Executive Summary
This study discusses the importance and relevance of employee engagement in twenty-first century organizations. The study traces the origins of employee engagement as well as its growth to form a major aspect of organizational management. It analyses the key aspects of employee engagement such as its importance, and relevance. Drawing from the case study of Google, the study highlights the best practices for an organization to achieve high employee engagement. Among these practices are major enablers of employee engagement that have been discussed and which each organization should strive to attain. The major enablers include strategic narrative, engaging managers and integrity as well as employee voice. Lastly, the study offers recommendations such as the need for organizations to prioritize employee engagement, the establishment of open communication channels, encourage ownership as well as provision of clear job descriptions. The recommendations are aimed at helping organizations to improve employee engagement.
Introduction
Globalisation as a result of technological development has increased competitiveness. Currently, organizations are operating in an environment where competition does not just come from other local organizations, but from overseas as well. To remain competitive organizations, have to adopt new strategic approaches in their operations as well as culture. As such organizations have to utilise their resources in the best way possible in order to produce differentiated quality products, maintain a slim workforce and provide effective services. The improvement of customer relations is paramount to effective competitiveness.
The most vital resource in any organization is the human resource, due to the pivotal role it plays in determining the outcomes of the various organizational processes. To remain competitive, organizations are in a frantic effort to put in place measures that ensure that the workforce is productive. A recent study indicates that over 70% of all workers are not productive in their workplace because they lack the necessary motivation, are in the wrong careers, or because they hate their jobs. Such statistical findings are even gloomier in developed countries such as the United States. They depict a bad precedence for poor organizational performance and hence the lack of competitiveness in the respective industries.
To address such problems, organizations are focusing on the concept of employee engagement. The concept of employee engagement is aimed at putting in place measures that ensure that employers remain active and productive in their respective duties all the time. Through employee engagement, organizations are keen on ensuring that employees are involved in all performance processes to ensure maximum productivity. According to Pettigrew, Woodman, and Cameron (2001), employee engagement is an important aspect of any organization. It forms a solution to the increasing problems such as low productivity, absenteeism, and burnout which affect most organizations. Lack of employee commitment is a major problem which plagues both private and public organizations (Bhuvanaiah & Raya 2014).
Therefore, a study of employee engagement can offer important tips to guide organizations on improving their employee engagement and productivity levels. This study seeks to explore employee engagement in terms of its significance, organizational application, industry trends as well as measurement. Further, the study will discuss the case of Google Inc., which is one of the most successful technology companies in the world, with an aim of investigating its employee engagement concepts. The paper will also identify and use important lessons from Google.
Literature Review
Definition and the Origin Employee Engagement
Employee engagement can be defined as the process of harnessing members of an organization to meet their work roles. Employees, who are well engaged when performing their duties, are open to the idea of open expression. The type of expression could be physical, cognitive or emotional based on the interaction levels. In this definition, three concepts are evident. Cognitive expression focuses on organizational factors such as management, culture and existing work conditions. Emotional aspects relate to employee feelings towards the organization or its leaders (Best 2009). The physical aspect refers to the material efforts that are essential to completing the set roles. Consequently, engagement requires physical and psychological presence of the employees in performing their roles.
Employee engagement has also been defined differently by other authors. Bass and Avolio (1999) define employee engagement as the positive and satisfying work-related state of mind in an employee that is illustrated by his or her devotion, assimilation and vigour. Further, Philbin and Sandra (1999) assert that employee engagement is the degree to which people value, take pleasure in and believe in what they do in an organizational setting. Another definition presents employee engagement as a deep-rooted and a broad connection between employees and their organizations (Brajer-Marczak 2014). Such connection results in the willingness of employees to go above their ordinary roles to ensure the success of their organizations. As a central part of management and organizational success, employee engagement has been the practice of successful organizations in the recent times.
The term employee engagement is a recent concept in the discipline of organizational management. According to Best (2009), employee engagement emerged in the 1990s. Early management experts recognised the word engagement as a crucial concept in the field of management (Best 2009). However, employee engagement gained popularity in the 2000s as evidenced by the emergence and use of employee engagement questionnaires to measure worker commitment. In further developments, there was more support and recognition of job commitment through the stressing of psychological frameworks for enhancing productivity at the workplace. In other words, more emphasis was put on the importance of positive psychology in ensuring employee engagement. Over time, employee engagement has grown to include various aspects such as resources, workplace environment and employee demands.
Key Aspects of Employee Engagement
From the definitions and the origins of employee engagement, it is evident that various scholars understand and define employee engagement differently. However, from these definitions, it is evident that the three key aspects involved are workforce, employer and employee’s interaction (Cadle, Paul & Yeates 2010). The organization should seek to create a favourable environment where such partnership can occur, given that it creates a win-win situation for all parties. To ensure enhanced employee engagement, it is important to understand the major types of employees found in organizations.
According to the available literature organizations are made of three different types of employees. The first type of employee is the “engaged” employee. Such a member of staff is very energetic in the organization. He or she is always seeking to know and understand his or her roles and the performance expectations which contribute significantly towards engagement (Tripon & Dodu 2005). Passion for work and the organization is a defining characteristic of the engaged employee. Such employees are always ready to use their talents and abilities to benefit the organization. Their performance is always very impressive. Hence, they form an important group that has the potential to propel the organization to growth.
The second group of employees is referred to as the “not-engaged” employees. This group refers to the employees who are always ready to do their tasks but do not have any outlook for the achievement of the overall organizational goals (Mishra, Boynton & Mishra 2014). In other words, they are always seeking to complete a specific task at hand just for the sake of finishing it. According to Hamann (2007), such employees do not have solid productive relationships with their managers. They often feel that their inputs are not being appreciated.
Lastly, there is the “actively disengaged” employee (McLean 2005). Actively disengaged employees are those that have extreme negativity on an organization. Such type of employees constantly seeks opportunities to make their displeasure known to all. Actively disengaged employees are very harmful to an organization since they often discourage engaged workers by propagating elements of pessimism. The organization’s management has the duty of ensuring that while the environment is conducive to employee engagement, the actively disengaged workers are not derailing their colleagues. Clearly spelling out the central role of employee engagement motivates the organization’s management to establish measures of controlling disengaged employees.
The importance of Employee Engagement at the Workplace
Despite being a recent concept, employee engagement has emerged as a very important concept of organizational management, in the twenty-first century. According to Lambin (2007), employee engagement is crucial parameter of determining organizational performance, organizational outcomes and employee wellbeing. Further, the engagement is a central tenet that managers must encourage and seek to achieve. The importance is owed to the fact that disengagements are now considered the most significant reasons for employee’s lack of motivation and commitment to the goals of an organization (Bushe & Marshak 2009). For productivity at the workplace, employee engagement is very crucial. It has been linked to high profitability as well as customer and employee loyalty, which are important for organizational growth. In addition, it is crucial in reducing employee turnover, which is a major problem that many organizations are facing.
Further, studies suggest that engagement promotes employee wellbeing as an important aspect in organizational productivity. Engaged employees feel more secure at work, are more energetic and have a positive influence on an organization’s reputation. Further, there is more commitment to duties at hand as well as overall organizational goals. This situation can immensely contribute to success in the organization (Cadle, Paul & Yeates 2010). However, employee engagement does not occur in a vacuum. It requires a supporting management and environment, which the organization must strive to ensure. Employees are driven by passion and commitment to align their roles to the organizational environment and strategies.
Important Factors that Lead to Employee Engagement
In the light of the discussion on the importance of employee engagement it is important to provide adequate answers to the key defining questions. The first question is about the roles that an organization has to play so as to enhance employee engagement. Secondly it is important to identify the main elements that create an environment which fosters worker commitment. Various factors are important in ensuring a vibrant workplace environment where employees are highly motivated and engaged to perform to their level best (Mukherjee 2007). The following diagram represents these key factors:
First an organization has to foster employee-career development. An organization must always provide opportunities for employees to develop their abilities, acquire new knowledge and skills so that they can realise their potential. Continued planning as well as supporting employees’ career paths is a form of organizational investment on its human resources. In return, the employees invest and purpose to benefit the organization (McLean 2005). Secondly, occupational growth encourages the recognition and preservation of a worker’s ability. From a different standpoint, occupational growth is integral in fostering employee engagement facilitating the learning process in an organization.
The third most important factor towards employee engagement is leadership. Provision of unambiguous and clear company values which are experienced as such, play a primary role in employee motivation. In other words, organizational leaders should strive to ensure that their core values are straightforward. This situation gives employees the right motivation to work towards specific goals. The organizational leadership must foster an environment that ensures respectful treatment of employees. This plan includes appreciation of each employee’s qualities and contribution to the organization, regardless of their position (Tikkanen et al. 2005). The leadership also plays the role of ensuring clear ethical standards to be followed by the members of the organization. As such, employees will feel protected from mistreatment or harassment, fostering their engagement.
The fourth most important factor in employee engagement is empowerment. The organization must put in place measures that allow employees to be actively involved in the decision-making processes. Employee empowerment during decision making is more important especially when such decisions may affect their work (Tikkanen at al. 2005). Such empowerment fosters an organizational culture that accommodates trust while providing a positive challenge for employees to become innovative.
The fifth most important factor for employee engagement is image. Increased employee-customer engagement occurs when the employee perceives the organizations products as being of high quality. The products in question could be either goods or services. With employee engagement, employees are likely to own the processes of producing or offering the goods and services, thus leading to better understanding of the company’s operations and products (Lambin 2007). Such environment fosters a company’s image from within. This situation then leads to high levels of customer engagement.
Other important factors include equal employee opportunities, fair treatment, performance appraisal, family-friendliness as well as cooperation (Bass & Avolio 1999). Each organization must put in place mechanisms to ensure that these factors are reflected in the organization since they play an important role in the process of fostering employee engagement. To build a better understanding of employee engagement it is important to pay attention to organizations. Building an understanding of industry trends as well as learning from organizations that have exemplified employee engagement acts as a step towards enhanced employee engagement.
Employee Engagement at Google INC.: Analysis
Introduction to Google and Employee Engagement
Google Inc. is one of the world’s largest technology companies in the world with a turnover of more than $ 60 billion. Google Inc. has a staff of more than 55,000 spread across the world. As such the organization is an appropriate case study for employee engagement. Google is popular for the effective approaches it employs to encourage employee engagement. The company’s approaches towards employee engagement have been widely acknowledged.
In 2014, more than 80 % of the workers at the giant search engine company reported that they were satisfied at the workplace. This response was a great indicator of the level of employee engagement in the company. The company was ranked first by Fortune Magazine in 2000, 2008 and 2012 in terms of high employee satisfaction. It scooped the fourth position in 2009 and 2010 based on Fortune Magazine’s survey that declared it the best company to work for. It was also nominated as the world’s most attractive company for graduating students by the Universal Communications Talent Attraction Index (Rudnick & Kouba 2013).
Many corporate organizations are keen to understand how Google manages to achieve such high levels of employee engagement. The question on how such an enormous company manages to achieve high levels of employee engagement, lingers in the minds of business scholars. Many researchers have investigated Google before coming up with different explanations for Google’s success. In this section, the paper carries out an analysis of Google’s employee engagement strategy with an aim of understanding its key strengths. The factors that have allowed Google to attain its highly desirable model towards employee engagement are also evaluated.
It is important to note that the company did not just wake and strike the cord to good employee engagement. Google’s approaches have evolved over time to the current state. The company’s major success revolves around its human resource where it applies what it refers to as the “three minds” mechanism. In this approach, the company’s human resource department is made of one-third of traditional human resources personnel and another third by high-end strategy consultants. The final third comprises of master’s and doctorate level analytical professionals. Such an approach ensures that the company offers a unique approach to human resource management.
Measuring Employee Engagement at Google
To understand employee engagement, various approaches can be used to measure it. According to Best (2009), various tools have been put forward towards the measurement of employee engagement. According to McLean (2005), if an organization manages to navigate all negative factors that hamper employee dedication, it is on a path to employee engagement. Workplace employment relations study questions can be used to measure employee engagement at Google for each enabler.
The first enabler is known as the strategic narrative. Strategic narrative is defined as a strong and transparent organizational culture. The strategic enabler gives room for enables employees to have a light of sight for their job objectives and to align them with their organization’s vision and aims. An emphasis on the role of leaders and managers is made, especially on their role in setting the strategic narrative. To measure the strategic narrative at Google, a question about the levels of employee engagement and sharing of the company’s values is used. From this question, it is evident that more than 80% of Google employees share the company’s values, which is a good sign of employee engagement.
The second enabler of employee engagement involves the engaging managers. Engaging managers offer clarity and appreciation of employee contributions and efforts towards the success of the organization (McLean 2005). The engaging managers go a step further in ensuring efficient and effective work organization. As a result, the employees feel valued, equipped and supported to undertake their jobs perfectly. Engaging managers facilitate and empower workers, rather than controlling and restricting them (Philbin & Sandra 1999). The approach covers actions of supporting, engaging and promoting employee wellbeing. It ensures that the organization gets the best out of the workers’ input. At Google, by asking the question of how each employee can describe his or her relationship with managers, majority of the employees felt that they had a good relationship with their managers.
The third enabler of employee engagement is the employee voice. Employee voice refers to an environment where employees’ views are not only heard but also sought out by the organization (Bushe & Marshak 2009). It is very important for the organization to ensure that it establishes an environment where employees are listened to whilst allowing them to feel that their opinions count. Employees also need to feel that they make a difference in the organization. Such an environment allows workers to challenge their bosses when appropriate. Further, the atmosphere allows staff members to pay attention and/or react to comments. This setting is very important in ensuring innovativeness and high employee engagement. A good organization does not just engage its employees. Rather, it actively encourages them to express their views and consequently act on them when possible (Jeaw-Mei et al. 2006). Further, such an environment allows both individual and collective voices to be heard since they are equally important in ensuring employee engagement.
At Google, it is evident that employees are satisfied with the level of engagement with their employer and the level of their engagement in decision-making processes. For instance, an analysis of the company shows that the company actively seeks views of employees or their representatives (Rothbard 2001). In addition, the company does not just listen but also when, appropriate responds to employees whilst allowing employees or their representatives to influence the final decisions (McLean 2005). For instance, one of the most notable activities in Google Inc. is the innovation time off where employees are encouraged to spend 20% of their time in coming up with innovative ideas. Such a strategy has allowed Google to come up with record-breaking concepts such as Gmail, Ad Sense, Google News and Orkut among many others that are influenced by these private endeavours through the innovation time off (Rudnick & Kouba 2013).
The fourth enabler of employee engagement is integrity. Integrity in an organization refers to the perception among employees that the organization lives up to its values. Further, it also indicates the trust that employees have in an organization that adheres to the laid out norms. When there is a disconnection between an organization’s values and its real-life occurrences, there are high chances of mistrust and employee disengagement (Rudnick & Kouba 2013; Ahmad et al. 2014). On the other side, in an organization that aligns its values with its reality, employees are likely to trust it, thus leading to productivity and engagement. To measure this aspect, a question on employee engagement seeks to know the level of employee trust that managers will keep their promises and whether managers deal with employees honestly. At Google, it is evident that trust is very high in the organization. Google’s employees express that they trust their managers to keep their promises and to deal with them honestly.
Other important measures of employee engagement include employee loyalty, sense of achievement and discretionary effort (He, Zhu & Zheng 2014). In terms of loyalty, Google employee’s express high levels of commitment to their organization and willingness to go an extra mile to see it succeed (Pettigrew, Woodman, & Cameron 2001). In terms of achievement, Google employee’s express higher levels of satisfaction with their achievements since they are recognised and motivated towards that direction. Lastly, discretionary efforts indicate the willingness of employees to carry out tasks as their initiative (Tripon & Dodu 2005). At Google, the innovation time off is a prime example of how employees are willing to put individual effort on their initiative to come up with important ideas and innovations that can help the organization to grow its stand as a world’s largest technological company.
Methodology
To study employee engagement at Google, a quantitative research was carried out on fifty employees from the Dubai Office in the Middle East. The employees were issued with a questionnaire which they were to complete. The questionnaire comprised of ten question and covered several employees related issues. A copy of the questionnaire can be found in the appendix section of this paper.
The quantitative design was preferred since it gives room for measuring and analysing data. The design allows the researcher to be objective which makes the study results to be more authentic (Kothari 2009). The method also elicits results which can be generalised and hence can explain the cause of different phenomenon. The closed questions were preferred due to the ease to respond as well as the ease to analyse the generated data by the use of codes. The questions also have the advantage of allowing ease comparison of the responses of each respondent.
The first three questions covered the demographics of the participants including their gender and age as well as their departments of work at the organization. The participants included an equal number of males and females. The analysis of the other questions was done using the options as provided for in the Likert Scale. A copy of the Likert Scale can be found in the appendix section. In addition, the colours that are used in the charts represent an option of the Likert Scale where blue colour represents ‘seldom’, green represents ‘at times’, Fon represents ‘frequently’ while purple represents ‘all the time’. The findings of the study are as discussed below.
Results
The study evaluated the employees on their level of participation in organizational activities. Of the fifty employees who participated in the study, 42% reported active participation in organizational activities. Forty percent of the employees reported that they participated frequently in the activities. Nine percent of the respondents did not frequently participate in the organizational activities.
The employees were assessed on their level of concentration at work based on whether they lost track of time during their working hours. The findings revealed that 44% of the employee forgot to keep track of time when at work. Forty percent of the employee lost track of time in some instances while working. Eight percent of the respondents did not lose track of time while working.
The study evaluated the employees mind on the possibility of wondering around while at work. Fifty percent of the respondents cited that their mind did not wander around while they were at work. Another 38% of the respondents stated at some point that their minds wandered around while they were working. Of the study participants, only 12% indicated that their mind always wanders when they are working.
Of the employees who participated in the study, 46% indicated that they were constantly excited. Forty-two percent reported that they were frequently excited. The rest reported that they experienced intermittent excitement episodes.
The employees were also evaluated on their level of disinterest in organizational activities. Fifty percent of the respondents did not experience situations of lack of interest in organizational activities. Of the respondents, only 2% reported that they always lacked interest in the organizational activities.
The study also assessed the employees on the level of liveliness. Forty-four of the respondents always felt that being members of the organization always made them feel alive. Twenty-six percent reported that they felt alive sometimes. Only 4% of the employees reported that they rarely felt alive.
The employee’s level of engagement in the organization was also assessed. Forty-eight percent of the employees felt that they were always engaged while at work. Of the employees who were interviewed, 38% reported that they felt engaged to some extent while another 12% reported engagement at certain times. Only 2% of the employees reported that they did not feel engaged.
Discussions
A high level of participation in organizational activities is a clear indicator of employee engagement. Engaged employees feel like part of the organization and as such seek opportunities to foster growth by actively participating in different organizational activities. Losing track of time while at work indicates that employees are deeply engaged in their work. As such the employee focuses keenly on the work they are doing to the point that they forget the world around. To reach a level of deep engagement with the work at hand, the organization must have laid out strategies that foster employees to feel valued in the organization. When employee’s mind does not wonder when they are working, it is a clear indication of high concentration when at work. High concentration only occurs in environments where employee engagement is encouraged and facilitated.
Recommendations
Human resource is a critical aspect of any organization. Human capital is more critical in the present time when globalisation and technological developments have stimulated cutthroat competition in all segments of the market. Without a high-level employee engagement and input, all other aspects of organization’s processes are in vain. Achieving a high level of employee engagement requires the organization to put efforts towards developing a culture of trust and employee initiative among other factors as discussed. For organizations to ensure employee engagement, the following recommendations should be considered:
- Organizations must purpose to make employee engagement a priority through a culture that supports employee commitment.
- Organizations must also ensure that they use effective employee engagement tools that guarantee the establishment of a comprehensive database on the status of employee commitment.
- The organization should create open channels of communication through which employees can communicate and engage with each other as well as with the management.
- At the job level, organizations must strive to ensure that jobs are clear and that their respective tasks are meaningful to foster employee concentration.
- Employers must address the issue of ambiguity of job descriptions and tasks to ensure that employees focus on their respective roles.
- In addition, the jobs must be challenging and competitive as a way of ensuring that employees are motivated to put more efforts.
- It is very important to put in place just and fair appraisal systems, which reward excellent performance.
- The organization should also encourage employee accountability at all times.
- It is also very important to ensure that employees are involved in decision-making and planning of activities for their organization.
- Encouraging organization ownership and a sense of belonging in employees is also very important in promoting employee engagement.
- Compensation and benefits also play a key role in promoting employee engagement. Hence, organizations should ensure reasonable benefits at all times.
- The organization must ensure that it has strong ethical standards for all employees. In this case, it is important to guarantee trust, respect and honesty among employees and/or between employees and the management.
Conclusion
The discussion has clearly identified the core tenets of employee engagement as well as its centrality in an organization’s success. It will be detrimental for any organization to ignore the concept of employee engagement. Looking at Google, it is evident that the organization is a step ahead of the rest. Its employees are highly engaged and productive, a fact, that has led to the success of the organization. With the realisation of the importance of employee engagement, organizations must therefore actively strive to create an enabling environment where employees feel appreciated. Such an environment allows employees to strive to achieve the organization’s values. Among many recommendations, achieving employee engagement is a critical aspect, which can easily give an organization a competitive advantage over others. Concisely, with the various employee engagement measurement procedures, each organization has the opportunity to get it right and create a highly effective human resource.
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