Dissertation: Employee Engagement on Staff Retention at Unilever

This dissertation investigates the impact of employee engagement on staff retention within Unilever. The introduction provides background information on employee engagement, highlighting its importance in fostering commitment and driving business success. The literature review explores the benefits of employee engagement, its impact on retention, and potential challenges faced by companies. The research methodology outlines the approach used to gather and analyze data, including data collection methods and sampling techniques. The findings and analysis section presents the results of the research, using questionnaires to gather responses, and evaluates the data. The conclusion and recommendations offer insights and suggestions for Unilever to enhance employee engagement and improve staff retention. The study aims to provide valuable information and strategies to help Unilever develop effective employee engagement initiatives and retain employees for the long term.

Dissertation
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Table of Content
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................5
Background of research...............................................................................................................5
Aims:............................................................................................................................................7
Objectives:...................................................................................................................................7
Research Questions......................................................................................................................7
Rationale of research...................................................................................................................7
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................7
Employee engagement at workplace...........................................................................................8
Benefits of employee engagement to Unilever organisation.......................................................9
Impact of employee engagement on their retention at workplace.............................................10
Different issues faced by Unilever company in employee engagement....................................11
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................12
DATA ANALYSIS........................................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.............................................................................28
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................30
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ABSTRACT
Employee engagement is something which is beyond employee satisfaction, oftentimes
employee engagement is somewhat provide ways through which the performance of an
individual can be increased. However, employee engagement is accountable for those who
embrace change, and take accountability for the work they do. Therefore, to understand the
impact of employee’s engagement in retaining staff members at workplace this research is
conducted. While doing a research, it is important that, primarily the researcher develop aims
and objectives. Basically, it is done to concise the broad area of research topic. After this,
starting with the introduction part, a brief overview about the employee engagement is given.
This is generally to develop a base regarding the topic so that understanding the concept could be
easier. Moving forward, an information about the company is provided likewise, when the
company was established, in what all products they are dealing, and so on. Talking about the
Literature review, this section plays an important role as it provides information collected from
various sources such as books, magazines, journals etc., thus, the LR part will help in developing
an understanding about the concept more briefly. For example, why it is important to engage
employees, how focussing on this factor can put an impact on internal environment of business.
Going more further in this, some of the issues that can be faced by a company in order to
maintain a proper engagement of employees is discussed. This will provide a basic idea about
what factors that should be consider while implementing any activities like employee
engagement. Suppose “lack of clarity”, this is a very common issue which most of the company
faces hence, this research will help in providing information regarding the elements through
which the issue can be looked after. Proceeding forward, the section of research methodology
comes. It is an important component of a research because it determines the process, factors, etc.,
which is required for further conduction of research, for example, sampling. While doing a
primary research, the research relies on the information obtained from a subset of population.
Here, research methodology comes in, as it helps the researcher in choosing the best possible
method of collecting sample, whether probability sampling or non-probability sampling
depending upon the criteria of the research. Moving forward this research, finding and analysis
will provide information about the data collected with the help of questionnaire. Moreover, based
on findings, analysis and all the above part will aid the researcher in getting a valid conclusion.
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Therefore, this research is conducted for providing adequate amount of information about
the undertaken company.
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Research Topic: Impact of employee’s engagement in retention of staff members at workplace.
INTRODUCTION
Employee engagement, in recent years has become one the important indicators for
evaluating work satisfaction. Nowadays, people are looking beyond 9-to-5 job, rather they are
searching for work which can build their skills and enhance knowledge, so that, it can be
beneficial for their future actions. Considering the fact, it is believed that employee engagement
determines the level of the commitment showed by the employee towards its company. Thus,
employee engagement is one of the elements which is driving the success of business towards
ups and downs. For instance, if the engagement of employees is high than, it will promote
retention of employees as a result, it will enhance the performance and value of the company
(Nazir and Islam, 2017). But if, the employee engagement is not proper than, it can lead the
company towards downfall. However, it is reported that despite taking employee engagement as
a crucial factor, most of the employees leave the job and disintegrate from work. The main
reason behind this is the lack of recognition by managers for the work an individual is doing,
poor communication, many more. All these actions show that, it is important that managers &
leaders instead of just incorporating elements of employees’ engagement they should build some
strategic objectives which can further help the company in engaging employees and also
retaining them for a longer period of time.
Background of research
The following report will help us in determining the impact of employee’s engagement in
retaining staff members at workplace. Moreover, for conducting this research “Unilever” is the
company which will be undertaken. “Unilever”, is a British multinational company found in the
year 1929 which was almost 91 years ago. The company deals in providing different products,
primarily, food, confectionary, beauty and personal care, pharmaceutical, healthcare and many
more. Majorly if we organise than the products provided by Unilever can be categorised into
three main divisions which are: Foods and Refreshments, Home Care and Beauty & Personal
Care. Including all these, Unilever, owns around 400 brands that are operated across the globe by
approximately 155, 000 number of employees (Unilever, 2021).
The initial part of the research i.e., introduction part will provide an overview about the
topic: employee’s engagement and how through this employee can be retained at workplace.
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Thus, based on the topic aims & objectives is formulated. Moving forward, a brief introduction
of the company will be included such as when the company was formed, products they offer,
much more. Therefore, the introduction part will help us in getting an insight about what the
project is and why it is being conducted. Moving forward, after the introduction part, there is a
section called literature review. In this section, researcher will discuss about the concept more
briefly. Researcher will try to establish a proper understanding about employee engagement and
why it is important for a company, followed by the identifying the benefits after successful
employee engagement. The impact of employee’s engagement can be determined on the basis of
level of retention. So, going further in the literature review, researcher will identify the impact of
employee engagement at workplace (Blinder and Gany, 2020). How it is not possible that,
company while implementing proper strategies related to employee engagement not faces any
issues. Thus, the last part of the literature review will help us in analysing some of the problems
faced by the company while establishing a proper activity related to employee engagement.
Therefore, we can estimate that after the introduction part, literature review will clear the concept
of employee engagement and retention more deeply. However, the entire part of literature review
will be based on information obtained from the textbooks, journals, articles published in
newspapers, & so on. Hence with all the information gathered from different sources, researcher
tries to compare and contrast the same under a structures and critical manner. After the section of
literature review, the research methodology will provide with an idea of methods that can be
used for doing the research in an ethical manner. For instance, information about the data
collection method that will be used for gathering information so that further proceedings of the
research can be done properly. Sampling methods to be used & how many respondents will be
appropriate for getting adequate information in order to make the research reliable and validate.
Going forward in the research, the section which is findings and analysis plays an important part
because here, the researcher will use a questionnaire for collecting the responses of respondents,
besides by evaluating the same, the researcher will try to find out a valid result. Therefore,
findings & analysis will determine the conclusion and recommendation which can be given after
evaluating the entire report.
Henceforth, this research will try to give ample information to the company “Unilever”
so that they can develop strategies & make certain objectives for engaging more employees and
meanwhile retaining them for a longer period of time.
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Aims:
To determine the impact of employee engagement in retention of staff members at
workplace. A study on Unilever organisation.
Objectives:
 To understand about employee engagement at workplace.
 To identify the benefits of employee engagement to Unilever organisation.
 To determine the impact of employee engagement on their retention at workplace.
 To examine the different issues faced by Unilever company in employee engagement.
Research Questions
 What do you understand about employee engagement at workplace?
 What are the benefits of employee engagement to Unilever organisation?
 What is the impact of employee engagement on their retention at workplace?
 What are the different issues faced by Unilever company in employee engagement?
Rationale of research
The main reason behind selecting current research is to analyse the impact of employee
engagement in retention of staff members at workplace. As it provides vast information towards
how employee engagement helps in retaining as well as attracting talented workers at working
area. In addition to this, current investigation is undertaking for researcher personal and
professional purpose. By undertaking current research investigator improve their skills and
knowledge that assist them in undertaking future investigation in an effective way. Furthermore,
it also helps investigator to develop their career growth in upcoming period of time
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review (LR), is determined as a search and evaluation in context with a
particular chosen topic. In-depth information provided in the literature review increase the
credibility to the existing body, and hence, create a platform where everybody can agree to the
knowledge. This present research report will provide an insight about the impact of employee’s
engagement, retention and how it influences the activities of workplace.
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Employee engagement at workplace
According to the viewpoint of Anthony‐McMann and et. al., (2017) employee
engagement is considered to be an approach at workplace that determines whether the right
working condition is provided to the members of the company or not by each passing day.
Appropriate employee engagement shows the commitment of an individual towards the values,
goals of an organisation, thus, develops a sense of belongingness towards the organisation. The
base of employee engagement depends upon the trust which is established between the employee
and the organisation itself. It’s a two-way commitment that helps the company in increasing its
chances of success. It will be right to say that, employee engagement can sometimes dramatically
increased, then can nurture the performance of an individual whereas, on the other hand it can be
poor because of which things can go wrong.
Significantly, employee engagement is about understanding the roles and responsibilities
towards the organisation whether the skills & knowledge is fitting the purpose & objectives of
the company. However, employee engagement is not only about having a clear understanding
about the purpose of doing work but it is also about the changes an individual does for doing
better in professional life. For example, while working in an organisation, it is important that a
person completely indulge as the member of a team besides must be inclined towards the
processes required for accomplishing the goals and objectives. Moreover, the person should be
present in offering ideas & thoughts in context to any decision to be made. Maintaining a good
level of employee engagement is not only confined to an individual instead the role of a
company is equally important. If the company regulates its activities such as developing new
skills, giving proper recognition to employees, then, substantially a positive outcome can be
expected. (Lianto, Eliyana and Fauzan, 2018) Thus, an individual should take pride in
performing its activities and must have a spark of going extra mile in order to finish the task.
However, sometimes employee engagement is misunderstood as a mechanism approach where
managers or leaders think that by just manipulate the commitments and emotions of an
individual for the sake of gaining maximum profits because such attempts can lead to
disillusioned results. Moreover, a company should have a proper strategic plan also must
implement the same systematically.
Over the period of time as the approach of doing business has changed, the company
should also see employee engagement as something which is beyond a “cool-looking foosball
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table” where pretending the strategies about flexible working hours is more than enough for
bringing employees to work (Uddin, Mahmood and Fan, 2019). Moreover, company should find
out ways through which employees can be motivated for giving their best, because a positive
attitude of an employee will not only add value to the organisation but will also help the
organisation in embracing the reputation and outlook.
Benefits of employee engagement to Unilever organisation
As per the thoughts of Turner, (2019) a vibrant and sustainable company through
sustainable efforts always finds a way to make all its employees personally engage with the
work. Employee engagement increases the percentage of profitability, at the same time it
decreases the turnover rates. Most of the time, people mix employee engagement with employee
satisfaction however, it is inter-related but there is a silver lining between both the factors and
the company has to identify this silver lining. Below are some of the points related to the benefits
of employee engagement which can be gained by Unilever.
Better quality and great productivity: Proper engagement of employees means proper
use of skills, which means the percentage of mistakes is likely to be less, thus, achieving
excellence is more. As a result, the company is more prone to give better quality of results.
Today, in order to get success businesses are required to make some kind of innovations in their
processes. For example, Unilever, can prioritise the consistency of work by recoding the real
time feedback. this will encourage employees for taking new challenges by allocating better
ideas and solutions. Therefore, all the activities will lead to have an increased productivity (Six
Proven Benefits of engaged employees & why this matter, 2021).
Better team performance and low risk of burnouts: employee engagement is not
limited to an individual, instead whole team can be benefited if there is proper engagement of
employees. It is believed that, when a company have a group of employees who are fully
engaged then working together bring out a high level of performance. Thus, surrounded by
motivated team members are likely to drive the action towards better team performance and
develops the personality of an individual as a whole. When we work in as a team it is obvious
that the workplace stress is successfully managed hence, the situation of burnout is eliminated,
because now a days workplace burnout is becoming a serious issue, and as a consequence it is
increasing the turnover rates of the company.
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High employee retention and lower turnover rates: if a company wants to build a
high-performing team then it is crucial that managers stick around eligible employees, because it
is hard to swallow the fact that when an experienced person or employee leave, they take all the
knowledge and valuable acquaintance along with them. Thus, company should satisfy the
objectives and desire of employees in order to make the individual associated with the company
for a longer period of time (Tanwar, 2017).
Henceforth, engaging employees is very essential for creating a sustainable business
because workers are the one who can bring passion into work by showing their presence. With a
proper engagement of employees, a better performance can be gained even in the most
competitive environment.
Impact of employee engagement on their retention at workplace
According to John and et. Al., (2019), employee’s participation is referred as a process of
creating a favourable work environment where employees can feel comfortable, and demosntrate
their capability of doing their best. This shows that employee involvement entails more than
simply having a wonderful or pleased staff. While pleasure is a key aspect in performance
management, components such as communications, teamwork, and wellness must all be handled
in order to realize employee objectives. Workers whom were involved with their job and their
organization are much more effective even though they are inspired by reasons other than
personal ones. They seem to be more concentrated and determined that their inattentive peers.
This implies they work more effectively although with the organization's success in
consideration. Organizational culture has shown to lower employee turnover, increase the overall
efficiency, enhance customer service and engagement, and increase revenues. Finally, having a
motivated employee makes things simpler to run a firm and allows company to focus on things
that add more value, including such invention, product development, and training. Others
describe employee engagement as that of the level of dedication a worker has to their company
and the organization's performance. Other thing to think about it is how much a country knows
about their profession. If a person is happy to come to work and the firm they represent, they will
do well on any measurement of involvement.
Employee engagement is a workplace strategy that encourages workers to continue
dedicated to their organization's goals and to give their all at working. It could be simply
described as the extent to which personnel are interested in their jobs and puts in the amount of
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time and effort required to complete a task. Workers that are interested are more driven and
effective than their competitors. There are some impacts of employee engagement over their
relation at working area:
 Satisfied and happy employees: Organizational culture is one of the many strategies for
increasing job characteristics happiness. Employees who are involved are more satisfied
with the job than those who are not. Focusing on employee satisfaction contributes to the
development of a positive work environment, which fosters organizational success.
Workers that are satisfied with the overall obligations put in more effort and increase
their overall performance.
 Improved customer experience: An organization's value is always increased when it
takes a customer-centric approach. Putting an emphasis on employee engagement
allows to bridge the gap between where the firm behaves its personnel as well as how the
workers are supposed to know their employees. Employees that are motivated are
happier, and consequently give a better customer experience.
 Innovative work approach: Employees become disengaged and lose interest as a result
of repetitive duties. When company focus on employee involvement and create a
demanding workflow for the workers, their approach in order to achieve organizational
goals improves. Workers are more willing to take a creative method to attain their
objectives.
 Increased employee productivity: Employees who are engaged are innovative and
constantly have a few suggestions on how they may improve. Their cooperative and
passionate attitude about work enables individuals to achieve their working objectives
more easily, resulting in enhanced work performance.
Different issues faced by Unilever company in employee engagement
As per view point of Sánchez-Cardona and et.al., (2020), because of the continuous
nature of the human capital, they are amongst the most important aspects in every business. In
today's high competition, it takes a lot for any company to stay healthy, and one factor that might
make all the difference is organizational culture. Organizations spend a lot of money on
personnel recruitment and selecting. Employee involvement is not a one-time event with a few
benefits and bonuses, but a continuous process that includes job happiness, job performance, and
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efficiency and productivity. In this context, there are some major issues that company is facing
while employee engagement:
 Lack of clarity: The first hurdle usually appears is a lack of understanding among all the
managers and customers. People link involvement with a variety of notions such as
employee satisfaction, pleasure, strong employee satisfaction, and on and on, it is so
much more. An employee engagement is content with their occupations, resulting in
increased production and loyalty towards the organization. They remain committed to
their workplace or their employment, and they refer others as well. Educate leadership
and employees on the notion of employee involvement as well as what it entails using
methods such as trainings, conferences, discussion groups, and so on.
 Lack of work- life balance: Many firms disregard the importance of employee harmony,
assuming individuals to prioritize their job throughout most circumstances. A healthy
business balance is essential for having workers to operate at its peak efficiency.
Incentives including on gyms, flexible work schedules, offshore work, and so on let
members feel that leadership cares about employees. A happy team and a rewarding
working environment led to a successful firm.
 Lack of insight or commitment the top management: There seems to be a lot that goes
into keep the business running, and it can be tough to emphasize principles like employee
involvement through more concrete difficulties. It takes a lot of preparation to keep the
conversation dependable and consistent among different levels of the organization, and
the infrastructure needed may not have been in place. Connect the organization around
for a cohesive corporate plan that prioritizes employee productivity and a healthy work
environment.
 Growth and recognition: Employees leave their jobs for a number of reasons, one of
whom is a lack of recognition. A culture that doesn't even encourage awards and
recognition marginalizes employees, ignoring is among the most basic demands of social
acknowledgment. Workers also decide to seek jobs that hinder their advancement and
keep them in the very same dull field of business.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is referred as a systematic process that help investigator to solve
specified issues. Basically, it includes describing, evaluating as well as predicting phenomenon
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