© 2019 JETIR January 2019, Volume 6, Issue 1 www.jetir.

org (ISSN-2349-5162)

THE FUTURE OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT –

AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE
1
Sahil Ramchandani, 2Reema Aggarwal
1
Assistant Professor, 2Research Scholar
1
Department of Commerce, Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.

Abstract: The aim of the current study is to search the prevailing existence of the Employee Engagement
practices of the top companies operating in India and to find out the common trends prevalent in the Indian
Industry. Employee engagement is a unique concept which shares similarities with the existing concepts.
The paper consists of five companies chosen from the GPTW List, 2017. The trends in the prevailing
companies shows that nowadays top companies are focusing on new and innovative practices in the field of
Employee Engagement in order to gain competitive advantage. Also, it recognises some engagement trends
which are commonly prevalent in the Indian Industry.

Keywords: Employee Engagement, Flexitime, GPTW, VUCA.

Paper type: Research paper

INTRODUCTION:
The advent of liberalization and globalization has ushered a big change in the corporate profile of India
since 1991. The entry of multinational corporations in India has not only provided a new managerial style
but has also compelled the Indian corporate enterprises to opt for new managerial practices. Employee
Engagement tends to be one such concept. The concept of Employee Engagement was first used by Kahn
(1990). It is a recently emerged concept that is widely used in the academic field and literature (Little &
Little, 2006). Engagement refers to a positivity held by the employee towards the organization. An engaged
employee is aware of organization & give efforts to improve his performance. Employee Engagement is the
engagement of the employee in his work and organization from all dimensions such as emotional, rational
and behavioural aspects, with full enthusiasm. Employee engagement is a summation of motivation,
satisfaction and effectiveness. Employee engagement concerns the level to which individuals use their
cognitive, emotional, and physical resources in an organisation (Kahn, 1990; May et al., 2004). Engaged
employees are more energetic and possess an effective and emotional connection with their organisation and
their work (Kahn, 1990; Macey and Schneider, 2008). As employees tend to be a strategic business partners
in any organisation their engagement has both humanistic and financial incentives. There is an association
between employee engagement and increased return on assets, higher earning per employee, higher
performance, sales growth, and lower absenteeism (Harter et al., 2002; Salanova et al., 2005; Towers Perrin,
2003). Further, greater engagement is associated with decreased costs, including reduced turnover, lower
cost of goods sold, and fewer quality errors (Harter et al., 2002; Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004; Towers Perrin,
2003). Hence we can say that competitive advantage can be gained through the engagement of employees
(Macey et al., 2009).

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To study about the Evolution of Employee Engagement.
2. To study the Employee Engagement practices adopted by the best companies operating in
India.
3. To understand the benchmark employee engagement practices being followed by these
companies and find out the core areas that are required to be emphasised upon in order to become
the industry leaders.

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE:
Evolution and various Constructs of Employee Engagement:
The initial traces of the concept can be seen in the work of Kahn (1990), where he defined employee
engagement as a psychological construct. Employee engagement is the psychological state of mind that
helps an individual in accomplishing his roles/ responsibilities (Wefald & Downey, 2009). Over the period
of time various definitions were suggested from different perspectives. Few treated is as a behavioural
construct (Masson et.al., 2008; Jones & Harter, 2005) while others called it a multi -dimensional construct
(Macey & Schneider,2008; Shuck & Wollard, 2009). With each perspective number of sub dimension of the
concept was given by various researchers like vigor, absorption, attention, psychological meaningfulness
(Schaufeli et.al., 2002; Rothbard, 2001; Kahn, 1990).
The behavioural construct of employee engagement suggests that it is about going beyond the assigned
roles and responsibilities while performing in role task (Masson et.al., 2008). It is about how one works in a
full engaged manner. As a multi- dimensional construct employee engagement also includes emotional
engagement, social engagement, cognitive engagement, trait engagement etc. (Shuck & Wollard, 2009).
Leiter & Maslach (1998), defined it as an antipode of burnout, according to him it provides an energetic
state of involvement that reduces burnout and tends to enhance once self-efficacy.

Is it old wine in new bottle?

This is a very common argument regarding the whole concept. The similarity of the concept with number
of other concepts like flow, job involvement, job satisfaction often leads to this big question whether there is
something new in this concept or is simply an old wine in a new bottle.
The concept does share common conceptual similarities with older constructs like job satisfaction,
involvement, empowerment and organizational commitment (Macey & Schneider, 2008). According to
Muanno et.al. (2007), absorption and flow are quiet similar. There is a similarity between engagement and
satisfaction (Harter et.al., 2002).
Though the concept appears to be similar but is not same. Employee engagement tends to have new
flavours and is a unique concept which share similarities like any other organisational behaviour construct.
The difference between employee engagement and other similar looking concepts are clearly defined and
well stated in the huge body of existing literature.

Importance of Employee Engagement:

Number of writers suggested that employee engagement is an important and an essential concept for any
organisation specially the contemporary organisations which are working in a highly competitive
environment. Employee engagement tends to have a positive impact on the individuals attitude, it not only
enhances behavioural aspects but also enhances shareholders return (Harter et al., 2002; Richman, 2006).
Employee engagement increases organisational performance, reduces absenteeism, boost productivity and
helps in retaining the existing employees in an organisation (Bates, 2004; Baumruk, 2004). An engaged
employee tends to be more attached to an organisation as compared to a disengaged employee who often
search for new opportunities and tends to hop from the existing job if given opportunity. Also, an engaged
employee tends to explore more opportunities and future prospects within the organisation and works
towards giving financial incentives and high returns to an organisation through his work to go ahead in his
career. Unlike disengaged employees who leaves job for career enhancement.

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DATA & RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Data:
The source of data used for the present study is secondary data, which has been taken from varied sources
such as the official websites of Companies, the Annual Reports and/or Business Responsibility Reports of
Companies, Research Papers and Magazine Articles.

Research Methodology:
This is an exploratory research. The main source of Data is ‘Secondary’ and keeping in mind the objectives
of the study the methodology is descriptive in nature. To ensure greater accuracy and in depth analysis, the
data are confined to secondary sources.
No statistical tools and techniques have been used for the purpose of this study, since it does not focus on
establishing relationship between different variables. Rather, through discussions and analytical thinking,
the research aims at studying the employee engagement practices that are prevalent in India, with a special
focus on the employee engagement practices of the top five companies as per the GPTW List.
The study makes use of the Great Place to Work (GPTW) Survey, 2017 in order to identify the top five
companies in India that lead the list. Employee Engagement is one of the major criteria that helps in
attracting and retaining the right talent in an organisation and truly makes working at an organisation a
worthy experience. Thus, Employee Engagement directly or indirectly enables a workplace to emerge as a
great place to work, which makes it necessary to study of the employee engagement practices of India’s
leading companies as per the GPTW Survey.

LATEST TRENDS IN EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT:

The study of employee engagement is nothing new. It has been a growing trend in the present day scenario
and most, if not all organisations use some or the other kind of employee engagement practices in their
organisations in order to achieve its positive results. But, the real question is that are all organisations able to
reap the benefits of their efforts to the extent to which they want. The answer is a definite “NO” which can
be seen as there are some companies that excel over others in terms of their engagement policies and the
results that they derive. Some companies, in fact have been able to leverage their unique employee
engagement practices as a source of core competence. These companies have the ability to do things
differently and respond as per the changes in the environment in order to meet the fast changing
requirements of the modern day workforce, which exists in this VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex &
Ambiguous) World.
For years, there have been researches aiming at recognising the different determinants of employee
engagement. Work Environment, Leadership, Team & Co-worker relationship, Training & Career
Development, Compensation, Organisation policies and Workplace well-being are some of the many
determinants of employee engagement as recognised by Anitha (2014). Many other researchers too have
made their contributions in recognising the different determinants of employee engagement and though the
determinants have not evolved much over the years, the way to achieve them has. Each company may have
its own way of improving the engagement level of its employees, but the following table seeks to summarise
some of the unique practices being adopted by the top five companies of India’s GPTW Survey of 2017,
which have helped them make it to the top of the list:

Company Rank Rank Employee Engagement Practices

(2017) (2016)
Intuit India 1 10  The company provides good maternity and paternity leave
(IT) policy to its employees along with daycare discounts at
partnered crèches once the employees are back to work.
 Medical insurance of up to Rs 5 lakhs for families of
employees at no cost to the employee.

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 Employees are encouraged to spent 10% of their time,

called the unstructured time to chase their dreams (Rediff.com,
2015).
 The company focuses on promoting diversity. It is one of
the select few companies in the country that has been vocal
about LGBT rights and inclusivity at workplace through its
Pride Network (Economictimes.inidatimes.com, 2017).
 It allows women technologists to make a comeback after a
career break and even encourage other employees to start new
projects outside office (Scoopwhoop.com, 2016).
 The company offers facilities like work from home,
flexitime etc. and has extreme focus on employee well-being
and work-life balance.
American 2 2  The company has a good reward and recognition policy
Express India which facilitates the creation of a winning culture. ‘Reward
(Financial Blue’ is a recognition plan that enables leaders and employees
Services & to recognise each other and reward great work & effort
Insurance) (Rediff.com, 2015).
 Global Rotation Program (GRP): Launched in 2002, the
program offers fresh MBA graduates and seasoned managers
with an opportunity to work in other markets and develop
global skills.
 The company cares for employees’ health through its
healthy living program and offers flexible work timings under
the ‘Blue Work’ program (Rediff.com, 2015).
 Reach Out: A unique gender diversity initiative launched
in 2014, provides a development platform for women leaders
to ‘Share, Network & Learn’ from leaders and peers across
four other leading companies (Rediff.com, 2015).
 Several fun-filled activities are organised on regular basis
to drive and inculcate a culture of gratitude & appreciation for
each other at workplace.
Google India 3 1  Google goes above and beyond to provide its employees a
Pvt. Ltd. (IT) welcoming work environment and believes in creating an
informal and playful culture, wherein all employees are given
the freedom to work in their own playful time. Google
therefore, nurtures creativity to the fullest and focuses on
innovation rather that instant perfection.
 It offers recreational facilities like gym, meditation centres
and gaming areas.
 Provides preventive health check-up for spouses of
employees.
 ‘Ggrow’ Program: It is a one-stop career development
platform that helps Googlers engage in development
opportunities and resources, manage feedback and take action
accordingly (Economictimes.inidatimes.com, 2014).
 Flexible work schedules, outdoor and indoor games,
massage parlours and sleeping pods are some other facilities
offered by the company (Scoopwhoop.com, 2016).
 The company also hosts an annual ‘bring your children to
work’ day. Also, the new employees can bring in their parents

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to work on a designated day (Rediff.com, 2015).

Lemon Tree 4 9  Mainstreaming ‘Opportunity Deprived Indians’: The
Hotels Ltd. company seeks to hire people belonging to
(Hospitality) Economically/Socially (EcoSoc) weaker segment of the
society. Also, 10% of the company’s employees are specially
abled, thereby contributing towards the creation of an
inclusive workplace. Moreover, managers are expected to
know sign language or else, are given special training to learn
it (Lemontreehotels.com)
 The company has an excellent reward & recognition policy
in place.
 The company offers wealth creation opportunities to its
employees through employee stock option plan.
 Allows the free use of the hotel’s amenities and facilities
to employees over a certain pay band.
 Extreme focus on career development with a fully
dedicated L&D Team providing customised training processes
that are world class as well as benchmarked across industries
(Lemontreehotels.com).

SAP Labs 5 7  The company follows a bottom-up approach to

India Pvt. Ltd. management allowing employees to act as the chief designers
(IT) for the company’s policies. Policies like in-hose childcare
centre, sabbatical, work from home, reward & recognition
policy etc. were the brainchild of employees with HR playing
a facilitator’s role.
 The company encourages diversity at workplace through
its various initiatives like extensive maternity leave policy,
‘Run Mummier’, SAPlings in-house crèche, Business Women
Network etc. (Rediff.com, 2015).
 ‘In the Spotlight’ Program: This program allows managers
to become the HR Head for a day and learn the complexities
of a senior leadership role (Peoplematters.in, 2012)
 SAP has 33 interest groups, each catering to specific
activities like drama, music, art, dance etc. to help employees
pursue an interest of their choice (Rediff.com, 2015).
 The company offers flexible work timings, work from
home and even allows employees to work on part time basis
(for a maximum period of four months).
(Source of Rankings: Greatplacetowork.in)

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT – AREAS OF STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE:

Technology: In the present day scenario, the use of technology has become pervasive and there is hardly
any field which remains untouched from it. The use of technological tools has facilitated companies to come
out with new and innovative employee engagement practices. Companies make use of the intranet as an
effective tool for communication and recognition. Also, many companies have employed Emotion
Monitoring Devices (EMDs), Mood Barometers and Early Watch System (EWS) in order to keep a close
watch on the emotions and mood of their employees and take corrective action in order to improve them.

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Flexibility: Flexitime, work from home and other facilities in order to provide employees to work as per
their convenience have been on a rise. All companies discussed above as well as many other companies
offer such facilities and in fact these facilities are seen as a basic part of the extravagant employee
engagement facilities being offered by the company. Work from home allows employees to work from any
place of their convenience and is offered at most places except from those where the physical presence of
employees is inevitable. Flexitime on the other hand, allows employees to enter and exit the workplace as
per their own convenience.

Recreational Facilities: The present day employers offer great recreational facilities to their employees
because they believe in creating a perfect balance between work and play. Recreational facilities allow
employees to take a break from their stressful work and to get a much needed respite from it. This break is
extremely important for employees and allows them to think and perform better when they get back to work.
The employees are being offered with a whole range of recreational facilities including gyms, meditation
areas, gaming rooms, sleeping pods etc.

Innovation & Creativity: In this VUCA World, where change is the only constant, it becomes very
necessary for organisations to nurture a culture of innovation at workplace. Many companies in order to
promote this culture provide some portion of the day to their employees wherein they don’t have to work in
their regular jobs, but can indulge in something innovative, or follow their interest. Also, companies
nowadays are promoting the concept of ‘Intrapreneurship’ through intra-organisation competitions and
allowing their employees to follow their passion in the field of research. The best organisations encourage
their employees to develop new products and come up with new ideas without the fear of being criticised for
failure.

Diversity: Diversity is truly being acknowledged at many organisations and is one of the important areas
contributing to employee engagement. A diverse and inclusive workplace is hard to achieve and therefore,
companies are putting in great efforts towards it, through better welfare policies for women employees and
increasing awareness about the LGBT Community through open discussions and programmes. An inclusive
workplace allows all employees to have a great sense of belongingness with the company and thereby
contributes in building up mutual trust and confidence.

CONCLUSION:
 It can be seen that IT sector is a leading industry in terms of the employee engagement
practices. Their practices in India have set a benchmark for others. Even if we cover a wider list of
companies, seven out of the top ten companies belong to the IT Sector.
 Employee Engagement is the key to success and an immense source of competitive
advantage in the present day scenario. It is an ever changing field with companies coming up with
new practices on daily basis in order to be the industry leaders and to attract & retain the best talent.
 The field of employee engagement needs to be studied closely in order to find out the core
areas that one must concentrate upon while designing an effective employee engagement policy. The
use of technology, offering flexibility & recreational facilities, and creating a culture of innovation
and inclusiveness are seen as important areas for companies excelling in this field. However, this list
is not an exhaustive one, since the concept of employee engagement is quite wide.
 Employee Engagement is a holistic concept and in order to achieve the right results a
company cannot focus on obtaining the benefits of engagement in terms of better employee
performance, or productivity or efficiency. Rather, in order to make the concept work, employee
engagement should be seen as a process and the focus should entirely be on employee welfare, fun
and happiness. Thus, the concept must be applied very selflessly in order to obtain the right results.

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LIMITATIONS & SCOPE FOR FUTURE RESEARCH:

 The study focuses only on the top five companies as per the GPTW Survey, which set the
benchmark for other companies. Thus, a more comprehensive study can be done, covering a larger
number of companies.
 The study focuses on the Indian list of companies and their engagement initiatives prevalent
in India. Also the study does not make an attempt to compare and distinguish the practices of Indian
Companies with that of the MNCs operating in India. Therefore, a larger study can be conducted
keeping these aspects into mind.
 The study does not make any industry specific differentiation between choosing the
companies. Though it can be seen that 7 out of India’s top 10 companies to work for belong to the IT
Sector. Thus, a more comprehensive study will help to identify not only the best companies but also
the best industry to work for.

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