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 Traditional business setup has been replaced by the work from home concept due to the global pandemic Covid-19 (Chanana and Sangeeta 2020).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:
- Stay
centered on your core values - it encourages employee engagement in
difficult times.
- Explicitly
support your employee - so they remain motivated during tough times.
- Solicit
employee feedback - ask employees to freely share information, both
frustrations and ideas for developments in a productive way.
- Communicate
upfront with employees - leaders should communicate openly and honestly,
so employees perform more effectively.
- 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:
- 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.
- Maintain
a routine - encourage employees to stick to a routine and to maintain
boundaries between their “work” time and “home” time.
- 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.
- Encourage
well‐being practices - organizations should care about their employee's
well‐being; it can help reduce absenteeism, boost engagement, and
performance.
- 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 25th November 2020).
, , , , , , & (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 25th November 2020).
, , , & (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 25th November 2020).
How to Engage Remote Employees during Coronavirus
Pandemic, 2020, SHRM, viewed 25th November 2020, <https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/how-to-guides/pages/how-to-engage-remote-employees-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic.aspx>
& (2019).
Employee engagement in difficult times. World Class Benchmarking. (Online) Available from: http://worldclassbenchmarking.com/employee-engagement-in-difficult-times/ (Accessed
on 25th 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 25th November
2020, <https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/covid-19-and-the-workplace-implications-issues-and-insights-for-future-research-and-action>
At the start of the pandemic situations, most companies have done a good job of identifying the basic needs of their employees like safety, security and stability. The challenge now would be to sustain this situation in the long run. One such way to maintain the culture that was created is to value inclusion, individuality, and social harmony. With Covid many workers had to change to new work duties, processes and changed the way communication was done. This must be done in fairness, respect and equality to all employees. Building such a culture would benefit the organization in the future and be able to maintain the engagement levels of the employees (Emmett et al, 2020).
ReplyDeleteYes Sonali, to enhance employee engagement in difficult times, organizations should make more efforts toward the employees, so that employees feel that their organization is genuinely interested in them (Robertson, 2012). According to Groove Management Blog (Formato, 2014), leadership needs to be more visible in tough times than at any other time.
DeleteDVV media HR group limited (2018) article states some actionable tips for employee engagement during tough times. The most important is strengthening employee engagement. Others tips are: leaders have the responsibility for being role models during tough times, integrate employee feedback into the company culture, communicate clearly and consistently, support the managers, and keep motivation high with rewards and recognition
DeleteThe presence of additional staff goes beyond sports, games and events. The dedication of employees drives efficiency. Engaged workers look at the business as a whole and understand their role, when and how they fit in. It contributes to stronger decision-making. Organizations with a workforce that is interested outperform their competition. When it comes to development and creativity, dedication is a crucial differentiator. To better understand the needs of your organization, administering an employee engagement survey is key. This is not the same as a satisfaction survey (Harry, 2013)
ReplyDeleteYes Malinga , Adding on to your statement, employee engagement can be used as a mediator to develop the attitudes, intention, and behavior of employees to an improved work performance (Andrew & Sofian, 2012; Saks, 2006). Andrew and Saudah (2012) concluded that employee engagement can be utilized as a mediator to enhance the behavior, intention, and attitudes of employees toward a better work performance. Basquille (2013) recommended that managers should be supported by the executive to provide development assistance, career support, and recognition. These factors enhance employee engagement effectively. Patro (2013) revealed that companies have to provide their employees the freedom to make their work interesting and forming an environment for having an engaged work life.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWith COVID-19 been identified as a carrier shocker the immense negative impact caused to employee engagement, motivation, and productivity and many more aspects around the world is enormous (Akkermans et al., 2018). In this collective struggle to overcome this turbulent time, the provision of employees’ lavish contribution by eliminating negative mindsets; switching them from a fixed to a growing mindset, can definitely help lubricate the rough journey that both organizations and employees currently treading on (Rani BM, Curtis and Reddy K, 2020). Importance of self-motivation to make high commitment through effective time management as remote working teams/individuals is a need to be inculcated apace.
ReplyDeleteThink AHEAD — This can be a moment for strategic and long-term planning.
Think BACK — “Quiet” times can be used to gather and examine data on previous initiatives.
Think DEEP — Make a plan to do a deep dive into systems you currently have in place.
Think ACROSS — Brainstorm ways that your work can impact others.
Think GROWTH — Downtimes are ideal for developing ourselves and our teams.
Think WELL-BEING — It is crucial that we all sustain our physical and mental health.
Think NOW — Importantly, there are some tasks that are critical or perfectly situated for doing right now
Few ideas for employees to generate effective time management (University of Pittsburgh, 2020).
Adding on to your statement Asitha, according to Sarkar (2020), in employee engagement, new dimension included by the organizations is family engagement, to keep employees' kids engaged for a few hours while their parents work from home during COVID‐19 lockdown. The responsibility of ensuring staff are engaged and motivated to carry out their work falls in the hands of leaders and managers. Laker (2020) suggests 2 ways to keep employees engaged; Connection and Recognition. Connection meaning, to have constant communication with employees to check on their wellness, mental health, workload challenges, and issues around balance while working from home. Consistent recognition will also boost morale, if employees are told they are doing a great job even during these uncertain times (Laker,2020).
DeleteAnother considerable reason is that governments should involve deeply in to face challenge of employee engagement. According to UK.ORG (2020) that they have imposed many restrictions on movement to reduce the spared of COVID. But they are in a challenge of balancing economy with the pandemic. They have impli several guidelines to control the situation and it will helps to overcome challenges under pandemic situation.
ReplyDelete1. Guidance for the public
2. Guidance for non-clinical settings
3. Transport
4. Adult social care
5. Guidance for health professionals
6. Infection prevention and control
As Covid-19 was a global health crisis, in order to curb the spread of the virus, governments locked down cities or at some point the country itself with no definite time of re-opening. Thus, work patterns changed from full time office work, to work from home (WFH) concept or essential workers concept. Virtual teams, virtual leadership and management practices too emerged (Whillans, 2020).
DeleteOrganization need to provide top-down support to maintain post-pandemic mental health openness. Training includes training managers on how to respond to mental health needs, encouraging team members to spend personal time when they need emotional rest (especially when they are socially distant), and conducting interactive listening sessions to safely discuss challenges (Anderson and Becky, 2020).
ReplyDeleteCompanies are regularly examining the well‐being of employees and offering solutions that support a healthy work–life balance. During this difficult time, companies focus on the learning and development of their employees. Most of the organizations are introducing webinars and live sessions for new‐skill training to online counseling sessions helping employees to stay safe and healthy at home. Anand (2020) revealed that lockdown has caused huge disruption in the world as billions of people are self‐isolating in homes.
DeleteHindustan Coca Cola Beverages has launched a virtual employee engagement program that seeks to involve employee's colleagues and their family members online for their physical and mental wellness. McDonald's India has adopted many of its classrooms training modules digitally and introduced e‐learning modules, quizzes, master classes by managers, and many more creative learning sessions, which employees can access on their phone while in quarantine at home ( Sangeeta, 2020).
DeleteAccording to Sarkar (2020), in employee engagement, new dimension included by the organizations is family engagement, to keep employees' kids engaged for a few hours while their parents work from home during COVID‐19 lockdown. Organizations that are doing these practices are Genpact, Accenture, Deloitte, AMD, and Hinduja Global Solutions ( Sangeeta, 2020).
ReplyDelete