Visit to IBM & Employee Engagement

Yesterday, I went to visit IBM as part of the MLS programme for industrial visit. I was not there to learn about their IT solutions though it is a technology company. Rather, I was there to learn about their Human Resource Management  (HRM) and Human Resource Development (HRD) policies.

I will not attempt to list or compare between what they have / do not have and versus what we have / do not have as we are dealing with 2 different contexts. But suffice to say, like MOE, they have very comprehensive training , career progression and development initiatives, frameworks and programmes in place at all levels ranging from junior staff to senior executives. They also have a department that looks into Corporate Citizenship, harnessing their employees' existing knowledge and expertise and partnering schools, NGOs and voluntary organizations to address societal problems..They believe in empowering their employees to serve others.

But what I do want to share is this topic on "Employee Engagement"

In IBM, they place a great emphasis on Employee Engagement. Many people associate employee engagement with employee happiness. That is incorrect. We can be happy in a place because "life is so good" that we are left alone to do our own things at our own time but at the end of the day, we neither grow in our professional life and worst we short change the organization that we are in.

In IBM, they define engagement for their employees as follows:

" Am I rationally and emotionally connected and motivated to invest discretionary effort (in my organization)?" 

I thought is a good reflection question to ask ourselves from time to time.

In a Gallup's global workplace survey, the results indicated that only 9% of workers in Singapore are engaged while the majority are either "not engaged" or "actively disengaged"

http://sbr.com.sg/source/humanresources-magazine/majority-singaporean-employees-report-work-disengagement

In a recent CNA report, it mentions that Singapore is falling behind in productivity

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore/singapore-falling-behind/1665666.html

I am not too sure whether the 2 are co-related. Maybe yes. But it does shows that it is not a good sign.

Back to our question. As teachers, we must always put children's interests above self. There are many factors that can cause us to become disengaged but let us always remember our mission, our purpose in Education and our obligation to the young minds that have been put under our charge.

The mission is sacred. Never lose sight of it.

Have a restful March holidays!