Employee Engagement for Sustainable Organizational Growth

Aldi Ghazaldi, Head Of HR Business Partner at PT. Sarimelati Kencana Tbk

There is one organization that has a desirable attrition rate which is 5% or less, and the average length of service of its employees is 15 years. Does it always mean that their employees are highly engaged? Let’s put this question aside for a moment.

Every Organizational Development professional is likely to put Employee Engagement as one of the highest priorities to achieve. It is one of the most significant ways to improve their organization and help it move forward. High employee engagement promotes talent retention means lower turnover rates, better team performance, achieving organizational objectives, and many more. This positivity can only be achieved when the majority of employees are actively engaged. They are those employees who are aspired to support organizational growth by aligning their job with strategic goals.

Actively disengaged employees, on the other hand, are not only unhappy to be part of the organization but also actively show their unhappiness to others. They are often under-performers and they can influence other employees with negativity and create disengagement across the organization.

However, leaders should be aware also that there are a group of employees who do just enough to get the job done without spending any extra effort, they don’t complain, they prefer to maintain the status quo, and at the end of the day they just want to get their paycheck and go home. These employees are most probably the silent majority in the organization. They will keep staying in the organization with no strong motivation to support the organizational long-term objectives.

So leaders need to dig a little deeper to answer the question if these long-service employees are also highly engaged and bring impact to the organization.

Given the importance of employee engagement to support organizational development, here’s what we can consider driving employee engagement:

Strategic Communication in Company Vision, Mission, and Core Values

Employees are more productive, motivated, and engaged when they understand their organization’s vision, mission, and core values. Leaders have to communicate it by clearly defining each statement and why they’re crucial to the organization.

Organizations can create multiple communication channels to broadcast their Vision, Mission, and Core Values. It could include during training, town hall meetings, company celebrations, podcasts, social media, visual media like posters in some office areas, or laptop wallpapers.

Employee Onboarding

A successful employee onboarding process is critical to creating engagement from the very beginning. It will help the new employee feel more valued, understand the culture better and create a sense of commitment to achieve organizational goals. Few tips on making the onboarding process more memorable:

 • Create a physical onboarding kit. A customized package of exciting company-branded items to make them feel welcomed and proud to be part of the team.

 • Schedule a lunch with their manager and the people they work with. It is a good opportunity to have a casual conversation with the team.

 • Buddy Program. Pair the new hire with a more experienced existing employee to give guidance through their first weeks or month.

Focus on Learning and Development

One of the main contributors to dissatisfied employees in an organization is that there are few development opportunities. Especially for younger generations, Learning and Development play a significant role in their engagement level. By giving our employees access to a learning program that helps them improve their competency, they will be more driven to invest time into their personal development and able to grow together with the organization.

To ensure that the learning and development program is successful, we need to tailor our approach to align with the organization’s vision, mission, and core values. Then, consider the learning delivery method to match some conditions such as organization size, budget, timeframe, and location. Nowadays, there are many options to pick which one is the best to meet the organization’s needs.

Employee Learning Strategy can include training (instructor-led classroom training, instructor-led virtual training, E-Learning through learning management system, blended learning), coaching, mentoring, etc. While Employee Development Strategy can include job rotation, management training, and career planning.

Build Feedback Culture

A culture of asking for employee feedback can have a powerful effect on employee engagement. Great culture values employee voices and lets them lead organizational improvements.

The most common feedback initiatives are employee pulse surveys, annual engagement surveys, and employee check-ins (1:1 meetings). Leaders can determine which approach is best for their organization but the most important thing is to make it a routine and ensure to put the most effort into taking action on the feedback.

Rewards and Recognition

Good compensation and benefit program are definitely important, but they are not the only things that employees are looking for in an organization. Incorporating rewards and recognition, will lead to greater overall employee engagement. Leaders can start from very simple ideas like writing thank you notes, celebrating work anniversaries, employee/manager’s choice awards, years of service awards, peer-to-peer recognition, and many more.

Learning Management