Employee Engagement Reflection on Applying Takeaways From

Employee Engagement

Reflection on applying takeaways from class to my current management career

Applying and understanding the concept of 'employee engagement' and the 'glass ceiling' to my management career

For the past fifteen years I have been employed as a manager at a transportation company with an over 180-year history in the business. I have personally witnessed many shifts in the corporate culture during my tenure as I have moved up the ranks, most notably the company's increased emphasis on encouraging employee engagement. Rather than simply taking a 'carrot and stick' approach and trying to incentivize improved employee performance solely through raises and sanctions, the company has increasingly emphasized intrinsic motivation. It is not acceptable to simply try to make employees perform -- they need to want to perform. At a very basic level, motivating someone means making him or her desire to perform an objective, rather than compelling him or her to do so. Employee engagement is defined as when "everyone in the organization doing the right thing, the right way, at the right time -- even when no one is watching. Engaged employees who are enabled to create exceptional service experiences will give organizations a real and sustainable competitive advantage. If you can create that type of culture, it is difficult, if not impossible, for competitors to replicate" (Ketter 2012).

When an engaged employee sees that a process is not currently working, even if not specifically instructed to do so by management, he or she will raise this issue and attempt to create a potential solution. For example, recently at the company where I work, a number of employees noted that customers were expressing dissatisfaction with various aspects of our operations. Instead of ignoring this problem or trying to hide it from management, they proactively brought it to the collective attention of the organization and steps could be taken to prevent the issues from occurring in the future.

However, to create this type of atmosphere requires considerable willingness on the part of management to trust employees. Instead of viewing employees bringing up concerns in a punitive fashion as disagreement or disobedience, managers must see such dialogue as positive evidence of engagement. Employees become engaged when they are treated like valuable, thinking components of an organization, not as mere cogs in a wheel. The engaged employee is always thinking about how to do things better, faster, and smarter. However, unless management makes it clear that such engagement is welcome rather than unwelcome, employees will not volunteer their input. Employee engagement is critical to a strategy of 'participatory management' in which the entire organization is collectively viewed as part of the effort of improving customer satisfaction. Employees' grounds-eye perspectives can offer unique data such as market research about customer needs that managers may lack.

In general, "three broad categories combine to define engagement: satisfaction, motivation, and effectiveness. While each of these factors is important on their own, only when all three are present simultaneously does true engagement occur" (Ketter 2012). First and foremost, if an employee is not satisfied with his or her place or remuneration, he or she is unlikely to feel engaged. For example, if the organization does not pay employees a living wage comparable with other companies within the industry, it is unlikely that employees will be willing to go above and beyond the minimum requirements of performance. That is why companies such as Wal-Mart have such high rates of attrition and must spend so much money on worker training at the lower levels. Workers are viewed as disposable commodities in terms of the wages and benefits they receive.

However, workers must also feel motivated to care. Companies must show respect to employees in terms of how they treat them on a day-to-day basis. In a survey of job satisfaction, 62% of employees listed the opportunity to use skills and abilities as a critical component of their job-related satisfaction (Healthfield 2011). Employees will not be motivated to act proactively unless they feel as though they are working to fulfill a vital, specific mission in the service of an organization that has a purpose beyond that of rapacious profitability. Although an effectively-worded vision statement alone is not enough to motivate employees, having a genuine corporate ethos that permeates the entire organization can be profoundly motivational and help improve employee performance. For example, companies such as Google and Whole Food have clear 'values' beyond that of pure profitability, which draw uniquely-committed workers and contribute to the overall value of the organization. At my company, the fact that the organization is so old and well-respected has created a coherent corporate culture that inspires workers.

However, it should be noted that even the best companies sometimes have to change their visions to continue to motivate employees. For example, at my organization, one common complaint amongst female employees for many years was that the organization was insufficiently concerned with their need for flextime and for parental leave. Many top female employees complained this created a 'glass ceiling' which they could not break through to get to upper-level managerial ranks, even though the company paid lip service to the need for diversity and had an active EEOC-compliant policy. As more and more women obtained the qualifications and experiences for higher-level positions, it was necessary for the company to 'change with the times.' These policies are now better integrated into our employee benefits packages and there is also more attention to sensitivity training in the workplace, to create a more pleasant environment for all workers, regardless of gender. The fact that the company has taken physical actions to improve conditions has improved the motivational level of female employees. More women are in positions of power and also, overall women are less tired and stressed because of the new policies that take into consideration their lifestyle needs.