ENGAGEMENT MANAGEMENT
Have you filled in a staff survey recently that asks questions such as: how much do you enjoy your job on a scale of one to five? If so, the chances are that your management has become infected with the latest craze circulating human resources departments - Employee Engagement.
Engagement used to involve a diamond ring but since marriage has grown less fashionable we should not be surprised that HR people should choose to use it as new packaging around a very old idea.
Companies used to be interested in loyal employees but that idea was lost in other management fashions for re-engineering, downsizing, outsourcing, offshoring or simply disappearing in a corporate acquisition, any of which could lead to an abrupt end to your long-term career prospects.
Besides, loyalty did not necessarily equate to being focused on your job, committed to your work, entranced with the corporate brand and product and generally besotted with every aspect of your working life. That is all about engagement, the trendiest, hippest word in human resources management's somewhat limited vocabulary.
Companies appear to be waking up, belatedly, to the possibility that their jobs might not seem the most exciting prospects for many potential applicants. The answer for many is to get employees involved in community programmes as part of corporate and social responsibility concerns, sort of killing two birds with one stone.
Another initiative, growing in popularity, is to educate the workforce about the product. Coors Brewing in the UK, for example, has "beer days", in which staffs are led through the brewing process from start to finish.
It seems extraordinary that employers should need such familiarization programmes. Yet, without them, you might spend your entire career in a dusty administration department never getting close to either the customer or the product, and never understanding the business of the business.
Employee Engagement focused on workplace pride- proud of their job and proud of their employers. Would they recommend their employer to their friends? It is a fuzzy term which means different things to different organizations. Some measure it by looking at staff turnover, whereas for others it’s whether staff gets a buzz out of working with their colleagues. Everybody's talking about it, but no-one is using the same language.
Chiumento defines engagement as "a positive, two-way relationship between employees and their organization. Both parties are aware of their own and the other's needs, and the way they support each other to fulfill these needs. Engaged employees and organizations will 'go the extra mile' for each other because they see the mutual benefits of investing in their relationship."
Chiumento has identified what it calls four pillars of engagement.
These involve employees understanding the aims of a business and their individual contribution, a desire to perform well in a job they consider interesting, a belief that the employer cares about employee needs, and, finally, a belief that people are supported.
Real engagement is about the belief among employees that their work is making a difference.
The most important factors in these appraisals had nothing to do with brand awareness but about the impression that these companies treat their staff and customers well. Treating people well should be fundamental to all areas of employment. It doesn't need a trendy description such as "engagement", just good manners and mutual respect.
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