy is significant. A huge number of factors affect Employee Engagement, from ‘hygiene’ factors such as rewards, benefits, training and communication, to more complex factors such as involvement, leadership, vision and interaction.  For that reason, we believe the best engagement strategies align everything behind the corporate brand.  It’s the most visible external expression of a company – shouldn’t its employees be living it too?

Contact
If you’d like to chat through any of the issues we’ve covered in this short paper please get in touch by calling us on 0207 208 7258 or by e-mailing info@nkdlearning.co.uk