The Five Steps To Employee Engagement

White paper: Five Steps to Employee Engagement Author: Pasquale Mazzuca – Hamilton Davenport partners Date: July 2007 Employee Engagement is a concept that is beginning to quickly take a hold of the Corporate world, very simply put, because Engaged Employees mean bigger profits. Research has demonstrated that Engaged Employees feel a strong emotional bond to the organization that employs them. How do you achieve that “bond” and ensure that the workforce remains constantly engaged?

by examining the physical and environmental influences of the workplace (e.g. brightness of lights, humidity) and later, moved into the psychological aspects (e.g. breaks, group pressure, working hours, managerial leadership). Researchers reported that they had accidentally found a way to increase productivity.

Making Individuals feel important In essence, the Hawthorne Effect can be summarized as; "Individual behaviors may be altered because they know they are being studied." Professor Mayo's experiments showed an increase in worker productivity was produced by the psychological stimulus of being singled out, involved, and made to feel important.

In 1999, The Gallup Organization published research that indicated employees are more productive, more profitable, more focused, have fun and are less likely to leave the company. In some studies there is a direct link between employee engagement and high performing organizations. Watson Wyatt – the global human resources consulting Firm, discovered through research that the results of organizations with engaged employees outperformed by 200% the ones that have disengaged employees. Other studies (Hay Group) have shown that engaged employees were up to 45% more productive. Something that most CEO’s will notice very quickly.

Additionally, the act of measurement, itself, impacts the results of the measurement. Just as dipping a thermometer into a vial of liquid can affect the temperature of the liquid being measured, the act of collecting data, where none was collected before creates a situation that didn't exist before, thereby affecting the results.

The Hawthorn effect In 1927, Harvard professor Elton Mayo published one of the first studies of human behavior at work. His findings had a profound impact at the time and, eighty years on, now form the basis of employee engagement. The Hawthorn Effect is based on a study was conducted at a factory called the Hawthorn Works in Ohio, United States, between 1924-1932. Professor Mayo started these experiments

The “Caring” Organization Mayo stated that the reason workers are motivated by such things is that individuals have a deep psychological need to believe that the organization that cares about them, is open, concerned, and willing to listen. The sociological implications are that the human dimensions of work (group relations) exert a tremendous influence on

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indication of workforce morale, and naturally, this important. However, it is only one dimension. The other is productivity, this is where engagement comes in. Engagement is not a new idea; owners and managers have been talking about it in one way or another, crudely put, do you mandate productivity by the “carrot” or by the “stick”. Today this means developing a happy and productive workforce .

behavior, overriding the organizational norms and even the individual's own selfinterests. The discoveries of "social capacity", "informal work groups", and "employee-centered management" were nothing short of revolutionary for administrative thought. In summary, according to Professor Mayo being a more caring organization means the following; -

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Supervisors should not act like supervisors - they should be mentors and counselors to the workers.

Levels of Engagement According to the Gallup Organization there are three types of Engaged Employees;

Managers should not try to micromanage the organization by an overriding concern for product or job quality at the expense of the macro-social, or humanistic, characteristics of work.

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People should be periodically asked how they feel about the work, their supervisors, and coworkers.

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Humanistic supervision plus morale equals productivity.

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Workers should be involved or at least consulted before any change in the organization.

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Employees who leave should be exit-interviewed - turnover should be proactively managed for optimal levels.

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Managers and leaders should not neglect the importance of their role fostering employee engagement.

From Satisfaction to Engagement Having satisfied employees is no long sufficient these days. A lot of time an effort has gone into producing staff satisfaction survey’s which indicate to management how “happy” people are in an organization. However, satisfaction does not necessarily mean engagement. Employee satisfaction is a direct

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Engaged Employees; these are the “stars” in the company and display a real passion about where they work and what they do. They feel a strong connection to the values and mission statement, and always looking for ways to improve themselves and the organization they work for.

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Not Engaged Employees; these are known as the “zombies” or coasters, they come to works every day because they have to and only fulfill the basic requirements of their job. They are neither supporters of the company strategy, nor the roadblocks.

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Actively disengaged; very negative and cynical about the company, these are by far the most “toxic” of the employees. Their attitude and mind-set gives the organization a real business problem and impact the rest of the workforce. They achieve very little for themselves, but also have a negative influence on others.

4. Quality of Working Relationships at all levels; if the relationship with the “boss” is not working out, getting people to be engaged in this instance will be extremely difficult. Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how employees feel about their direct boss.

Five Steps to Getting Engagement: Listed below are five actions that can lead to influence employee engagement; 1. Clear Expectations regarding the job; if the expectations are not clear and the basic materials and equipment not provided, negative emotions such as boredom or frustration my result. The employee will then think more about survival than thinking about helping the company.

5. Perceptions if the values, mission and vision; Inspirational values and the manner in which they are communicated provide the fertile soil for employee engagement. Have a coherent employee brand proposition both internally and externally is extremely important. It’s absence is unlikely to engage employees.

2. Career advancement/Learning and Development opportunities; giving people an opportunity to build on their strengths and do what they do best every day. Creating a learning organization where ideas are easily diffused. 3. Regular feedback at all levels; Feedback is a key tool enabling employees to have a sense of where they are going. However, the ability to give constructive feedback is an incredibly tough thing to accomplish.

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