Strategies For Employee Engagement

About Oman Arab Bank

Discuss about the Strategies For Employee Engagement.

The report here deals with the concept of employee engagement, its importance in the growth of any organization, the strategies of efficiently managing employees to increase productivity. The strategies of employee engagement used by Oman Arab Bank of Oman to achieve its goals and gain competitive advantage are also covered in this assignment. Conclusion part summarizes the main view points of this research and analysis work.

Oman Arab Bank SAOC is an OMAN based joint stock company. It was founded on 1^st October 1984.The two key people of the organization are Rashad Al Zubair (Chairperson) and Amin Rasheed Al Hussaini (CEO). The two shareholders of the bank are Omnivest (51%) and Arab Bank Group (49%). It has 60 branches and offices across Oman. In 2011 it acquired the position of third largest bank in Oman. It started its operations in 1973. It took over Omani European bank in 1992 and expanded its operations further. Operating areas of the bank are retail, investment banking and Islamic finance sectors. Investment banking deals with asset management, brokerage and research. In 2013 the Islamic bank part named Al Yusr was established. The headquarter of this bank is at Al Ghubra, Muscat, Oman (Oman Arab Bank, 2017).

Employee Engagement is a process of creating healthy working environment for all employees attached to the organization so that they get engaged in vast areas of the organization and give their best, knowing that company is taking care of their well being. A successful business has trust, integrity and two way commitment and communication between the company and its workers.  Right engagement strategies improve the productivity of both the organization and its members. It is measured in two grades as poor and great (Marchington, M. and Wilkinson, 2012).

As an employee, engagement refers to the enthusiasm, interest and feeling good about working with the organization. It is about understanding ones position and the exact working area in the company. An individual’s engagement is also to provide new and beneficial ideas for the organization. The ideas need to be presentable enough to be heard. Engagement as an employee is fulfilled only when that person completely gets accepted in the team, increases productivity by constantly upgrading oneself and thus getting recognized and rewarded. According to Bratton and Gold (2012) autonomy, skill variety, feedback, task identity and significance positively affects employee satisfaction and motivation.

Literature Review

As an employer, employee engagement is achieved successfully, when the employees are proud and happy with the company. It is about the positive attitude in approaching a client. It also includes grooming an employee to deliver its best .Growing a healthy bond with the employee reduces absentees and grievances thus increasing productivity of the organization.  Armstrong and Taylor (2014) stated that a satisfactory relation with supervisors positively effects engagement.

The JD-R model introduced by Baker and Demerouti in 2007, 2008 shows the relation between job demands and job resources. According to this model individual performance and workplace culture are interdependent. According to this framework, a clearly and relevantly designed job profile positively motivates an employee for better performance and feels satisfied. Autonomy that is independence provided to employees helps them to take decisions. Further, varied skill sets that an employee get through training helps in performing better. On the other hand, amount of feedback an employee gets and task identity helps an employee to understand the sole responsibility for completion of a job within time and finding out the significance of the job on other workers are some of the core job characteristics of the model (Bakker et al. 2014).

Employee engagement is not given much importance. But researches have proved that for increasing profits right employee engagement at all levels of the organizational structure is a must (Daley, 2012).

Marketing through a noble cause is one of an important marketing strategy of an organization nowadays. By forcing employees to participate in such events without the individual’s will and knowledge spreads only negative vibes about the company (Afiouni et al. 2013). Engaging employees through including in the decision making process and also absorbing their ideas help the individuals feel as a part of the event (Rees and French, 2013). As a result they happily volunteer in such programs.

 It has been observed that the companies that engage their employees are 200% more successful than companies who do not value their employees. When the opinions of an employee are given importance, they feel a connection with the company and hence try to give their best (Crawford et al. 2014). It has been found out that non engagement of employee’s subjects to huge losses by increasing the expenditure for absenteeism and health care of employees.

Another major loss that companies face is due to employee turnover. Every year $11 billion is lost due to this. If employees feel that they are valuable and their ideas and hard work are recognized and rewarded then a strong bond is developed between the employees and the organization. It is the duty of the employer to make the employee feel wanted and hence grow a strong two way commitment bond (Anitha, 2014). A satisfied employee is less prone to leave. Positive marketing is always good marketing. Employers who can cultivate positive thinking in their employees by properly engaging them are sure to have a positive feedback through them (Albrecht et al. 2015). A negative and disengaged employee always has negative feelings and thus spreads all bad things about the company, bringing down its goodwill to a great extent.

Discussion

Satisfied employees are the happiest, the most hard working and knowledgeable assets f any organization. Engaging an employee to the fullest is not only beneficial for the employer but it also boosts the career of the employee thus inducing a satisfactory feeling in them. Engaged employees are always interested in donating and volunteering in the nonprofit organizations that the company is attached to. A sense of fulfillment in their work areas acts as a great booster for all these activities (Breevaart et al. 2014). An engaged employee effectively communicates with everyone, be it colleagues, customers or managers. They can communicate to any extent to get their work done and increases the flow of knowledge and improves their skills. Increased engagement of employees brings out their creative best (Shuck and Reio Jr, 2014).  Increased understanding of their work through communication and other engagement activities brings out new ideas which are beneficial for both the employees and the organization.

Making the employees feel as if they are only used for certain benefits for the organization and their rights are always stepped upon, leads to negative employee engagement.  Negative engagement leads to huge losses and negative feedback s thus leading the business to failure.

One of the best examples of employee engagement is GOOGLE. Their work culture mainly focuses on transparency. Google encourages creativity by engaging employees in activities outside work. Employees are always kept well informed about all good or bad without hiding any agenda (Ugwu et al. 2014).  Thus, it becomes clear that a work environment that encourages creativity has a positive effect on employee engagement.

Arab bank has implemented several strategies for employee engagement which has increased their productivity and has decreased the employee turnover rate drastically. According to the data released by the organization in 2014, employee turnover rate was only 8.5% as compared to the 296 new recruitment which comprises 10.5% of the total employee strength. The strategies of this bank are considered as one of the most successful structure of employee engagement in UAE (Oman Arab Bank, 2017).

The engagement strategies that are followed for transparent communication with the employees include-

Annual Performance Reviews – All employees of the bank are reviewed annually so that they can identify their shortcomings and achievements.  They are also allowed to have transparent discussions with their supervisors regarding their future career development plan. They are also provided training opportunities which enhances their skill set by overcoming their laggings (Assarie, 2017).

Internal newsletter – The bank has started publishing its own electronic newsletter since 2010 which keeps the employees updated about the latest happenings of the bank. It contains latest news and programs about the bank. There is a special section called “sustainability focus” which publishes the latest articles on sustainability and the bank’s latest CSR initiatives (Assarie, 2017).

Arabina – Arabina is an internal communication portal that contains everything related to a bank like news, circulars, phone directory and even special offers for employees and the bank’s employee policies. To increase the employee’s voluntary participation in the bank’s CSR programs, photos of volunteers and details about their participation is displayed on the home page of the portal since 2014. An analysis reveals that 98.9% of employees visit the portal for news, articles, HR whereas, 25% visited its sustainability tab to know about the “Together” program of the company and the sustainability policies (Pressreader.com, 2017).

Engage Newsletter – It was first launched in 2012. It is mainly targeted for consumer banking division to boost the communication between the employees and the customers. It includes information on sales target, sales strategies etc.  It also publishes the achievements of employees and what is in store in the near future. This brings out the creative part of the individuals which greatly help them in arranging campaigns.

Volunteers’ blog – It is a blog for volunteers of the bank’s CSR program “Together”. It helps them to interact with each other freely and to share their ideas and views on volunteering activities (Oman Arab Bank, 2017).

Employees in the community – Engaging employees in voluntary activities for the community hugely boost their positivity which increases their productivity and motivation to deliver the best. Since 2014 302 employees have volunteered in the banks CSR program.

Arab Bank follows the Jordanian labor laws. Abiding by these laws the organization does not employ individuals of less than 18 years of age. In addition to that they have internal policies which protect an employee from discrimination, bullying and harassment, thus creating a respectful work culture. There is an Employee Relations Committee which looks after the internal grievances of the employees and even gathers feedback through exit interviews. The technical and soft skills of the individuals are enhanced through appropriate training. This is one of the main sustainability strategy of the organization. Trainings are mainly based on the employees’ performance and one that caters to the needs of the bank operations. The Occupational Health and Safety committee of the bank, established in 2012, looks after the overall health related issues of an individual. They implement policies to reduce the risk factor of fatal accidents to 0% (Oman Arab Bank, 2017). They engage employees in fire fighting drills; much health related trainings on a regular basis to keep them updated about their safety measurements taken by the company.

Conclusion

Employers are always in search of strategies to motivate employees to bring the best out of them and increase the productivity of the organization. The company has to bear a huge set back from its competitors if their employees are less engaged and less efficient. The bar of employee engagement is raised every hour by increasing international competencies.  So employers are now greatly attracted on the implementation of correct and relevant engagement strategies for their organization.

From this analysis it is clear that employees who feel valued are more inclined to continue their job and give its 100 percent to the company.  By reducing staff turnover and by reducing sickness absence an employer greatly benefits the organization by lowering its expenditure.

Considering employees as individuals and not mechanical robots, by taking care of their personal and financial well being and introducing policies catering to the needs of employees retains maximum workforce within the organization.

Reducing the gap between the benefits promised and the benefits actually received by the employees increase their belief in the company. This helps to build a strong two way bond between the employee and the employer. A transparent communication system with the employees should be an integral part of any employee engagement strategy.

The short sidedness of employers to measure the impact of the workforce can be a huge blow to the business.  A successful  business always try to retain their loyal and most efficient employees by taking good care of their well being. Employers cannot afford to lose good employees even when their economy flows in high tide.

An employee whose hard work is recognized and rewarded always gets the motivation to be more engaged with the company. Statistics show that companies having good reward policies retain their maximum employees. So it is very important to introduce effective employee recognition strategies to increase employee retention.

It can be concluded that proper employee engagement strategies are one of the key ingredients of a company’s success. So it increase engagement some of the major steps that needs to be followed are – communicating the exact goals and expectations of the company, sharing all good and bad news with the employee and keeping then well informed, encouraging their expression of opinions without criticizing, informing employees immediately about incidents, developing trust in employees, encouraging the individual’s creativity, providing and receiving feedback.

References

Afiouni, F., Karam, C.M. and El-Hajj, H., 2013. The HR value proposition model in the Arab Middle East: identifying the contours of an Arab Middle Eastern HR model. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(10), pp.1895-1932

Albrecht, S.L., Bakker, A.B., Gruman, J.A., Macey, W.H. and Saks, A.M., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), pp.7-35

Anitha, J., 2014. Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee performance. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers

Assarie, A. (2017). Oman Arab Bank Showcases Promising Opportunities To Local Talent During Squ Career Fair 2016 | Oman Arab Bank. [online] Oman Arab Bank. Available at: https://www.oman-arabbank.com/oman-arab-bank-showcases-promising-opportunities-to-local-talent-during-squ-career-fair-2016/ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2017].

Bakker, A.B., Demerouti, E. and Sanz-Vergel, A.I., 2014. Burnout and work engagement: The JD–R approach. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav., 1(1), pp.389-411.

Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Breevaart, K., Bakker, A., Hetland, J., Demerouti, E., Olsen, O.K. and Espevik, R., 2014. Daily transactional and transformational leadership and daily employee engagement. Journal of occupational and organizational psychology, 87(1), pp.138-157

Crawford, E.R., Rich, B.L., Buckman, B. and Bergeron, J., 2014. The antecedents and drivers of employee engagement. Employee engagement in theory and practice, pp.57-81

Daley, D.M., 2012. Strategic human resource management. Public Personnel Management, pp.120-125

Jiang, K., Lepak, D.P., Hu, J. and Baer, J.C., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of management Journal, 55(6), pp.1264-1294

Marchington, M. and Wilkinson, A., 2012. Human resource management at work: People management and development. London: CIPD Publishing.

Oman Arab Bank. (2017). About us | Oman Arab Bank. [online] Available at: https://www.oman-arabbank.com/home/about-us/ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2017].

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Shuck, B. and Reio Jr, T.G., 2014. Employee engagement and well-being: A moderation model and implications for practice. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 21(1), pp.43-58

Ugwu, F.O., Onyishi, I.E. and Rodríguez-Sánchez, A.M., 2014. Linking organizational trust with employee engagement: the role of psychological empowerment. Personnel Review, 43(3), pp.377-400