Harsha, the internal communications leader of Top Infra, a multinational with over 5000 employees sat in a meeting called by her CEO – Manoj. Top Infra has a very young workforce with an average age of 26 years although they had a mix of all workforce generations. Also present at the briefing were the HR Director, Purva and the key business heads including Jacob of the IT department who has 1/3rd of the workforce under his wing. Here is a transcript of their conversation as they battle dwindling employee engagement.
Jacob: “I don’t know what to make of the employee engagement results. Employees have slammed us really bad. We are below industry average in terms of our numbers. We give them so many benefits and take care of their well-being. We just gave them pay hike. They are walking around looking very low. I can’t afford to lose good people.”
Manoj: (looking worried) “Purva, what do you make of this?”
Purva: “I think we aren’t engaging them enough. The results point to a lack of connection on the work we do, little commitment to furthering our agenda and no interest in promoting our brand. This isn’t what I expected either! This is a communications issue.”
Jacob: “I think so too. Communications needs to do more. We should invest in doing more to engage our employees. “
Harsha: “I disagree that this is only about communications. There is only so much we can do. Based on what I understood from the survey results there is a need for greater connection among managers and staff.”
Jacob: “All managers meet their teams weekly in briefing sessions. They forward the mails which come their way. They have defined objectives. I don’t see a disconnect.”
Harsha: “Meetings are great but does it serve the purpose? Are they meaningful to employees?”
Purva (agitated and standing up): “I think we should focus on raising their morale by doing fun stuff.”
Harsha: “Like what?”
Purva: ”You know like the cool things people love – games and entertainment to pep up their mood. How about conducting an extravaganza and invite their families? They would love it.”
Harsha: ”Mood? Why do we need to be responsible for their mood?”
Jacob: “They need to de-stress and feel like the company supports them. I am all for the family fanfare”.
Harsha: “I am unsure if this will work.”
Manoj: “Look, this sounds like a good idea to me. It will at least in the near term give us some leeway to think more about engagement. You know employees like it when we involve their families. They enjoy entertainment. Why don’t we conduct the event and see how the mood changes?”
Harsha is surprised to hear that the CEO believes an event will solve a deeper engagement concern but is unable to do much with all other leaders backing the ‘idea’.
Harsha: “Let me think this over and come back to the group”
What do you think? Is doing an event involving employees’ families going to move the needle on engagement? How can you help Harsha convince the leadership that this is a misplaced plan? What can be done to truly improve engagement?
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INTRASKOPE - Internal Communication Viewpoints 
An oft-repeated scenario in most organisations Aniisu.
While Harsha’s organisation’s senior management may not be completely wrong in assuming that organising a family day will help in increasing employee engagement, the reality is that this can only be a short-term measure.
Organisations and their leadership need to remember that building employee engagement is a long-term activity that entails rolling out sustained and continuous measures to build and strengthen employees’ morale and enhance sense of ownership towards the organisation. Effective communication builds upon an employee’s sense of accomplishment, inspires them to be involved and contribute towards achieving organisational goals, and feel a sense of achievement in the company’s good performance.
Harsha can suggest the following steps to her management for increasing employee engagement:
• Public Recognition: You don’t need to go around saying ‘good job’ to every single employee. Public recognition implies giving credit to an achiever, in front of the team and co-workers. This not make the rewarded employee feel special and will also inspire others to strive for more.
• Flexible work options: Give employees the option to schedule their work timings to help them balance family requirements with work. By doing this, the organisation will see increased productivity and sense of engagement. Organisations who allow work from home and flexible timings are always perceived to be empathetic and understanding of their employees’ need to address family responsibilities.
• Encourage breaks: Forced fun may seem like a strict no-no to many, but this can help reduce mental fatigue, improve inter-team collaboration and allow teams to know each other better and work keeping in mind each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
You don’t have to go overboard, birthday celebrations, team lunches and quarterly offsites for team challenges is a fun way of boosting team spirit. For instance, in my current organisation, the India management has initiated a project, wherein each team has to spend Rs 1000/- per employee on lunches, reward and recognition and movie outings, etc.
• Reduce stress by providing adult and childcare support: We must understand that notwithstanding employee’s best efforts, their normal support system can break down. By providing adult and child care services, companies can reduce absenteeism from work and distractions. This results in increased productivity and loyalty.
• Initiating two-way communication: Remember that communication is a two-way road. The leadership needs to reach out to the teams’, and not just the managers, and help them understand the organisation’s vision and growth blueprint. This creates engagement as every employee is clear on their roles and how they are contributing to the organisational growth. In my current organisation, the ex-CEO used to have monthly open house for giving business updates and listening to employee grievances including limited parking slots. He also used to have monthly lunches with the top achievers of the month.
And finally, organising family nights, which can be fun way of demonstrating to the teams that you care about their families too. It does not need to a fancy, high-end resort. You can do it anywhere in a public park or even your office (to show where their loved ones work). The trick is to ensure that all employees feel wanted and their families proud of their place of work.
Organisations also need to remember that there are no magic formulas or programmes to motivate individuals. Motivation is personal and there is no one size fits all kind of approach. While one employee may want time-off, the other may enjoy team offsites. The underlying rule is to remember that we need to understand what the employees want and then create ways to give it to them.