Employee Retention and Engagement - Essay Example

Employee Retention and Engagement [Name] [Institution] [Date] Introduction. In the contemporary business environment, it is emerging that one of the founding pillars of success measurement is down to the employee performance rather than the technological or financial strengths an organizations accrues. The human resource department in any enterprise plays the important role of ensuring the employee drive and satisfaction is maintained through adoption of strategies that sustain the employee retention and engagement practices. The human resource department is no longer the conventional department for attracting new talent and firing non-effective employees, but the scope of proper HR has been expanded to evaluating the employee performance levels with the company vision statements as well as professional engagement with their staff to ensure they derive maximum satisfaction from their work which often results in better overall performance of a firm financially. According to Mello (2006), employee performance is quite important in achieving the set goals of an enterprise that is to be achieved for any given year. This means that in the overall strategy formulation for evaluating employee engagement practices of a firm, it is important to assess the company goals in relation with the current employee performance and motivation levels to note the way forward. In the end, the driving force for any management of a firm is to realize their financial goals, the development and overall engagement of employees positively is one of the founding blocks of achieving such success. On the same note, it is quite significant that performance management is more than just an obligation and hard work; it is the emphasis on achieving results. It redirects the requisite capacity of the employees from busyness toward effectiveness. The ability to maintain the required level of performance from employees is highly dependent on the strategies that the human resource department in an organization will adopt as mechanism for employee engagement within their engagement period. As such, the scope of this paper will be bounded into evaluating the strategies that have been employed successfully as measures for employee engagement, environmental factors that influence the strategies identified and finally a recommendation reference for the barriers that prevent the successful implementation of employee retaining and engagement strategies (James et.al, 2012). Employee Retention and Engagement Strategies. The strategies that an organizations decides to implement in terms of improving the level of effective employee engagement should be driven by the fact that satisfied employee have been shown to be more productive and generate more customer satisfaction. The need for retention of employees is often driven by the negative environment created by regular influx of new people in a working place. The need to retain employees is thus driven by the need to avoid the harm caused by excessive turnover of employees and a show of failing employee engagement practices. In the application of these strategies, it is vital that the balance attained is right, the effective employees with high levels of performance should be treated well while still managing to improve the performance of those lagging behind. The employee brand that is derived is thus the founding block of a firm’s financial performance and competitive advantage over their rivals in the industry (Sparrow, 2012). The single most effective strategic tool of employee engagement is through use of performance management and evaluation repeatedly to analyze performance levels of employees. Performance evaluation is very important in that the company or organization will identify their weakness and strengths. Capitalizing on strengths and trying to avoid weaknesses. In response to the question “How does Performance Management directly affect the success of an organization in realizing its goals and mission?” (Baum et.al, 2014). There is need to understand how performance management can be taken into consideration to further the goals of both the organization and the employees. Considering that understanding and implementation, the organization will realize growth, along with more content, obedient employees, resulting in rising retention rates. On the same note, employee motivation will rise and they feel that the organization values them as significant cogs in the progress towards the mission and objectives of their employer. If at all possible, performance management is used as a tool of gauging the employee performance levels, not a tool for deciding who should be fired or not. The results are used for improvement and encouragement for employees to continue working with the same organization (Anitha, 2014). Another strategy that is employed by organizations in the effort of retaining employees is through the formulation of policies that govern the compensation and benefits structure of employees. Compensation is a major factor in determining employee performance levels in any given company; for this reason may organisations tend to base their benefits package on performance levels and position of rank. The need to offer retention rewards for their employees, some companies have designed a system that rewards their most long-serving employees annually in the end year parties. Use of these techniques, has been associated with increased output by staff, loyalty that is requisite of success for an organization looking to keep in touch with their competitors. Method of job evaluation takes into consideration four categories that define the job environment; what skill is required to do the job, the responsibility that befalls upon a staff due to his position or job, the amount of effort required to perform their duties, and the working conditions the endure to execute their jobs. Through the evaluation of each staff work description, equality is achieved, which is important for the overall performance of the organization (James et.al, 2012). Alternative strategy that companies can employ in their quest for employee high retention levels is through the engagement of training sessions that focus on innovation practices of their staff. To ensure the sustainability of companies, managers are tasked with certifying continued success which can be done via innovatively new ideas. Innovation captures the concept of new ideas or incorporation of new methodologies of operations that will guarantee effectiveness and efficiency. In general context, organizations should use encourage employees to be more creative and innovative in their approach to duties that will identify the organization as a successful one. Every company is striving to be the next Facebook or Apple, and for this reason it is important that the management capture this in their organizational goals. The new promises shaped by the internet and technological improvement offer numerous grounds for the administrations to have revolutionary innovations. Fuelling innovation such as using the internet as a platform of doing marketing and actual sales means increased sales at a lesser cost of sale per unit. This helps organisations in re-evaluating goals to make allowances for changing circumstances in the industry. This enables a company to improve their financial performance and competitive advantage over their rivals (Goetsch, 2014). Finally, the epitome of a successful strategy to employee retention is its adherence to existing laws and regulations that govern the employment engagement contracts. In UK, the human resource practices are administered under the EU Employment laws that define the legal aspects of engagement practices that should be displayed by organizations in how they treat their employees. Adherence to these laws will raise the employee drive and satisfaction as they are specifically formulated to nurture a productive employment environment for the citizens of a country. Fairness, equality, and protection from discrimination form the major pillars of the legislations, these are aimed at enabling a conducive working environment for employees that they can achieve maximum performance levels. The resultant improvement is reflected in an organizations’ improved performance in the industry and overall competitive advantage. The different aspects of strategic employee retention and engagement techniques all have the same purpose in an organization. They tasked with creating a conducive environment that can be used by the management to encourage and motivate employees to improve their overall performance levels and loyalty to organization. Impact of environmental factors upon employee retention and engagement strategies In discussing how the environment has potential influence on strategies employed for employee retaining and engagement, the term environment is used broadly to define various factors that inherently have a deciding vote on the success or failure of strategy adopted. In essence, these factors will be divided into two categories: internal and external, to acknowledge the factors that come from within the organization structure and those that come from outside the control of the organization. Internal factors. Internal factors that have profound influence on an organizations ability to retain their employees is based upon the assumption that these factors are in the direct control of the firm’s human resource department. They can be manipulated to have a favorable effect on the employee satisfaction from their job description. These factors include: The career development opportunities that the company grants its employees through a series of training programs will have an impactful effect on the success of strategies that are designed to improve employee engagement and retention. Most employees in organizations consider the existence of training opportunities as incentives to continue in their work environment as a personal development improvement is guaranteed. An organization that expects loyalty from their employees are mandated to offer such incentives that will automatically result in the higher returns from the better output derived from training and career advancement of their employees. Thus, the investment that a firm is willing to fund on training activities is one of the important internal factors that will positively influence the company’s ability to retain their staff (Robbins et.al, 2013). Secondly, the nature of organizational values that a company decides to associate themselves with in the organization has influence on the retaining strategies that is adopted by the HR department. These are factors that are outside the realm of financial elements of an organization, they define the organization value as the culture and principles that the firm’s operations are based. These factors often include how the firm treat their women employees, how the react to customer enquiries and other scenarios. Organizational values have detrimental effect on the retention rates of company staff, if they are considered to be unfair and offer unequal treatment of every employee in the organization (Anitha, 2014). In addition, content derivation and status that an employee derives from their employment status is very important when it comes to employee engagement. Studies have shown that the lesser the job contentment and employee attaches to their work description the higher the chances of changing their working place for other opportunities elsewhere. It is important than an organization can find out what stimulates their staff, this should not be assumed to be compensation only. Some employees rate the status of the job description more than they rate the benefits package, as such it is the responsibility of a firm to evaluate their employees in relation to their motivational factors (James et.al, 2012). In relation to the point above, when the motivational drive of an employee is found to hinge upon their financial gains, then it is important that the firm evaluate their internal policies regarding compensation and promotion procedures. Employees tend to stick to one employer when their path to senior positions in the company is well laid out and followed in principle by the management. If an employee recognizes that his hard work will bear fruits in terms of promotion rather than who knows the boss, they are more likely to engage more effectively in their current positions (Melo, 2006). External Factors. The major characteristics of these factors is that they end to impact on the retention strategies employed by a firm from an exterior point that is out of management ability to change or define. They can be considered as factors that are generally impacting on an industry rather than a single firm. They include: The political and legal environment in a country has a very big impactful effect on the strategies that are decided upon by management on their retention efforts concerning their staff. For example in UK, the retention of expatriates who work in local firms is subjected to legal requirements such as work permits that would interfere with an employee’s contract irrespective of the company’s wishes to withhold to the employee. As such, the political environment also has an overriding effect over the strategies, depending on the effect they have on employees satisfaction derived from their present job status (Baum et.al, 2014). The next external factor that has overriding effect to the HR strategies to employee retention and engagement is the work and life balance that employee’s manage to maintain during their period of contract with a given company. This basically refers to the family support and care that an individual is getting from their family members during their working period in a company. Family support has been tagged as one of the factors most employees look at when faced with renewal possibilities in their contract. The possibility of too much responsibility at the workplace also straining the relationship of a staff member with their immediate family also has potential detrimental effect on the retention possibility of the same staff (Bamberger, 2014). The geographical location of an organization could also deter the potential possibility of retention strategies working perfectly in an organization. The location of a firm is a deciding factor in a recruitment and retention strategy of a firm in that the employees look at various aspects of the location such as security, availability of transport and other developments before accepting to work or extend their stay. For instance, following the latest bombings in Paris, most firms noted increased resignation by employees citing insecurity in the city as the reason. This means that irrespective of the firm’s intentions and strategies employed to lure their employees to continue working with them, the alarming insecurity of the area had forced some of their employees to look for opportunities in other cities which they considered to be safer (Melo, 2006). The last external factor is in relation to the competitors’ efforts in fishing employees from a firm with better retention and engagement strategies than the current employer. When a competitor in the same industry offers more pay package to the employees of a another firm, it is driving force that will see many employees change allegiances with little regard to the efforts that their current employer has had on the career development. This, in many cases happens with middle sized firms competing with bigger firms that have unlimited supply of finance to push the small firms out of competition (Bamberger, 2014). Overcoming Barriers to successful implementation of employee retention and engagement strategies. The policy implementation of the strategies mentioned above often face a given amount of barriers that tend to deter the employees from successfully feeling appreciated in their line of work. These barriers can be overcome by ensuring the right procedures are used and that the whole organization is in agreement with the policies formulated. The following approaches have proved to be vital for successful disabling of the identified barriers: The most significant barrier to effective employee management is in relation to ineffective leadership qualities of the top management in an organization. When the management cannot generate motivation within their staff, the retention capabilities will be affected. The beginning of an effective implementation of any employee retention strategy is dependent on the ability of a company to align managers with the necessary skills and ability to drive change within an organization. It is very vital that the management has in place a motivational capability that will rub off on the employees who feel down or challenged. A good leaders is not over concerned with the financial aspect of the business, but also the social welfare of the employees working under him. Currently, the most applicable tool to leadership is the SMART method of approaching employees and their duties. Any performance standard should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and well-timed for the juniors to identify with and perform over their stay in the organization (Baum et.al, 2014). This type of leadership design and approach to employee engagement is more likely to encourage and offer motivation which is required for successful operation in any industry. Another barrier that faces many firms in their endeavors to fully retain their talented workforce is in terms of lack of cultural diversity within staff members that leads to more communication complications when the teams cannot work cohesively. A lack of cultural diversification in the workplace is one of the modern hallmarks of a failing organization that does not value our strengths in cultural differentiation. The driving force of a recruitment policy by any organizations is to take advantage of the different strengths that diversified group of employees have to offer. There is more team work as the organization has a policy of culturally diversified working environment. Hence, there is more socialization that enhances teamwork and interaction that bring more effectiveness in service performance. The organization culture encourages employees to use non-traditional approach to solve problems that arises. Like when a person makes a mistake he/she is encouraged to take risks as opposed to being cautious and do little for the organization. The hiring process is valued by current employees since it focuses on passion and ability rather than the smartest person (Baum et.al, 2014). Finally, on the issue of barriers to employee retention is apprehensive of the fact that employees form the basis of the problem identified as internal factors influencing their retention. The management should therefore be capable of having forums that allow the interaction of employees with the management to discuss the possibilities of increasing the positive experience within the workplace. This is to add more value to the face-to-face quality interaction between the management and the staff. This can be done through focus groups, interviews or a survey of their contentment level. The information collected should be acted upon to have an upturn effect on the working environment for all the employees. This measure can help in making the employees feel like part of the process in an organization, increasing the retention levels and engagement (Melo, 2006). Conclusion In light of the above strategies, it is apparent that role played by the HR department in an organization positive going concern and sustainability lies within the treatment of employees and evaluation of their performance levels. It is very important that the employee retention and engagement strategies adopted reflect a motivational influence on the staff satisfaction derived from their job description which result in the overall improved performance by any firm. References Mello, J. A. (2006). Strategic Human Resource Management (D. Noguera, Ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. U.S. Office of Personnel Management “Performance Management Overview” Frederick, W. T. (2011). The Principles of Scientific Management. Retrieved on 19th January 2015 from connection.ebscohost.com/.../centennial-frederick-w-taylors-principles-sc Langley, G. J., Moen, R., Nolan, K. M., Nolan, T. W., Norman, C. L., & Provost, L. P. (2009). The improvement guide: a practical approach to enhancing organizational performance. John Wiley & Sons. Sparrow, P., & Cooper, C. L. (2012). The employment relationship: Key challenges for HR. Routledge. Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. pearson. James, L. and Mathew, L., 2012. Employee Retention Strategies.Journal Of Indian Management, p.79. Robbins, S., Judge, T.A., Millett, B. and Boyle, M., 2013. Organisational behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU. Anitha, J., 2014. Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee performance. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. Baum, M. and Kabst, R., 2014. The effectiveness of recruitment advertisements and recruitment websites: Indirect and interactive effects on applicant attraction. Human Resource Management, 53(3), pp.353-378. Bamberger, P.A., Biron, M. and Meshoulam, I., 2014. Human resource strategy: Formulation, implementation, and impact. Routledge. Read More