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 Employee engagement in pandemic

 

Employee engagement has been in the discussion for the past two decades; however, due to the covid-19 pandemic, the need for employee engagement was drastically increased as organisations were struggling to keep the businesses open, and the work environment has changed in a manner that no one predicted; therefore, the pandemic has brought many challenges for the organisations as the workforce was having fears about the job security, bonuses, performance and appraisals and many more issues which led to lower employee engagement (Kumar, 2021). The Coronavirus  (COVID-19) has made organizations promote remote working for most employees as most countries request citizens to stay at home to minimize the spread of the virus due to the same it thas affected almost every industry and made work from home concept more popular (Shareena and Shahid, 2020).

 

Employee engagement has always been a challenge to organizations; the pandemic has made it even more critical than before as Employees are being asked to work more with fewer resources, leading to high-stress levels that can eventually drop engagement levels(Vickers, 2019). It has been said that the new workplace ecosystem due to the COVID-19 has some advantages as well. It has drastically decreased the time for the commute, which has led to higher productivity Further if digitalisation will grow it is possible the future of the physical workplace will be less desirable (Surma, et al., 2021).

 

Though organizations are careful with the budgets and costs during the pandemic period, allocating funds for digitalization has been a top priority as technology is the key to surviving the pandemic, and it has helped to continue the corporate culture, learning, collaboration and productivity by providing a platform to have a higher employee engagement (Lucas, Núñez and Gavrila 2020). However, lack of employee engagement can be shown as a major difficulty when it comes to working from the home concept. It has issues such as communication, difficulty in managing work, and loss of productivity which has made most of the owners dissatisfied with this concept. Further, employees find it difficult to consult about concerns during work with colleagues to clarify, and it usually leads to confusion and, eventually, a waste of time (Rubeena and Naz 2020).

 







Figure 01  (Tyler, 2020)

 

However, as per figure one, it shows that employee engagement has been increased over the last decade. Even after the pandemic up until June 2020, there has been a significant enhancement of the growth of the U.S employee engagement trends irrespective of the effects of the pandemic. With the current pandemic and enhanced digitalization have helped the organizations to continue employee engagement in the USA.

 

I am working for the largest telecommunication organization in the country, and digitalization is one of the main areas that the organization focuses on. After the pandemic, due to the government restrictions and safety of its employee's organization has provided the facility of continuing the work from home. However, the first part of the lockdown organization suffered a lot due to a lack of employee engagement. Management was not aware of the typical issues that occurred while working from home, and further, there was a lack of communication which has affected the company performance. Initially, the company was not in favour of working from home as it was found that due to the lack of employee engagement, management was eager to open the offices to run the operations smoothly.

 

However, due to the spread of the virus, the respective organization was forced to embrace the work from home culture. Since it was predicted that this concern would be a long term issue company came up with various ways to enhance employee engagements. There was an annual survey that was carried out to get an insight into employee satisfaction, and human resources further conducted a survey to get more insights about working from difficulties. From the data gathered, HR has found that many employees are facing internet connectivity issues, and an additional antenna was fixed to rectify the same. After almost 2 years later, working from home is a productive method as the company has come up with various methods to engage with its employees.

 

In conclusion, the pandemic has changed the way organizations work, and organizations soon found that employee engagement plays a crucial part in the working from home concept.  Nowadays, employers leaning toward digitalization to get connected with their employees and keep the employees engaged with the decision making process. It seems like the work from the home concept will be there in the future as organizations continue to find more ways to get the best outcomes from this method vis having a strong employee engagement.


Reference list

Kumar. P (2021) V-5 Model of Employee Engagement During COVID-19 and Post Lockdown.  Available at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0972262920980878 (Accessed 26 November 2021)

Lucas A.D , Núñez M. T. D. V and Gavrila S.  G (2020) Workplace change within the COVID-19 context: a grounded theory approach Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1331677X.2020.1862689 [Accessed 26 November 2021].

Rubeena S. and Naz R  (2020) Impact of COVID-19 on employee engagement in 2020  Available at https://www.ipinnovative.com/journal-article-file/13081 [Accessed 26 November 2021].

Shareena. P and Shahid M (2020) WORK FROM HOME DURING COVID 19: EMPLOYEES PERCEPTION AND EXPERIENCES  Available at file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Workfromhomeduringcovid-19employeesperceptionandexperiences.pdf [Accessed 26 November 2021].

Surma J. S., et al., (2021) Assessing Employee Engagement in a Post-COVID-19 Workplace Ecosystem Available at file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/sustainability-13-11443-v2.pdf  [Accessed 26 November 2021].

Tyler, K., 2020. Measuring Employee Engagement During a Crisis. [online] SHRM. Available at: <https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/winter2020/pages/measuring-employee-engagement-during-covid-19.aspx> [Accessed 26 November 2021].

Vickers. M (2019) Boosting Worker Engagement in Tough Times  Available at https://www.amanet.org/articles/boosting-worker-engagement-in-tough-times/ [Accessed 26 November 2021].

Comments

  1. Nirmika FernandoDecember 6, 2021 at 6:58 AM

    Hi Surangi, I agree with the above and to add further, Due to the current working climate influenced by the global pandemic, remote working is being practiced and there is a need for instant communication between employees. Therefore, internal communication goes digital with instant digital communication methods like emails, instant chats and social media and even there are tendency for using employee apps and employee engagement software (Polovin, 2021). The approach of one-size-fits-all has not outdated since there should be personalisation in the communication use by companies. Therefore, there is a need of having flexible and adaptable employee engagement models considering the trend for personalised employee communication (Terry, 2021). This will include personalised messages, personalised strategies, and even personalised communication methods (Terry, 2021).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Surangi PereraDecember 26, 2021 at 5:06 AM

      I do get your point. more precisely, when digital communication acts as a job resource, it can, for instance, support adequate information and communication transfer, facilitate interaction between workers, and provide flexibility in location (Bordi,2018)

      Delete
  2. Dineth PereraDecember 6, 2021 at 5:37 PM

    Hi surangi, agree with you, adding to your points, a split to the concept in engagement into two distinct parts, first one is job engagement and second one is organization engagement, which is forward related but separate constructs. the relationship between job and organization engagement vary in numerous ways, resulting in the inference that the psychological states which result in the two aforementioned forms of engagement and their consequences are not the same (Saks, 2006).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Surangi PereraDecember 26, 2021 at 5:09 AM

      yes you are correct. Employee engagement emphasizes being psychologically present in particular moments and situations that will lead to involvement and commitment to the situation/job. It involves engaging oneself in work roles, people, situations, etc. It can be termed as ‘personal engagement (Rout,2017)

      Delete
  3. Sanmuganathan JanakanDecember 11, 2021 at 8:36 AM

    Agree with you Surangi. According to Ancillo et al (2021), The following are some of the benefits that this pandemic crisis has brought to employees and organizations: Reduced transportation times and associated environmental impact; Balance between family and work, associated with a potential for greater happiness; An increased sense of protection and security regarding the potential effects of the pandemic; Access to talent without geographical boundaries; Implementation of new processes aligned with remote work. As a result, when evaluating the future workplace, it is important to remember that remote working has apparent benefits in terms of employee happiness and workplace reform.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Surangi PereraDecember 26, 2021 at 5:16 AM

      I agree with your point. benefits to the employer, higher productivity as the employee puts more effort, increased cost savings as the decrease in office rent, infrastructure and maintenance costs, and higher employee engagement (Prasad , 2020)

      Delete
  4. Isuru PereraDecember 13, 2021 at 4:50 AM

    Hello, Surangi. Many workers have been laid off. To protect the health and well-being of workers and customers, essential staff have been subjected to new standard operating procedures and limits. Moreover, several businesses have shifted their whole workforces to temporary remote work and telecommuting. As a result of the global epidemic, businesses have been obliged to make significant adjustments to their workplaces, resulting in a complete disruption of the employee experience.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Surangi PereraDecember 26, 2021 at 5:20 AM

      Yes, some circumstances negatively affected the employees. Prior recessions typically developed with gradually increasing economic distress, The pandemic resulted in rapidly implemented efforts to limit contact among individuals and many shutdown orders (Romero ,2021)

      Delete
  5. Gihan AmaratungaDecember 16, 2021 at 2:47 AM

    Hi Surangi. Agreed with this article. Due to the pandemic, remote working is highly encouraged globally. Hence, as mentioned by Gunasekare (2015) improving the WFH skills, ICT utilization and best communication tools installation can aid the companies to hit the global economy by going with trendy initiatives. Also, Iddagoda (2020) mentions that modern firms in Sri Lanka have incorporated innovative tactics and approaches to engage their employees.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Surangi PereraDecember 26, 2021 at 5:52 AM

      yes, it is a valid point, Further to your point, banks are also cognizant of the role they have to play in ensuring the continued functioning of the country’s payment and settlement systems and facilitating cash circulation among the masses; accordingly, in line with Government guidelines, all efforts have been made to continuously offer essential services, albeit in a limited manner across all districts in the country (BOC, 2020)

      Delete
  6. Ravi Dissanayake, PhDDecember 25, 2021 at 2:31 AM

    A study conducted in the UK identified that satisfaction with one's co-workers related significantly to engagement (Avery et al. 2007). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in lockdown and self-isolation, quarantines and working from home have reduced collaboration with co-workers, impacting overall employee engagement.

    Avery, DR, McKay, PF & Wilson, DC 2007, 'Engaging the aging workforce: The relationship between perceived age similarity, satisfaction with coworkers, and employee engagement', Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 92, no. 6, pp. 1542-56.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Surangi PereraDecember 26, 2021 at 5:56 AM

      It is true, pandemic has change the way we worked, The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of workers to suddenly shift their activity out of their offices and into their homes: while 5-15% of Americans worked from home before the pandemic, 50% of the Americans who were employed pre-COVID reported working from home at April/2020 (Brynjolfsson et al., 2020)

      Delete

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