Challenges of Employee Engagement

Balaji(2014)found few issues on employee engagement, Managers and employees don’t understand engagement, goals and metrics of engagement programs are often limited, engagement is not productivity or an output, outside factors may influence engagement, diverse employees and different generations are engaged by different things, difficulty in understanding fluctuating mind of youngsters, underestimating the significance of employee engagement in the organizational success, lack of co-operation and co-ordination from management.

 Main employee engagement challenges are lack of appreciation, lack of work life balance, lack of insight or commitment from the top management & generalization(Santosh,2019).Employee engagement can categorize to three stages, namely engaged, actively engaged & disengaged, finding shows that major challenges include the Gender, skills set, market situations, competitor’s attractions, referrals, economic needs, age, education, opportunity growth needs of the employees active engagement(Gowda & Siddegowda,2018).

Employee Engagement challenges can be categorized to main two aspects, there has been a fundamental sectoral change in employment away from manufacturing and the public sector – sectors well-known for more official HR systems, high levels of trade union membership, and larger employment units – towards the more informal, relatively trade union free and smaller employment units of the service sector, retention of these knowledge workers is a challenge to these organizations, the second challenge, being faced by the employers, is planning & developing all engagement activities without any specific research base, in the process can lose focus & momentum(Singh,2016).

Employee engagement is very important & needed factor to improve organizational performance and productivity, but most of the management system fail to keep better employee engagement due to problem of law productivity, bad services being provided to customers and high turnover of employees(Suyanthi & Absah,2019).

The vigorously changing reality in which many companies operate constantly produces new challenges, forcing organizations to introduce changes while having no opportunity to formulate a strategy and preventive systems quickly enough, what the company can do is increase the employee effectiveness hence that is directly lead to improve organization effectiveness(Sypniewska & Baran,2020).

In this video, Emma Bridger addresses the key challenges faced by employers when addressing issues to do with employee engagement, and points to the pragmatic and easy-to-use tips that can be found in her book, Employee Engagement.

 

  Video1.0: Challenges of Employee Engagement.

 

(Source: Bridger, 2015)

 

The Company which I work is leading Manufacturing company that conduct annual Employee surveys to get employee ideas about the organization,survays based on different areas employee motivation, job satisfaction, development & trainings, employee safety, work-life balancing,rewards.Based on the survey results Organization identify the improvement areas the get the corrective action immediately to have better employee engagement.

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References,

 

• Balaji,R.(2014) Issues and Challenges Faced By HR Managers in Employee Engagement in It Sectors, International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,Engineering and Technology,3(6)13114-13117.
• Bridger,E.(2015)Key challenges in employee engagement.[Online].Available at: https://youtu.be/_yf8a1hgraM [Accessed on 28 April 2021].
• Gowda,A.k.,Siddegowda,Y.S.(2018) A Study on the Challenges of Employee Engagement in the Manufacturing Industries in Mysore & Bangalore cities of Karnataka.International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering,7(6)19-22.
• Santosh(2019) Employee Engagement Challenges you might be Facing at your Workplace. HR Strategies to Foster Engagement at the Workplace.    
• Singh,Y.(2014) Employee Engagement as a Contemporary Issue in HRM--A Conceptual Framework. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research,6(5)364-368.
• Suyanthi, H.S.,Absah,Y.(2019) EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT USING SWOT ANALYSIS.  Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research,(100)336-340.        
• Sypniewska,B.,Baran,M.(2020)The Impact of Management Methods on Employee Engagement.sustainability,12(426)2-15.

 

 

Key Approaches of Employee Engagement

Employee engagement refers to employees’ physical, mental and emotional involvement in the work, there are three main factors can be impacted to employee engagement, Organizational factors, job factors and individual factors (Sun & Bunchapattanasakda,2019).

Many organization still fail to gain the anticipated results of employee engagement due to lack of awareness about the affecting factors, there are key predictors of employee engagement, career development, employee empowerment, interpersonal relationships, communication, leadership, organizational culture, job design, compensation system, performance management, and individual factors like extraversion, carefulness and positive affectivity(Tewari,2020).

There is a positive or negative relationship between reward, work-life-balance, work environment and employee engagement, organization should maintain that level of relationship positively to have a better employee engagement (Husna & Shah & Zailan,2016).

The approach of employee engagement for new employees started from the stage of employee selection & recruitment by selecting the correct employee & providing a realistic job scope, organizing strong induction & orientation program giving demanding training & development program covering soft skills, technical skills, leadership developments(Gangwani,2015).

Sharma(2019)Investigated that engaged employees and constantly shows main three behaviors which develop organizational performance: Say – The employee promotes for the organization and refer potential employees and customers, Stay – The employee has a strong willingness to be a member of the organization, Strive – The employee use additional time, effort, and initiative to add to the realization of the business objectives.

The organization I work in, a leading organization in Sri Lanka manufacturing industry, employees are working happily with the appreciation of management, Leaders are good listeners & empower the employees with responsibilities at the right time, Organization leadership type is transformational, communication is extremely effective, every employee receive information via SMS on time, bonus & increments directly combined to employee performance, training & developments programs are on-going-lean,communication,technical,stress management. Organization is moving as a highly reputed organization who is manufacturing world number one brand. Employees are highly respected in the society including myself.

 

Figure 01 -Model of Employee engagement.

 

(Source: Bedarkar & Pandita,2014).

 

Figure 01 illustrated leadership, communication & work life balance are the three specific drivers of engagement & assume that these drivers lead to employee performance, which ultimately results in higher organizational performance (Bedarkar & Pandita,2014).

The best skills & characteristics of the employees in any organization will depend on the approach of employee engagement, if the organization fail to satisfy employees, danger of losing the talented & high skill employees (Singh and Sabharwal, 2011).

Recognition is the key factor in any type of organization to show employee value to the organization (Danish and Usman, 2010).

 

References,

• Bedarkar,M.,Pandita,D.(2014) A study on the drivers of employee engagement impacting employee performance.Procedia-social and behavioral sciences,106-115.
• Danish, R. and Usman, A. (2010) Impact of Reward and Recognition on Job Satisfaction and Motivation: An Empirical Study from Pakistan. International Journal of Business and Management, 5(2),162.
• Gangwani,S.(2015)Effectiveness of employee engagement in organizations:An Overview. International Journal of Research in IT and Management,6(11),132-141.
• Husna,M.I,Shah,M.M,Zailan,S.N.(2016) How Work Environment affects the Employee Engagement in a Telecommunication Company.3rd International Conference on Business and Economics,419-426.
• Sharma,K.R.(2019) Employee Engagement – Key Element of Employee Performance at Workplace: A Review of Literature. International Journal of Management, Technology And Engineering,IX(III),110-120.
• Singh, A. K. and Sabharwal, S. (2011) Talent Quotient Model for Effective Talent Management: An Empirical Study. The Indian Journal of Commerce, 64(2)145-156.
• Sun,L., Bunchapattanasakda,C.(2019) Employee Engagement: A Literature Review. International Journal of Human Resource Studies,9(1)63-80.
• Tewari,I.(2020) Factors that Drive Employee Engagement in Organizations: A Review. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation,24(5)6767-6773.

 

 

                        Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement is the commitment, desire of employees and effective leadership skills with support from the top management to the employees, human resource leaders set the initiative and belief of their company and spread that positive confidence to the employees in the company(Sarangi & Nayak,2016)

Employee engagements is the emotional dedication employees feel & works to achieve company targets & goals, mainly drive for company profit & growth, how an organization treats its employees has a direct impact on its employees’ engagement (Allen,2014).

Employee engagement is related to the emotional experiences of people who shape their work process and behavior, all the organization has a responsibility to provide proper training & development opportunities to employees to build a meaningful workplace & environment, in turn employees have the responsibility to give a meaningful contribution to the organization to drive for mission & vision(Osborne & Hammoud,2017).Employee’s knowledge of how well an organization’s resources are being managed has a positive impact on engagement, there is a strong relationship between productivity and engagement, employees’ knowledge of an organization’s & productivity levels also has positive impact on engagement, high engagement leads to higher financial performance, higher productivity, higher customer satisfaction and lower manpower turnover(Sekhar patro,2013).

Employee engagement has become a very important factor in HRM functions now, defining employee engagement in order to make the most of such crucial talent processes as recruiting, training and development and retention, organizations should be tuned in to the “voice of the employee” and ensure that valued employees are engaged with the organization(Vetrivel & Krishnamoorthy & Dhas,2020).

Higher levels of engagement are strongly related to higher levels of innovation (Azizah & Gustomo,2015).

 

Figure 1.0 – Key factors affecting for employee engagement.

 

(Source: Bhatla,2011).

Figure 01 interpret an organization’s capacity to manage employee engagement is closely associated to its capability to achieve high performance levels and higher business results (Bhatla,2011).

I work for a leading Manufacturing company, where employees are well recognized. The organization highly consider about employee motivation & arranged more programmes to have better employee engagement. The rewards, increments, performance bonus, promotions, employee excursion & religious days are some key practices of organization which used to have good engagement. Training & developments programs are ongoing for growth of employees, with all these activities organization employees highly motivated &  positively engaged with company success, even C19’ pandemic period, organization achieved maximum value of sales & it was recorded as a best-selling year comparing with last five financial years.

References,

·       Allen, M. (2014) What is employee engagement and how does it link with culture change? Is it the latest corporate jargon or is there real business value in it? Finally, what will it take to engage your employees and where do you start?. Employee Engagement – A Culture Change,2-4.

·       Azizah,A.,Gustomo,A.(2015) The influence of employee engagement to employee performance at pt telekom bandung. Journal of business and management,4(7)817-829.

·       Bhatla,N.(2011) To study the Employee Engagement practices and its effect on employee performance with special reference to ICICI and HDFC Bank in Lucknow. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research,2(8)1-7

·       Osborne, S., Hammoud, M.S. (2017) Effective Employee Engagement in the Workplace. International Journal of Applied Management and Technology,16(1)50-67.

·       Sarangi,P.,Nayak,B.(2016) Employee Engagement and Its Impact on Organizational Success - A Study in Manufacturing Company, India. IOSR Journal of Business and Management,18(4)52-57.

·       Sekhar Patro,C.(2013) The Impact of Employee Engagement on Organization’s Productivity. 2nd International Conference on Managing Human Resources at the Workplace,1-9.        

·       Vetrivel,S.,Krishnamoorthy,V.,Dhas,B.(2020) Drivers of employee engagement to job satisfaction in modern Industries.International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation,24(10)1637-1641.

 

 

Employee Motivation & Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction highly engage with employee motivation, most of the motivation theories have used for Job satisfaction as groundwork in practice, theories clearly stated that importance of job-related satisfaction (Kian, Rajah & Yusoff,2014).

Job satisfaction and motivation are two relatively broad concepts, however extremely important for individual employees, companies, and society, for employees, job satisfaction and motivation are important with respect to experiencing mastery and happiness (Scheers & Botha,2014). In order to do that highly satisfied work force is an absolutely need for achieving a high level of performance advancement of an organization, A satisfied employee can motivate to extend more effort to improve the performance (Pushpakumari,2008).

Where there is motivation, there is satisfaction with the Job: employees to feel more satisfied, a variety of incentives-material or moral should be offered by administration (Mashaqbah,2018).

In figure 01 explain,the satisfaction of one need leads to the feeling of another need, motivation is the goal directed behavior which leads to goal full-fillment & satisfaction, people feel job satisfaction when they receive positive feedback after job well done (Bajpai & Rajpot,2018).

 

Figure 1.0 – Need vs satisfaction.

(Source: Bajpai & Rajpot,2018).

Job satisfaction is the positive feeling about the work, a person who has high level job satisfaction can positively contribute to the organization & lead with the vision to achieve organization targets (Hidayah & Tobing,2018).

Figure 2.0 – Employee job satisfaction impact of Organizational performance.

(Source: Miah,2018)

 

Motivation will come from the gratification of the work itself or from the wish to achieve more money or being promoted, it also comes from the sense of satisfaction gained from completing something, or achieving a successful outcome (Elanga,2013).

The Company which I work is leading Glove Manufacturing company in Sri Lanka and which is highly concerned about employee motivation & job satisfaction. General workers of the company are receiving incentives monthly basis along with salaries based on month wise plant performance, Incentive % calculate based on the month performance of each Global business units. At the month end all employees are highly satisfied with the extra payment & motivate for next month to achieve higher % of incentive.

 

References;

 

•  Bajpai,V.,Rajpot,.S.(2018) IMPACT OF EMPLOYEES MOTIVATION ON JOB SATISFACTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AT BALCO.Global Journal of Engineering science & research management,5(5),45-58. 
  
• Elanga,A.A.(2013) Exploring the link between job motivation, work environment and job satisfaction. European Journal of Business and Management,5(24)34-40.
  
• Hidayah,T.,Tobing,D.S.K.(2018) The Influence Of Job Satisfaction, Motivation,And Organizational Commitment To Employee Performance.INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH,7(7)122-127.
  
• Kian,T.S.,Rajah,S.,Yusoff,W.F.W. (2014)JOB SATISFACTION AND MOTIVATION:WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCE AMONG THESE TWO? European Journal of Business and Social Sciences,3(2)94-102.
  
• Miah,MD.M.(2018) The impact of employee job satisfaction toward organizational performance: A study of private sector employees in Kuching, East Malaysia. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications,8(12)270-278.
  
• Mashaqbah,N.K.(2018) The Relationship Between Motivation and Job Satisfaction Among Teachers of Public Schools in Mafraq Province of Jordan.European Scientific Journal,14(31)224-239.
  
• PushpakumarI,M.D(2008)The Impact of Job Satisfaction on Job Performance: An Empirical Analysis,89-105.
• Scheers,L.V.,Botha,J.(2014)Analysing relationship between employee job satisfaction and motivation. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR),9(1)98-109.          

                  Herzberg Motivation/Hygiene Theory

Herzberg’s motivation/hygiene theory interpret as the two-factor theory, Herzberg created his theory based on Motivators and Hygiene factors, the themes of the satisfying incidents called as motivator factors & dissatisfying events called as hygiene factors (Sachau,2007).Hygiene factors avoid dissatisfaction, but they do not lead to satisfaction. They are necessary only to avoid bad feeling at work, motivators are the actual factors that motivate employees at work (Hong & Waheed,2011).

Herzberg explained job satisfaction can’t improve any of hygiene factors & can only improve by increasing the motivators (Smerek & Peterson,2007).

 Figure 1.0: Motivators & Hygiene Factors.

Motivators	Hygiene factors
Recognition	Salary
Achievement	Company Policy
Work itself	Interpersonal relations
Opportunity for advancement	Working conditions
Responsibility	Technical competence

 (Source: Smerek & Peterson,2007)

As Figure 01 shows,the main perception of this theory is the difference between motivation factors and hygiene Factors & these two factors can be impacted on job satisfaction, Hygiene factors are considered less important to job satisfaction than motivation factors, Motivation factors lead to job satisfaction because of ‘the need of the individual for self-growth and self-actualization’(Alshmemri,Shahwa & Mude,2017).

Regarding ‘satisfiers', Herzberg found that there were five factors of work that bring about employee satisfaction, namely achievement, recognition, the job itself, responsibility and advancement. At the other hand of the spectrum, Herzberg identified formal politics, the management approach, supervision, pay, affairs at work and working environment as factors that can discourage employees (Badubi.R,2017).

The company which I’m working is highly considering about employee motivation as a leading glove manufacturing organization in the world, all the policies that the company made considering Herzberg Motivators & Hygiene factors along with other important theories, therefore the company named as one of the high payed manufacturing organization in Sri Lanka & all wants to join for the company. employees receive their monthly salaries which align with the industrial benchmarks along with allowances, Further, in general when there are job opportunities that the company has a policy to provide the first chance for existing employees before move for external parties, HR department send “internal job opportunity notices” daily basis, employees who has that skills, knowledge can apply & promote.

    

The company is moving considering employee safety, company safety policy is “Think Safety – Home Safely “This is one of the example how the company safety awareness programs are ongoing. Company EHS team share a picture monthly basis, employees need to identify carefully all possible hazards & submit in full before the cutoff date given. Three winners will be rewarded at the month end.

Company HR & Lean team regularly arrange quiz competitions department wise to enhance employee knowledge & reduce employee stress. This is another example company has taken to develop employee interpersonal skills & work life balance, doing these all things & motivating employees company achieve financial targets in each financial year.

References,

 

•                    Sachau, D. (2017) Resurrecting the Motivation Hygiene Theory: Herzberg and the Positive Psychology Movement. Human Resource Development Review,6(4)377-393.
•                    Hong, T.T., Waheed, A. (2011) Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene and job satisfaction in the Malaysian retail sector: mediating effect of love money. Asian Academy of Management Journal,16(1)73-94.
•                    Smerek, R.E., Peterson, M. (2007) Examining Herzberg’s Theory: Improving Job Satisfaction among Non-Academic Employees at a University. Research in Higher Education,48(2)229-249.
•                    Alshmemri, M., Shahwan -Aki, L., Maude, P. (2017) Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory. Life Science Journal,14(5).
•                    Badubi,R.(2017) Theories of Motivation and Their Application in Organizations: A Risk Analysis, International Journal of Innovation and Economic Development,3(3)44-51.

 Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory

Maslow proposed at least five sets of goals which can be referred to as basic needs & set a theory, this theory gives a right direction for managers & other organization leaders (Ramlall,2004).The theory explains five levels of human’s need, the need for the next level arises with the fulfillment of the earlier need, Following are the needs, Physiological needs, safety and security need, Social need, Self-worth and Self-actualization. Sometime the need may not follow the hierarchy due to unpredictable attitude & behavior of the human being (Varma,2017).

The lowest level is Physiological needs, food, water, shelter and clothing, when people fulfill that needs go to Security needs(second level), person needs to feel safe in a society and in organization,Thrid level is love and belonging needs, people need to receive and give love and have good friendships, fourth level is Esteem needs, It is people need to have self-respect & appreciation based on their achievement, Highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy is need of Self-actualization, the progress of this need based on the satisfaction of the other four levels(Faizul, Aminul&Shamimul, 2014). The principal of this theory is that when one need is satisfied, its importance reduces and the strength of the next level increases. (Latham & Pinder 2005).

Figure 1.0: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs  

          

(Source: Faizul, Aminul&Shamimul,2014).

Figure 01 explain,Maslow suggested that most people have these basic needs in hierarchical manner, but this can be changed not a fixed order as some individuals will have these needs in the reverse way (Osabiya & Joseph,2015).

I’m working in leading glove manufacturing organization which are highly consider about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, employees receive their monthly salaries which align with the industrial benchmarks along with allowances, such as cost of living allowances, medical reimbursements, traveling reimbursements, fuel allowances, hospitalization reimbursements, entertainment and holiday allowances, annual bonuses, telephone bill reimbursements, all are varies between employee position in the organization, further company provides special loan to employees at zero interest rates during new year period, every employee entitles to get this loan based on necessities. Company did a great thing for employees who were living in renting houses during Covid period, gave the company own residences & foods to protect all from Covid. This is the way company full fill Physiological needs of employees.

The company is moving considering employee safety, company safety policy is “Think Safety – Home Safely”. As a safety-first organization, company 100% responsible to fulfill employee security needs.

Pirith Ceremony/family day organize by annually to fulfill employee social needs.

The company gives monetary and non-monetary rewards for employees based on group & individual achievements, such as party, staff annual trips, foreign tours to fulfill self-esteem & actualization needs.

Therefore, it is evident that the company clearly maintains an organizational culture where its employees are motivated and satisfied to a greater extent.

 

 

References,

•                 Faizul, M.H., Aminul, M.H., Shamimul, I. (2014) Motivational Theories – A Critical Analysis. ASA University Review,8(1)62-63.

•                 Latham,G.P., Pinder,C.G.(2005) Work Motivation Theory and Research at the dawn ow theTwenty-first century, Annual Review of Psychology.

•                Osabiya, Joseph, B. (2015) The effect of employees’ motivation on organizational. Journal of Public Administration and Policy,7(4),62-75.

•                 Ramlall, S. (2004) A Review of Employee Motivation Theories and their Implications forEmployee Retention within Organizations. The Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge,53-54.

•                 Varma, C. (2017) Importance of employee motivation & job satisfaction for organizational performance. International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research,6(2)10-20.

 

 

 

 Employee Motivation in Manufacturing Organization          

Employer responsible to identify the needs of employee to have strong positive relationship, some employees motivate by rewards while some are expecting job security & achievements (Lee & Raschke,2016).

Various factors involved for organization success, but the most important factor is labor because labor is the creator of all other important factors, capital, machinery, material & others, Productivity & efficiency of other factors depend on behavior of the labor (Azar & Akbar,2013). The organization motivate employees well, that motivated employees bring organization to success & effectiveness level, Employees are vital to productivity, the effectiveness and efficiency of organizations mainly depend on employee motivation, commitment, job satisfaction and skills (Dugguh, 2014).

Corporate sectors are working now for Employee Motivation that is a widely practice exercise now in the all corporate sectors irrespective of organization size, the concept of motivation is derived from a Latin word “movere” which means “to move”(Mohsan et al., 2004). Coyle-Shapiro and Shore (2007), stated employee & organization has a great relationship therefore both parties can exchange benefits & that will help to success of both sides.

All successful organizations existence in the market depend based on committed employee base, and the commitment is the outcome of job satisfaction and motivation, it is the energy that forces employees towards organizational objective, It would be impossible for the organization success without employee commitment (Varma,2017).

Job performance is viewed as a function of three factors and is expressed with the equation below (Mitchell,1982).

Figure 1.0 According to this equation, motivation, ability, and environment are the major influences over employee performance.

(Source: Mitchell 1982).

The Company which I work is leading Glove Manufacturing company in Sri Lanka and which is being operated successfully for over 125 years. During that period company achieved several milestone & expanded businesses while manufacturing and exporting Surgical and industrial gloves primarily to the USA and Europe markets.

The company is highly given attention on employee motivation, giving the opportunities to employees based on the performance level. Everyone has same opportunity to reach for next level based on the capability & commitments. Company provide rewards to innovative employees yearly basis organizing “Kizan events”. Training programs are continuing during the whole year to improve personal development (Lean Six zigma/firefighting & excel trainings).

Company distributes gift packs on first day of each year, Sinhala Hindu New Year & in international women’s day. During Covid Period company distribute dry ration packs & Keels vouchers for all employees to appreciate all hard works that employees given in difficult time. Scholarships provide for best resulted students of grade five & advanced level examinations those parents are working in Company.

The company is moving giving the highest priority for employees under safety policy “Think Safety – Home Safely”. Employee safety 100% assured by the company during the working time.

Giving all advantages to employees’ company earn maximum profits continually in each financial year.   

References,

·       Coyle-Shapiro, J. A.M. & Shore, L.M. (2007) The employee-organization relationship: Where do we go from here? Human Resource Management Review, 17(2)166-179.

·    Dugguh, S.I. (2014) Using Motivation Theories to Enhance Productivity in Cement Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria: An Overview. The International Journal of Social Science, 20 (1).

·        Lee, M.T., Raschke, R.L. (2016) Understanding employee motivation and organizational performance: Arguments for a set-theoretic approach. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge,1(3)162-169

·     Azar,M.,Akbar,S.A.(2013)The Effect of Work Motivation on Employees’ Job  Performance. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences,3(9).

·   Mitchell, T. R. (1982) Motivation: New directions for theory, research, and practice. Academy of Management Review, 7(1)80–88.

·      Mohsan, F., Nawaz, M. M., Khan, M., Shaukat, Z., & Aslam, N. (2004), Are Employee Motivation, Commitment and Job Involvement Inter-related: Evidence from Banking Sector of Pakistan. International Journal of Business and Social Science,2(17).

·       Varma, C. (2017) Importance of employee motivation & job satisfaction for organizational performance. International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research,6(2)10-20.