Creating a healthy organization through Employee Engagement

 

Overview

The engagement has introduced as a substance for success and sustainability of a business organization and studies have shown that a better performance of an employee is related to high level of engagement and dedication for his work. (Rich et al.,2010; Shuck and Wollard, 2010). Employee engagement was defined as “the satisfaction, involvement and enthusiasm of the employee at work” (Harter et al., 2002). To create a healthy organization, an organization can develop strategies based on the results they got through the surveys they conduct to measure employee engagement.

Kompaso and Sridevi (2010) introduced following 10 stratergies to improve employee engagement in an organization and they called them “Tablets” because it is believed that these will cure employee disengagement diseases at work place.

• Start it on day one - The newly hired employees should be given orientation about company and job-specifications such as his/her job duties, and responsibilities, goals and current priorities of the department which enable them to develop realistic job expectations and reduce role conflicts in future.
• Start it from the top - Employee engagement should begin with leaders in the organization
• Enhance engagement through two-way communication - Effective communication
• Give satisfactory opportunities for development and advancement
• Facilities allocation - Ensure that employees have everything they need to do their jobs
• Give employees appropriate training
• Strong feedback system
• Incentives
• Build a distinctive corporate culture
• Focus on top-performing employees

The following table describes the importance of work set up and seating in organization to get the best out come from their employees. This factor also should be taken in to consideration when creating a healthy work force.

                                            Table 01 - Relationship of space and performance

                                                    Source  – Waber, Magnolfi, and Lindsey (2014)

Dialog Axiata, Hayleys, MAS Holdings, Unilever, John Keells Holdings, Sampath Bank, Commercial Bank, Hirdaramani Apparel, Nestlé are few examples for the organizations that implemented above strategies in Sri Lanka. MAS Holdings and Hirdaramani Apparel ranking the first and second place in highest number of employees in Sri Lanka 2022 shows that these organizations have created a survival work environment to their employees. In Sri Lankan Brand Directory, for the 4th consecutive year, Dialog remains the most valuable brand in Sri Lanka with brand value of LKR. 54.0 billion.According to the Top 10 companies in Sri Lanka by revenue up to August 2022, MAS Holdings rank the on the top of the list and all above mentioned organizations are also hold top rankings. This is a great example that explains the power of employee engagement in a work place drives to the success of an organization.

              Source –  (Brand Finance, Brand Directory, 2022)

References

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice, 13th edition. 13th ed. London: Kogan Page, pp.193-202

Brand Finance, Brand Directory.(2022) Available at : https://brandirectory.com/rankings/sri-lanka/table , Accessed on 15^th August 2022

Harter, J.K., Schmidt, F.L. and Hayes, T.L. (2002), “Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: a meta-analysis”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87 No. 2, pp. 268-279

Kompaso, S. and Sridevi, M. (2010). Employee Engagement: The Key to Improving Performance. International Journal of Business and Management, [online] 5(12), pp.89-94

Rich, B.L., Lepine, J.A. and Crawford, E.A. (2010), “Job engagement: antecedents and effects on job performance”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 53 No. 3, pp. 617-635.

Shuck, B. and Wollard, K. (2010), “Employee engagement and HRD: a seminal review of the foundations”, Human Resource Development Review, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 89-110.

Waber, B.,  Magnolfi, J.  and Lindsay,  G. (2014)  ‘Workspaces that  move people’,  Harvard Business Review, (October 2014), pp. 69–77.

Zoominfo: Top 10 companies in Sri Lanka by revenue for August 2022 (2022) Available at : https://www.zoominfo.com/top-lists/top-10-companies-in-LK-by-revenue , Accessed on 15^th August 2022