Managing People: Employee Engagement, Diagnostic Tools, and Strategies for Marks and Spencer

This report discusses the concept and drivers of employee engagement, diagnostic tools to measure engagement, and strategies to raise levels of engagement for Marks and Spencer. It also covers constructing an employee value proposition and its importance. The report concludes that managing employees well leads to high employee engagement and good working culture. Course code and college/university not mentioned.

Managing people

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................5
Reviews the concept and drivers of employee engagement .......................................................5
Evaluates diagnostic tools to measure engagement....................................................................6
Constructs an employee value proposition from the ideas and analysis previously covered,
including strategies to raise levels of engagement......................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
When a organisation hire employees according to their skills and talents and assign them
work accordingly then it is beneficial for the company to improve their employees performance
and engagement to work (Reeves, Delfabbro and Calic, 2021). It is essential to find out the
reasons for employee engagement and create a good working environment for employees to
work effectively. It is essential to make strategies for improving employees performance and
engagement to work within an organisation. Marks and Spencer is a clothing company in UK
which was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. It is headquartered in
London, England, UK. The following report covers concept of drivers of employee engagement
and evaluation of diagnostic tools to measure engagement. It also covers constructing an
employee value proposition and strategies to raise levels of engagement.
Main Body
Reviews the concept and drivers of employee engagement
The employee engagement is the human resource approach used in the workplace to
bring productive results by providing the friendly and right condition to all the members of the
organisation to work. The employee engagement is the best way by which the organisation can

involve their employees with the higher commitment towards the organisation goals, values and
also motivate them to give the best in order to contribute in the organisational success. In context
of Marks and Spencer the employee engagement is highly valued and it is based on the two way
commitment and communication between the company and its employees. In Marks and Spencer
the employee engagement is very essential for the company to foster their rate of success, to
contribute in the organisational and employees performance and productivity and well being
(Nazir and Islam, 2020).
The main positive impact of the employee engagement to Marks and Spencer is that it
triggers the positive behaviour and attitude of the employees that helps the company to reinforce
the company's profits. Basically, the employee engagement is all about how much an employee
feels pride and loyalty, communicative, interactive in the working environment. In Marks and
Spencer the employee engagement leads towards the innovation and higher employee morale
and encouragement.
The key drivers of the employee engagement in the Marks and Spencer
 Company culture: For employees the first thing to interact with as they enter the
organisation is the company's culture therefore, it is considered as the key driver for the
employee engagement. As the Marks and Spencer is global brand and contain very
employee friendly, diversity based, communicative culture. But with the hybrid and
remote working due to the Covid-19 the company through its virtual team building
activities is effectively maintain the culture that engage the employees (Li and et. al.,
2021).
 Support and empowerment: the employees always need a support and empowerment
from their higher authorities in order to stay engaged with the company. The support and
empowerment is driver that pertain to provide tools and resources to the co- workers in
order to excel their skills and roles. In marks and Spencer this is provided in the form of
training and development opportunities to improve their skills set and also to allow the
employees of the company to pursue their passion for the project. There is no better way
to engage the employees in the workplace other than this.
 Recognition, rewards and Appreciation: They employees are likely to to engaged with
the organisation when they are highly recognised in by the teamsters and other
employers. When the employees of the Marks and Spencer receive appreciation and

recognition form their employers they feel motivated and satisfied from the job and
which indirectly make them more engaged with the company. In Marks and Spencer
rewarding employees is also the driver to build employee engagement.
 Communication and feedbacks: in an organisation the communication and regular
feedback sessions are highly important in order to have employee engagement (Lesener
and et. al., 2020). In Marks and Spencer there are the diverse teams where the employees
have difficulty in communicating but in order to build higher employee engagement the
mangers initiates the regular communication and feedbacks from employees in the day
end. This is the best way to to facilitate the two way communication, and also to provide
the constructive feedbacks for improvement there by making an employees more
confident and engaged with the assigned job role.
Evaluates diagnostic tools to measure engagement
In Today's multi-cultured, generational and mobile workforce and after the global
pandemic there are huge changes in the organisation. In Marks and Spencer the company has
opted flexible working hours, remote working, restructuring roles and much more. This also has
impacted the and changed the employee engagement scenarios (Khodakarami and Dirani, 2020).
The company has been using the different tools to measure the level of engagement of the
employees with the company. The evaluation of different tools are discussed below:
 Employee survey: Surveys are the most important tool for any organisation to measure
the employees engagement. In Marks and Spencer it is critically evaluated that there are
the questionnaire regrading the employees feelings and attitude. Also the employees fill
the survey form anonymously which helps the company to have clear and honest
measurement of the responses of the employees. Through survey measurement tool the
company gains and insight of the employees level of motivation, satisfaction, passion,
quality of work relationship and many other factors. But sometimes the employees do not
provide the holistic and real feedbacks.
 HR tools: In Marks and Spencer there many HR tools that help the company to measure
the employees engagement. This will help employees to work effectively and also help
organisation to gain employees satisfaction as reacting upon employees feedback as soon
as possible will help them to make sure that their employees will feel that they are the
important part of their organisation and organisation is serious about their concerns.

Constructs an employee value proposition from the ideas and analysis previously covered,
including strategies to raise levels of engagement
Employee value proposition (EVP) are those benefits to employees which is given by
their company to gain their employee's high satisfaction. These are the returns of skills, talents
and hard work paid by a employees to their company. It is essential for every organisation to
value their employees and their performance and help them to grow well by providing them
benefits such as increment, promotions and many others (Pattnaik and Jena, 2020). In context of
Marks and Spencer, they are focusing to gain their employees high engagement and performance
at work and for this they follow few strategies and programmes which are mentioned below-
Appreciation from managers and leaders- It is essential for a employee to gain high
motivational level at work place to work effectively. In context of Marks and Spencer, they
appreciate their employees for their good performance so that they will engage more toward their
work and enhance their skills to complete it effectively.
Rewards and monetary benefits- In context to Marks and Spencer, they also provide
rewards and monetary benefits to those employees who perform well in their organisation
(Delina, 2020). This step will help to motivate good performing employees to enhance their
skills and focus more to their work and task so that they will achieve more rewards and it also
plays an important role to motivate non-performing employees to perform well for gaining
rewards.
Organisational culture and structure- It is also one of the most important factor for
gaining high value for employees and motivate them to work effectively. In context of Marks
and Spencer, their organisation culture is effective and motivational for their employees because
their employees help each other and communicate well to clear their doubts and achieve their
organisational goal well. On the other hand, their each employee is well aware about their roles
and responsibilities and they are also aware that to whom they are required to order and to whom
they must report their performance. This will further help to mitigate the confusion and
misunderstanding that which task will be performed by whom and at what time. There,
organisational culture and structure plays an important role for providing employees high
engagement at work and enhance their performance (Alagarsamy, Mehrolia and Aranha, 2020).

There are various strategies which can be followed by Marks and Spencer for enhancing
their employees performance and work engagement at their organisation and these are mentioned
below-
Flexible working hours to good performing employees- Marks and Spencer can use
this strategy for promoting high work engagement for their employees. Here, they can allow
flexible working hours to those employees only which achieve their target on time and have
good performance. This strategy will help to maintain the good performance of those employees
who are already performing good in the organisation to take the advantage of flexible working
hours for longer period of time (Bulińska-Stangreckaand Iddagoda, 2020). Secondly, it will also
help to motivate those employees who are not well engage for their work to increase their
performance and skills to gain the benefit of flexible working hours.
Making the workplace “Covid 19 safe”- It is essential for Marks and Spencer to make
their working environment safe and secure for their employees after Covid pandemic. They can
follow social distancing by arranging sitting arrangement appropriately in their offices like they
can allow their employees to sit by maintaining the one chair distance between two employees
(Nandan, 2020). They can also place hand sanitizers at each desk and make it compulsory for
employees to wear mask all time during working hours. This will help employees to keep them
self safe and secure from this disease. This also help employees to focus more upon their work
and task effectively and hence help them to develop work engagement.
Reconstructing roles- It is suggested to Marks and Spencer that they can analyse the
skills of their employees well and analyse what are their main qualities and specialization so that
they will assign only those tasks which covers their specialization. This will further help the
employees to get higher engagement level at workplace because when tasks and roles are given
to them according to their available skills and specialization then it become easier to complete
the task effectively and on time. This will also help organisation to gain higher level of
productivity and profitability for their organisation.
Prioritize feedback of employees- Marks and Spencer is suggested to listen their
employees and analyse their needs and wants for working within their organisation. In case their
any employee complaint for any factor then it is essential for management team to make actions
to mitigate the obstacles as soon as possible (Verčič, 2021). This will help employees to work
effectively and also help organisation to gain employees satisfaction as reacting upon employees

feedback as soon as possible will help them to make sure that their employees will feel that they
are the important part of their organisation and organisation is serious about their concerns.
Promote taking breaks- It is also essential for any company including Marks and
Spencer to provide appropriate time to their employees for break so that they will refresh their
mind perform well without taking much burden. Marks and Spencer can divide their breaks into
two-three parts like first lunch break, second is tea break. Both break time should be appropriate
so that employees will refresh them self well. The appropriate time for break is seen in the
performance of employees and they will engage more toward their work (Nangoli and et. al.,
2020).

Conclusion
From the above information it is concluded that companies are require to manage their
employees well so that they will perform better and increase the level of engagement. Managing
employees well will help in various ways like high employee engagement, good working culture
and many others. There are various key drivers of employee engagement like communication
and feedback, organisational culture and many others. These factors help to increase the level of
employee engagement. There are various diagnostic tool to measure employee's engagement like
employee survey, HR tools, employee life cycle and many others. It is also concluded that
employee value proposition is essential which describe to develop high value for employees for
working within any organisation. There are various kind of factors and strategies to develop
employee engagement like flexible working hours, reconstruction of roles and responsibilities
and many others.

References
Books and journals
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Delina, G., 2020. A study on the interrelationships between employee engagement, employee
engagement initiatives and job satisfaction. International Journal of Business
Excellence, 20(2), pp.242-268.
Khodakarami, N. and Dirani, K., 2020. Drivers of employee engagement: Differences by work
area and gender. Industrial and Commercial Training.
Lesener, T and et. al., 2020. The drivers of work engagement: A meta-analytic review of
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Nandan, S., 2020. Organizational Culture Dimensions as Drivers of Employee Engagement for
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