HR Working Group Meeting # 21 Go back »
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Time2006-11-01 | 14:20
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Venue:HR Working Group Meeting # 21
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Address:TBC
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Fee:Members: 40 RMB |
Non Members: 100 RMB
Agenda
1. Presentation on employee engagement and key findings from The Best Employers in China 2005 Study, Mr. Ashley-Brown
2. Introduction to BYC's perspectives and experiences with Employee Engagement, Mr. Marxen
3. Q&A
Discussion points
I. Presentation on THE BEST EMPLOYERS IN CHINA 2005 STUDY
Study Background
In 2005 there were about 80 organisations (ca. 20.000 employees) in China participating in the Hewitt Best
Employers Study. Mr. Ashley-Brown emphasised that this is not a competiion between the organisations, but an
opportunity to learn more about your own organisation and ways to improve the employment engagement in the
organisation. This is so important because the study showed that organisations are actually able to create a real
comparative advantage through their people.
Measure Employee Engagement
a) SAY: How do employees talk about the company, especially towards customers?
b) STAY: Do employees have an intense desire to be member of the organisation and do they plan to stay with the
organisation in the future? This is a crucial point because this kind of employees is concerned about the longterm
performance of the company.
c) STRIVE: Do employees have the aim to contribute actively to business success?
The Evolution of Engagement
You need to distinguish between Satisfaction, Committment and Engagement of an employee. The higher his
engagement, the higher the positve effect on business restults. Here it is particularly important to differentiate
between how much people want (committment) and what they actually do (engagement) to improve business.
Factors that inspire Engagement
Top Drivers in China:
No. 1 driver: Pay/Benefit Package,
No. 2: Processes,
No. 3: Career Opportunities
The main destroyer of engagement is a bad relationship with the Senior Leadership and/or Departmental
Management.
Higher Engagement, Faster Business Growth
The average annual (2003-2004) revenue growth of the Best Employers has been 17, 3%, while the rest only had an annual revenue growth of 10, 7%.
Higher Engagement, Higher Employee Productivity
Higher Engagement, Lower Retention Rates
The turnover rates of the Best Employers are consistently lower and even falling during the years. This shows that
the employee himself likes working for the organisations and that his work is of high productivity and much
appreciated within the organisation. If this is the case, it is worth investing into longterm training etc. of employees.
Higher Engagement, Lower Recruitment Costs
Best Employers have a large pool of high quality applications and are thus in the position to choose the best
employees.
Retention as a Function of Engagement
The higher the level of Engagement, the higher the probabilty is that the employee will stay with your company after
one year. E.g., if the employee shows low engagement, there is only a probability of 60% that he will stay with the
company after one year. If he shows high engagement, the probability is more than 80%. This can be a useful
strategic tool in order to try to predict employee behaviour. So you could prevent certain employees from leaving, for
example by raising his/her pay or by changing the way you treat them.
Employee Engagement in China
Overall Most organisations in China have an Engagement Score between 40-60% (average 55%). Fromt the
Hewitt Study point of view, an organisation is in serious trouble if the score is lower than 25%. The Best Employers
have an Engagement of more than 75%.
Top Drivers of Engagement around the regions
In China PAY is the most important factor, whereas in other regions factors like Carreer Opportunities are more
important. Best Employers clearly communicate why an employee is receiving a certain pay, so that the employees
understand what the organisation is doing for them. It is extremely important to communicate long–term career
opportunities and possible ways for personal development within the company so that employees are aware of there
chances. Another finding of the study is the importance of making the employee feel highly valued and needed within
the organisation.
What makes the Best, the Best?
There are three Key Learnings from the study.
Best Employers a) Consistently inspire great performance by their employees.
b) Ensure their employees feel valued, give them the feeling that each role is vital to business success.
c) Build long – term sucess and sustainability.
Inspire Great Permformance
It is important to have regular exchange between the top management and the other employees, e.g. by a weekly
lunch. The Top management needs to communicate their visions and plans for the organsisation and the workers
need an opportunity to communicate problems openly.
Recognizing Performance
You want to make “Under Performers” feel motivated, “Solid Contributer” feel successful and “High Performers” feel
special (eg. through close personal realationships, family holidays etc.).
Ensuring Employees feel valued
According to the study, The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai, is the Best Employer in China for 2005. In this hotel the
staff, that opens the door for the customers when they first come in, is valued as being in an extremely important
postion as they give the customer the first impression. They are given extra money so that they can do little favours
for the customers and thus make them feel as comfortable as possible. This makes the employee on the other hand
feel important because he can make his own decisions that form a meaningful contribution to the organisation.
Employee empowerment and the trust given by the leadership of the organisation are two important factors that
should not be underestimated.
Building Sustainability for Long Term Success
Example: Look at the behaviour of two different organisations during the SARS crisis in 2003. Org 1 fired half of the
team because they were scared to disappoint their share holders. Org 2 supported their staff and tought them how
they could protect themselves and their families from SARS. They showed their employees that they care and that
they don’t want them to suffer because the organisation is suffering. Restults: Org 1 was left with a bad reputation
which it has still not recovered from. It is very difficult for them to find high qualitiy emploees. Org 2 had excellent
business restults because engagement actually went up during that period as emploees felt well protected.
The Execution vs. Business Pay-Back Connection
The Execution of HR Programs/Policies on a high level brings a real competitive advantage for business success.
3.Q&A, Comments
· Has Hewitt done a similar survey in Europe and/or the USA? It would be interesting to compare the
results of it to the situation in Asia?
Not yet, so far Hewitt made investigations mainly in Asian Countries, in Australia and Latin America.
· How do you make sure the employees tell the truth? Especially in China, employees are scared of
criticizing their own company and may be afraid that “bad results” will have consequences.
The survey needs to be confidential; no individual responses will be shown to the management, but only
aggregated data.
· Are the answers reliable if the survey is anonymous? You only get to the heart of the problem
through open dialogue.
The Study is a good way to get an overview. It is a market survey (benchmark), not an employee survey.
· How do you choose the employees that are being surveyed?
Through random selection, you need to make sure though that you select employees throughout all hierachies.
Interested in this topic?
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