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They are the ones who popularizedselfies, food porn, online communities,byte sized learning, and introduced themultitasking wonders of smartphonesto the world. However, it is evidentthat they bring with them a cache ofunique experiences and skills that areinvaluable to the workplace. As today'sworkplace creates room for millennialswho are seen to make for 50% of theglobal workforce by 2020, and with thearrival of Gen Z, the standardengagement practices of the past needto be done away with, so as toaccommodate ourselves for the arrivalof Gen Z and the inundation ofmillennials. Failure to pay heed to thiswould only result in the organisationlosing out on the top performing talent,and in real quick time, and even worse,to their competitors who offered theman opportunity as per the needs oftheir engagement. Revamping and

illennials are being viewedthrough the wrong opticssince they are perceived asthe initiators of disruptions.M

COVER STORY

As today's workplace creates room for millennials who are seen to make

for 50% of the global workforce by 2020, and with the arrival of Gen Z, the

standard engagement practices of the past need to be done away with, so

as to accommodate ourselves for the arrival of Gen Z and the inundation of

millennials. Failure to pay heed to this would only result in the organisation

losing out on the top performing talent, and in real quick time, and even

worse, to their competitors who offered them an opportunity as per the

needs of their engagement.

The

“When people are financially invested, they want a return. When peopleare emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” – Simon Sinek

EngagementParadox At Work

By Shruti Chadha and S. Ajay Kumar

www.humancapitalonline.com◆ March 2018 � 15

employees are unlikely to take onanything outside of what they see astheir core remit. They will makeexcuses or find reasons as to why theycannot take on extra work, or trynewer ways of doing things. They mayrefuse to entertain even the simplestof requests.3. Withdrawal from meetings andgatherings: Disengaged employeestend to withdraw and even isolatethemselves from their co-workers.They choose to opt out when it comesto meetings and gatherings. Even ifthey are present during a meeting ora team discussion, their minds wanderto other places. Paying little interestto the matters of the organisation,disengaged employees make fewerefforts to engage and participate inany of the company events.4. I g n o r i n g r e f e r r a l r e q u e s t s :Employees who are disengaged areunlikely to refer candidates for openpositions. Even when you are activelyseeking out referrals, and do notreceive any from your employees, itis an indicator that they may bedisengaged. Actively disengagedemployees might even use socialmedia to discourage others fromapplying. The Net Promoter Score(NPS) is where ratings can be givenon a zero to ten scale as to how likelyit is for a person to recommend thiscompany as a place to work.Employees who score 9 or 10 arecalled 'Promoters', those who score 7

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innovating recognition practices cancapitalize employee talents so that theyflourish in the company. The changingrules of engagement for the diversegeneration, spotting critical signs ofdisengagement, employer-employeeexpectation mismatch, innovative waysof enhancing engagement along withillustrations on best industry practices,and the contemporary ways ofmeasuring the employee engagementpulse have been mentioned in theparagraphs to follow.

The changing laws ofengagementIn late 2014, the NortheasternUniversity conducted a survey on teensin the age bracket of 16-19 years, andcame about with certain traits on GenZ that could give a sense of thebehaviour pattern of this wannabegeneration.� 63 percent of the respondents stating

that colleges should be teachingthem on entrepreneurship

� 42 percent expect to be self-employed later in life

� Interpersonal or face-to-faceinteraction is highly important ascompared to communicating viatechnology

Spotting critical signs ofdisengagementThe 7 tell-tale signs that are needed tobe monitored by HR business partnersand engagement experts with empiricalevidence in order to help organisationsplan their engagement strategies.1. Excessive absenteeism andtardiness: That disengaged employeesdo not rush to work in the morningsis a common red flag. But, if someemployees are turning in slightly lateit does not imply that they aredisengaged, but it could be a strongindicator that they are lacking timemanagement skills, are struggling withwork-life balance, or maintaining adifferent lifestyle. Howe ve r, it isnoteworthy if employees are very late,leave the office randomly, or takeextended lunch breaks. Absenteeismis a lot more serious than tardiness.Employees who do not come to workat all, or who take lots of random sickdays are often simply fed up with theirwork. And, if they seem to beconsistently ignoring pressingdeadlines and targets by requestingdays off, they are clearly disengaged.2. Poor quality of work: Disengagedemployees certainly do not aim formaximum quality. Actively disengagedemployees will not meet expectations.Or, they may be doing just enough tokeep themselves from getting fired.So, if there is a degeneration orstagnation in the overall quality, it maysignal low engagement. Disengaged

“Fostering a culture of 'trust' in the organisation so employees feel empowered

and responsible to go beyond themselves to ensure the organisation's success

— this is what great places to work strive for. And building this trust does not come

easily. Engaging employees is one of the most important HR mandate besides

talent attraction and retention. We have seen strong correlation between employee

engagement and profitability. With the right strategy and approach, employee

engagement can become one of the strongest tools for robust business outcomes.

While there are several ways to boost engagement with employees, one of the

most effective ones is to foster a system of continuous feedback and conversations.

Praising an employee for a job well done is just as important as pointing out

where there is room for improvement. Also crucial is to give

them credit and show appreciation in a timely manner. Building

an engaged, all-in workforce is an assured metric for the

success of not just the business but of the leader as well.”

SHRADDHANJALI RAO

Head of Human Resources

SAP India

16 � March 2018 www.humancapitalonline.com ◆

or 8 are 'Passives', and an employeewho gives a score of 6 or below canbe viewed as a 'Detractor'. In general,we like to improve upon andparticipate in things that we care aboutand appear meaningful to us. So, eitherthe employees are not connecting withthe mission and values of the company,or they are unhappy in the officeenvironment.5. Managers do not praise their teammembers: An HR business partnerneeds to ask the managers andsupervisors, "what did you do in thepast month to reward or praise yourteam members?" If in return, there isa hesitant answer or an awkwardsilence, it might just be the beginningof a grave engagement problem.Employees who do not see their workbeing recognized are unlikely to bemotivated or engaged.6. Employees at odds and raisecomplaints: Disengaged employees arenot interested in solving problems andmaking progress. They often expresstheir lack of engagement through openfrustration and aggression. Theseemployees will always be at odds withsomeone, and will resist new initiativesor instructions from their manager.7. Lack of ownership: 'Nothing todo with me', 'not my responsibility,''thought someone else would do it'are common refrains of those whoare disengaged with the company andtheir role. Finding things that they docare about in their role, even if it isonly one element, is the key tochanging the mindset of these

employees. Reallocation of dutiesamong a team can often revivedisengaged employees, with certainteam members thriving to do sometasks that the others are not trulyderiving enjoyment from.

The Expectation MismatchA search into the motivators of theworkforce will invariably lead us tothe famous Herzberg's two-factormotivational theor y. Her zberg'sfindings revealed that certaincharacteristics of a job are consistentlyrelated to job satisfaction, whilecertain factors are associated with jobdissatisfaction. He stated that factorssuch as achievement, recognition,responsibility and career advancementare key motivating factors that willhelp employees exceed at their work.Whereas factors such as supervision,

company policies, work conditions,salary were the hygiene factors, whichwhen absent were sure to demotivateemployees. With generations changingat the workplace, from baby boomersto Gen X, from Gen X to Millennials,and now to Gen Z, we will need torevisit motivational theories andredefine their placement. With theenhanced presence of the millennialworkforce and the arrival of the GenZ, certain factors that were seen asmotivators over the last decade areno longer seen as motivating, but havebecome the basic hygiene factors forthe multigenerational workforce.

Hygiene Factor 1:ConnectivityToday, it is hard to find millennials/generation Z without a smartphone,and by 2020, it is evident that everyemployee would be hooked to a smartdevice. What would it look like if thegeneration is to be married to theirwork? What is it that would make themwake up every morning excited to puttheir nose to the grindstone anotherday? Millennials want to put everythingthey have into their work. Their heartssing because they are living theirpurpose. Their minds are stimulatedby the challenge. Like Millennials, GenZ is a cohort of digital natives; theyhave had the technology and the manyforms of communication since birth.They are used to instant access toinformation, and, like their older GenY counterparts, they are continuallyprocessing information. LikeMillennials, they prefer to solve theirown problems, and will turn toYouTube or other video platforms for

“Employee engagement is one of the key pillars to building a great company.

Today's dynamic and competitive environment clearly demands a lot more from

HR than it was before. From creating a robust learning and development ecosystem

across levels to ensuring employees live a healthy and rewarding life; employee

engagement plays a massive role in an organisation. Technology plays a powerful

tool here, for example online learning platforms are playing a crucial role in helping

employees unearth their potential. Creating a caring and humane environment that

offers flexibility, mentorship roles are other ways to engage employees and build

goodwill. Do not forget to recognize achievements and build a rewarding

ecosystem. Employees should feel valued and they should

cherish their journey with an organisation. Happy and

successful employees are an asset to building a successful

company.”

REENA TYAGI

Chief Human Resource Officer

Cigna TTK

Disengaged employees certainly do notaim for maximum quality. Activelydisengaged employees will not meet

expectations. Or, they may be doing just enoughto keep themselves from getting fired. So, if thereis a degeneration or stagnation in the overallquality, it may signal low engagement. Disengagedemployees are unlikely to take on anythingoutside of what they see as their core remit.

“

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tutorials to troubleshoot prior toseeking assistance. They also placegreat value on the reviews of theirpeers. Fostering connectivity in theworkplace is a profound key to sucha kind of holistic happiness. Formanagers with millennials on theirteams, this is great news for if theycan inspire creativity and innovation,and if they have hired well, they aresure to have a talented team of leaderswith some untapped potential.

Industry Practice: DreamWorksAlthough employees at DreamWorksAnimation are provided with perkssuch as free refreshments, paidopportunity to decorate workspaces,and company parties after thecompletion of big projects, a practicetruly appreciated by them is if theyare encouraged to share theirpersonal work and projects amongsttheir co-workers at such parties andevents. This makes way forappreciation of non-work relatedprojects, kindles their creativity, andmakes employees feel that they aremore than just the work that theyperform. With other companies likeGoogle also providing employees withthe time to work and pitch their ownprojects, and, this is a great way toreally tell your employees that not onlyare they trusted, but that their inputand creativity is really valued.

Hygiene Factor 2: CareerProgressionMillennials grew up in a different world.When they work at a company, moneydoes not merely motivate them.Instead, they want more opportunities,more progression, and more chancesat development. Creating individualdevelopment plans could be the firststep in developing employees to createa development plan. It is important tosit down with the employee and discussindividual interests and career goals.Such a conversation will help identifythe developmental activities thatindividuals should be undertaking.After all, not everyone shares the samegoals or has the same perspectiveabout what they want to achieve intheir career.

Industry Practice: Hyatt groupof hotelsHyatt's high employee retention and

long tenures speak volumes in anindustry known for high employeeturnover. The focus on employeedevelopment and promoting fromwithin plays a large part in this. Anotherinteresting practice, connected todevelopment, is how they empowertheir employees (whom they callassociates), to listen carefully to eachother and guests, to be able to solveproblems and create new solutions,rather than following scripts of whatto do.

Hygiene Factor 3:PersonalizationOne thing Millennials are used to isindividuality. They have grown up in aculture, which prizes nonconformity,and they have carried this belief overto their working lives. As employeesthat value themselves as individualtalents, they expect an equallypersonalized form of feedback thataddresses their strengths andweaknesses. They also expect this fromthe people they know; with 80%Millennials saying they were seekingregular feedback from their managers.Such a personal and individual type of

recognition is designed tosimultaneously deliver feedback andcoaching. 95% of millennial employeessaid they would work even harder ifthey had learnt how their taskcontributed to the company's largerstrategy.

Industry Practice: LegalMonkeysThis legal record managementcompany established a simpler, smallerway to show employees that their hardwork is valued. The Appreciation Boardis a glass picture frame, on whichemployees can write a note using amarker, and present it to theircolleague to whom they want to showappreciation to. Whoever receives theboard is free to keep it on display ontheir desk, until they are ready to passit on to someone else, with eachachievement also being posted on thecompany's Facebook page to increasevisibility outside of the team.

Hygiene Factor 4: Makingthe Voice WorkThese days, Millennials do not just haveto agree to their job role, they also

“Building and nurturing a great work culture and environment where everyone

finds a place to bloom, every day is special, everything is learning and everyone

is involved is an achievement par excellence. The environment where employees

get excited about the organisation and feel proud of, can be created only by

enthusiastic and highly energized people who derive enjoyment from their work

and also make it a pleasure for those whom they work with. Such an engaged

workforce is the real asset of any organisation and drives it to a position of

invincibility. I am strongly convinced that the Human Resource team plays the lead

role in driving this thought process and in inculcating this as the credo of the

organisation. Experience is the edifice of every relationship and relationship is the

anvil of engagement. Furthermore, promoting and fostering strong employer-

employee relationship is fundamental to driving a great place to work experience.

The general understanding and nuances of employer-employee relations have

gone through a sea change in the recent years, thanks to a lot of progressive

thinking in Human Resource management (HRM). A strong employee employer

relationship is no longer seen as state of 'peaceful working', rather is a platform

for co-creating business and individual success. Respecting and valuing the

unique flavour and strength of every employee, and binding them through a

common shared vision and purpose is quintessential to forging

the said connect. A work culture that has elements of

collaboration, supportiveness, result orientation and respect

cannot but be strongly bonded."

JOY GEORGE

Vice President – Human Resources

CDK Global (India)

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have to agree to the company.Millennials are a generation who aredeeply socially aware, and will oftenprioritize a company whose socialinnovations they agree with, over onewith which they do not. Combinedwith the fact that they are some ofthe most educated employees in theworkforce, companies should striveto let Millennials in on companydecisions as a means of recognition.This does not have to be anythingvery significant; simple things like thecompany's charitable decisions,allowing them to choose their ownrewards allows Millennial employeesto productively exercise their opinion.Removing barriers is a key to listeningto employees. Many organisations arerigid in their organisational structureand processes, which can make itchallenging to implement some cross-functional development and facilitatedynamic growth and high-performance training. It is up to theleadership to bridge the silos, knockdown walls, and design a system, thatencourages a fluid approach to learningand working.

Industry Practice: VirginThis multi-industry organisation has ahabit of listening to its employees, to

show that they are valued, to listen totheir opinions, and caring for theirideas, having healthy debates andcontinuously innovating. It is a win-win; the organisation keeps learning,and employees feel important andengage with the organisation.

Hygiene Factor 5: Real-TimeRecognitionMillennials experience a culture ofinstant gratification which is vastlydissimilar from what the othergenerations have experienced. Fuelledby familiarity with digital media,Millennials are most accustomed toinstantaneous reactions, and theyanticipate the same at their workplace.Standardized recognition methods suchas annual engagement surveys aretherefore failing to resonate withMillennials; since they are clunky,lengthy, and do not resolve issues inlimited time. Instead, try investing inpulse surveys that are short, powerfuland are issued frequently enough sothat you can resolve issues closer totheir emergence. This is an easy wayto recognize millennial employees, asit specifically addresses their individualneeds and gives them a clear channelfor communication in the company.Digital media is also extremely useful

in providing a platform for real-timerecognition. As Millennials are moreaccustomed to a work life, which bleedsinto their home, companies are nolonger restricted to communicationwithin a strict 9-5 time frame to providetheir feedback.

Industry Practice: HCLTechnologiesHCL Technologies has started aHappiness Index, an analytics-basedplatform where people respond to aset of statements, which helpsdetermine the mood of theorganisation. The system is designedto automatically push out a shortsurvey to anyone who has undergonea change of some sort. This could bea new manager, appraisal, end of aproject etc.

Activities for enhancingEmployee EngagementVirtual surveys: There are multipleapplications and systems that can beused to hold online surveys for theteam members. By conducting a poll,you can learn and analyse theircharacter, attitudes, patterns ofbehaviour, as well as personalpreferences.V irtual coffee break: While teammembers cannot always hang outtogether after work, you can still invitethem for a virtual coffee break. Thesedays, most public areas offer good Wi-Fi connection, including a coffee shop.Online gaming: Believe it or not,playing games together can boostteamwork in virtual teams. Toencourage healthy competition,managers can invite their teams to playthe same online games. Not only isthis fun, it also helps smoothen theflow of communication and improveoverall bonding to build camaraderie.Various games available on the Internetcan be used, or even custom gamessuch as trivia questions related to thebusiness can be developed.Encourage sharing: People cannotalways be 100 percent at work. Whenwe find a co-worker who does notappear lively while responding to achat, as usual, there might besomething going on with them. In suchsituations, we need to take some timeto put the business aside and learnwhat is happening with them.Use Social Media: While it is true that

Employee engagement is an emotional state where employees feel passionate,

energetic, and committed to their work. Thats why Employee Engagement is &

always will be the very high priority for HR department, as it leads to high

productivity, positivity and; it creates a happy environment at work. It even helps

employees to do their job effectively. Employee engagement is a very powerful

concept and; every organisation should be more focused on increasing employee

engagement activities, as its directly related to employee performance &

organisation growth. Following of the techniques that will help in employee

engagement:� Create a fun work Culture, as fun workplace make happier employee.� Make a culture where employees can respect their work life & personal life

both.� Invest in both internal and external development for employees professional

growth.� Ensure that their development is linked to organisation goal and they should

clearly be able to see where their development plan is

taking them.� Take an active interest in employee well-being.� Hold regular employee engagement programmes, it will

help build bridges between peers across all departments.

AKANSHA TRIPATHI

HR Head, Xapads Media.

COVER STORY

www.humancapitalonline.com◆ March 2018 � 19

we should draw clear lines ofseparation between the working andprivate life, it never hurts to add co-workers on the friends list on socialmedia. Through social platforms likeFacebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Path,we can gather more information aboutthe people we are working with.Making recognition personal: Themost successful recognition is highlypersonal. The value of highlypersonalized rewards cannot beunderstated, even in the case of thosetenure-based anniversary gifts. It isalso a great opportunity to reinforcethe value of sticking around for a longtime to the employees that the rewardwas chosen with them in mind, orwhich they can look forward to, whichworks as a great motivator to keepgoing during moments of low-morale.On the other hand, having arecognition system that stacksemployees against each other doesmore harm than good. Whilecompeting for points might motivatethe top performers to try even harder,it can be demoralizing for those at thebottom of the competition, and evenmake employees to act poorly in orderto win.Sounding the death knell to annualsurveys: Having a social engagementstrategy means being morecommunicative with employees, andinviting conversation about theconcerns or suggestions that they have.In that vein, annual surveys, whichhave been on the decline for years, arereally the last lingering relic of a timewhere feedback was barely solicited,and almost always never acted upon.Employers who are committed tocollecting continuous, ongoingfeedback, and acting on it, then movingpast the annual survey into somethingmore real-time and iterative willfacilitate that.

Contemporary ways ofmeasuring EmployeeEngagementMatching up to the engagementexpectations of the hygiene factors ofgeneration Z and millennials, employeeengagement programmes are now builton smart cloud data and analytics thatis measuring the employee pulse inreal time. WorldatWork, a global humanresources foundation, divulged thefindings of a study in which 54 percent

of employees said that short-termincentives have a high impact onengagement, while only 32 percentcited long-term incentives. Severalcompanies are helping workplacesrevamp the way they reward theiremployees, trading company coffeemugs against 6-month membershipsto a local gym. Options as such, permitthe managers to hand out employeeperks online in real time, and somealso add these on the social mediaplatform so that the team can openlythank their colleagues for a job welldone. Certain critical aspects that are

should occur across the entireorganisation. Develop a strategy thatencourages peer-to-peer recognitionand feedback, allowing employees torecognize both individual and teamaccomplishments. In most cases, real-time recognition is more meaningfulthan the feedback employees receivethrough annual performanceconversations. However, too muchrecognition can be a bad thing if it isnot linked to achievements andcontributions.

Making recognition simple andaligned with company values: There is

“The role of employee engagement is critical for business process services

organisations like ours. As our people strive to delight customers by doing a lot

of knowledge driven processing, engagement events provide the much-needed

breather. While there is the fun@work aspect of engagement activities, the real

benefit comes in the form on enhanced bonding levels between team members,

and people leaders, as well as long term benefits such as loyalty and commitment.

We strongly believe that engaging employees is the job role of each people leader

and have created 15 clubs on topics as diverse as health and wellness, sports,

music, human resources, coding as a hobby, and innovation. These interest

based groups or clubs as we call them create a platform for

like-minded individuals to come together and builds a stronger

association with employees, besides building our employer

brand.”

JACOB JESUROON

Vice President and Head

People Function, Access Healthcare

Like Millennials, Gen Z is a cohort ofdigital natives; they have had thetechnology and the many forms of

communication since birth. They are used toinstant access to information, and, like their olderGen Y counterparts, they are continuallyprocessing information. Like Millennials, theyprefer to solve their own problems, and will turnto YouTube or other video platforms for tutorialsto troubleshoot prior to seeking assistance.”

“

needed to be taken into considerationwhile designing a new age employeeengagement plans are: –

Encouraging multidirectionalfeedback and recognition: Recognition

nothing better than the good old face-to-face recognition and an "atta-boy!"Complicated programmes andtechnologies are disincentives for real-time recognition. User-friendly mobile

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and social tools make recognitionsimple. Some platforms also integratewith other technologies to improvemanager visibility to feedback forcoaching conversations. Employeerecognition programmes should alignwith company values and businessobjectives.

Working towards successionplanning for top performers: Inaddition to recognition, employeeswant to know if you are invested intheir careers. Recognition programmesare a great starting point forconversations on career growth. Afterrecognizing employees for hard workand positive results, managers cancollaborate with them on a plan fortaking the next step in their career.

The platter of EmployeeEngagement toolsWhen managers and owners are thesole distributors of recognition andrewards, companies put themselves ata disadvantage. Siloed walls need to betorn down. During times of growthand diversification, it is very easy fordepartments to come with big walls;adding designers, developers, coders,senior staff and recent graduates, whilean array of backgrounds andpersonalities make it difficult to behighly engaged with everyone.

Connecting new hires to the companyculture and ethos can also prove to bemore difficult. The toxicity mostlystems from the underappreciated.Feeling valued, wanted, appreciated,etc., at one's job is not some new age,entitled generational issue. It is validacross the board. All human beings dotheir best when they feel fulfilled, andpart of feeling fulfilled is in knowingthat their efforts are seen as essentialto the company.Peoplecart: The Peoplecart platformaligns employee teams toorganisational priorities through agilefeedback, mobile check-ins andinstant recognition. With acomprehensive solution ofengagement surveys, recognition ofpeers for demonstrating rightbehaviours and values, anytimeaccessibility with a gamified mobiletechnology platform, real-time insightson engagement through customizabletools such as People Buzz, mentorconnect, idea zone, KPI gamificationand transition clubs, this engagementplatform makes a promising choice.Officevibe: Officevibe provides aweekly report format that is simpleand visual, and identifies the issuesspecific to the workplace. Knowingwhat matters to the team and whereto focus energies on has never been

easier. Officevibe goes the extra mileto help both you and your teamimprove by pairing every identifiedissue with advice and strategies toovercome it. Because, even the bestteams have room for growth andimprovement.Quantum Workplace: QuantumWorkplace provides an all-in-oneemployee engagement software thatmakes managers the central drivers ofworkplace culture. QuantumWorkplaces technology gives teamleaders direct access to employeefeedback and personalized real-timeinsights, so that they can make workbetter every day. The software includesfeatures such as surveys, goals,recognition, feedback, one-on-one, andalerts providing a powerful solution forteam engagement and improvement.

The Platter of Reward ToolsAs HR practitioners choose from theplatter of tools now available, animportant question they should answeris "what they want out of theprogramme." While people should beable to say thank you to each other,rewards need to be aligned towards thedirection the company wants to go.

YouEarnedItThis social-media based recognitionprogramme allows the entire teamaward points to their colleagues; thesepoints can then be redeemed for avariety of different rewards. Theyprovide a curated master catalogue ofgift cards from top retailers anddonations to a variety of meaningfulcharities. Companies can also build intheir own rewards such as a day off,Starbucks vouchers, movie tickets fortwo, bowling game passes, with onecompany even offering "Coffee fromthe Boss" where employees redeempoints to get a hand delivered coffeefrom their manager.To be borne in mind: HR managersneed to continuously evaluate if thisprogramme is meeting the overallneeds of the company. A pulse checkis important to record measurablechanges in engagement levels.

KiindThis straightforward gift card campaigncompany allows managers to send giftcards to employees online, and is notchargeable until the gift is redeemed.

While the debate on "Is working from home effective?" intensifies in today's

business world, let me objectively put down the perks and downsides of the

same. The perks that I can think of include higher flexibility in terms of cutting down

commute time, no dress code and flexi-work schedule. It allows organisations to

reach out to larger population of potential candidates like freelancers, working

parents etc. Working from home gives you a lot of personal time to be able to

schedule time for hobbies / fitness regime / family. It also results in better

productivity helping you work with greater freedom while enhancing your creativity

and hence boost performance. The flipside of this could be lowered employee

morale. It takes a hit since you miss out on co-worker camaraderie and work

ecosystem in terms of challenges in support, cross learning opportunities and

networking. It also affects the visibility and recognition mechanism as even though

chats, videos and emails are great tools; connect and appreciation work best in

person. Working from home takes a whole lot of self-discipline, technology

support and motivation to ensure that timelines are met, distractions are kept at

bay and priorities are not compromised. Maintaining a good

work life balance also becomes a task as your work and

office are the same and you are never off of work.

SABA ADIL

Chief People Officer

Aegon Life Insurance

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www.humancapitalonline.com◆ March 2018 � 21

The platform also allows managers tosend out multiple gifts with employee-specific messages while trackingfulfilment. "If an employee choosesAmazon, an employer can make sureto put Amazon in the next rewardemail," It increases personalization, andis one of the big values that is broughtin the reward and recognition calendar.To be borne in mind: Managers needto evaluate if people already find anintrinsic value in what they are workingon, and whether they need direct gifts.If the workforce is doing a commonjob that is not rewarding, having a clearlink between jobs and gift is great. So,someone doing basic data entry orcoding might see this as a hugeincentive, while an architect or marinebiologist might not need this type ofcarrot.

7GeeseA social-media based programme,7Geese is focused on replacing classicHR programmes with online reviewsand forms. Managers can set up onlinegoals, people directories andorganisation charts so that the teamstructures are clear. Rewards come inthe form of recognition badges that

are pinned to the core values of thecompany. The badges can then beshared on social networks such asTwitter and LinkedIn profiles. Badreviews are private, but can includerequests for one-on-one coachingsessions.What to keep in mind: Such aprogramme is best suited to acollaborative workplace with manyshared projects, so that teammatescould report on project progress,discuss what problems are holdingthem up, and get feedback from coworkers. In more competitiveworkplaces, like a sales office or a callcentre, such programmes might notbe as close a fit, since co-workerscompete with one another.

KudosThis is a corporate social network anda peer-to-peer recognition systemdesigned to engage teams withenhanced communication,collaboration, appreciation, andrecognition. Timely and publicemployee recognition is at the core ofthis service provider. They get the teamtalking, sharing and collaborating.From custom pages, birthday invites,

themed user profiles, leaderboards,gamified badges, performancedashboard, Kudos provides a wideplatter of engagement ideas to choosefrom. 360-degree employee feedbackincluding anonymous organisationalfeedback solutions for wellness,training and development and peer topeer recognition are now the keymotivating factors. The rise of themillennials in the workforce and theirpreferences, catalysed by the rage ofdigitization has led employees to expecta much more fun, engaging and end-to-end solution to their woes. 2018 willsee companies and their leaders focuson how to achieve an outstandingemployee experience across thelifecycle of an employee. Factors suchas work environment, teamrelationships, professional growthopportunities, company culture, andrecognition will be looked at from afresh perspective.

References:https://blog.wooboard.com/https://www.highground.com/https://www.entrepreneur.com/

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