Tuesday February 16, 2010

Topic: Employee Management

Reference: “12 Questions to Measure Employee Engagement”. Workforce Management, http:www.workforcemanagement.com/section/09/articles/23/53/40.html

There has been a plethora of information written and discussed about the importance of having engaged employees. The theory is that more engaged employees yield a more committed, innovative, solution oriented, and customer friendly workforce. The problem is that there is generally not a shorthand way to evaluate engagement. Typically managers work off of their feel for the employee, the quality of the relationship with the employee, and past experience.  However, these elements do not bring into the analysis the impact of downsizing, consolidations, and changes in compensation or workflow. As a result, managers may be poorly evaluating the engagement level of employees. In the referenced article, the author points to a 12-question study developed by Gallup to evaluate engagement from the perspective of employees. Some of these questions include the following:

• Do you know what is expected of you at work?
• Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
• Does your supervisor seem to care about you as a person?
• Do you have a best friend at work?
• In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

Note that many of these questions are not the kinds of questions many managers ask about or focus on in managing employees. Managers are being overrun by the necessities of work and the complexities of the business environment. Further these questions don’t delve into questions of organizational leadership, leadership competence, or the required communication that is mostly lacking in organizations. The solutions are not clear, but may include more detailed conversations with employees at various points in the business cycle, closer scrutiny of organizational culture, and a commitment to employee improvement and training. The learning and growing question is critical to this entire area and one that merits more attention and appreciation. If employee engagement is not a part of your organizational scan, then it should be. The place to start may be in the senior executive suite.

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