Employee Engagement & Retention Flashcards
People
Tool used to provide a job applicant with honest, complete information about a job and the work environment
Realistic job preview (RJP)
Tools, activities, and processes that an organization uses to manage, maintain, and/or improve the job performance of employees
Performance management
Activities associated with an employee’s tenure in an organization
Employee life cycle (ELC)
Employees’ emotional commitment to an organization, demonstrated by their willingness to put in discretionary effort to promote the organization’s effective functioning
Employee engagement
Process of measuring and evaluating an employee’s adherence to performance standards and providing feedback to the employee
Performance appraisal
Physical, psychological, and social aspects of employee health
Well-being
Structured conversations with employees for the purpose of determining which aspects of a job encourage employee retention or may be improved to do so
Stay interviews
Ability of an organization to keep its employees
Retention
Instruments that collect and assess information on employee engagement, satisfaction, and perceptions surrounding the work environment
Employee surveys
Behaviors and results as defined by an organization to communicate the expectations of management
Performance standards
Why should an organization consider a high-performance culture and strategically invest in practices to keep high performers motivated and focused?
Turnover can negatively impact organizational productivity, innovation, and relationships
In a high-performing culture, talent is championed from the bottom up. High turnover of top talent would lead to losses in innovation, performance, communication, relationships, etc.
An organization has had decreases in net income associated with lower productivity and increases in expenses. What is the most likely potential root cause among those listed?
Employee engagement issues
Many executives have difficulty seeing the immense power of employee engagement. Increases in employee engagement can lead to important benefits, such as increases in net income associated with increased productivity and decreases in expenses. A high vacancy rate could affect productivity but would not increase expenses.
At which stage of the employee life cycle would the management by objectives appraisal method be effective in driving ongoing employee commitment?
During the development phase, where the employee and the manager collaborate on developing performance objectives and goals
During the development phase, HR, management, and the employee collaborate in setting goals and objectives to align with organizational needs and the evaluation process.
The HR manager needs to determine the retention rate of a cohort of employees hired one year ago. The manager knows the number of employees from that cohort who still remain in their positions. What additional information about the cohort does the HR manager need to calculate the retention rate?
Number of employees hired one year ago
The retention rate is calculated by dividing the number of employees hired at the start of the measurement period (in this case, one year ago) by the number of those employees who remain at the end of the measurement period. The number of employees hired less than one year ago (within the measurement period) should not be counted, and the employee absence rate is not relevant to this calculation. The turnover rate is a complementary metric to the retention rate; it gives the employer a more complete picture of retained and separated employees.
Which is the best approach for an HR director to select for managing an employee survey project?
Cross-sectional committee
According to Bob Kelleher, effective management of employee survey projects includes establishing a cross-sectional committee to review overall company results and to make recommendations to management.
When considering employee engagement’s impact on profitability, what two major factors does engagement lead to?
Committed employees and focused employees
When examining employee engagement’s impact on profitability, the two major factors that stem from engagement are committed employees and focused employees
An organization rolls out a newly created performance management program. What should be HR’s first step to ensure the program’s success?
Provide training on the program
Although all of the answer choices can contribute to the program’s success, providing training is the first step
A United States engineering firm has recently merged with an international company. With the change in leadership, management is worried that employees will begin leaving the organization. What should HR recommend management focus on to have the greatest impact on employee retention?
Manager-employee relationships by working with each employee to understand their roles in the new company
Because manager behavior is pivotal to both employee engagement and employee well-being, an important way to ensure that real emotional engagement is created and sustained is by focusing on the manager-employee relationship
A staff member regularly stays late and expresses a strong commitment to their employer. Yet, the staff member’s professional network is small and when their team lists its members, they often forget to include them. What might this signify to the HR leader?
Transactional engagement
Transactional engagement occurs when an employee appears to be engaged and committed but is not actually engaged. In this case, the lack of connection with other members of the organization signals incomplete engagement
An advertising firm has experienced significant turnover among its creative writers. During exit interviews, the writers have expressed dissatisfaction with rigid starting times, a lack of recognition for their work, and poor communication between managers and employees. Which actions should HR recommend managers implement to improve employee engagement?
Requesting and valuing employee input on important organizational issues
Participation is a process in which power or influence is shared between management and employees who are both engaged in the decision-making process. Employee input on important organizational issues is both asked for and valued. Depending on the organization or industry, a participative culture may also include giving the employees the discretion to act on their decisions
Which appraisal method would be most effective to reinforce trust in an organization?
Management by objectives (MBO)
With the MBO method, employees help set objectives with their supervisors based on concrete outcomes. This method minimizes perceptions of a lack of fairness since success or failure is transparent
The HR director reviews the annual employee survey and notes many employees do not feel as if their work makes any difference to the organization’s success. Which driver of engagement should HR focus on?
Recognition and rewards
Of the four basic drivers for employee engagement, the survey indicates a need to focus on recognition and rewards, making employees feel that their contributions are valued. Weak confidence might be shown in statements about not trusting leaders. The desire for development might be indicated by comments about training or promotion. The need to work on communication issues might be reflected in statements about not understanding the point of one’s work or managers’ and supervisors’ lack of responsiveness.
Which is a benefit of conducting stay interviews as opposed to exit interviews?
Information from stay interviews enables proactive HR steps
Unlike exit interviews, stay interviews provide an opportunity for the organization and line management to be proactive in initiating remedies to address employee concerns. By the time an exit interview is conducted, it is generally too late to address the concern that prompted an employee to leave the organization. Employees are not more honest during stay interviews, it is not less expensive to train managers to conduct stay interviews, and it is not easier to analyze patterns in data from stay interviews.
What must HR do to overcome the biggest challenge in implementing an effective workplace flexibility strategy?
Confirm that the immediate supervisor understands the requirements of the work role and its duties
One of the biggest challenges to implementing successful alternative work programs is ensuring that the immediate supervisor is on board. While overall culture is also important, the supervisor must be trained and supported to manage remote employees.
Senior management has determined that a reduction in force (RIF) is the only way it can address financial difficulties. Which action would best minimize the impact of the downsizing on the organization and employee morale?
Allow employees to volunteer to be separated
A reduction in force in which employees in selected task areas are allowed to volunteer for layoff has the potential to benefit both the organization and the employees. For the organization, a voluntary RIF creates opportunities for restructuring and assists in meeting the organization’s fiscal responsibilities. For employees, it may facilitate a transition to retirement. Also, in some countries, an early “at will” separation can provide the employee with access to federal or local financial assistance for the pursuit of other career opportunities.
An organization has been analyzing annual employee surveys to understand how to better retain workers given career development trends showing that more and more employees expect to change careers multiple times. Which would be the best program to incentivize employees interested in future career changes to stay with the organization for a longer period of time?
Job rotation
By using a job rotation program, an organization could allow employees to explore different career paths without leaving the organization to do so. Apprenticeships are more geared toward training technical skills, which may not work to expose employees to new career opportunities. Dual career ladders can provide a meaningful career path for employees uninterested in becoming a supervisor or manager but would likely keep employees within the same general career field without giving them the opportunity to explore other possibilities. Job enrichment adds planning and management duties to employees’ current positions; it does not necessarily give them the ability to explore other opportunities.
A line manager approaches HR to explore ways to increase cross-training among the manager’s employees. How can HR meet the manager’s need while increasing employee engagement?
Consult with the manager to understand which duties of the specific role incorporate higher levels of decision making
Prior to making a recommendation, the HR manager needs to understand the specific roles and responsibilities of the job. HR can then advise as to how the job may be modified to incorporate cross-training.
