Employee Engagement Issues: Identification, Causes, And Solutions Essay.

Employee Engagement Issues Identified

Describe about employee engagement issues identified, reasons behind low employee engagement and possible solutions for increasing employee engagement.

Globalisation, complexity and competition are the three key terms that define today’s dynamic business environment (Hellriegel & John W. Slocum, 2011). Survival in a marketplace where consumer needs and wants change more rapidly than expected, has become highly difficult for companies. Human resources of an organisation are being considered and upgraded on regular basis as one of their most precious assets (Carbonara, 2012). With an aim to strengthen their knowledge economy, organisations are doing almost everything possible for the growth and development of their employees. To develop a committed and high-performing workforce it is important to ensure high employee engagement and motivation.

Employee engagement is a property of relationship between employees and their organisation. The term ‘engaged employee’ is used for define employees who are enthusiastic about and fully absorbed in their work and so feel motivated enough to deliver high performance for growth and development of their organisation as a whole. This report aims at identifying and critically analysing the employee engagement issues arising from the survey results as presented in the East Mimms NHS Trust Case Study. Possible causes and appropriate solutions are discussed in details with an aim to develop and action plan for implementing employee engagement practices.

Employee engagement is defined as a workplace approach that helps organisations create the right conditions for employees with an aim that they delivery their best performance every day, show high motivation and contribution towards the success of the organisation, remain committed to the goals and values of the organisation and perform their responsibilities with an enhanced sense of their well-being (Bridger, 2014). It is the process of creating conditions in which human resources of an organisation can offer more of their potential and capabilities. Two way communication, commitment, integrity and trust between employers and their employees are the key factors essential for employee engagement. Over the past decade, concepts and approaches of employee engagement has gained huge interest of HR professionals and management researchers as it is found to have a positive impact on productivity, profitability, performance, customer satisfaction, employee retention and organisational success (Albdour & Altarawneh, 2014). Employee engagement plays a vital role in enhancing overall organisational performance and delivering meaningful business results. It is the degree to which employees are absorbed and attentive in the performance of their roles (Hughes & Rog, 2008). Employee engagement can be classified into two broad categories namely, organisational engagement which reflects the degree to which an employee is psychologically present as a member of the organisation and job engagement which reflects the degree to which an employee is actually fascinated to perform his job role (Kaliannan & Adjovu, 2015). Thus, in the talent management drive within an organisation, employee engagement functions as an engine that draws its resilience from the effectiveness of various internal and external environmental factors.

Reasons behind low employee engagement

As depicted in the case study, East Mimms NHS Trust has a poor history of staff engagement and communication. The trust has made several efforts to communicate with and engage their employees in many different ways possible such as developing an interactive website, conducting monthly staff briefing, publishing bi-monthly magazine for keeping employees updated with latest news and information related to the organisation, monthly chief executive’s meeting, open forums held by chief executive where employees can participate and discuss issues faced by them, and operating an open e-mail concept wherein employees can send a personal e-mail to the chief executive and expect an appropriate response within five working days. Despite of these efforts the Trust has failed to effectively engage their employees. A critical analysis of the employee engagement survey results reveal that the employees in lower grades (bands 1-4) feel complete lack of engagement and communication. The five most important issues faced by employees within the Trust were related to lack of resources, training and development, communication, information and technology. Employees in lower grades (bands 1-4) felt that as compared to employee in higher professional grades (bands 5-9) they were not effectively communicated with or engaged.

Employees claimed that they were not provided with resources, materials and equipments need to perform their tasks. They expressed that the mission/purpose of the company was communicated to them effectively and made them feel their jobs were important however they felt a lack of clarity on what was expected from them at work. Their roles and responsibilities were not defined, which affected their performance and productivity at work. Employees also expressed a lack of motivation as they were not encouraged or appreciated for doing good work. Employees were not encouraged to take part in decision making process and expressed that their opinions had no value. The Trust could not adhere to the learning and development needs of the employees, who expressed that no one asked them about their progress in the last six months and since last year they have never had an opportunity to learn and grow at workplace. Employees expressed a need for effective communication and information sharing as they could not connect with their organisation and felt a lack of motivation and commitment.

Creating an engaged and a high-performing workforce is one of the many complexities faced by organisations today (Truss, et al., 2013). The process of employee engagement starts from defining and communicating the vision, mission and values, training leaders and managers to live by those values, and selecting the right people, with right talent to perform the right task. Once these selected individuals join the organisation, the process of employee engagement involves redesigning, improving and tweaking the workplace environment with an aim to make it enjoyable, humane and modern (Timms, et al., 2014). Researches reveal that the process of creating a highly engaged workforce requires a balanced combination of several factors which have different impact on different individuals. To create an effectively engaged workforce it is important for organisations to understand that employee engagement is a process and not a goal (Saks, 2006). Some common reasons which lead to low employee engagement are:

Employee engagement is not an output or measure of productivity: As leaders within any organisation, are primary concerned for increasing its overall productivity, rate of innovation and output they often see employee engagement as a measure of productivity (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). It is important to understand that employee engagement, emotional intelligence, employee satisfaction etc are contributors to productivity but only productivity in itself. There have been several cases where an employee is fully engaged, committed and emotionally attached to the organisation, still fails to deliver expected performance owing to a lack of effective leadership, proper training, resources and technology availability (Susi.S & Jawaharrani.K, 2011). Similar situation is depicted in the case, where the employees feel connected to the Trust’s mission and purpose, still feels as lack of engagement as they do not have resources, materials and equipments needed to perform their tasks.

An unclear definition or expectations: To measure something accurately it is important to ensure that it is clearly defined (Susi.S & Jawaharrani.K, 2011). Likewise to measure employee performance or level of engagement it is important to clearly define what is expected from employees. It is important to define goals and objectives, clearly specify targets and achievements and specify what exactly is expected from employees (Rouillard, 2003). As depicted in the case study, most of the employees specially those in the lower grades are unable to define what is expected from them at work. Employees in such cases fail to prioritize their tasks and find themselves dedicating more time and efforts in performing tasks that are easy to compete and do not have much significance. 

Lack of rewards and recognition leading to a lack of motivation: Rewards and recognition play a very vital role in enhancing employee motivation at work (Herzberg, et al., 2011). It is like giving employees a reason to delivery high performance at work. Motivation is defined as the inner force which compels an individual to delivery high performance (Jr, 2005). Rewards and recognition programs help an organisation satisfy the higher level needs of their employees as identified in the Maslow’s need hierarchy theory. As depicted in the case, the Trust has no reward and recognition program for its employees. They are never appreciated for doing good job and no one encourages them for development. The Trust makes no efforts to identify the needs and motives of their employees which are evident from the fact that, since last six months no one asked them about their progress.

Lack of encouragement and empowerment: Employees that are effectively encouraged and empowered have greater chances of realising their full potential (Murray, et al., 2006). Employees at the Trust fail to realise their full potential as they are not encouraged to develop and take part in decision making. There is lack of empowerment and they feel their opinions do not matter within the company thus reducing their commitment and contribution towards the success of the organisation.

Lack of effective communication: A communication gap between employers and employees leads to the development of uncertainty, insecurity and rumours which actually do not exist (Murray, et al., 2006). Information which is not communicated effectively often lead to misunderstandings, weakening the bond between employers and their employees. The case depicts a lack of communication which is experienced more by employees in lower grades as compared to employees in higher professional grades.

To create a highly engaged workforce, organisation must ensure that they align efforts with strategies, encourage and promote collaboration and team work, empower employees, provide recognition and support when required and provide relevant resources needed for the employees to grow and develop. The 10 C’s strategy of employee engagement can help East Mimms NHS Trust create an engaged workforce, the 10C’s are: Connect with employees, provide Career advancement opportunities, Clarity of goals, Convey expectations, Congratulate achievements and good work, encourage Contribution of ideas and opinions, provide Control, encourage Collaboration, maintain Credibility and win Confidence (Susi.S & Jawaharrani.K, 2011). Apart from relying on the above mentioned 10C’s of employee engagement, East Mimms NHS Trust can also implement some of the best practices of employee engagement followed by some of the most successful organisations across the globe.

Adopting a suitable Leadership Style: Mark Zukerberg’s, Founder and CEO of Fackbook entrepreneurial leadership style had help in engaging the young employees of the company, making is one of the world’s fastest growing companies (Bridger, 2014). Steve Job’s transformational leadership style has made Apple inc. one of the best companies to work for and a market leader in innovation and technology.

Creating an engaged culture: Howard Schultz’ effort to develop and ethical culture at Starbucks has helped him in developing a highly engaged workforce, and in turn developing a company that is recognised as one of the world’s most ethical organisation for the ninth year in a row (Bridger, 2014).

Effective Communication: Allan Mullay’s, CEO Ford Motors, mantra of “communicate, communicate and communicate” helped him in saving the company from losing its existence and eventually emerging as one of the leaders of automotive sector (Markos & Sridevi, 2010).

With these best practices East Mimms NHS Trust will be able to improve level of employee engagement and motivation which in turn will improve their overall effectiveness and efficiency.

Action plan for improving employee engagement at East Mimms NHS Trust is shown below:

Table.1. Source: Made by Student (2016)

Conclusion

Employee engagement plays a very vital role in enhancing employee motivation, satisfaction and commitment at work, which in turn are responsible for enhancing the overall performance of the organisation. Employees that are engaged effectively serves as a competitive advantage for the organisation against rivals as they get an opportunity to realise their full potential and develop innovative products and serves. Implementing the best practices of employee engagement will help East Mimms NHS Trust in developing a highly engaged workforce.

References

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Murray, P., Poole, D. & Jones, G., (2006) Contemporary Issues in Management and Organisational Behaviour. New York: Cengage Learning.

Rouillard, L., (2003) Goals and Goal Setting: Achieveing Measured Objectives. New York: Cengage Learning.

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Susi.S & Jawaharrani.K, (2011) Work-Life Balance: The key driver of employee engagement. Asian Journal of Management Research, 2(1), pp. 474-483.

Timms, C. et al., (2014) Flexible work arrangements, work engagement, turnover intentions and psychological health. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 53(1), pp. 83-103.

Truss, C. et al., (2013) Employee engagement, organisational performance and individual well-being: exploring the evidence, developing the theory. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(14), pp. 2657-2669.