Employee Engagement What managers need to know?

Brenda Wilson
Business Leader Human Capital Hong Kong

Overview

Section I: What is Employee Engagement?

Employee Engagement Defined

What Managers Can Do to Improve Engagement

Section II: How to improve employee engagement in your department?

Key Drivers of Engagement

Section III: A case study in the public sector

Experience Sharing with our Project with Singapore Government

Section IV: Key Takeaways

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Section I Employee Engagement What is it?

Lets vote: whats your view?

Q: What is the definition of employee engagement?

Select one answer: 1. A new management technique to get your employees to do what you tell them the first time.

2. When two employees plan to get married.

3. An internal party for employees: Hey Joe, are you going to that employee engagement at 2:00 p.m.? 4. All of the above (they all sound good)
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Engagement Defined

What is employee engagement?

A psychological state in which employees feel a vested interest in the companys success and are both willing and motivated to perform to levels that exceed the stated job requirements. Engagement fosters and drives discretionary behavior, eliciting employees highest productivity, their best ideas and their genuine commitment to the success of the organization.

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Engagement Defined

1960

1980

2000

TIME Engagement

Satisfaction Morale

Motivation

Commitment

Enjoys the job

Is not dissatisfied with terms and conditions

Strives to achieve personal goals

Contributes energetically

Loyal to organization, optimistic for the future

Collaborates to achieve team goals

Proactively seeks opportunities to serve the mission of the organization

Willing to go the extra mile Is willing to withhold criticism and/or be constructively critical for the good of the organization
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Not necessarily a team player

Values achieving personal goals Has a sense of more than team/ belonging to organizational organization goals

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Engagement Defined: Howre you doing? Check your level of engagement

Are you
Yes No

Getting satisfaction from the tasks required in their job? Feeling valued by management? Contributing energetically, not in isolation, but collaboratively?

Positive about the work experience your employer, its leaders, the work and the environment?
Ambitious for the organization? Speaking positively about the organizations goods and services?

Planning to continue to work for the organization?

Going beyond the stated requirements of the job and contribute discretionary effort?

Are you engaged?

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From Satisfaction to Engagement Mercers Employee Engagement Model

Engagement Model

Advocate
They freely contribute discretionary effort a willingness to go the extra distance in executing projects and their regular duties. They see a mutuality of interest between his or her values and aspirations and those of the organization.

Committed
Committed employees have thoroughly internalized the values and behaviors represented by the earlier stages of the engagement model, but have also forged a strong identification with the organization.

Motivated
In addition to sharing some of the attributes of satisfied employees, motivated workers contribute energetically and are highly focused individual contributors to the organization.

Satisfied
Satisfied employees perform their jobs and are satisfied with the terms and conditions of employment. However, they tend not to go above and beyond in their efforts.

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Lets vote: whats your view?

Q: What can managers do to improve employee engagement?

Select one answer:
1. Act like cupid: every one loves a good engagement. 2. Give more work, hard work, and lots of it!

3. Use fear to scare your employees into being very satisfied at work.
4. None of the above there is nothing a manager can do.

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From Satisfaction to Engagement What can managers do?

Satisfied:

Provide work tools, resources and equipment Enhance the work environment Reward (reward level and understanding of the rationale for reward change) Recognize work efforts

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From Satisfaction to Engagement What can managers do?

Motivated:

Establish fair performance goals Communicate clear expectations Regularly clarify priorities and feedback Provide support by removing obstacles to optimal performance Recognize and reward performance Delegate work to theses employees Support skill development

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From Satisfaction to Engagement What can managers do?

Committed:

Help employees build meaningful long-term careers Ensure recognition and reward for long term commitment Listen to employees, share insights and experience

Ensure fairness, consistency and transparency

Develop understanding of long-term vision and business plans Promote organization values and reinforce them through management behaviors

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From Satisfaction to Engagement What can managers do?

Advocate:

Communicate the organization's progress and challenges

Relate business results to team and individual roles

Endorse strong customer focus Share understanding of customer needs with team Challenge and grow through delegation Establish comprehensive career development plans Encourage upward communication Encourage innovation Recognize and reward
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Weve always had a policy of trying to put our . The staff should come first, the customers (the public) second and your shareholders (stakeholders/ tax payers) third.

staff first
wins.

If you take that approach youll find that everyone

Happy staff result in happy

customers, lots of happy customers result in happy shareholders.

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Richard Branson, CEO Virgin Group

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Section II Key Drivers of Employee Engagement

National Differences in Engagement Drivers

Over the last several years, the Mercers Whats WorkingTM studies have been tracking the drivers of engagement across countries
China
Sense of personal accomplishment Paid fairly, given performance Comparable benefits to industry Confidence in senior management IT systems support business needs Opportunities for training Regular performance feedback

United Kingdom
Sense of personal accomplishment Confidence in senior management Opportunities for training Paid fairly, given performance Good reputation for customer service Regular performance feedback Comparable benefits to industry Cooperation between groups

Whats Engagement working in Hong Kong?

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Lets Vote: Whats your view?

Q: Apart from pay, which ONE element do you think is the most important driver of employee engagement?
Select one answer: 1. Sense of personal accomplishment 2. Benefits 3. Career opportunity 4. Sufficient channels for communication 5. Confidence in senior management 6. Training and development opportunities
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Key Drivers of Employee Engagement

Although there are some country-specific drivers, a consistent set of engagement drivers is emerging globally 2007

The work itself, including opportunities to develop Confidence and trust in leadership Rewards & recognition Communication

Employee Engagement

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Key Drivers of Engagement

Drivers of engagement vary by

Industry High technology Retail Financial services Professional services Civil Service Organizational Context Growth Privatisation Restructuring/downsizing Merger and integration Employee demographics Country

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Section III Case Study Singapore Civil Service

Singapore Civil Service

Why Engagement is so Critical

?
The economic landscape is changing

Strong year-on-year growth in GDP in Singapore

How do we continue to retain employees in the Public Sector?

The implications on the employment market

Increased growth across sectors Competition for talent intensifying Increasingly becoming an employees market

Compensation is critical, but its not everything Needed to understand the drivers of employee engagement in the public sector for talent retention

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Approach

In 2005, Mercer established an employee engagement survey, The Singapore Public Sector Employee Engagement Survey (PS EES) for 20+ agencies The survey yielded 3,743 data points, sampled from 46 individual public sector agencies Regression analysis was conducted to identify key drivers to engagement Overall engagement was measured by the following four questions:

I am proud to work for my organization I would recommend my organization to others Given a choice, how much longer will I be working for my organization How satisfied am I with my organization at the present time

11 engagement categories
Leadership / Climate Job Motivation Engagement Supervisory Practices Learning & Development Rewards Career Advancement Teamwork Job Growth Workload

Performance Management & Feedback

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Results

Compensation almost never rated in top three drivers at over 20 agencies for senior and mid-level staff but was within the top three drivers for junior staff
2007 Key Drivers 2005 Key Drivers
Job Motivation pr = .34

Leadership/ Climate pr = .44

Career Advancement pr = .38 Job Motivation pr = .25

Leadership/ Climate pr = .27

Employee Engagement

Career Advancement pr = .26 Workload pr = .08 Rewards pr = .06

R=.67
pr = partial correlation, a measure of statistical relationship R = coefficient of determination, denotes variation of dependent variable explained by independent variables

R=.64

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Statistically significant drivers of engagement by category

A total of three items were uncovered as statistically significant key drivers employee engagement at the category level
Employee Engagement
Leadership/ Climate
pr = .44

The strength of leadership in the organization Opportunities for growth, development and longterm career potential Being intrinsically motivated by the work you do

Career Advancement

pr = .38

pr =.25

Job Motivation

These items accounted for 67% of the variance in Employee Engagement (R=.67)
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Statistically significant drivers of engagement by item

Item Level Drivers

A total of five items were uncovered as statistically significant key drivers of Employee Engagement at the overall level The key drivers of Employee Engagement center around: - The work itself giving them a feeling of personal accomplishment - Employees belief that they have opportunities for growth and development in their organizations - Employee perceptions that senior management proactively confronts issues before they become major problems - Employee perceptions that the values of their organisation are evident in peoples actions - Employee perceptions that their organisation has established a good reputation for customer service

Job Motivation
Q. Feeling of personal accomplishment

Employee Engagement
pr = .36 I am proud to work for my organization I would recommend my organization to others Given a choice, how much longer will I be working for my organization How satisfied am I with my organization at the present time

Career Advancement
Q. Opportunity for growth & development

pr = .33

Leadership/ Climate
Q. Snr Mgmt does a good job of confronting issues

pr = .24

Leadership/ Climate
Q. Org values are demonstrated by employees

pr = .18

Leadership/ Climate
Q. Org has established a good reputation for customer service

pr =.16

R=.61
pr = partial correlation, a measure of statistical relationship R = coefficient of determination, denotes variation of dependent variable explained by independent variables

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Section IV Closing remarks

Key takeaways

Compensation is important, but it isnt everything and for the Singapore Civil Service it didnt factor significantly in the results for most levels of the workforce. In order to increase levels of engagement, managers need to understand the drivers of engagement. Are your employees satisfied, motivated, committed or an advocate for the Hong Kong Civil Service? What can you do to help improve your employees engagement? Key drivers of engagement may vary from industries, organization contexts, and from country to country: do you know what is driving or eroding your employee engagement? Managers can take an active role in engaging the workforce through various non-financial means leading to better performance and happier employees who advocate for the government and the public.

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Contact Brenda Wilson Human Capital, Hong Kong Tel +852 2115 3312 Brenda.Wilson@mercer.com

Employee engagement categories

Leadership / Climate refers to the senior management team as a whole and perceived clarity in communicating organizational strategy, ability in confronting issues, demonstrating organizational values and concern for employees as well as management of the organization as a whole Supervisory Practices refers to respondents immediate supervisor in terms of perceived competence, availability for consultation, honest communication and frequency of feedback Career Advancement - refers to perceived opportunities in career development as well as long-term career prospects in the organization and the public sector in general Job Growth refers to staff perceived value of activities outside their scope of work contributing to their personal development of organizational excellence Job Motivation refers to perceived levels of personal satisfaction, adequate autonomy, interesting challenges and relevant use of their skills and abilities Learning & Development refers to staff perceived value of activities outside their scope of work contributing to their personal development of organizational excellence Teamwork refers to respondents attitude towards people in the organization and perceived levels of cooperation within the work group and across divisions/ institutions Workload refers to perceived reasonable levels of work, adequate manpower and ability in maintaining balance between work and personal life Performance Management & Feedback refers to employee level of understanding, perceived equity and flexibility of the PM system, ability to recognize and reward deserving staff and the level of feedback and communication Rewards - refers to perceived fairness of compensation and other issues of external competitiveness and internal equity Engagement refers to staff level of satisfaction and pride for the organization as well as intent to stay and recommendation of the organization as a good place of employment

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