Brenda Wilson

Business Leader
Human Capital
Hong Kong
Employee Engagement
What managers need to know?
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Overview
Section I: What is Employee Engagement?
Employee Engagement Defined
What Managers Can Do to Improve Engagement
Section II: How to improve employee engagement in your department?
Key Drivers of Engagement
Section III: A case study in the public sector
Experience Sharing with our Project with Singapore Government
Section IV: Key Takeaways


Section I
Employee Engagement
What is it?

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Lets vote: whats your view?
Q: What is the definition of employee
engagement?

Select one answer:
1. A new management technique to get your employees to do
what you tell them the first time.
2. When two employees plan to get married.
3. An internal party for employees: Hey J oe, are you going to
that employee engagement at 2:00 p.m.?
4. All of the above (they all sound good)

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Engagement Defined
What is employee engagement?
A psychological state in which employees feel a
vested interest in the companys success and are
both willing and motivated to perform to levels that
exceed the stated job requirements.

Engagement fosters and drives discretionary
behavior, eliciting employees highest productivity,
their best ideas and their genuine commitment to the
success of the organization.

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Engagement Defined
Engagement
Commitment Motivation
Satisfaction
Morale
1960 1980 2000
TIME
Enjoys the job
Is not
dissatisfied
with terms and
conditions
Not
necessarily a
team player
Strives to
achieve
personal goals
Contributes
energetically
Values
achieving
personal goals
more than team/
organizational
goals
Proactively seeks
opportunities to serve
the mission of the
organization
Willing to go the extra
mile
Is willing to withhold
criticism and/or be
constructively critical
for the good of the
organization
Loyal to
organization,
optimistic for the
future
Collaborates to
achieve team
goals
Has a sense of
belonging to
organization
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Engagement Defined: Howre you doing?
Check your level of engagement

Getting satisfaction from the tasks required in their job?
Feeling valued by management?
Contributing energetically, not in isolation, but collaboratively?
Positive about the work experience your employer, its leaders, the work and the
environment?
Ambitious for the organization?
Speaking positively about the organizations goods and services?
Planning to continue to work for the organization?
Going beyond the stated requirements of the job and contribute discretionary
effort?
Yes No
Are you
Are you engaged?
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From Satisfaction to Engagement
Mercers Employee Engagement Model

Engagement Model
Advocate
Motivated Satisfied
Satisfied employees perform
their jobs and are satisfied with
the terms and conditions of
employment. However, they
tend not to go above and
beyond in their efforts.


In addition to sharing some of
the attributes of satisfied
employees, motivated workers
contribute energetically and
are highly focused individual
contributors to the
organization.


Committed
Committed employees have
thoroughly internalized the
values and behaviors
represented by the earlier
stages of the engagement
model, but have also forged a
strong identification with the
organization.

They freely contribute
discretionary effort a willingness
to go the extra distance in
executing projects and their
regular duties. They see a
mutuality of interest between his
or her values and aspirations and
those of the organization.
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Lets vote: whats your view?
Q: What can managers do to improve
employee engagement?

Select one answer:
1. Act like cupid: every one loves a good engagement.
2. Give more work, hard work, and lots of it!
3. Use fear to scare your employees into being very satisfied at
work.
4. None of the above there is nothing a manager can do.

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From Satisfaction to Engagement
What can managers do?
Satisfied:
Provide work tools, resources and equipment
Enhance the work environment
Reward (reward level and understanding of the
rationale for reward change)
Recognize work efforts
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Motivated:
Establish fair performance goals
Communicate clear expectations
Regularly clarify priorities and feedback
Provide support by removing obstacles to
optimal performance
Recognize and reward performance
Delegate work to theses employees
Support skill development
From Satisfaction to Engagement
What can managers do?
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Committed:
Help employees build meaningful long-term
careers
Ensure recognition and reward for long term
commitment
Listen to employees, share insights and
experience
Ensure fairness, consistency and transparency
Develop understanding of long-term vision and
business plans
Promote organization values and reinforce them
through management behaviors
From Satisfaction to Engagement
What can managers do?
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Advocate:
Communicate the organization's progress and
challenges
Relate business results to team and individual
roles
Endorse strong customer focus
Share understanding of customer needs with
team
Challenge and grow through delegation
Establish comprehensive career development
plans
Encourage upward communication
Encourage innovation
Recognize and reward
From Satisfaction to Engagement
What can managers do?
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Weve always had a policy of trying to put our staff first.
The staff should come first, the customers (the public) second and
your shareholders (stakeholders/ tax payers) third.

If you take that approach youll find that everyone wins.
Happy staff result in happy customers, lots of happy
customers result in happy shareholders.
Richard Branson, CEO Virgin Group


Section II
Key Drivers of Employee Engagement
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National Differences in Engagement Drivers
Over the last several years, the Mercers Whats Working
TM
studies have
been tracking the drivers of engagement across countries
United Kingdom
Engagement
Sense of personal accomplishment
Confidence in senior management
Opportunities for training
Paid fairly, given performance
Good reputation
for customer service
Regular performance feedback
Comparable benefits to industry
Cooperation between groups
China
Sense of personal accomplishment
Paid fairly, given performance
Comparable benefits to industry
Confidence in senior management
IT systems support business needs
Opportunities for training
Regular performance feedback
Whats
working in
Hong Kong?
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Lets Vote: Whats your view?
Q: Apart from pay, which ONE element
do you think is the most important
driver of employee engagement?

Select one answer:
1. Sense of personal accomplishment
2. Benefits
3. Career opportunity
4. Sufficient channels for communication
5. Confidence in senior management
6. Training and development opportunities



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Key Drivers of Employee Engagement
Although there are some country-specific drivers, a consistent set of
engagement drivers is emerging globally
2007
The work itself,
including opportunities
to develop
Confidence and trust in
leadership
Rewards & recognition
Communication
Employee
Engagement
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Key Drivers of Engagement
Organizational Context
Growth
Privatisation
Restructuring/downsizing
Merger and integration
Employee demographics
Drivers of engagement vary by
Industry
High technology
Retail
Financial services
Professional services
Civil Service

Country
Section III
Case Study Singapore Civil Service
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The economic landscape is changing
Strong year-on-year growth in GDP in
Singapore

The implications on the employment market
Increased growth across sectors
Competition for talent intensifying
Increasingly becoming an employees market

Singapore Civil Service
Why Engagement is so Critical
How do we continue to retain
employees in the Public
Sector?

Compensation is critical, but its not
everything
Needed to understand the drivers of
employee engagement in the public
sector for talent retention

?
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Approach
In 2005, Mercer established an employee engagement survey, The Singapore
Public Sector Employee Engagement Survey (PS EES) for 20+ agencies
The survey yielded 3,743 data points, sampled from 46 individual public sector
agencies
Regression analysis was conducted to identify key drivers to engagement
Overall engagement was measured by the following four questions:
I am proud to work for my organization
I would recommend my organization to others
Given a choice, how much longer will I be working for my organization
How satisfied am I with my organization at the present time
Leadership / Climate Supervisory Practices Career Advancement Job Growth
Job Motivation Learning & Development Teamwork Workload
Engagement Rewards Performance Management & Feedback
11 engagement categories
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Employee
Engagement
2007 Key Drivers 2005 Key Drivers
R=.67 R=.64
pr = partial correlation, a measure of statistical relationship
R = coefficient of determination, denotes variation of dependent variable explained by independent variables
Results
Leadership/ Climate
pr = .44
Career Advancement
pr = .38
Job Motivation
pr = .25
Job Motivation
pr = .34
Leadership/ Climate
pr = .27
Career Advancement
pr = .26
Workload
pr = .08
Rewards
pr = .06
Compensation almost never rated in top three drivers at over 20 agencies for
senior and mid-level staff but was within the top three drivers for junior staff
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Statistically significant drivers of
engagement by category
pr = .38
pr = .44
pr =.25
Employee
Engagement
The strength of leadership
in the organization
Opportunities for growth,
development and long-
term career potential
Being intrinsically
motivated by the work
you do

These items accounted for 67% of the variance in Employee Engagement (R=.67)

A total of three items were uncovered as statistically significant
key drivers employee engagement at the category level
Leadership/ Climate
Career Advancement
Job Motivation
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R=.61
Employee
Engagement
I am proud to work for
my organization
I would recommend my
organization to others
Given a choice, how
much longer will I be
working for my
organization
How satisfied am I with
my organization at the
present time
Statistically significant drivers of
engagement by item
Item Level Drivers
A total of five items were uncovered as
statistically significant key drivers of Employee
Engagement at the overall level
The key drivers of Employee Engagement
center around:
- The work itself giving them a feeling
of personal accomplishment
- Employees belief that they have
opportunities for growth and
development in their organizations
- Employee perceptions that senior
management proactively confronts
issues before they become major problems
- Employee perceptions that the values of
their organisation are evident in peoples
actions
- Employee perceptions that their
organisation has established a good
reputation for customer service
Leadership/ Climate
Q. Org values are demonstrated
by employees
Leadership/ Climate
Q. Snr Mgmt does a good job of
confronting issues
Job Motivation
Q. Feeling of personal
accomplishment
Career Advancement
Q. Opportunity for growth
& development
Leadership/ Climate
Q. Org has established a good reputation
for customer service
pr = .24
pr = .33
pr =.16
pr = .36
pr = .18
pr = partial correlation, a measure of statistical relationship
R = coefficient of determination, denotes variation of dependent variable explained by independent variables
Section IV
Closing remarks
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Key takeaways
Compensation is important, but it isnt everything and for the
Singapore Civil Service it didnt factor significantly in the results for most
levels of the workforce.
In order to increase levels of engagement, managers need to
understand the drivers of engagement.
Are your employees satisfied, motivated, committed or an advocate for
the Hong Kong Civil Service?
What can you do to help improve your employees engagement?
Key drivers of engagement may vary from industries, organization
contexts, and from country to country: do you know what is driving or
eroding your employee engagement?
Managers can take an active role in engaging the workforce through
various non-financial means leading to better performance and happier
employees who advocate for the government and the public.

Contact

Brenda Wilson
Human Capital, Hong Kong
Tel +852 2115 3312
Brenda.Wilson@mercer.com


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Employee engagement categories
Leadership / Climate refers to the senior management team as a whole and perceived clarity in communicating organizational
strategy, ability in confronting issues, demonstrating organizational values and concern for employees as well as management of the
organization as a whole
Supervisory Practices refers to respondents immediate supervisor in terms of perceived competence, availability for consultation,
honest communication and frequency of feedback
Career Advancement - refers to perceived opportunities in career development as well as long-term career prospects in the
organization and the public sector in general
Job Growth refers to staff perceived value of activities outside their scope of work contributing to their personal development of
organizational excellence
Job Motivation refers to perceived levels of personal satisfaction, adequate autonomy, interesting challenges and relevant use of
their skills and abilities
Learning & Development refers to staff perceived value of activities outside their scope of work contributing to their personal
development of organizational excellence
Teamwork refers to respondents attitude towards people in the organization and perceived levels of cooperation within the work
group and across divisions/ institutions
Workload refers to perceived reasonable levels of work, adequate manpower and ability in maintaining balance between work and
personal life
Performance Management & Feedback refers to employee level of understanding, perceived equity and flexibility of the PM system,
ability to recognize and reward deserving staff and the level of feedback and communication
Rewards - refers to perceived fairness of compensation and other issues of external competitiveness and internal equity
Engagement refers to staff level of satisfaction and pride for the organization as well as intent to stay and recommendation of the
organization as a good place of employment