Most apparel & textile organizations today are realizing that a ‘satisfied’ employee is not necessarily the ‘best’ employee in terms of loyalty and productivity. It is only an “engaged employee” who is intellectually and emotionally bound with the organization and feels passionately about its goals. He goes the extra mile beyond the basic job responsibility and is associated with the actions that drive the business. Moreover, in times when loyalty is losing ground, employee engagement is a powerful retention strategy, the fact that it has a strong impact on the bottom-line, adds to its significance, Team StitchWorld takes a look.
HR managers at export house agree that employee engagement is a must today. “Especially in a garment manufacturing export industry, eminence of output and competitive advantage of a company depends on motivated and competent people,” says Samidha Bhatnagar, Manager, HR, at Shahi Exports. Reasons Anil Sharma, HR Head, Nahar Spinning Mills Ltd., “When employees are effectively and optimistically engaged with their organization, they form an emotional connection with the organization. This influences their attitude towards the company’s clients, and thereby develops customer satisfaction and service levels.” He further points out that a successful employee engagement program helps create a community at the workplace and not just a workforce.
Global studies recommend three basic aspects of employee engagement – The employees and their own distinctive psychological makeup and experience; the employers and their capability to create the conditions that promote employee engagement; and interaction between employees at all ranks
Global studies recommend three basic aspects of employee engagement – The employees and their own distinctive psychological makeup and experience; the employers and their capability to create the conditions that promote employee engagement; and interaction between employees at all ranks.
All companies are aware that they need to do a better job of managing their people. According to S. Kothandapani, Manager HR at SP Apparels, “A greater number of loyal employees ensure low recruitment and training costs, in effect enhancing the productivity of the organization. They are also more willing to put in extra effort when the organization needs it.”
The impact of loyal employees on the working environment is also significant as they are more focused on organizational benefits than personal goals. This consequently reduces feelings of acrimony and internal rivalries. “They also project a positive image to new recruits and this motivates the latter to perform better and assimilate them in the office culture,” adds Samidha. Research also shows that engaged employees in customer-facing roles are more likely to treat customers in ways that positively influence customer satisfaction.
Organization Initiatives
Most organizations have a range of programs to perk up the engagement level of their employees. One of the most upfront initiatives has been made by Bangalore-based Integra, which begins at the selection stage itself. Some of the initiatives made by the organization include choosing the right fit and giving a pragmatic job preview, strong induction and orientation program, meticulous training & development – from technical to soft skills to leadership development programs. Apart from this, there are other events like community meet, HR meet, etc. for regular industry updates. Integra also has a certification program for six sigma which empowers young employees.
To keep up the morale of a group and drive them towards excellent performance, Integra has various incentives such as recognition awards, family involvement, regular feedback to all employees, communication forums like the in-house magazine One Voice@APG (Ashok Piramal Group), and regular surveys and conferences. Further, to uphold the quality of work-life and a balance between personal/professional lives, there are recreational activities like festivities, get-togethers, sports, etc. There is also an open and clear culture to empower its people and develop entrepreneurs. “The upshot of these practices is evident through the regular feedback from our employees collected through conferences and surveys; apart from the employee engagement survey conducted. The proof is the latest increase in employee engagement and decrease in attrition,” informs Partha Sarathi Bhattacharya, General Manager, HRD, Integra.
“Employee engagement relates to the employee’s commitment to the organization’s success,“ says Kothandapani. Engaged employees who are inspired and guided by the leadership, equipped with the right tools and managed by the right systems and processes deliver superior performance. Employee engagement today encompasses training, development, work environment, leadership, performance management, work/life balance, communication, compensation, benefits, commitment, fun and social activities. This, asserts Kothandapani, enhances the bonding between employees and commitment to the company.
Measuring Employee Engagement
Employee engagement can be exposed in several ways, including ‘pulse’ to ‘annual surveys’, tracking changes in the attrition rate, increase in the number of employee referrals, and growth in productivity and business.
In many organizations, the age-old Employee Satisfaction Surveys were considered the most popular method for measuring how happy an employee was in the organization. Shahi Exports measures employee engagement from two dimensions: How employees feel (their emotions toward the company, the leadership, the work environment, etc.); and/or how they intend to act in the future – will they stay, give extra effort, etc. This is conducted regularly through a questionnaire and is measured on various parameters pre-defined by the HR Team. However, employee engagement needs to be measured at regular intervals in order to track its contribution to the success of the organization.
“Conducting a survey without planning and mishandling of the results and its improper implementation can lead employees to disengage. It is, therefore, not enough to feel the pulse – the action plan is just as essential.”
A sound employee engagement strategy can be an answer to most (if not all) people issues. It is equally important to gauge the effectiveness of these initiatives to get the right attention from all stakeholders.
Few metrics which HR managers can chase are very subjective. The companies should always be flexible to add or discard metrics to its changing priorities and needs.
While defining the weightage and the rating scale for the above metrics the HR goals, organizational priorities or focus areas and industry benchmarks should be kept in mind while tracking it for the company, a process or a department.
Weightage of different engagement metrics can be changed as per organizational vision and objectives. For example a marketing-driven company may give higher weightage to rewards and recognition while a garment manufacturer may give higher weightage to gender.
The employee engagement initiatives should be a menu approach and positioned in a manner where employees are empowered or involved in picking up their choices. For instance, leadership trainings would not have any impact on employee engagement at the worker level as compared to a fun at work or the technical trainings. On the other hand if the shop floor is full of highly trained and qualified workers, the technical training metrics might also fail.
Employers should be ready to see employee engagement as a long-term investment. The results may not be overtly visible in a very short-term span. It is a continuous process, repeated often many times a year and should reflect everywhere in the agenda of the top management. Employers must participate in the engagement initiatives themselves.
It’s worthy emphasizing again that:
- 1) The metrics, weightage and applicability should have the buy-in of the top management.
- 2) Scoring should reflect the mood of the management, for e.g. if management sets 80% as retention target, a score of 5 should be given if attrition percentage is less then that or equal to 20% and a score of 1 if the attrition percentage is below the tolerance limit. Hence, every metric should have a target as well as lower tolerance limit.
- 3) Source of data to track the metrics should be independent of personal bias.
- 4) The process is an iterative and evolutionary process and hence subject to change with the changing needs of the industry.
Conclusion
But do you have the right measurement tools such as ERP or other form of data management tools to track the above metrics? Are you willing to invest in setting up the measurement tools or invest on people to gather such information for analyses? Since it requires investment in technology and people to build these tools, an organization may choose not to do so… else it would be a huge manual effort every time an organization wants to measure employee engagement scores and with no data validation, it would lack authenticity.
