People - Engagement and Retention

Question 1

3 facets of employee engagement – trait, state, behavioral

Answer 1

Trait engagement – personality elements that make someone pre-disposed to being engaged (natural curiosity, desire to be involved, interest in problem solving)

State engagement – influenced by workplace conditions, and can be improved by varying tasks, allowing more opportunities to be involved in decision-making, etc.

Behavioral engagement – effort employees put into their jobs; you need the other two facets in order for this to happen

Question 2

4 drivers of employee engagement

Answer 2

• The work itself, and opportunities for development
• Confidence and trust in leadership
• Recognition and rewards
• Organizational communication

Question 3

Types of organizational culture – authoritarian

Answer 3

Top-level management makes all decisions

Question 4

Types of organizational culture – mechanistic

Answer 4

Tasks and responsibilities are clearly defined, and accountability is key; communication follows defined procedures, like everything else

Question 5

Types of organizational culture – participative

Answer 5

Embraces collaborative decision-making and problem solving; employees are actively involved

Question 6

Types of organizational culture – learning

Answer 6

Emphasizes continuous learning for employees and the organization as a whole; employees have space to experiment and take certain risks

Question 7

Types of organizational culture – high-performance

Answer 7

Talent is championed; innovation, communication, high standards, and other characteristics are driven from the bottom up

Question 8

Benefits of high engagement

Answer 8

• Retention
• Customer loyalty
• Fewer mistakes
• Higher productivity and efficiency
• Lowered cost of product
• Fewer safety incidents

Question 9

Job enlargement
Job enrichment
Job rotation

Answer 9

Enlargement - adding new tasks at the same difficulty and responsibility level as current tasks

Enrichment - more vertical expansion - for example, giving someone more participation in decision making

Rotation - giving employees opportunities to work in different roles

Question 10

Q12 Engagement Survey

Answer 10

Gallup survey with 12 standard questions to measure employee engagement

Question 11

Employee Life Cycle

Answer 11

Recruitment
Integration - settling into position, becoming familiar with people and culture
Development - ongoing training (internal training and/or external professional development)
Transition - can be resignation, transfer, promotion, etc.

Question 12

Realistic Job Preview

Answer 12

Any part of the selection process that gives applicants honest and complete information about the job and work environment

Question 13

Link between employee recognition and organizational values

Answer 13

Recognition programs that are tied to organizational values are rated higher by employees and get better results

Question 14

Role of HR in employee recognition

Answer 14

• Promote a strategic recognition program
• Tie recognition programs to company values
• Encourage company spending on employee recognition (at least 1% of payroll is the magic number)

Question 15

Performance management (definition)

Answer 15

Process of maintaining or improving employee job performance

Question 16

Tips for successful performance management systems

Answer 16

• Needs support of senior leaders
• Managers understand its value and how to implement it
• Employees are educated about how to get the most value from it
• It’s tied to company strategy and culture, and regularly evaluated

Question 17

Possible measures of employee performance:

Answer 17

Quality
Quantity
Timeliness
Cost-effectiveness

Question 18

Performance appraisal (definition)

Answer 18

Typical method of measuring an employee’s work performance and providing feedback

Question 19

Performance appraisal methods - management by objectives (MBO)

Answer 19

Employees help set their own objectives, defining what they intend to achieve within a specific time frame

Question 20

Performance appraisal methods - behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS)

Answer 20

Describes examples of behavior for each category

Example for receptionist position:
5 - Positive and cheerful with visitors…
3 - Greets public in pleasant manner…
1 - Uncomfortable w/ phone system…

Question 21

Errors in performance appraisal
- Halo/horn effect
- Recency vs. primacy
- Bias
- Strictness vs. leniency
- Central tendency vs. contrast

Answer 21

Halo/horn - employee is rated high (or low) in all categories due to having a major strength (or weakness)

Recency - gives more weight to recent behavior
Primacy - gives more weight to earlier performance

Question 22

Engagement/retention metrics - monthly voluntary turnover rate

Answer 22

voluntary separations during month
_______________________________________
Average # employees during month

X 100 to get a percentage

Question 23

Engagement/retention metrics - revenue per employee

Answer 23

Total revenue
___________________
Total # employees

Helps calculate cost of a lost employee due to turnover, or recognize when engagement is decreasing

Question 24

Engagement/retention metrics - retention rate

Answer 24

employees who stay for specific period
_________________________________________
# employees at start of period

X 100 to get percentage

Good for showing stability of workforce, but won’t account for very short-term employees who start and leave during the measurement period; employees who start during the measurement period are not counted)

Question 25

Engagement/retention metrics - Turnover rate

Answer 25

separations during specific period
______________________________________
Average # employees during period

X 100 to get a percentage