Employee Engagement Under Covid-19 Pandemic Situation

Employee engagement has become one of the prominent factors during this pandemic situation. The employee engagement occurred due to Covid-19 is challenged by the definitions presented by the scholars such as Kahn, 1990. This situation has given intensive attention to many more digital aspects such as virtual learning and development, online courses, team meet‐ups over video conference, online sessions for stress management and webinars with industry experts. Traditional business setup has been replaced by the work from home concept due to the global pandemic Covid-19 (Chanana and Sangeeta 2020).

Restrictions imposed by the countries to minimize the spread of the virus have impacted the continuous and consistent process of businesses. Lockdown, social distancing and other health parameters have encouraged employees to work from home. Work from home does not create the organizational climate and employees are always distracted by the family members. Conversely, technical difficulties and work-life conflicts arise due to this (Chanana and Sangeeta 2020).

Employees around the world have faced to stress and anxiety due to not sure about their job security and pay. These factors have misaligned the concentration on work which resulted in lack of productivity of employees. It is the organizational responsibility to consider the well-being of employees amidst this stressed situation. It is the duty of the employers to boost the morale of the employees through online programs and create an open online platform to discuss the issues and to raise their voice (Chanana and Sangeeta 2020).

Jones and Kober  (2019) explained some strategies related to how to achieve superior employee engagement in difficult times and higher business results. These strategies are:

1. Stay centered on your core values - it encourages employee engagement in difficult times.
2. Explicitly support your employee - so they remain motivated during tough times.
3. Solicit employee feedback - ask employees to freely share information, both frustrations and ideas for developments in a productive way.
4. Communicate upfront with employees - leaders should communicate openly and honestly, so employees perform more effectively.
5. Commit to your employee's employment - so employees should be committed to your organization.

Article published in Nature (Fan et al., 2020) stated five tips to help support employees working from home. These are:

1. Create a healthy workspace - encourage workers to create a healthy workspace at home. Encourage employees to work ergonomically from home as best they can and review their work‐at‐home setup.
2. Maintain a routine - encourage employees to stick to a routine and to maintain boundaries between their “work” time and “home” time.
3. Do not forget to be social - communication with colleagues is a great stress reliever. An organization should set up a session for fun activities that would normally take place in the office.
4. Encourage well‐being practices - organizations should care about their employee's well‐being; it can help reduce absenteeism, boost engagement, and performance.
5. Invest in technology - communication tools such as instant messaging and video and voice calling platforms can help to keep teams connected. It is important to invest in a recognition platform that allows employees to send and receive recognition.

Goyal,et.al (2020) suggested and explained various ways to increase employee engagement during the lockdown. These are: conduct weekly alignment session, team meet‐ups, entire team gathers over video conference for lunch, short online game session, virtual challenges and competitions, 5 min of informal talk, shared content such as TED Talks, books, online courses, brainstorming focus, aha, apology and appreciation session, communication exercise, ditch a task, map of alignment, and emphasize results over timelines.

Banks should consider adopting successful, creative and innovative employee engagement practices during the pandemic situation of Covid-19. These transparent and aligned policies will ensure the employees are motivated, stimulated, committed and satisfied to perform their assigned duties.

References

Chanana & Sangeeta, 2020. Employee engagement practices during COVID‐19 lockdown. (Online) Available from: https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2508  (Accessed on 25^th November 2020).

Fan, W., Zhao, S., Bin, Y., Chen, Y.‐M., Wang, W., Song, Z.‐G., & Yi, H. (2020). A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China. Nature, 579, 265– 269. (Online) Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2008-3 (Accessed on 25^th November 2020).

Goyal, M., Trivedi, D., Nandwani, R., Changulani, V. & Lokhandwala, T. (2020, April 10). Ways to increase employee engagement during lockdown. Stratefix. (Online) Available from: https://stratefix.com/ways-to-increase-employee-engagement-during-lockdown/ (Accessed on 25^th November 2020).

How to Engage Remote Employees during Coronavirus Pandemic, 2020, SHRM, viewed 25^th  November 2020, <https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/how-to-guides/pages/how-to-engage-remote-employees-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic.aspx>

Jones, M. D. & Kober, J. J. (2019). Employee engagement in difficult times. World Class Benchmarking. (Online) Available from: http://worldclassbenchmarking.com/employee-engagement-in-difficult-times/ (Accessed on 25^th November 2020).

Whillans, A (Assistant Professor of Business Administration) 2020, COVID-19 and the Workplace: Implications, Issues, and Insights for Future Research and Action, Working Paper 20-127, Harvard Business School, viewed 25^th November 2020, <https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/covid-19-and-the-workplace-implications-issues-and-insights-for-future-research-and-action>

 

 

Relationship Between Employee Engagement and Company Performance

Mann and Harter (2016) defined employee engagement as “the level of commitment and involvement an employee has towards his organization and its values”. Mishra et al. (2015) considered employee engagement as the degree to which individuals are attentive to and absorbed in performing their roles. Gallup (2016) described an engaged employee as “emotionally invested and focused on creating value for their organization every day”. From the definitions of the employee engagement, itself it can be understand the extent to which employee engagement can influence company performance.

Organizational performance lies at the heart of a firm’s survival. In very generic terms, Organizational performance has been defined as a set of both financial and non-financial indicators capable of assessing the degree to which organizational goals and objectives have been accomplished (Kaplan and Norton, 1992). The drive for organizational success is rooted to employees that are engaged; these employees possess characteristics that include behavioral factor, which is the employee’s efforts in their work; emotional aspect, the employee’s feelings about the organization; cognitive engagement, employee belief of the organizations culture, leaders, and the overall organization (Lockwood, 2007; Saks, 2006). Thus, to drive company performance, employee engagement acts as an essential factor.

In simple terms, it can be said that there is a relationship between employee engagement and organizational performance by stipulating that when employees are engaged and committed, organizational performance also improves (Kazimoto 2016).

Kazimoto (2016) further revealed, that employee satisfaction always yields higher profitability as a result of improved productivity. In a similar study, it was stated that employees with higher engagement levels tend to reduce staff turnover and absenteeism which results in higher organizational performance. According to Farouk (2014), employee engagement impacts on organizational productivity as engaged employees exercise care in what they do in their efforts to contribute to the success of the organization through a greater sense of ownership and accountability. In doing so, they become less absent from work, more willing to take on more responsibility, and have increased initiative to do the work

The synopsis of the result by Soni (2013), indicated that in the Gallup Study nine performance outcomes were studied: Customer loyalty/engagement, profitability, productivity, turnover, safety incidents, shrinkage, absenteeism, patient safety incidents and quality (defects) and employee engagement is related to each of the nine studied performance aforementioned outcomes. Results show consistent correlation across different organizations. Studies have shown that employee engagement has a positive influence on organizational performance, following relationships among Performance outcomes and Employee Engagement can be derived as illustrated in the Figure 01 below.

Figure 01: Relationship Between Employee Engagement and Organizational Performance

Further, Kaliannan and Adjovu (2014) also found that committed and/or engaged employees are the recipe for attaining organizational goals through higher productivity. Farouk (2014) agreed that employee engagement impacts on organizational productivity as engaged employees exercise an element of care in what they do and in their efforts to contribute to the success of the organization through a greater sense of ownership and accountability. The 2016 meta-analysis also verified that employee engagement relates to productivity (Gallup, 2016).

The following table 01 shows, performance indicators in the perspective of Staff retention, market capitalization, and profit for the year and return on equity for the year 2019 of four leading private Banks in Sri Lanka, which heavily prioritize employee engagement in their strategy formulation and implementation.

Table 01: Performance Indicators of Banks Which Heavily Focus on Driving Employee Engagement. 

Bank	No of employees as at  31st December 2019	Staff Retention Ratio for 2019	Market capitalization Ranking for 2019  Rs/Bn	Profit for the year 2019   Rs/Bn	Return on equity for 2019
Commercial Bank	5,027	96%	97	17	13.54%
Hatton National Bank	4,913	93%	69	14	11.54%
Sampath Bank	4,134	98%	61.9	11	11.78%
National Development Bank	2,936	93%	22	5.1	13.73%

 (Source: Commercial bank Annual Report 2019, HNB Annual Report 2019, Sampath Bank Annual report 2019 and NDB Annual report 2019)

Therefore, it can be said that employee engagement has a positive impact towards bank performance in a highly competitive business environment which is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. To further remain competitive and to sustain, the banks will essentially need to focus on employee engagement on ongoing basis. 

Without any doubt it can be said that organization with engaged employees have higher employee retention as a result of reduced turnover and reduced intention to leave the company, productivity, profitability, growth and stakeholder’s satisfaction. On the other hand, companies with disengaged employees suffer from waste of effort and bleed talent, earn less commitment from the employees, face increased absenteeism and have less customer orientation, less productivity, and reduced operating margins and net profit margins (Markos & Sridevi, 2010).

Thus, there is a clear direct relationship between employee engagement and company performance. More engaged employees; better organizational performance.

References

Commercial bank Annual Report, 2019.

Farouk, I., 2014. Exploring employee attitude and productivity at electricity company of ghana, ashanti-east. Journal of Human Resources Management 5(4).

Gallup, 2016. Gallup employee engagement survey report [Online]. 

Available:hhttps://www.sf.k12.sd.us/images/docs/school_board/school_board_reports/2017/10A%20- %20GallupEmployeeEngagementSurveyReport.pdf [Accessed November 27, 2020].

Hatton National Bank Annual Report, 2019.

Kaliannan, M. & Adjovu, S. N., 2014. Wining the talent war via effective employee engagement: A case study. Journal of Business and Financial Affairs, 3(3)(3).

Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P., 1992. The Balanced Scorecard: Measures that Drive Performance. Harvard Business Review, 70(1), 71-79.

Kazimoto, P., 2016. Employee engagement and organizational performance of retails enterprises. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, Vol.06 No.04, 6(4)(4).

Lockwood, N. R., 2007. "Leveraging employee engagement for competitive advantage." Society for Human Resource Management Research Quarterly 1 (2007): 1-12.

Mann, A. & Harter, J., 2016. The worldwide employee engagement crisis. Business Journal.

Markos, S., & Sridevi, M. S., 2010. Employee Engagement: The Key to Improving Performance. International Journal of Business and Management, 5 (12), 89-96.

Mishra, K., Boynton, L. & Mishra, A.,2015. Driving employee engagement: The expanded role of internal communications. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(2), 183-202.

National Development Bank Annual report, 2019.

Saks, A. M., 2006. Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement. Journal of managerial psychology, 21(7), 600-619.

Sampath Bank Annual report, 2019.

Soni, B. S., 2013. Employee engagement - a key to organizational success in 21st century. Volce of Research, 1(4).

 

 

The Influence of Leadership Styles on Employee Engagement

 

Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. –Northhouse P

Organizations that realize the importance of their employees have come out with various strategies and policies to ensure that their well-being is taken care of and they become engaged in their work. Leadership style is also expected to play a significant role in affecting employees’ attitudes.

There is no single accepted universal definition or theory of leadership (Gill, 2011). However, Devi and Narayanamma (2016) have defined leadership as a process by which a leader influences the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of others. It is the ability to get other people to do something significant that they might not otherwise do. Leaders impact organizational effectiveness through their followers, thus have a great impact on engaging employees within the organization. Leadership style of leader is found critical to the success of the organization (Bass and Avolio, 1990). As per Bass (1985), various leadership theories have evolved to define the characteristics, traits, and styles of various leaders and leadership styles. In this review transactional leadership, and transformational leadership theories are explored.

1.      Transformational Leadership 

Transformational leadership is among the most discussed leadership style in the modern literature. Burns (1978) described transformational leaders as individuals who inspire and challenge subordinates to go beyond their personal interests in order to achieve goals or benefits to the wider group or organization. 

Transformational leadership style is measured using 4 factors (Bass and Avolio, 2000):

a. Idealized Influence - The degree to which the leader acts as a role model for their followers.

b. Inspirational Motivation - Challenge followers to leave their comfort zones, communicate optimism about future goals, and provide meaning for the task at hand.

c. Intellectual Stimulation - Deals with encouraging the followers to be innovative & creative and never criticize the followers publicly for the mistakes committed by them.

d. Individual Consideration - The degree to which the leader attends to each follower's needs, acts as a mentor or coach to the follower and listens to the follower's concerns and need.

Thus it can be said that, it is a process where a leader engages followers by motivating them through empowerment, learning, trust, and communication. Transformational leader encourages collaborative approach by which the leader and followers work together on a shared vision for the present and the future of the organization (Burns 1978).

2.      Transactional Leadership 

Transactional leadership explains the relationship between leader and follower as an exchange of well-defined transactions (Burns 1978).Transactional Leadership focuses on the role of supervision, organization, and group performance; it is a style of leadership in which the leader promotes conformity of his followers through both rewards and punishments (Devi and Narayanamma 2016).

Transactional leadership has three components:

a. Contingent reward - links the goal to rewards, elucidate expectations, provide necessary resources, lay down mutually agreed goals, and provide various kinds of rewards for successful performance.

b. Active management by exception - Actively monitor the work of their subordinates; observe for deviations from rules and standards and take corrective measures to prevent mistakes.

c. Passive management by exception - Transactional leaders interfere only when standards are not complied with or when the performance is not as per the expectations.

Leadership can have a great impact of employees and so as on engaging employees within the organization. However, as per Batista et al (2013), transactional leadership limits the leader to using reward based behaviors in order to achieve higher performance from employees, which only have short-term effects. On the other hand, transformational leadership emerges as a style that fosters the development of employee engagement. Transformational leadership changes the way followers see themselves-from isolated individuals to members of a larger group and when followers see themselves as members of a collective, they tend to endure group values and goals, and this enhances their motivation to contribute to the greater good.

Transformational leaders provide an inspiring vision of goals that can help overcome self-interest and narrow factionalism in organizations. They summon new and broader energies among followers. Bakker and Schaufeli (2008) found that employees who have positive interactions with their managers have increased levels of engagement. Additionally, Lawler et al (2005) found that using a transformational leadership style leads to increased organizational commitment and job satisfaction, and still Cartwright and Holmes (2006) found that leaders who focus on relationship building and trust development increase engagement levels. Transformational leaders are not viewed as a power figure but as mutual support for a common purpose, the collective good of an organization. From this perspective, transformational leaders have the capacity to directly impact the engagement levels of their employees (Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee, 2008) and are able to meet the human and work needs of their employees, a dividend of a very unique and empowering style.

The findings of the study done by Tuffour, Abubakari and Mercy (2019) has indicated that transactional leadership is the most dominant leadership style practiced within the banking sector. Although transactional leadership style found to be dominant, it contributes only 4.8 per cent to employee commitment as compared to 51 per cent by transformational leadership style in eliciting employee commitment.

Therefore, it could be said that transformational leadership style can influence positively in engaging employees. Asrar-ul-haq and Kuchinke (2016), state that transformational leadership style and contingent reward have positive impact on employee turnover in banking industry. Sareen and Agarwal (2016) state that employee retention of middle or operational level employees can be done through transformational leadership.

This was showcased in year 2019 when Hatton National Bank commenced its transformational journey named as “Project Everest”, towards achieving its vision 2020 of being the leading private sector bank in Sri Lanka.

Figure 1.0 – Vision 2020 of Hatton National Bank under Project Everest

     (Source – Everest News Letter, Issue 3, 2019)

Project Everest has commenced to succeed excellence in customer service, operational standards and happy employees. The quest - a collaborative one with consultancy by team Inter-brand and team Deloitte defined the bank’s ethos with special emphasis on digitization and customer experience. Specific working groups have been convened to lead the transformation on ground, through focus group discussions, data requests, operational studies, employee engagement surveys, that showed tremendous commitment thus embracing new changes. Among the handpicked teams were Change Agents, who carried the message across the entire network of 250 plus branches ,fully engaged in the transformational journey. The corporate management team embarked on a leadership development programmes as part the ‘Everest’ quest, to facilitate and equip the Bank’s leadership with required skills to achieve Vision 2020.

Figure 2.0 – Key Elements in Transformational Leadership to the Bank

    (Source – Everest News Letter, Issue 5, 2020)

The top team and working groups have deliberated in order to guarantee that the optimal and most practical operating model is implemented with the right people in the right place.  People identification was based on the recent talent mapping/ fitment exercise spearheaded by the Human Capital team. Many fruitful discussions with several engaged groups of employees which were created to ensure the success of project Everest under the transformational leadership of Mr. Jonathan Alles-CEO/MD of Hatton National Bank.

    

      Mr. Jonathan Alles ( CEO/MD - Hatton National Bank)

“Project Everest is a passion, a dream of the entire Team HNB and requires collaboration and contribution of all its members. There is no audience - there are no spectators - we are all actors and actresses on the big stage.” – Jonathan Alles (CEO/MD –Hatton National Bank)

                                               

                                            (Source : Kalki News)

References

Bakker, A. B., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2008). Positive organizational behavior: Engaged employees in flourishing organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 147-154.

Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J., 1990. “The Implications of transactional and transformational leadership for individua l, t e am, and organi za tiona l development”, Research in Organizational Change and Development, Volume 4, pp.231-272.

Bass, B.M. and Avolio, B.J., 2000. MLQ Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Second Edition, Redwood City, CA: Mind Garden.

Batista-Taran, L.C., Shuck, M.B., Gutierrez, C.C., & Baralt, S.T. (2013). The Role of Leadership Style in Employee Engagement.

Burns, J. M., 1978. Leadership. Harper and Row. New York, USA.

Cartwright, S., & Holmes, N. (2006). The meaning of work: The challenge of regaining employee engagement and reducing cynicism. Human Resource Management Review, 16, 199-208.

Devi and Narayanamma, 2016. Impact of Leadership Style on Employee Engagement. Pp. 92.

Everest News Letter, Issue 3, 2019,Hatton National Bank.

Everest News Letter, Issue 5, 2020,Hatton National Bank.

Gill, R., 2011. Theory and practice of leadership. SAGE Publications, California, USA.

Nohria, N., Groysberg, B., & Lee, L. (2008). Employee motivation: A powerful new model. Harvard Business Review, 86, 78-84.

Northhouse, P. G. (2015), Leadership: theory and practice.7^th ed. London, Sage.

Tuffour, J. K., Abubakari, M. Gali, Mercy., J. K., 2019. Managerial Leadership Style and Employee Commitment: Evidence from the Financial Sector

Walumbwa, F. O., Orwa, B., Wang, P., & Lawler, J. J. (2005). Transformational leadership, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction: A comparative study of Kenyan and U.S. financial firms. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 16, 235-256

 

Factors Influencing Employee Engagement (Contd.)

Ø  Rewards and Recognition

Rewards and recognition play an important role in boosting employee performance and employee engagement at large. Recognition means valuing and caring about the employees' contributions. It is essential for companies to recognize their employees (McGregor, 1960). Further studies show that it is better to recognize employees rather than give incentives (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Employee recognition involves both monetary as well as non-monetary programs (McAdams, 1995). The example of employee recognition involves writing their names in the company’s newsletter, letters of commendation, extra time off and verbal appreciation. This is a form of caring and appraising the employees. The non-monetary awards are more motivating than the financial award. In this way, the employees think that they are being valued. As per Bersin and Associates companies with recognition programs that are highly effective at improving employee engagement have 31% lower voluntary turnover (King 2018).

Figure 1.0 : How Employee Recognition Creates Value to the Organization.

(Source: Das and Narendra 2018)

As depicted in the figure employees respond to appreciation expressed through recognition of their good work, because it confirms their work is valued. When employees and their work are valued, their satisfaction and productivity rises, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work which would eventually lead to achievement of employee engagement (Das and Narendra 2018).

Table 3.0: Analysis on the Methodologies Adopted by Four Leading Private Sri Lankan Banks to Drive Employee Engagement.

Bank	Influencing Factor/ Rewards and Recognition
Commercial Bank	ü  Felicitation of 25 years of service. ü  Internal promotions. ü  Succession planning for senior management level and executive grade.
Hatton National  Bank	ü  Fair Remuneration and benefits where in 2019, Rs 11.4Bn spent on remuneration. ü  Performance based remuneration where all the permanent employees are entitled to a variable pay component in addition to the fixed pay.
National Development Bank	ü  'Young talent within' - A program to recognize the academic and extra–curricular achievements of employees’ children. ü  Employee recognition awards. ü NDB staff reality talent fest.
Sampath Bank	ü  Sampath STARS (Special Thanks and Recognition Scheme) an initiative to recognize special talents and achievements. ü  Bank's annual rewards programme to recognize children of employees who have excelled in public examinations, sports. ü  Internal promotions. ü  Succession planning where over 95% of senior grades filled internally.

(Source: Commercial Bank Annual Report 2019, HNB Annual Report 2019, NDB Annual Report 2019, Sampath Bank Annual Report 2019)

Ø Health & Safety

The perception of employees about their health and safety at work will likely influence their relationship with the working environment. The following suggestions were forwarded by National Safety Council as safety measures that can be applied in the workplace which would also help to drive employee engagement (Daily Advisor 2019).

ü Safety suggestions. Creating an anonymous space—or an online form—for employees to request change will help give them a voice and relieve them of whistleblower fears in speaking up.

ü Forums. Bringing together employees from different departments and/or locations to discuss safety topics can give them a fresh perspective on their workplace while also creating a stronger sense of community across your organization.

ü Surveys. To gauge where employees stand on an issue, consider implementing a short multiple-choice survey to benchmark perception. It can also include a brief comment area to capture any related thoughts that were not part of the survey. Employees appreciate it when their views are sought out and valued.

ü Stand-down. A stand-down is a work shutdown that can (1) demonstrate how seriously the company takes safety; (2) teach employees how to address hazards and incidents; and (3) contribute to a dialogue with the employees about safety that promotes engagement.

ü Drills. While drills are a key element in compliance, they also demonstrate the value of employees working as a team.

ü Safety projects. Getting employees involved in safety initiatives can benefit the organization as well as the individual. Encourage team members to come up with something personally significant to them like checking tire pressure as employees arrive at work, or making sure everyone is wearing the proper personal protective equipment. Be sure to recognize employees for their contributions.

As per Rigoni and Nelson (2016), a Gallup’s 2016 study has shown that in 82,000 business units and 1.8 million employees in 230 organizations, across 49 industries and in 73 countries, that organizations with high engagement scores have recorded 70% fewer safety incidents. Thus, it proves that health and safety is an essential driver of employee engagement.

Table 4.0: Analysis on the Methodologies Adopted by Four Leading Private Sri Lankan Banks to Drive Employee Engagement.

Bank	Influencing Factor/ Health & Safety
Commercial Bank	ü Medical consultation programmes. ü Health programmes.
Hatton National  Bank	ü Conduct of health and wellness programs such as Free Eye Camp, Special training on first aid, free medical consultation in collaboration with Nawaloka Hospital, “Introduction to Mindfulness Techniques” workshop. ü  Heightened security procedures covering the branch network.
National Development Bank	ü Medical consultation programmes.
Sampath Bank	ü Personal accident cover providing 24/7 * 365 coverage. ü Comprehensive Medical scheme to cover patient treatments and hospitalization charges. ü Providing medical loans at concessionary rates. ü Full sponsorship to obtain gym facilities for employees during 2019. ü Emergency Notification System' to provide staff with information regarding emergency rescue and relief services in the event of a disaster. ü Virtual walk challenge to encourage employees to make exercising a challenge.

(Source: Commercial Bank Annual Report 2019, HNB Annual Report 2019, NDB Annual Report 2019, Sampath Bank Annual Report 2019)

Ø Employee Relations 

Employee relations focus on the management of the relationship between the employees and the employers in order to heighten their commitment (Gennard & Judge, 2002). The studies on employee relations on employee engagement empirically prove that employee relations have significant positive influence on employees’ performance level and influence on employee engagement level at the job place. When employees find harmonious relations with the organization they feel encouragement to do more work for the organization (Ahmed and Jaaffar 2017).

Robinson (2020), has stated an effective employee engagement program should comprise of the followings,

  ü Policies for preventing and resolving disputes between employees and managers.
  ü Working conditions.

  ü Reasonable working hours.

  ü Pay and benefits.

  ü Measures to improve the work-life balance.

  ü Procedures for collecting and implementing employee feedback.

  ü Reward and recognition schemes.

Thus, having strong employee relations can be considered as an essential factor to achieve employee engagement. 

Table 5.0: Analysis on the Methodologies Adopted by Four Leading Private Sri Lankan Banks to Drive Employee Engagement.

Bank	Influencing Factor/ Employee Relations
Commercial Bank	ü  Maintaining a healthy relationship between Ceylon Bank Employees’ Union and the Association of Commercial Bank Executives. ü  Manager's conference, Townhall meetings, Regional review meetings, Branch marketing meetings. ü  Sport Fiesta.
Hatton  National Bank	ü  Monthly staff meetings. ü  Staff trips including families. ü  Yearend parties. ü  Sport activities like sports fiesta. ü  Manager's conference, Townhall meetings, Regional review meetings, Branch marketing meetings.
National Development  Bank	ü  Open-door culture where employees are encouraged to put forward any suggestions to the Management Team. ü  Coffee with CEO- an opportunity for all employees to communicate openly with the CEO. ü  Religious events. ü  Staff trips including families. ü  NDB kiddies party and the annual NDB dinner dance
Sampath Bank	ü  Frequent and direct communication with Sampath Bank Employee Association. ü  MD's Desk Communication Initiative to share vital information, business progress and convey the management expectations. ü  MD's Business Club an internal blog to receive open feedback from the team members. ü  Team gatherings and constant communications between the management and the team. ü  Annual athletic championship meet, six a side cricket tournament.

(Source: Commercial Bank Annual Report 2019, HNB Annual Report 2019, NDB Annual Report 2019, Sampath Bank Annual Report 2019)

In essence it can be stated that training and development, remuneration and benefits, rewards and recognitions, health and safety and employee relations are key factors to focus on in the journey of achieving employee engagement.

References

Ahmed, S., Jaaffar, A. R. B., 2017. Influence of Employee Engagement on Employee Promotion Opportunity and Performance Relationship in Developing Context: Critical Evaluation with PLS-SEM Analysis Technique

Commercial Bank Annual Report 2019 (Online) Available from:  https://www.combank.lk/newweb/images/pdffiles/2020/Commercial_Bank_Annual-Report_2019-CSE-Version.pdf (Accessed on 4^th November 2020).

Daily Advisor, 2019. Safety and Employee Engagement—what’s in it for them? (Online) Available from: https://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/2019/07/safety-employee-engagement-whats/ (Accessed on 5^th November 2020).

Das, S., Narendra, P., 2018. Impact of Rewards and Recognition on Employees in the Banking Sector. International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied Science (IJLTEMAS) Volume VII, Issue VI.

Deci, E., and Ryan, R., 2000. 'What' and 'Why' of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self- determination of Behaviour, Psychological Inquiry, 11, 4, pp 227-268.

Gennard, J., Judge, G., 2002. Employee relations. 

HNB Annual Report 2019 (Online) Available from: 

https://www.hnb.net/images/annual_reports/2019/integrated-report-2019.pdf (Accessed on 4^th November 2020)

King, S. 2018. How Recognition and Rewards Impact Employee Engagement and Performance? (Online) Available from: https://www.growthforce.com/blog/how-recognition-and-rewards-impact-employee-engagement-and-performance (Accessed on 5^th November 2020).

McAdams, J.L., 1995. 'Rewarding Special Performance: Low-cost, High-impact Awards,' in The Performance Imperative: Strategies for Enhancing Workforce Effectiveness, (eds). H. Risher and C. Fay, San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass, pp. 361- 388.

McGrevor, D., 1960. The Human Side of Enterprise, New York: McGraw-Hill.

NDB Annual Report 2019 (Online) Available from: 

https://www.ndbbank.com/cms/media/2612/AnnualReportFinal-449aa5e6b379a0e547ebde1f9443f1cc9a7aeb82.pdf (Accessed on 4^th November 2020)

Rigoni, B., & Nelson, B., 2016. Few millennials are engaged at work. (Online) Available from: http://www.gallup.com/ business journal/195209/few-millennials-engaged-work.aspx. (Accessed on 5^th November 2020).

Sampath Bank Annual Report 2019 (Online) Available from:

https://www.sampath.lk/images/annual_reports/ar2019.pdf (Accessed on 4^th November 2020)