Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this review paper is to understand the practices adopted by various global and Indian companies to engage their employees, in order to retain talent and sustain their competitive advantage. Methods: This paper is divided into two parts - the first part focuses on the employee engagement practices among global companies and the second part highlights the ones adopted by Indian companies. It also draws a distinction between the trends in Indian and global companies, how their approaches towards employee engagement vary. This has been done by reviewing the existing literature and thus this study belongs to the bibliometric study. Findings: The studies have found to have a very strong relationship between employee’s customer service level and their engagement level. According to Towers Perrin Survey 84% of the highly engaged employee are confident that they can positively contribute in improving the products and services. The employee engagement fever has once again become epidemic in the corporate circuits. The most recent has been the news of Google losing a good enough number of people to its rival, i.e., Facebook and others is making people ask themselves that if this could be the fate of Google, where do the other companies stand? There is a large pool of consulting firms doing brisk business by advising what companies can do to strengthen engagement. Line managers are being coached on the same so that they can make a difference starting at the grass root level itself. Organisations have realised the three main reasons why an employee would want to be loyal to an organisation-work, career opportunities and a strong belief in what the organization is aiming to achieve. Applications: The fundamental question, given the current situation, however, remains; is engagement a goal in itself or is it a capability for organisational effectiveness? If employee engagement is practised in isolation and without examining what it does to help organisation to deliver results, it becomes a sheer waste of effort.

Keywords: Employee Commitment, Employee Engagement, Global Companies, Human Resource Management, Productivity