employee engagement

Question 1

what is engagement?

Answer 1

Engagement refers to focused energy that is directed toward organizational goals (Macey, Schneider, Barbera & Young, 2009).

Question 2

what do engaged organisations have?

Answer 2

“Engaged organisations have strong and authentic values with clear evidence of trust and fairness based on mutual respect, where two-way promises and commitments-between employers and staff – are understood and fulfilled” (MacLeod review, 2009)(p.9)

Question 3

what are some other definitions of attitudes to employee engagement?

Answer 3

a buzzword ‘heavily marketed by human resource consulting firms that offer advice on how it can be created and leveraged’ (Macey and Schneider, 2008: 3)
‘a vogue word, eclipsing commitment and motivation in the management literature’ (Woodruffe, in CIPD, 2006: 9)
‘a fad with little basis in theory and research’ (Saks, 2005)

Question 4

how does Kahn (1990) define engagement?

Answer 4

• personal engagement - “the harnessing of organisation members’ selves to their work roles”
• personal disengagement - “the uncoupling of selves from work roles”

Question 5

how do Maslach & Letter (2008) define engagement?

Answer 5

“an energetic state of involvement with personally fulfilling activities that enhance one’s self of professional efficacy” (p.498)

Question 6

how do Shaufeli et al (2002) define engagement?

Answer 6

“a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterised by vigorous, dedication, and absorption” (p.74)

Question 7

how do we reflect on engagement?

Answer 7

• If we expect people to go beyond their role all the time ..is this expecting too much
• going beyond the role suggested average performance is not engagement, nor is coming to work on time or doing broadly what the boss expects
• according to Newman and Harrison (2008:35) “good attendance, doing one’s job well and being a good citizen is precisely what it means to be engaged”
• they use a car metaphor
  to be engaged is to be “in gear” and of course when the engine is not in gear it is “idling” meaning it is running slowly and disconnected

Question 8

what is involved in the triangle of employee engagement?

Answer 8

organisation, work, team

Question 9

How is employee engagement created?

Answer 9

prior to entering the organisation: employer branding

HR practices: high-performance work practices such as employee involvement and teamwork

intermediate outcomes:
- job satisfaction & organisational commitment
- employee health and wellbeing
- emotional labour

‘final’ outcomes:
- employee retention ad reduced absence
- improved performance

Question 10

what are the different types of engagement

Answer 10

intellectual
social
affective
emotional labour

Question 11

what is intellectual engagement?

Answer 11

thinking about work

Question 12

what is social engagement?

Answer 12

talking to other people about the work

Question 13

what is affective engagement?

Answer 13

feeling good about the work - Alfie and Truss 2010

Question 14

3 reasons why UK might have engaged workforce

Question 15

3 reasons why UK might have disengaged workforce

Question 16

how do you measure employee engagement?

Answer 16

• Questionnaire, structured interview or focus groups
• measured on a scale or as a percentage
• permits comparison between different parts of the same organisation, or benchmarking against external databases
• what are the primary drivers of engagement for the organisation?
• What is the nature of the engagement? With the job, with the team, the organisation?

Question 17

what is involved in Gallup’s Q 12 engagement index?

Answer 17

• puts people into one of three categories
• engaged employees work with passion and feel profound connections with the company, they drive innovation and move the organisation forward
• not engaged employees are essentially “checked out”. they are sleepwalking through their work day…putting in time, but nothing of energy or passion into their work
• actively disengaged employees are not just unhappy at work, they are busy acting out their unhappiness. the undermine what their engaged co-workers accomplish

Question 18

how do (CIPD, 2006) describe measuring employee engagement?

Answer 18

• emotional engagement - being very involved emotionally with one’s work
• cognitive engagement - focusing very hard while at work
• physical engagement - being willing to ‘go the extra mile’ for your employer

Question 19

what did the CIPD, 2009 find about levels of engagement I employees?

Answer 19

60% emotionally engaged
40& physically

levels of engagement higher for:
- older rather than younger (under 35)
- women rather than men
- part-times rather than full-timers
- those on flexible contracts
- those working in small compared with large organisations CIPD, 2006

Question 20

why is there so much interest in engagement?

Answer 20

• need for empowered employees - make decisions themselves
• organisations need to encourage innovation and creativity at all levels
• highly skilled workers demand respect and involvement
• social change: expectations of the “me generation”
• studies indicate high correlations between engagement and business performance

Question 21

what are the benefits of engagement for employers

Answer 21

• improved worker self-esteem
• improved service levels for customers
• improved employee performance
• financial gains: improved organisational performance
• less staff turnover
• les absenteeism
• less stress
• increases general health and well-being

Question 22

general benefits of employee engagement

Answer 22

• increased productivity
• higher retention
• rise in profitability
• decrease in absenteeism
• customer satisfation

Question 23

what are barriers to engagement? McLeod and Clarke (2009)

Answer 23

• A lack of awareness by managers of what ticks the employees box
• Negativity by managers And how this impacts on organisational culture
• Not knowing how to engage with the employees
• Variability in the views of managers and leaders in their commitment to employee engagement

Question 24

what are the criticisms of employee engagement?

Answer 24

• “It’s all about the individual employee relationship, there is no attention to the collective interest and no role for trade unions”
  Many managers will be ok with that!
• Based on unitarist principles
• Is the notion of harnessing “discretionary effort” just asking for more work for no more money
• Asking for greater energy work results employee stress and burnout
• Is the way people behave at work just related to internal drivers such as personality anyway?

Question 25

what are the barriers in relation to employee views of managers?

Answer 25

The chartered management Institute questioned 2000 workers (in the UK)
- More than 25% said they did not respect their manager
- Nearly half said their manager did not help them with career development
- Over one third said their manager failed to provide clear instructions
- More than 25% said their manager talks down to them

Question 26

what are the barriers in relation to consequences of poor management

Answer 26

• Failure to respond to grievances
• autocratic management style
• an abuse of the position – bullying subordinates
• undue favouritism
• not appreciating subordinates efforts
• pursuing self-interest not the company interest
• not delivering on promises

Question 27

what are the six golden rules for effective supervision?

Answer 27

• Give praise where praise is due
• avoid the perceptions of favouritism
• talked every team member regularly
• act where problems are suspected
• give people as much autonomy as possible: trust
• involve people in decision-making

Question 28

how to improve levels of engagement?

Answer 28

• involve people
• constantly reinforce the company values
• know what you’re trying to achieve: what does “good” look like
• encourage employees to be creative
• survey employees regularly and don’t be scared of results
• share the results with employees
• a strong “strategic narrative” provided by the leaders
• engaging the managers, especially first line managers
• employee voice
• trust and integrity

Question 29

what is the role of stakeholders in engagement?

Answer 29

the CEO:
line managers:
HR managers:
trade unions:

Question 30

what do HR practices often include?

Answer 30

• merit or performance-related pay
• job security
• training
• employee involvement
• teamworking (Edwards and Wright, 2010)

Question 31

what does Guest (1997) suggest about how these practices can lead to improved performance?

Answer 31

‘systems such as teamwork are established; they influence workplace practice; employee attitudes change, with increased satisfaction or commitment; there is a consequent effect on behaviour; and this in turn feeds through to the performance of the work unit and eventually the company’ (Guest, 1997, in Edwards and Wright, 2001: 570).

Question 32

engagement and involvement

Answer 32

• Voice mechanisms can improve communication between managers and employees and contribute towards a more open and trusting relationship. This in turn can improve the psychological contract.
• Employee involvement mechanisms can be used to avoid conflict, particularly where employees might have genuine concerns about management behaviour.
• Employees may be consulted on potential improvements to tasks, organisational culture or strategy, and therefore might feel better engaged in the decision-making processes of the organisation. Where decisions are taken on board, this might lead to increased job satisfaction.
• If employees feel that their concerns are treated with respect, the result might be improved organisational commitment, improved retention and performance.

Question 33

how does work-life balance affect engagement?

Answer 33

“An appropriate work–life balance might also be a contributory factor towards employee engagement. Where employees are either forced or encouraged to work long hours, at the expense of leisure or family, they might be less engaged with the organisation. Indeed, the CIPD survey showed that employees who are satisfied with their work–life balance were more engaged with their work than others” (CIPD, 2006).

Question 34

how does organisational commitment relate to engagement?

Answer 34

• Organisational commitment has been regarded as closely related to behaviour affecting productivity, such as absence and turnover.
• According to Mowday et al (1982: 27, in Gallie et al, 1999), organisational commitment can be defined as: ‘the relative strength of the individual’s identification with and involvement in the particular organisation’, and can be linked to three factors: strong belief in, and acceptance of, organisational values; a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organisation; and a strong desire to maintain membership in the organisation.
• Macey and Schneider (2008) argue that although organisational commitment captures both psychological attachment to an organisation and the willingness to exert energy in support of it, it is only one of the states that comprise engagement.

Question 35

how is performance related to employee engagement

Answer 35

‘We believe that if employee engagement and the principles that lie behind it were more widely understood, if good practice was more widely shared, if the potential that resides in the country’s workforce was more fully unleashed, we could see a step change in workplace performance and in employee well-being…’ (McLeod and Clarke, 2009: 3).

The findings of a CIPD survey suggested that engaged employees performed better than others, were more likely to recommend their organisation to other people, were less likely to take sick leave and were less likely to leave the organisation (CIPD, 2006b).