Employee Engagement's Role in Workforce Retention at Virgin Media

This dissertation investigates the relationship between employee engagement and employee retention at Virgin Media. It uses a qualitative research approach with interpretive epistemology, collecting data through questionnaires from Virgin Media employees. The study explores various themes related to employee engagement, such as employees' willingness to accept change, take on new tasks, help each other, and their overall commitment to their work. The findings suggest a link between employee engagement initiatives and improved retention and performance at Virgin Media. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for implementing employee engagement strategies to enhance organizational progress. Desklib provides access to this document and a range of AI-powered study tools for students.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN RELATION TO
RETENTION AT VIRGIN MEDIA
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I declare that this dissertation is the result of my own independent investigation and that
all sources are duty acknowledged in references and appendices.
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ABSTRACT
A lots organizations are in need of initiatives to improve the performance and progress
and take over their competitors. Although there is an important outcome on organizational
performance by training workers by learning and development and keeping them. Main point of
this study is to find the proof of such effect of workers engagement in organizational.
This study shows employee engagement in relation to retention at Virgin media in an
organization. The study was based on theory with an approach to show retention with
engagement. It is a qualitative research with interpretive epistemology. The research was
collected with questionnaires. Virgin media employees completed the questionnaires where 10 of
the workers filled in the questionnaire.
The study shows the link between employee engagements in relation to retention of
performance in Virgin media. The effects show the different variable insights of the workers.
While there is no employee engagement initiative established to work for all organizations, but
the research have shown it is worth seeing for better organizational progress. Furthermore, this
study shows recommendations for applying employee engagement initiatives for more study
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................6
1.1 Background and rationale......................................................................................................6
1.2 External content.....................................................................................................................7
1.3 Internal content......................................................................................................................7
1.4 Background to the host organization.....................................................................................7
1.5 Aims and Objectives..............................................................................................................8
1.6 Limitations and Ethical considerations..................................................................................8
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................................9
2.1. Meaning of employee engagement.......................................................................................9
2.2. Factors that promote employee engagement in a company..................................................9
2.3 Effect of employee engagement on workforce retention in a company..............................10
2.4. Strategies that can improve the employee engagement concept in Virgin Company........11
2.5. Relationship of employee engagement on the performance of the organization................12
2.6. Summary of Literature Review..........................................................................................13
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................................................14
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................14
3.2 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................15
3.3 Research Approach..............................................................................................................16
3.4 Strategies and choices..........................................................................................................16
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3.5 Data Collection....................................................................................................................17
CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.......................................................................17
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................17
4.2 Results from questionnaire..................................................................................................18
Theme 1: Employees in Virgin are ready and willing to accept the change.............................18
Theme 2: employees are willing to take new task in Virgin.....................................................18
Theme 3: Employees in virgin are ready to help each other as and when it is required...........19
Theme 4: Some workers in Virgin are able to identify the challenges and opportunities related
to future......................................................................................................................................20
Theme 5: Employee working in Virgin always keeps working on even in hard times.............21
Theme 6: Different situations are adopted quickly by employees working in Virgin...............21
Theme 7: Employees are completely focused towards their work............................................22
Theme 8: Employees are determined enough to give their best in Virgin everyday.................23
Theme 9: Employees working in virgin are so involved in their work that their day get passed
easily..........................................................................................................................................23
Theme 10: Employees working in are excited about their work...............................................24
Theme 11: Majority of the employees feel completely involved in their work........................24
Theme 11: People working in Virgin are inspired to meet organizational goals......................25
Theme 12: Virgin is dedicated towards diversity and inclusiveness.........................................26
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Theme 13: People working in Virgin are aware that their efforts and work impact
organizational goals...................................................................................................................27
Theme 14: The culture developed by Virgin is satisfactory......................................................27
Theme 15: The fiscal well-being of Virgin is stable.................................................................28
Theme 16: Virgin is accomplishing its corporate social responsibility.....................................29
Theme 17: The work carried out by Virgin positively impact life of people............................29
Theme18: Most of the employees believe that their job is secured within Virgin....................31
Analysis.....................................................................................................................................31
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................33
5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................33
5.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................34
CHAPTER 6 PERSONAL REFLECTION..............................................................................................35
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................36
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background and rationale
Employee engagement is often one of the most challenging aspect for today's business
establishments who are continually required to operate as per the changing trends and agenda of
their marketplaces. Engaging employees is considered to be driving force to attain constant
success in the business where it assists in getting competitive benefit in the market Bal, Kooij
and De Jong, (2013). It is not only referred as a prime agenda of large business enterprises but is
together considered as a beneficial element for small to medium size businesses. It is basically to
encourage the workers to take part in set of activities at the workplace in relation to decision
making practices. It is with another key element of the Human Resource Management (HRM)
where it is a responsibility hereby to encourage the employers to involve their set of workers in
the process of decision making.
The purpose of this research is to explore the beneficial issues of employee engagement
in relation to provide a substantial advantage in the marketplace. It is a fundamental factor of
achieving competitive advantage in marketplace. It is important for organisations where they are
striving to operate at a worldwide level and need to apply more than one of strategy Mone and
London, (2014). Employee engagement is also based on similar set of factors with a principle
responsibility of managerial bodies. It is to inspire workers to take part in the ongoing activities
of their workplace where this study is primarily carried out to establish some large measures of
employee engagement.
In relation to employees engaging in the decision of making procedures is referred to be
the most productive and efficient practice by the HRM. Employee engagement is fundamental in
the workplace it results in attaining high level commitment from the employees by motivating
them to work to set of work target given Saks and Gruman, (2014). This study is too carried out
to discover future means of employee engagement in Virgin Call Centres. It is to find out
whether they are any possibility of applying it to benefit them with organisational goals and
targets.
This study is based on subject matter of employee engagement to discover its existence in
Virgin Call Centres. It will hereby tend to outline a vital relationship among the concept of
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employee engagement with that of its varied abstract means that supports in holding the efficient
set of workers for a long time period. A leading principle behind this study is one of its
determined clause of retention where a rising rate of employee turnover and absence can lead to
be a leading issue in present set of business Breevaart, (2014). As a result, to which, huge
number of research have carried out a similar set of study. However, it prime focus was
considering the issue of retention with a simple intention of referring to some other conceptual
problems like employee turnover and absenteeism. Present survey has focussed on concern of
framing and other relative benefits of employee engagement with an importance of getting
success in the future.
1.2 External content
This is in regard to specify the validity of the study where it is broadly linked to the
extrinsic means of research. A valid set of study is proven by its implicated resources that has
been opted at the time of making research. In context to which, the investigator in the present
survey has referred to determine the role of employee engagement to impact upon the retention
of employees in an organisation with a special context of Virgin Call Centres. For which, some
principle measures of data collection has been used by the surveyor over here as a way of
collecting liable set of data. The primary data sources usually necessitates the researcher to
directly interrogate the respondents of the study where in the present investigation, the managers
can be scrutinized by the surveyor by conducting a focussed group interview and probing them
with the help of a formulated questionnaire. Whereas, the secondary sources of data collection
postulates the researcher to gather apt information from certain authentic resources such as
books, journals, magazines, online publications and governmental reports, etc.
1.3 Internal content
It is basically with reference to discourse upon the reliability of the investigation by
referring to the tools adopted by the surveyor to carry out the study in a directional manner. In
context to which, the researcher is hereby required to opt from the most appropriate
methodologies. It will fundamentally represents as a mean of conducting a considerable study
with an ultimate achievement of its projected aims and objectives
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1.4 Background to the host organization
The background shows overview of Virgin Call Centres where it is an essential part of
Virgin Media. It is a subsidiary cooperation of Liberty Global that is actively operating in the
industry of telecommunications and mass media from last 10 years. It is currently headquartered
in Hook, Hampshire of UK and is working with more than 14, 004 number of employees at
present. Virgin Call Centres it serves as a base to the customer service department.
1.5 Aims and Objectives
This part is to outline the leading aims and objectives of the present research work where
these are the areas showed below-
The aim of this study is “To critically define the role of employee engagement in relation
to retention of employees in a company: Virgin Call Centres.”
Below show the objectives of this study that are based on the preceding intent of the
survey along with some framed questions for carrying out the research-
Research Objectives
● To study in detail about the concept of employee engagement in Virgin Call Centres.
● To ascertain the factors that promotes employee engagement in Virgin Call Centres.
● To understand the effects of employee engagement on workforce retention in Virgin Call
Centres.
● To suggest appropriate strategies for improving strategy of employee engagement in relation
to motivate employees of Virgin Call Centres.
1.6 Limitations and Ethical considerations
There exists varied limited factors that are being dealt by the investigator at the time of
carrying out a study that mostly involves a constricted time span and a restricted budget. It is
therefore important for the surveyor to opt for a planned way of study with some applied tools
like Gantt chart to foresee a timely submission of research. It is along with yet another proposed
tool to manage the funds required to be invested at the time of conducting the study by referring
to the method of activity based costing.
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Ethical consideration is yet another agenda while carrying out a survey as a mean of
assuring a moralised context of research. It is promptly associated with a prime concern of
defending the privacy of acquired responses from the respondents by together taking their pre-
approval to make a willing participation in the investigation.
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Meaning of employee engagement
According to, Gruman and Saks (2011) “employee engagement can be defined as a
positive attitude of employees at the workplace towards the organization and its value” It is
purported that an engaged worker is aware of business context and therefore work with other
team members to improve performance within the job and attain the objectives of business. In
this context, Macey et al., (2011) argues that “employee engagement is a kind of force that
motivates employees to perform the job roles at a higher level. It can be considered as a desirable
situation for a company which involves commitment, passion and efforts of the workers. This
aspect will show growth and decline in the organization. At the time of promoting employee
engagement within the workplace, it is important for the organizations to align HR and
management policies with each other so that existing staff can be motivated during their work.
Shuck, Reio Jr and Rocco (2011) have argued that employee engagement consists of
three areas: think, feel and act. Think is a cognitive commitment which defines an employees’
intellectual connection with the firm and gives supports in attaining the business aim and
objectives. On the other hand, feel is affective commitment explaining a strong emotional
connection of staff with the organization. In this, a team member can feel loyal, devoted and
have a sense of belongingness towards the enterprise. Act relates to behavioural commitment of
the employee in which they act as a support in the success of the company. Therefore, from the
above discussion on the employee engagement concept, it has been argued that it is the most
important part of business entity which aids in increasing productivity and profitability of the
organization through making significant contribution in respective areas.
2.2. Factors that promote employee engagement in a company
It is important for the company to design and communicate engagement strategy because
it is purportedly the essence to the key of success (Shuck, 2011). At the time of development of
any commitment tactics, an organization should consider workplace culture, leadership style,
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management methods and other facts as it increases the success rate of the business as compared
to its rivals. In the context of the above Welch (2011) argues that satisfaction of personal
motivators at the workplace is the biggest factor that promote employee engagement in a
venture. If the organization has not able to meet the needs of the workforce then it would be
difficult to engage them into organizational activities. So, it is important to fulfil the personal
motives of the employees to increase their engagement at the workplace.
But Robertson and Cooper (2010) has asserted that “clarity of job expectations in front of
the employees have promoted employee engagement in a company” (Robertson and Cooper,
2010,). If this expectation is not clear to the staff members and company has not provided
aspects that will enable an employee to complete their tasks such as the requisite knowledge and
any kind of equipment to complete the assigned work then it will affect their commitment level
(ref). Also, if the management provide opportunity of advancement in career path for the
workforce and start to involve them into the decision making process, then it will promote
employee engagement at the workplace (Wollard and Shuck, 2011).
As the quality of the working relationships with peers, superiors and subordinates reflect
the employee engagement level at working area (Wollard and Shuck, 2011). The good
relationship between the workers and employer helps in endorsing the cited concept at the
workplace. Likewise, dual consideration provided to the employees at the Virgin group may well
aid in promoting employee engagement in the enterprise.
Evidence would suggest that management has properly demonstrated the duties and
responsibilities of each individual clearly at the time of induction which aids the candidates in
better understanding of roles and duties of each of them towards the organizations success.
Moreover, the strong and positive culture being experienced at Virgin group is perhaps proof that
employee engagement is an imperative practices that directly affects its operations. These are
things that will need to be considered and investigated within the primary research.
2.3 Effect of employee engagement on workforce retention in a company
Crawford, LePine and Rich (2010) has asserted that “a well engaged employee is less
likely to leave the job” (Crawford, LePine and Rich, 2010). In case, the workers have no
emotional commitment to their jobs then the chances of leaving the job becomes higher. Various
research studies show that when employee engagement is low, the intention to leave the
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organization by workers increases (ref). This is the most important reason in the present time of
high employee turnover in every kind of companies in the world. In this context, Albrech (2011)
suggests that the best engagement strategies of a venture has attracted huge amount of the
personnel, Organizations have started to prepare different commitment tactics to increase the
engagement of the employees in the right manner.
This has made significant impact on bottom line of company and gain more loyalty of the
staff members with the time. By supporting the above statement, Markos and Sridevi (2010) has
explained that employee engagement has made positive impact on workforce retention in a
company (Markos and Sridevi, 2010). It has minimized the turnover of the workers and has
increased their commitment level with the business. Along with this, it has raised the footfall of
talented employees within the workplace that help in achieve the organizational objectives in
appropriate way.
The effects of employee engagement programmes may also be ascertained from the
current performance of Virgin group. Since, the company started the employee engagement
practices in the organizational setting, there has been witnessed less number of workers resigning
from the job. It also aid the enterprise in attaining its objectives through the means of high
amount of profitability being ascertained in the past period. Moreover, the customer became
highly satisfied when the employees got engaged at work. The reason behind this is increased
productivity and delivery of quality services to the customers (Ongel, 2014). This again needs to
be considered when analysing results from primary research.
2.4. Strategies that can improve the employee engagement concept in Virgin Company
According to Shuck and Wollard (2010) in order to make employee engagement
initiatives successful, it is important for the company to tailor to the unique needs and
motivations of staff members” On the other hand, Gruman and Saks, 2011 has stated that “by
proving the growth and career development opportunities, the cited firm should increase the
employee engagement” This strategy will enhance the skills and capabilities of the workforce in
the right manner. Along with this, by providing proper training and development opportunities to
the staff, management can enhance the commitment level of them in the right direction.
Apart from this, Macey et al., (2011) has suggested that “by giving recognition and
rewards to the employees, Virgin Company can improve employee engagement”. Therefore, the
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