How important is Employee Engagement

People are the basic foundation of any business. A business plan and model can only be a success when executed in a proper manner and for any plan to be executed successfully the manpower of the company has to be intact. Manpower if used only as a resource will not add much value in its contribution to the organization’s goal. People of the company and their goals have to be aligned to the mission and vision of the company. It is very easy to bind the employees in set targets and get the work out of them but such a scenario would last for a short span of time only. If people don’t feel valued in the organization and their efforts and achievements are not being recognized and rewarded they gradually get disconnected and leave.

In the current scenario the major problem being faced by the companies is high attrition rate. Offering good packages or free meals is not the only solution to this problem.The people need to feel the trust, have their specified personal space to perform to the best of their capabilities and the freedom to express their ideas and thoughts. The organizational leaders can never attain the business objectives that are critical to improving organizational performance if people are not engaged. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work. He/She feels connected to the organizations values, beliefs and goals. Their managers and supervisors don’t need to keep a check on their work and remind them about their productivity levels as such employees are high on their integrity level. They would give their best even when not being observed.

Employee engagement has become an important aspect of corporate culture as it also affects the mindset of people. Engaged employees believe and have faith that they can make a difference in the organizations they work for. Their confidence on the knowledge they possess, skills, and abilities of both themselves and others is a powerful predictor of behavior and subsequent performance. The companies need to have good leaders who can not only guide but also engage employees to give their best and feel connected to the organizations goal. There are ten C’s of employee engagement that needs to be considered and followed by organizations to engage their employees and keep them motivated.

1.    Connect: The employees are and should be considered the most valued asset of any organization. Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with their seniors and management. There has to be a personal connect between the management and the employees where either of them could easily communicate and voice their opinion and concern. When employees feel connected they perform well as they have the assurance of being heard when required.

2.     Career:  Assigning the work and expecting results does not end the responsibility of the managers and management. In order to be focused on their goals as well as give perfect results first and foremost the employees should be given proper resources and guidance. Individual roles should challenging and meaningful to work on. These roles also need to be aligned with their career path Employees now a days are well aware of their market value and look for opportunities that would drive their career to new heights or add value to their knowledge base. Employees avoid mundane jobs and want to do new things in their job. So the tasks need to be designed in a manner to keep them engaged and give their best.

3.     Clarity: The employees should have clarity of the organizational goals and vision in order to align their efforts with the same. A mere assignment with some targets might not interest them for a long time. Only when they feel being a part of something big and valuable would they put an extra effort to it. When the employees have clarity of the impact and contribution of their efforts would they feel connected and engaged.

4.    Convey: It is necessary that the leaders/managers should clarify and communicate their expectations about employees and provide feedback on their functioning in the organization. For effective employee engagement such processes and procedures need to be established that help people master important tasks and facilitate goal achievement.

5.    Congratulate: It is a very common scenario in the corporate culture that there is a quick feedback system for poor performances or below the level performances and at times the employees are humiliated in front of the whole group for non performance or poor performance. On the contrary the achievements and accomplishments take time to get recognized and rewarded as rewarding candidates involve certain procedures.

6.    Contribute: Self satisfaction is an important aspect of any work. There is no doubt about it that an employee has a financial aspect attached to his job but apart from that the thing that keeps him connected to the organization is the feeling of being valued and important in terms of contribution. Here it becomes the prime responsibility of the leaders and managers to guide and motivate the employees and keep them engaged.

7.    Control: The employees now opt for such jobs where they are not treated as puppets doing what is being told without using their own brains. For employee engagement and motivation it is very important that individual roles are designed in such a manner where analytical aspect and decision making at various levels has been inculcated. The concept of being given opportunities to participate in decision making often reduces stress; it also creates trust and a culture where people want to take ownership of problems and their solutions.

8.    Collaborate: It has been witnessed since ages that when employees work in teams and have the trust and cooperation of their team members, they outperform individuals and teams which lack good relationships. Ten constructive minds and dedicated hands working for a common goal not only excel in their work but also match the perfection level. For such accomplishments the leaders and managers need to be focused on their training agenda and modules emphasizing on team work and collaboration.

9.    Credibility: People don’t do jobs for the heck of it. People want to be proud of their jobs, their performance, and their organization. It is very important for organizations to have a strong goodwill value and the leaders and managers should strive hard and try their level best to maintain a company’s reputation and demonstrate high ethical standards.When an employee feels, adapted, accepted and secured in an organization, he automatically gets engaged.

10.  Confidence: The most vital aspect of employee engagement is to buildup confidence in the employees about the company and its culture by being exemplars of high ethical and performance standards. It is very important for employees to feel assured of their career and financial growth being associated with the company. It is also very important for them to feel the pride and respect of being associated with the brand. This in turn boosts up their confidence level and keeps engaged.

Advantages of Cross Functional Roles in Organizations

In this highly competitive market when individuals want to surpass one another in all aspects to stand out of the crowd, being a jack of all trades is an added advantage. Companies now days look out for cost effective options. They are always on the lookout for multitasking people who can add value to different verticals and have a clear vision in aligning their efforts.

When an employee performs cross-functional roles within a department, it leads to a lot of advantages like giving greater flexibility for scheduling and the assignment of duties. In industries that engage in production or manufacturing environment, a cross-trained workforce leads to increased productivity by allowing the company to place workers in positions to meet diversified customer requirements. Organizations form teams to complete special projects that require multidimensional expertise. The team develops and implements a customized process to accomplish the company's goals. Cross-functional role is an amalgamation of responsibilities pertaining to diversified skill sets to perform either one specific task or a series of tasks related to a particular project.

Talking about the advantages of a cross functional role.

Saves Time: When a person is hired for a cross functional role he has a clear understanding on how his various tasks are interrelated and have to be completed within the stipulated time. Loss of time is very minimal in this case as he is free to delegate his time based on the priority of different tasks involved. He is free to manage both his time and tasks involved to obtain the best results. The task itself becomes free from the burden of compiling, comprehending and coordinating the efforts of different people involved. In this case it becomes a one man show who would be fully accountable for its success or failure.

Perfection: When talking about a cross functional role it is very clear that the individual assigned would be involved independently at all levels in performing the task. When only one person is involved he knows his perfection level and is also aware of the impact of imperfection of one part of his role on to the other. So, by default he gives his best and his involvement towards perfection.

Saves Cost to Company: When a company hires a multitasking person for a cross functional role it saves the cost of hiring different individuals to perform the different tasks involved. Paying one person a little higher is a smart decision rather than hiring different people and managing their salaries for that portion of work.

Aligned Efforts: When a single person is performing multi faceted task he knows how all the different portions of the project are interrelated and manages it accordingly to reach the perfection level. There is no room for confusion and he knows and manages his tasks accordingly. He is clear in his goals and his efforts are aligned towards perfection and are in complete sync with the organizations goal.

Easy review and feedback on the projects: Reviewing ten different people with different roles for one particular project is a hectic task as they might not share the same intellect level to understand the importance of their roles and align their efforts accordingly. When there is one individual performing cross functional roles for a particular project he is very clear in his ideologies of prioritizing his efforts that are involved and reviewing him becomes easy.

Employee Onboarding

In the talent management universe, the new employee orientation and mainstreaming process is known as employee onboarding.  Keeping in mind that you never get a second chance to make a first impression, your business should make absolutely sure that new hires feel cheerful welcomed, valued, and prepared for what lies ahead during your new employee orientation or onboarding process. “Get employees on the right track through targeted training and goals. Provide the right resources at the right time so employees become faster and more effective contributors”

•          Accelerate ramp-up time of new hires
•          Enable more efficient new hire orientation
•          Make the onboarding process easier and more effective for new employees
•          Reduce administrative hassle
•          Simplify transition management

 Onboard and engage employees throughout the entire lifecycle:

 After the recruiting and hiring process, organizations are faced with the challenge to engage employees, help them achieve productivity faster, and manage various transitions—all while managing costly turnover, more retirements, and an incoming millennial generation. In order to stay focused on employees, reduce costs and administrative burdens, organizations need a holistic approach to welcoming new hires and managing key employee transitions.

Precise Onboarding delivers a unique approach that goes beyond day one and delivers the right resources, connections, and tools—at critical points across the employee lifecycle. Employees become engaged with your culture and achieve faster productivity through connections with colleagues, learning resources, and targets. Onboarding documentation is managed through a centralized portal that’s accessible to all employees.

Onboarding  matters  for  every employee:

Talent teams face challenges with effectively onboarding new employees and helping them achieve productivity faster. Organizations need a holistic approach to welcome new hires and set the stage for developing to their full potential. Accurate Onboarding goes beyond day one to deliver the right resources, connections, and tools. Now it includes one more important part and that is New employee orientation.

New employee orientation is the process you use for welcoming a new employee into your organization. New employee orientation, often spearheaded by a meeting with the Human Resources department, generally contains information about safety, the work environment, the new job description, benefits and eligibility, company culture, company history, the organization chart and anything else relevant to working in the new company.

New employee orientation often includes an introduction to each department in the company and training on-the-job. New employee orientation frequently includes spending time doing the jobs in each department to understand the flow of the product or service through the organization.

Various organizations do new employee orientation differently. Orientations range from a full day or two of paperwork, presentations, and introductions to a daily orientation program that was effective for years.

You put a lot of time and energy into finding and hiring the right person. You need to put just as much effort into making sure they succeed. Onboarding is the way to do that. Onboarding is the process of integrating a new employee into the company and giving them the tools, information, and introductions they will need to succeed in their new job.

Here's a list of things you should have ready by the time your new hires walk in the door:

•          Send out an e-mail to everyone in the office so they're prepared to welcome a new employee.
•          Get the new worker a security badge if he or she needs one.
•          Provide a name plate on his or her desk or office door as a tangible sign that you've prepared the space.
•          Set up the computer.
•          Configure the new employee's e-mail accounts.
•          Provide guides for any necessary software he or she will be using.
•          Set up his or her phone system, and provide instructions for using voicemail.
•          Have a stack of business cards waiting.

On-boarding doesn't end on the Friday of a new employee's first week on the job. The process should continue over the span of several months and, during that time, it is essential to solicit feedback from all constituents. A good way to do that is to assign a recruiting manager to keep track of the new hire's first few months on the job, because that individual will already have developed a relationship with the employee.

You also want to make sure someone is accountable; preferably a line manager who realizes the cost savings to the business if a new employee gets up to speed quicker. You want managers to be very aware that you are measuring productivity through metrics. Make sure employees actually are becoming productive and, if they are not, figure out what is going wrong. Continually fine-tune how you onboard employees to make sure you can maximize the benefits of the process.

Points to Ponder when looking for an Outsourcing partner

With the changing face of the cosmopolitan corporate culture Outsourcing has become the need of the hour. Be it Manpower outsourcing or HR Outsourcing the companies are on the lookout for such agencies that would not only help them with their requirements but also partner in their growth in all aspects. The companies are nowadays taking numerous steps for cost cutting and targeting cost effective skilled labor .These companies want to free themselves from the hassle of building up an infrastructure, investing time and money on hiring labor and then setting up a team to manage them and their expenses. In such a scenario Outsourcing becomes the most feasible option. There are companies coming up that outsource the entire gamut of manpower as well as processes. Outsourcing the services and manpower leaves room to focus on various other crucial matters.
When a company opts for outsourcing services it gives an access to the outsourcing company for all kinds of internal information and company culture. So there are numerous aspects that need to be kept in mind while selecting an outsourcing firm. Some of which are as stated below.

Understanding the company culture

Before diving into the pool of potential outsourcing companies the company in need should have a clear understanding of its internal work structure, its mission and goals, its road map and the company’s adaptability to adjust to the external workforce handling its manpower services. Self analysis helps the company analyze the feasibility of its association with the outsourcing company  and its potential growth while working towards a common goal.

Employee engagement – the key to healthy work environment

Given the nature of the fast-paced life today, where making money is growing difficult with each passing day, it is only obvious for the employees to form a quick disconnect with the organisation, thus exhibiting low levels of productivity. In fact, various researches have often proven the fact that employees would rather take more rest than work for about 50 hours a week.  All this can really turn out to be rather unhealthy for the organisational framework. Hence, this needs to be addressed sooner than later. And an amazing way to address this problem and turn it into strength rather than a weakness is to encourage Employee Engagement. 

How does recruitment process outsourcing,simplifies the business process?

Recruitment Process Outsourcing or RPO is nothing but a practice whereby an employer hires the services of an external provider to take up its recruitment functions. While some employers outsource only certain specific function thus keeping their methodologies intact, the others may even hand out the entire process to the RPO provider right from head hunting to background checks along with the onus of the results. The RPO is known to simplify the business processes in more than one ways. Here’s how –

Importance of PR in the corporate culture

                             

Public Relation is one such segment that can never be redundant as with the growing cosmopolitan culture corporate entities need to be visible in all aspects to sell themselves and their services. It is good for the companies to be just perfect at its deliveries, have a stable and ongoing client base and a strong recall value in the market but at the same time they should have a strong platform to showcase their USP’s to have a competitive advantage over their competitors.

Intact and impactful image of any organization irrespective of any segment can be showcased to the target audience only if in the safe hands of a PR firm that understands t

he business in and out and is aware of the changing trends. Public Relation is the interface between the company and the market or its end users. To make or break an image of any corporate is the game of content marketing that is the biggest tool of any PR firm. The Indian corporate market is best suited for the growth of PR segment because it has a large English speaking base, stable political governance and consistent legal structure.