Employee Engagement At Finnastra

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a property of the relationship between an organization and its employees. An
"engaged employee" is defined as one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so
takes positive action to further the organization's reputation and interests. Thus we can say that an
organization with high employee engagement might therefore be expected to outperform those with
low employee engagement, all else being equal.

An engaged employee can be identified as

Employee aware of the business context and works with colleagues to improve job performance
for the benefit of the organization.
Employee with high level of commitment and involvement towards the organization and its
values.

There is a need for every employee present in the organization to work to their full potential to further
the organizations reputation and interests, but however this is not the case in most of the companies.
This is the direct result of the level of employee engagement the company fosters. Employee
engagement is directly related to the employees involvement in the job which is reflected on the
level of commitment person had towards job and the organization

Thus, on the basis of the level of commitment, the employees can be classified into three categories:

1. Actively disengaged employees

Employees who are actively disengaged are who are unhappy and resentful and spreads
unhappiness in the organization. Such employees are bad for the organization as they lower down
the productivity and are always provoking and convincing the other employees to leave their jobs
and move out of the organization.
They last longer in the organization.
Known as cave dwellers and are always with a negative attitude.
Constantly undermine the work of fellow colleague and team members.
They are the least productive and causes a great damage to the organization they work in.
 2. Engaged
The employees who are engaged are those who work with full passion and are emotionally
attached to the organization. They are committed to their workplace and are innovators and
propose various new ideas for the betterment of the organization and to move the organization
forward.
They are optimistic and spread positivity among the co-workers.
They personalize the goals and objectives and always work for the betterment of the
organization.
Realize their goals and expectations and strive to meet and exceed them.
Perform consistently and at high levels.
3. Not Engaged
A majority of the employees in the organization fall into this category. They seek directions from
their superiors and fully stick the activities mentioned in their job description. Not engaged
employees do put in their time, but not passion and energy into their work.
They lack innovativeness and neither holds a negative nor positive attitude towards the
organization.
Concentrated more on tasks rather than goals and outcomes.
They tend to feel that their potential is overlooked and their potential is not tapped.
Fosters an unproductive relationship with the managers.

PRESENTLY AT FINNASTRA

At Finnastra the employee engagement activities are present but lack a systematic procedure and follow-
up that is to be done in routine. The company in the past has initiated number of employee engagement
activities which made the employees working at Finnastra enjoy their work and enjoy coming regularly to
the workplace. The HR department initiated activities that led to develop a fun-loving work culture.
Presently the HR department is unable to conduct the employee engagement due to some miscellaneous
constraints in the organization.

Employee engagement is very important for any company be it big or small. While expertise of the
company lies in innovative technological products, quality services and providing edge strategies but
none of these can be effectively implemented without engaged employees.

The activities conducted at Finnastra for improving engagement are:-

Celebrating Festivals together - Celebration of various festivals together as a family and

involvement of each and every team member of all the departments and thus inculcating a team
spirit and bonding at the same time.
For instance, the personals of the HR department in the company took an initiative to celebrate
festivals like Holi, Diwali together with the employees which resulted in a fun-filled day.
Conducting Fun Competitions - Various competitions are conducted in the company which
involved a painting completion , two teams decorating Christmas trees and the best is awarded.
Treating employees Finnastra being a small consultancy the HR team and the employees go for
having and sharing a meal together occasionally.
 Giving Feedback Feedbacks are given to the employees at finnastra by their respective
department heads when an employee performs well and has contributed significantly to the
business. It usually happens within the respective team.
The HR team at Finnastra also conducted one-on-one meetings with the employees and gave
them chance for expressing themselves and talking to them about any work-related problems if
any they are facing and help them improve their work performance.

Given that there are number of activities followed for engaging the employees at Finnastra, some
being very successful nut there are number of constraints that the company faces while
conducting these activities.
The major problems the company faces while trying to promote the employee engagement
activities are:
Lack of management involvement The management at finnastra is not involved in the
employee engagement activities which acts as a major drawback.
Lack of communication There exists no systematic framework of communication
between the employees and the management, Hr team. This results in many problems
related to employees go unnoticed further adding problems to the workspace.
Lack of Budget There is no specific budget allocated for recreational activities of the
employees due to tight budget of the company.

Major employee engagement drivers

The major factors that drive employee engagement are:

Immediate management
Equal opportunities and transparency
Great working culture
Family friendliness
Sense of belonging and importance
Job satisfaction
Pay and Benefits
At Finnastra

As employee engagement refers to a strategy by which an organization seeks to build a partnership

between the organization and its employees, such that:

Employees fully understand and is committed to achieve the organizations objectives, and
The organization respects the personal aspirations and ambitions of its employees.

The company needs to focus more on employee engagement activities as organizations with engaged
employees have higher revenue, increased efficiency and save on costs - which is critical for small
companies as these businesses provide for more than 65% of the country's total employment.

There are few ways of driving employee engagement forward in this organization by keeping the cost to
minimum. If followed in a routine fashion religiously these simple activities can improve the efficiency
and the intellectual and emotional connect employees have for Finnastra.

According to my observation most people working here either belong to two types of generations GEN X
(1965-1976) and GEN Y (1977-1995). The employee engagement activities have to cater to their needs
and their aspirations to be effective and have a significant impact on their performance at work.

Gen X is driven by: Flexible Schedules, Job-sharing, crave for feedback, one-on-one time with
HR, fostering trust.
Gen Y is driven by: Open communication, great company culture, involvement with causes,
achieving purpose and fulfillment.
Few Recommendations

Compassionate Leadership The HR team and the concerned departmental heads should be
present for all employee issues, should be authentic in their approach. They should incorporate a
sense of dignity, and should be empathetic to the employee problems.
Giving feedback and taking feedback to and from employees-A regular staff climate survey
can provide employees working here with an appropriate platform to voice concerns before they
spiral out of control or make the decision to leave the organization. Thus, paying heed to
information generated at this level can help find out their interests that will keep them more
engaged. These activities which cater to the specific needs of the staff will help growing
employee engagement even during rough times
.
Occasional Lunch meetings that teach a new skill A traditional workspace can eventually
turn boring and not motivating for an employee working at Finnastra as the work they perform
are very repetitive in nature. A great employee engagement idea for this can be holding
occasional lunch meetings where you can discuss about latest technology in trend or ponder on
any project by taking employee insights.
Team building activities in which members help each other and collaborate A fun-filled
day which involves going out to a specific location in Bangalore and giving them tasks where
they are able to bond with each other as the work is always done independently at Finnastra. Most
Generation Y workers played sports while they were younger and thus grew up within very tight
social groups, thus can motivate a Gen X worker to work with others.
Rewards that gives each employee not remuneration but recognition for a good work done
The recognition of an employee can be done when he/she significantly contributes to the progress
of the company. This recognition neednt be monetary benefits but can be done by felicitating the
person publicly, either by using the companys official mail, by sending a personalized letter of
recognition etc. It can either be done by the HR team or can be done within the team.
Involving management Main reason employee engagement activities fail is due to the lack of
involvement of the top management. The Director of the company or any head of the department
should make a routine of addressing the employees and spending more time with employees.
Clarifying about the intended goals of the organization that will help make better day-to-
day decisions at work.
Investing more time with the employees can benefit in staying connected with the
employees and boosting up the trust, effort, engagement and commitment among the
employees.
Managers listening to employees give them a fair of what is currently going on. Listening
to employees not only keeps them connected. employees feel more appreciated if they
know senior managers listen to them and take them seriously.

This can be done either weekly or monthly to boost up the morale of the employees which will contribute
to their performance positively.

Team Finnastra video - Making a team Finnastra video and making it employee-centric can help
promote the work culture. The video can be uploaded on the main Finnastra website depicting the
work culture present in the organization where few of them can be vocal. Uploading fun- work
 related group project activities successfully completed on the LinkedIn website of the company
will make people eager to join the company due to the employee value proposition existing in the
company.
This serves also in engaging the employees as they will feel recognized and that they matter to
the organization and the work performed by them makes a difference and is valuable for the
survival of the organization.
Bringing a personal touch to their workspace Employees should be given a chance to
personalize their workspace according to their interests. It can include people bringing photos of
their dear ones to work, decorating their workspace with motivational thoughts etc. Each
employee working at Finnastra should be encouraged to do so to make this place look more lively
and colorful which will provide them a sense of satisfaction while being engaged in their
repetitive tasks.

Advantages of Employee Engagement

There are number of benefits of having an engaged workforce:

Better performance
Better Communication
Greater Customer satisfaction
Greater Commitment
Lower Employee turnover
Ability to recruit skilled people