High Performance Working and Employee Engagement
The CEO of this J&W PLC Company has asked for a report to senior management on how to improve working system so that overall performance in work can improve. In this report the senior management team is identifying different issues which are leading to low staff work in the organization. This paper provides information about the High performance working and employee engagement which consists of various definitions given by different authors and different types of practices which are helpful in improving organization performance.
The main aim of this project is to provide a framework of how high commitment HRM practices help in improving HPW and employee engagement in organization. There have been many papers and research carried out on HRM and work performance. But many have struggled to keep the concept linked together, thus the main aim to this paper to provide the positive bonding link between high commitment HRM practices to develop HPW and employee engagement in work force.
In recent years companies or organizations in every industry like manufacturing, health care services, financial services, consumer products and services, government agencies and information technology and telecommunications sectors etc. , are focusing on improving organizational performance in both short term and long term basis. Now a day’s companies expecting solid performance over short term period and maintain the consistent performance over the long term time period in order to sustain in this competitive market.
Organizational performance mainly depends on the issues like human resources management practices, high performance working and high level of employee engagement. From the survey of Sunday times newspaper which is based on employee perceptions of their own work place and policies and processes of the employees, it is revealed that our company (i. e. J&W PLC) employees are unhappy and the staff overall performance is very low and staff often get away with doing very little at work and this affects the quality, productivity and profits of organization.
High performance working and employee engagement is the operations like how the employees are managed in work to the management and leadership issues of the organization. The senior management team who is responsible for the strategic planning and decision making process needs to identify the brief review of the every component for building blocks of the organization. In this report the main focus is on how to improve the high performance working and employee engagement in the company. To have a high performance working environment and better employee engagement, management should focus on the key issues of high commitment HRM practices.
As we the senior management team reviewing the survey of “Best Companies to work for 2012” published in Sunday times and researching the important practices to improve the organizational overall performance. Organizational development and performance outcome reflects from how HR practices are implemented to satisfy the goals of company. Martin et al (2010) suggested that organizational development is an approach to dealing with change which incorporates aspects of culture, working atmosphere, employee commitment and conflict in seeking to achieve organizational effectiveness.
The concepts of high performance working and employee engagement are interrelated to the organizational performance and these are the chain practices in the company which are linked with the high commitment HRM practices. Employee engagement is a hot topic in recent years because employers are seeking employee’s motivation, commitment and general support to the business to enhance the organizational performance beyond the normal. The purpose of the employee engagement is to gain the contribution of the mployees than the job expectation. The advantages in implementing the employee engagement practices is to gain the employee interest towards work, feeling of value to the organization and chances of improving personal and career development. Definitions: Employee engagement is an effective practice in the organization which produces a better organizational performance and employee career development. It is possible when there is a proper employee commitment, trust, loyalty and motivation to do work to the organization.
According to the CIPD et al (2011) employee engagement is a combination of commitment to the organization and helping out in solving the issues of their colleagues, it is more than the job satisfaction and not only motivating employee to engage in work. Sue et al (2009) stated in USP Business Development review employee engagement is “the discretionary effort that individuals apply for fully utilizing their skills”. Employee engagement is most important for competitiveness in the contemporary business environment.
As per The Gallop Organization, which studied employee engagement in 7,939 business units in 36 companies, found that employee engagement was positively associated with performance in a variety of areas, including increased customer satisfaction, profitability and productivity, and reduced employee turnover. CIPD et al (2011) identified there are three dimensions of the way of engaging in work by the employees The intellectual engagement shows the employee thinking hard about the job and finding the solutions for the betterment of the job.
The affective engagement illustrates the employee feeling positively doing a good job. The social engagement is an opportunity to interact and discuss the work related improvements with the managers and other employees. Key Factors: Every employer expects to achieve extra mile in work and to help them from issues like lack of product quality from their workforce. The following are the important drivers of the employee engagement which may enhance or decrease the engagement in work. High performance working has been defined by the many authors; according to the Belt and Giles et al (2009) it is a general approach to managing organizations that aims to stimulate more effective employee involvement and commitment in order to achieve high levels of performance. According to the Ashton and Sung et al (2005) a unique definition that is widely accepted is they are a set of complementary work practices covering three broad categories like high employee involvement practices, human resource practices and reward and commitment practices and these are referred as ‘bundles’ of practices.
This is 12th annual publication of Britain’s most dynamic and engaging workplaces. The leading 325 organizations are recognized in the four lists and they are the best organizations to work in Britain and voted by their workers. 1. 100 best small companies 2. 100 best companies 3. 25 best big companies 4. 100 best not for profit organizations Methodology of the survey: The “Sunday Times list of the 100 best companies to work for 2012” is derived from the views of employees and the policies and processes of employers. It identifies best practice and ranks organizations according by their results in eight key indicators of staff engagement.
These implications in the HR management practices will yield good employee trust and commitment towards the organization which helps to build employee engagement. To be successful every organization should have high level of employee’s engagement. This only can be achieved by having a workflow where any employee can see opportunity to advance in career, higher job satisfaction and work-life balance. To gain higher employee engagement the employer must do surveys on the employees and questioners about the work force, this assists the organization to identify the black spots within the organization.
After identifying the key issues in the work force, management needs to focus on the implementing of the practices to improve the employee engagement as mentioned already in the literature review. This procedure may assist the organization to improve the employee engagement and it also depends on the type of the organization and availability of funds. It is witnessed in “The Sunday Times Survey 2012”, the five companies which are selected from the 25 best big companies the practices which in turn yields higher employee engagement.
The survey review shows the critical issues from the employee’s point of view and the issues in work force are mentioned in the tables. For such practices organization should have High Performance Work System through which employees can project on what they are doing and try to improve there working standards by using high commitment and high involvement working practices. For improving HPW in employees, organization should provide proper job training, improve team working, performance related appraisals system and pay, profit sharing to the employees.
It creates the high involvement, security and provides high motivation to perform work and improves the organization performance. These practices are the chain based and the results from the practices are satisfactory. In order to implement these practices management must concentrate on the employee surveys and need to decide which HPW practices will help the organization to improve over all performance. In short the HPW practices difficult to implement and need every part of organization to work in a synchronization and coordinated manner to get maximum output.
As per the discussion and reviewing all aspects of employee engagement and HPWP system there is always a need for an organization to have a personalized model of high performance work system for being more effective and profitable. So the recommended model for HPWP should have main five factors for implementing HPW working practice and employee engagement to withstand competition from competitors. In order to implement this model a full attention of employee is required, for that HRM need to evaluate all the employees and if necessary hire new persons and fire old employees whose performance is very low for long duration.
Employee surveys must be done to identify the issues in their work force. After reviewing the survey management needs to highlight the key areas of improving employee engagement and high performance working in the organization. American Express UK and Homebase are two companies in the 25 best big companies for 2012; these two companies are not there in the “Sunday Times Survey 2011” but rose dramatically to the higher peak in overall performance by 2012, by implementing good HR practices which increases employee engagement and high performance working.
The 70% employees of McDonald’s and 79% of employees in Iceland voted that they love the work. This illustrates the job satisfaction, happy with the compensations and benefits and motivation in work force. This is the reason why Iceland holds Rank 1in the Sunday Times Survey. So, this model will improve work force and make them engage at work. This model can work only when every department is in coordinated with each other and focusing on the company betterment.
