HOW TO MANAGE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT DURING PANDEMIC SITUATION
-With special reference to tunnel workers-
1. Introduction:
It has been identified that out of four,
three Americans are now working from due to covid-19 pandemic situation
2. How to get employees engaged during a
pandemic period.
It has been identified by Rebecca(2020)
,there are six major factors which have to be practiced by employers in order
to get the employees engaged during a pandemic situation
•
Figure 1.0 : Methods for Employee Engagement during Pandemic Period
( Source : Rebecca : 2020)
2.1 Be “Visible”
Despite the
fact of the size of the organization, it is important that the leaders /
managers are always visible and are physically engaged in construction
activities. It has been identified that “In times of crisis, people want
to see their leaders”
Assessing the employee frame of mind continuously
could be used to understand the insights of their minds and lead towards informal
productive conversations towards improvement.
2.2 Frequent Visits
When people are part of the solution, they are
more likely to feel responsible for the outcome and get more engaged in the
process. During a pandemic situation such as Covid-19, check-in with the
employees is considered as a “must”, which has to be done daily. As a norm it
has to be taken with priority that several minutes the daily shift to have
an informal meeting with the subordinates.
This will enable quick feedback loops and the chance of taking
proactive actions for the problems the employees face. Communication has been
identified as a crucial factor where the same thin has to be and repeated many
times during a time of crisis of this nature.
2.3 Providing Safety Precautions
One key area of importance is providing all
safety precautions to avoid the employees getting exposed to the virus. The
company officials should assure that all precautionary methods laid by the
government are in place, and should provide all necessary tools required
2.4 Address the Fear
Perceptibly
employees are anxious whatever the nature of the employment they are
engaged in as this is a different period of time we encounter due to the
Covid-19 pandemic
2.5 Transparency towards employees.
It is stated that “an employees will judge you
by how honest and transparent you are”,
It is stated that “Good leaders are not afraid
to repeat their messages” , as such Uma Oya management has continuously
educating the employees on current business situations and treat people that
they are the ones who “matters the most”
and take regular feedback and input.
2.6 Provider
Transparency
Being multinational companies, both Farab and Nimrok companies
References;
Alex, P.
(2020, April 6). https://today.tamu.edu/. Retrieved December 1, 2020,
from https://today.tamu/:
https://today.tamu.edu/2020/04/06/how-to-talk-to-employees-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/
http://nimrokh.net. (2020, November 10). http://nimrokh.net.
Retrieved December 03, 2020, from nimrokh.net: http://nimrokh.net/
Olaf, P. (2010). Change Management. London:
bookboon.
powermin.gov.lk . (2016). http://powermin.gov.lk/.
Retrieved December 2, 2020, from http://powermin.gov.lk/:
http://powermin.gov.lk/english/?portfolio=uma-oya-hydropower
Rainer, Z. (2015). The Wealth Elite.
Munich: LID Publishers.
Rebecca, L. (2020, October 30). www.Celpax.
Retrieved December 2, 2020, from http://www.celpax.com:
http://www.celpax.com/ideas-for-employee-engagement/
Thompson, I. D. (2013). Find Top Talent for Your
Business. New Jersey: FT Press.
www.who.int. (2020, November 26). COVID-19
transmission and protective measures. Retrieved December 04, 2020, from
https://www.who.int/:
https://www.who.int/westernpacific/emergencies/covid-19/information/transmission-protective-measures
Zheng, W. (2020). 5 Strategies to Support Your
Employees Through a Crisis. Harward Business Review .
In the present business situation during the COVID‐19 pandemic, employee engagement has become one of the extreme projecting priorities for HR managers and practitioners in organizations due to lockdown. During this pandemic situation, organizations are evolving many engagement activities like virtual learning and development, online team building activities, webinars with industry experts, online conduct weekly alignment sessions, virtual challenges and competitions, online courses, appreciation sessions, communication exercises, live sessions for new‐skill training, recognition and acknowledgment session and stress social interactions in a virtual office, and many more creative sessions (chanana and Sangeeta, 2020).
ReplyDeleteCOVID 19 crisis poses such unique challenges to construction operations that need to form a task force designed to respond to the situation and disseminate information rapidly. Our company compose of workers doing a variety of jobs, sometimes in different shifts and timezones. Because of this, we dedicated COVID-19 communication and response team should have people from different departments to ensure everyone is looped in on the latest initiatives and protocols.Having a centralized platform with which to disseminate information will improve employee communications and reduce the risk of misinformation, especially during this time of uncertainty. we dedicated COVID-19 response team should be responsible for ensuring social distancing and hygiene protocols are followed on site ( Rabiba,2020).
DeleteGoyal,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. Traditional business setup has been replaced by the work from home concept due to the global pandemic Covid-19 (Chanana and Sangeeta 2020).
ReplyDeleteThank you Thilini , I agree with you, morever in a world defined by remote working, we have listed some leading technologies that helps Improve Employee Engagement during Covid–19.
DeleteLeading technologies that help Improve Employee Engagement namely:
1.Video Conferencing- Applications like Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Slack have become crucial in workplaces across the globe.
2.Employee engagement software-
Many of these applications synchronize across different platforms and are integrated with different video conferencing apps, calendars, and cloud storage apps for smooth and organized work.
3. Cloud storage
Working from home presents the challenge of sharing documents and files with fellow colleagues, where a local internal server is used by the company. Transferring files from portable devices are time-consuming and unreliable; at the same time, not having the right security and encryption while sharing sensitive documents means a company’s confidential data can be compromised (Barcelos,2020).
ReplyDeleteWorking culture during the crisis period is the experience of two categories: those who work from home (WFH) and those on essential services. Workers anyhow have the right to avoid presence at any place if they think a risk factor is available. As you have righteously mentioned the involvement of supervisors/managers by person is a propeller to workers in such hardship fields. Managers should carry out safety checks such as; work place risk assessment, use of sufficient ventilation in such compact places like tunnels and ensure the physical fitness of all workers (WHO, 2020).
Employers have a duty to provide and maintain a reasonably practicable working environment that is safe and without risks to the health of employees. This includes preventing, and where prevention is not possible, reducing, risks to health and safety associated with potential exposure to coronavirus (COVID-19).While dentifying risk factors at construction sites employers must identify the level of risk to the health of employees from exposure to coronavirus (COVID-19) at their workplace.
DeleteSome activities that may pose a risk of exposure to coronavirus (COVID-19) can include:
1. Controlling risks
2.Screening
3.Workplace mapping
4. Physical distancing
5.Hygiene
6.Cleaning
7.Personnel hoists
( Department of Health and Human Servic-DHHS، 2020).
Today, the business setup is changing in relation to the global pandemic of COVID‐19. Human resource managers are persistently evolving innovative, creative, and effective ways to engage the employees in a healthier way during this difficult time. Employee engagement is a workplace attitude that is ensuing all adherents of an organization to give of their excellence every day, committed toward their organization's goals and values. Organizations always remember that employees who are well engaged in an organization will lead to productivity in the place of work, and this generates a higher customer satisfaction and, absolutely, developments in sales and profit in the company (Channa, 2020)
ReplyDeleteDue to lockdown, most of the organizations provide the facility to their employees to work from home. Work from home is difficult for employees as they do not feel the organizational climate at home, as lack of concentration due to frequent invasion of family members; work–life conflict arise due to this. Even they do not have proper equipment and tools (computer, mouse, printers, scanners, headphones, webcam, internet connection, and dedicated workspace—a quiet place to work). Most of the employees feel stressed due to rising cases of COVID‐19 in the world.(Chanana N , n.d , 2020).
DeleteOne of the hard-hit industries with the pandemic is healthcare. Healthcare workers had to live with anxiety of catching the virus with longer working hours than usual and sometimes not even visiting their homes to minimize the spread of virus to their family and community. However, they are the hero’s of this pandemic situation who worked day in and out to take care of patients and keeping them motivated becomes vital. Most hospitals adopted the adopted methods like extra pay or hardship allowance, called in retired staff back to work to ease the load , ensuring safety of the staff with proper personal protective equipment and continuous communication (Alhammadi et al, 2020).
ReplyDeleteIn 2020, flexibility will become one of the most important pillar of partnership. Work-life balance is not a new concept, but now employees really want to experience it. In many jobs, the employees does not have to be physically present at work every day, snd modern-day employees are now making the most of this opportunity. Constructive policies such as "work from home," "flexible schedules," and "telecommuting" also prove important. This trend is very cost effective and at the same time effective. According to research, 75% of employees say they are more productive when they work from home. They say they are less distracted, less stressed, and less involved in administrative policies ( Human resources today 2020).
DeleteEmployee engagement is a critical aspect of organizational effectiveness because , enagement process determines the scope of work to be accomplished and should therefore be a top priority of the organization (Lawler, 2008).
ReplyDeleteThe survival of corporate industries is dependent on maximizing profits from existing capabilities, while recognizing and adjusting to the fact that what may work today may not necessarily work in the future (Kortmann 2014). To make or maintain their companies' profitability, leaders of companies must work hard to engage employees (Kortmann 2014). However, leaders sometimes struggle to adapt their organization in response to change if they limit their focus to existing products and processes (Birkinshaw, 2012). Understanding how to manage the balance between employee relations, adopting innovation, and maximizing short-term profits is critical to business leaders ensuring a viable future for their corporations ( Birkinshaw, 2012).
DeleteThe level of engagement which the workforce has depends on the leader that they work with as managers/ leaders are often involved in designing the job, and allocating the right amount of work for each employee which contributes to employee fulfilment. Therefore the leadership strategy has to focus on what employees are capable of and understand their potential and expectations as well especially during situation like this (Armstrong, 2009; Clemmer, 2007).
ReplyDeleteGallup research group defines employee engagement "as the individual's involvement and satisfaction with as well as enthusiasm for work" (Harter ,2002).
DeleteThe basic aspects of employee engagement according to little and little (2006) are the employees and their own unique psychological makeup and experience, the employers and their ability to create the conditions that promote employee engagement and the Interaction between employees at all levels. Thus, it is largely the organization's responsibility to create an environment and culture conducive to this partnership, and a win-win equation.
According to Herzberg et al (1959), hygiene factor is used in reference to ‘medical hygiene, which operates to remove health hazards from the environment’. Disease from health hazards or hygiene is preventable; similarly, employee dissatisfaction from hygiene issues at work is preventable. Hygiene factors are the variables correlated with reducing the level of job dissatisfaction, as opposed to motivation factors, which directly influence an employee’s motivation and satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteDespite the benefits of practicing employee engagement and the reason to be encouraged, it appears it is not the current situation in many private and public sector organizations. It has been a marked that levels of satisfaction and productivity outputs in many organizations "extensively diminish as employees do not have the privilege to voice their inputs and opinions on issues related to their organization". Moreover, employees who are facing work-related problems decide to either endorse their organizational leaders or take a decision to keep silent. Besides, they might jeopardize their jobs once they choose to express their opinions (Dwomoh, 2012).
DeleteAs Robison (2009) explains the organizations must treated the employees in pandemic situations such as to improve two way communication, provide right materials and equipment, provide opportunity to do what they do best, recognize them, let your employees know you care about them, keep encouraging their development and motivate them. As Bedarkar and Pandita (2014) states work–life balance, leadership and communication are the key factors which will improve the engagement of the employees with cooperates in such pandemic situations.
ReplyDeleteMelcrum (2005) defines employee engagement as composing of 3 areas:
ReplyDelete• “Think” (cognitive commitment): describes an employee’s intellectual connection with the company, including their support of and belief in the company’s objectives.
• “Feel” (affective commitment): describes a strong emotional connection to the company. They feel loyal, devoted, have a sense of belonging and are proud to work for the company.
• “Act” (behavioural commitment) employees act in ways that support the success of the organization. Willingness to stay with the company despite other opportunities and frequently go above and beyond normal expectations to help the company succeed.
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ReplyDeleteVirtual employee engagement ideas is an online event to engage work-from-home employees in various team building activities and games to boost their morale. These ideas also help in maintaining the balance between social life and the work-life of a remote employee.
ReplyDeleteEngaged employees are not simply working for salary and promotions but they also work effectively and efficiently for the growth of the company. Online employee engagement activities have become the most popular topic for leaders and HR professionals, because of the pandemic conditions.
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ReplyDeleteEngaged employees work effectively and efficiently for the organization And the technology adds more fun to the employee engagement and the team-building of the employees. As employees are virtually connected with each other through digital platforms. Driving online employee engagement activities could be one of the most important factors for the organizations
ReplyDeleteVirtual employee engagement activities are the ways to enhance the relationship between a company and its work-from-home team employees. The objective of these activities and ideas is to boost employees morale and their participation in the company growth.
ReplyDeleteEngaging employees is essential for retaining valuable talent and for employee satisfaction. An employee engagement company, help corporates and other organizations to engage their employees in a fun and innovative manner. These fun ideas also help in the employee's team-building process.
ReplyDeleteAmazing Blog! Looking for fun games to start your day and to enjoy with your coworkers, then you’re in the right place. Go and check out the list of Online Employee Engagement games. And, Get ready to have fun and enjoy with your remote team and coworkers.
ReplyDeleteWonderful blog! We have shared employee engagement calendar ideas to improve every day in the office and boost employee's enthusiasm and morale.
ReplyDeleteNice Post! An Employer can sustain professional relationship building in the workplace by setting an encouraging and open-minded corporation culture. Also, can use Indoor employee engagement games to join existing relationships. Know what employee engagement games are, understand why they’re necessary, and review a list of different interesting indoor employee engagement games on our site.
ReplyDelete