Future of Employee Engagement – 2021 and Beyond

Introduction

2020 has been nothing but a challenge for all HR professionals, where they had to tackle the biggest remote working workforce to a variety of other issues such as redundancies in workforce, furlough, safety and employee engagement amid a global pandemic (Seychell, 2020). It has also been a year where automation and digitization of business operations has accelerated like no other year with organizations adopting digital tools to carry out the operations (World Economic Forum, 2020).

Challenges and Solutions

The report released by World Economic Forum on ‘The Future of Jobs Report’, the following key points are stated (World Economic Forum, 2020).

1. The pace of technology adoption remains unbated and will accelerate in some areas

2. By 2025, companies will transform tasks, jobs and skills with automation and by 2025 the time spent on current tasks by humans and machines will be equal

3. Skill gaps for jobs in demand will continue to rise

4. With online work implemented for majority of white-collar workforce, concerns on productivity, sense of community, connection and belonging among employees will lessen

5. Online learning and training are on the rise

6. The time window for upskilling and reskilling the current worker is shorter

All points  above has a direct link to employees, where they would feel the burden and uncertainty for their work and in turn result in a negative mindset. As such organization must take measures to create harmony among employees with automation activities and engage the workforce that will benefit the organization in the long run (Tyfting, 2020). In order to create a culture of engagement, organization can implement  points below.

1. Develop a road map for the change – Change is inevitable, and automation is here to stay. Therefore, company’s must develop a road map with changes implemented, what new skills would be required and how the exiting skills could be redirected to other roles within the organization (Tyfting, 2020).

2. Rewards to be re-written – The existing benefit packages would not suit in the future with more tech and socially conscious employees with changes in working culture (Seychell, 2020).

3. Focus on skill development as a basis for engagement - This is key if organizations want to keep the employees engaged. With changing demands on skill, HR professionals must look at ways to upskill employees (Ramakrishnan, 2020).

4. Implement a ‘Thematic exploration’ – Instead of looking at engagement from a global picture, look at it from tiny pieces that fit into create the big picture. understand drivers like diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, leadership development, and anger management from each employees perspective to create the engagement culture (Ramakrishnan, 2020).

5. Use technological advantages and implement tools to monitor engagement continuously – Instead of using the traditional surveys to monitor engagement levels annually, implement digital tools that could measure the engagement levels of the employee and improve productivity, retention, and satisfaction (Burnett & Lisk, 2019).

Conclusion

Companies need to inspire and engage their workforce now more than ever before. As explained in video 4.0, employees do want to be engaged and find meaning in the work they do. Employees want organizations to consider them as human beings and be genuine in what they do. Engagement is not something extra, but its what organizations do and how hey do that makes the difference.

Video 4.0 - Engage for Success - Get Engaged!

(Source: Engage4Success, 2012)

Reference

Burnett, JR & Lisk, TC 2019, The Future of Employee Engagement: Real-Time Monitoring and Digital Tools for Engaging a Workforce, International Studies of Management & Organization, Vol. 49, Issue 01, pp. 108-19

Engage for Success – Get Engaged, 2012, Engage4Success, Online video, viewed 3^rd December 2020, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqO3sfRZDAE&feature=youtu.be>

How Businesses can emerge Stronger – CEO Panel Survey, 2020, PWC Global, viewed 18^th October 2020, < https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-agenda/ceo-panel-survey.html>

Ramakrishnan, S 2020, The New Normal in Employee Engagement – Power Up your People, Numly, viewed 3^rd December 2020, <https://www.numly.io/blog/the-new-normal-in-employee-engagement-power-up-your-people/>

Resetting the Future of Work Agenda: Disruption and Renewal in a Post-COVID World, 2020, World Economic Forum, viewed 3^rd December 2020, < https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/resetting-the-future-of-work-agenda-disruption-and-renewal-in-a-post-covid-world>

Seychell, R 2020, What challenges will 2021 bring for HR teams?,> CIPD, viewed 3^rd December 2020, <https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/voices/comment/what-challenges-2021-bring-hr-teams>

The future of Jobs Report , 2020, World Economic Forum, viewed 3^rd December 2020, < https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2020>

Tyfting, M 2020, The Future Of Work: Finding Harmony Between Automation And Employee Engagement, Forbes, viewed 3^rd December 2020, < https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2020/11/11/the-future-of-work-finding-harmony-between-automation-and-employee-engagement/?sh=5c2c98b0732a>

Manager’s Role in Employee Engagement

Introduction

We have all heard the saying ‘People don’t quit the job but quit the boss’. This portrays the significance, managers have on their team members and managers role for the organization’s success. Managers are the face of employee voice to the leaders as they work day in, day out with their team members and play the largest role in an organization for driving employee engagement (Baumgartner, 2019).

Manager’s Role in Engagement

The Cambridge Dictionary defines manager as, ‘the person who is responsible for managing an organization’. There are many descriptions given to managers in literature, Rouleau and Balogun (2011), stated ‘manager as a role who needs to influence upwards as well as downwards’. Chun et al. (2009), stated ‘managers are responsible for the day to day tasks and drives the goal of top-level leaders.  Caughron & Mumford (2012) sated ‘managers are second tier leaders who follow as well as lead (Rezvani Z 2017).

There are 8 drivers of engagement identified by Gibbons (2006), that would proactively drive engagement in an organization. The relationship a team member has with his manager is one of them and a positive and good working correspondence with the immediate supervisor will tend to boost the engagement levels of an employee (Radda, Majidadi & Akanno,2015).  This is further established by the research conducted by Gallup that identified, managers account for 70% of variance in employee engagement scores (Robison,2020). Managers must be able foster a culture where employees are trusted, respected and expected to achieve their work goals though nurturing positive relationships with the team members (Son, 2020).

Stated below key behaviors/points managers can build into their day to day life to enhance engagement of their team members.

1.   1. Give up Bossing and take up Coaching - Do not only supervise the work but engage with the team to understand the difficulties in performing their work. Talks to the team on how to meet the set expectations and performance goals through optimization of their strengths (Robison, 2020).

2.  2. Communicate Richly – Communication is the key to any healthy relationship. Have conversations with you team members regularly; daily would be the best even if not face to face, through a call at least. Get to know the team members not only work related but on other subjects too (Harter & Adkins, 2015). 

3.  3. Provide Opportunities to Develop – No one wants to be stagnated in their position, hence develop team member skills to take new challenges. Make them a part of decision making that will expand their capabilities (Son, 2020). 

4.  4. Care on a personal Level – If an employee feels, loved, respected and appreciated then they are more likely to stay on with the job (Son, 2020). 

In video 3.0, CEO of DecisionWise, Tracy Maylett, shares 3 ways, a manager can have an impact on engagement with their employees: Hire people who choose to engage in your culture, Engage yourself as a manager and Step back and let the employees to engage (DecisonWise, 2019). Listen to the video for more insights on these 3 points. 

I

Video 3 - What Role Does a Manager Play in Employee Engagement

(Source: DecisonWise, 2019)

Conclusion

For teams to achieve outstanding performance managers play a vital role in creating a culture and environment, where their team members are engaged and managers take the responsibility for the team and their engagement and build workplaces that are engines of productivity and profitability (Harter & Adkins, 2015). Therefore, it could be stated that managers are the first contact point for the team members in any organization and without them there would be no engaging the team members.

References

Baumgartner, N 2019, Managers: The Engagement Drivers, Forbes, published 18^th December 2019, viewed 2^nd December 2020, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2019/12/18/managers-the-engagement-drivers/?sh=7f9d694b8ba7>

Cambridge Dictionary, viewed 2^nd December 2020, < https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/manager>

DecisonWise, 2019, What Role Does a Manager Play in Employee Engagement?, Online Video, viewed 2^nd December 2020, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZyj7mXuzlg&feature=youtu.be>

Harter, J & Adkins, A 2015, What Great Managers Do to Engage Employees, Harvard Business Review Digital Article, Published 2^nd April 2015, pp. 2-5, viewed 2^nd December 2020, < http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?EbscoContent=dGJyMNXb4kSeprA4wtvhOLCmsEiep7BSrqe4S7WWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGttlGvp7JJuePfgeyx9Yvf5ucA&T=P&P=AN&S=R&D=bth&K=118666751>

Radda, A, Majidadi, MA & Akanno, SN 2015, Employee Engagement : The New Model of Leadership, Indian Jornal of Management Science, Vol. -V, Issue, 02, viewed 13^th October 2020, < https://www.academia.edu/26012641/Employee_Engagement_The_New_Model_Of_Leadership>

Rezvani, Z 2017, Who is a Middle Manager: A literature Review, International Jornal of Family Business and Management, viewed 2^nd December 2020, < https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323573857_Who_is_a_Middle_Manager_A_literature_Review>

Robison , J 2020, Give Up Bossing, Take Up Coaching: You'll Like the Results, Gallup, Published 17^th January 2020, viewed 2^nd December 2020, < https://www.gallup.com/workplace/282647/give-bossing-coaching-results.aspx>

Son, H 2020, How Great Managers Can Drive Employee Engagement, Pro Sky, Published 27^th August 2020, viewed 2^nd December 2020, < https://talkingtalent.prosky.co/articles/how-great-managers-can-drive-employee-engagement>

Employee Engagement across Different Generations

 

Introduction

Unlike a decade or two ago, organizations have several generations working side by side today. This is a challenge faced by many HR professionals and managers in managing a multi -generation work place and keeping them productive, satisfied and engaged (Knight, 2014).  Hence this blog post is an attempt to identify how each generation shared life experiences and values will have an impact on the motivation of an individual at workplace and how to keep each generation engaged.

Generations Defined

There are 4 broad generations of employees. Hart (2006), Howe et al. (2000) and  Yu and Miller (2003), stated them as Veterans (1925-1944), Baby Boomers (1945-1964), Gen X (1965-1981), and Gen Y (1982-2000) (Wong et al. 2008). People born after the year 2000, who may just come in to work are called generation Z or Linksters (Blair, 2017). 

Veterans or Silent Generation – As the name suggests, born to an era, they were taught to be silent about their view points (Barr, 2020). We do not see this generation at workplace any more.

Baby Boomers – The largest generation in the workforce at present. They are hardworking, loyal and committed to their workplace and self-motivated.  Salary is a motivating factor. How ever they do not appreciate feedback on their performance and takes it negatively (Ritter, 2014). Hart (2006) and Loomis (2000) states, baby boomers are idealistic, optimistic and driven (Wong et al. 2008).

Generation X – This generation is perceived as cynical, pessimistic and individualist. They are not loyal to one work place or organization and seek out jobs with more challenge, higher salaries and benefits. They prefer continuous feedback and has less regard for authority. Attainment of personal goals are more important to Generation X than work related goals and they highly value the work-life balance (Wong et al. 2008).

Generation Y or Millennials – Are able to easily adopt to Technology and Social Media platforms, which makes them tech savvy and skilled at multitasking. Millennials have a very short attention span and because they appreciate diversity, they have many employers and multiple careers (Ritter, 2014). 

Generation Z – As they were born in to a digital era, regarded as a very tech savvy generation (Barr, 2020). They would be the new entrants to the workforce at present. 

Engagement by Generations

In Video 2.0, Lisa Ryan, an award-winning key note speaker on Employee Engagement explains how to engage baby boomers, making them feel their value to the organization and how to connect them to Millennials and Gen Z employees.

Video 2: How Do Baby Boomers Impact Employee Engagement

(Source: Rayan, 2020)

To ensure engagement of Generation X employees , Johnson & Johnson (2010) states, that work has to be fast paced and challenging, must have opportunities to grow and must have a fun and energetic work environment. These Gen X tend to be very independent workers hence one downside which managers need to keep a look out for is burnout if they want to keep them engaged (Doe, Muselaire & Fong, 2016). 

To engage the Millennials and Generation Z, it’s important for organizations to understand the motivational needs from their perspective. The 3 psychological needs of autonomy, sense of belonging and mastery are looked at from different lens by the millennials and Gen Z in the workplace (Oh, 2020). Figure 7.0 depicts these 3 needs as perceived by Millennials and Gen Z and  what organizations can do to engage them and the return thereafter.

Figure 7.0 – Psychological Needs from Gen Y and Z

(Source: Oh, 2020)

Whatever Generation is in the work, place, Knight (2014) states, there are certain principals which all organizations and mangers must take note and practice when working with multiple generations to engage as represented in table 4.0 (Knight, 2014).

Table 4.0 – Principals

Things to DO	Things Not to DO
Experiment with mixed age teams	Don’t bother with generation- based employee affinity groups as they will only reinforce stereotypes
Implement reverse mentoring programs	Don’t be a TOP down Manager – Rather mangers should build relationships with different age group employees and get to know their opinions
Develop incentive plans that reflect their employees lives right now	Don’t Assume you know how to motivate employees older or younger than you are
Conduct regular surveys to obtain the pulse of the employee’s demographics and needs	-

(Source: Knight, 2014, p.4 )

Conclusion

Understanding the factors that affect different generations are imperative for organizations in engaging their employees. Boomers are engaged ,when their needs and expectation are met by the organization, Gen x values organizations that challenge their work and Millennials and Gen Z are motivated by structure, trust, and relationship (Doe, Muselaire & Fong, 2016).

References

Barr, S 2020, What Generation do you belong to? Millennial, Generation X or Z, INDEPENDENT, viewed 1^st December 2020, < https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/generation-definitions-what-am-i-millennial-generation-x-y-z-baby-boomers-golden-age-young-old-a8679741.html>

Blair, O 2017, What Comes after Millennials? Meet the Generation known as the ‘Linksters’, INDEPENDENT, viewed 1^st December 2020, < https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/millennials-generation-z-linksters-what-next-generation-x-baby-boomers-internet-social-media-technology-a7677001.html>

Doe, M, Muselaire, Y & Fong, WSV 2016, A Change in Engagement: The Relationship between Employee Engagement and Generational Differences, Florida International University, USA, viewed 22^nd November 2020, <https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-Change-in-Engagement%3A-The-Relationship-between-Doe-Fong/6cadd0423f9656765db0eaee69375ebc93be1710#related-papers>

Knight, R 2014, Managing People from 5 Generations, Harvard Business Review Digital Article, Published 25^th September 2014, p. 2-5, viewed 30^th November 2020,

Oh, J 2020, 3 Rules for engaging millennial and Gen Z talent in the workplace, World Economic Forum, viewed 1^st December 2020, < https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/millennial-gen-z-talent-workplace-leadership/>

Rayan, L 2020, How Do Baby Boomers Impact Employee Engagement, Lisa Ryan, CSP, Online Video , viewed 1^st December 2020, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F-GlsTErRg>

Ritter, N 2014, Multiple Generations in Today’s Workplace, Best Integrated Writing, Vol. 01,  viewed 23^rd November 2020, <https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/biw/vol1/iss1/13/>

Wong, M, Gardiner, E, Lang, W & Coulon, L 2008, Generational differences in personality and motivation ; Do they exist and what are the implications for the workplace?, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol 23, No.08, PP. 878-890