A Study on Employee Engagement in Cochin International Airport Limited

Abstract

A successful employee engagement strategy helps create a community at the workplace and not just a workforce. When employees are effectively and positively engaged with their organisation, they form an emotional connection with the company. This affects their attitude towards both their colleagues and the company’s clients and improves customer satisfaction and service levels. There’s more than one way to improve the level of employee engagement in a company. In fact, there are many different things that companies not only can do, but need to do. The paper aims to make an attempt to understand the extent to which employee engagement is relevant in an International Airport like Cochin International Airport Ltd operating in the commercial capital of Gods own country, the State of Kerala. Fifteen Human resource factors have been identified as attributes leading to employee engagement which will be discussed with respect to Cochin International Airport Limited. A five step action plan has also been developed to measure the extent to which employees are engrossed in their work in Cochin International Airport limited. Employee engagement can be successful if every employee is treated with respect and dignity; if empowered to take decision in his/her work area; if not punished for making mistake but to be taken as new learnings; if encouragement, support and resources is given to the employee. The analysis also tells us that when trust, values and a purpose-inspired mission do not drive behavior in a company, far fewer of these engagement traits exist. Even worse, extremely low levels of these engagement sources produce a “disconnected” group of employees who work against or even sabotage company objectives. Our existing approach to employee engagement only produces brick-layers: people who perform tasks for money; people who may briefly become more productive in these tasks via one-off awards, bonuses and other motivations (whose positive effects fade as quickly as sugar highs); and people who feel stuck in unsatisfying, dead-end jobs when they truly desire careers. By misunderstanding, mismanaging and mis-measuring employee engagement, we are failing to provide a signal to our nation’s most valuable resource: young workers. These people do not know where to invest their energy, talent, skills, character and creativity. They are looking for careers, but we can barely provide them with jobs. Further, by deploying trust, values and a purpose-driven mission as the primary drivers for all business activities, interactions and decisions, companies can transform a workforce of bricklayers into a highly coordinated and inspired team of cathedral-builders whose inspired work generates both success and significance for our companies and the world.

Keywords: Employee Engagement, Cochin Airport, Empowerment, Talent Management

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