Research options for measuring and addressing employee engagement issues at CapraTek and then write a 2-3 page internal memo for the leadership team to propose possible actions. Use the information in the interactive learning module to give you the scenario at CapraTek.
Today’s employees have the expectation that their job will be more than a place of work where they will spend a minimum of 40 hours a week. HR professionals pay attention to all facets of the employee experience, from what it feels like to be recruited, to the step-by-step process of onboarding a new employee, and ultimately to how an employee separates from the company. The stages that employees go through during their career in your organization are known as the employee life cycle.
Multiple people are responsible for ensuring employee engagement throughout the employee life cycle in an organization, including managers and HR professionals. Many organizations are measuring employee engagement via different tools and strategies because they are aware of the potential ROI (return on investment).
HR professionals should anticipate a need before it actually happens in the organization, at least to the greatest possible extent. As the managers of the organization’s most valuable resource—people—even the smallest negative influences can have a major impact. Part of anticipating these needs is knowledge of employee engagement and the Gallup model of the employee life cycle. Then, HR pros need to be able to research the situation and provide leadership with options for a solution to the employee or workplace issue the organization is facing. This assessment takes the learner to the HR role, having to respond to a situation that introduces one of a group of first line supervisors who are not sufficiently engaged with their direct reports.
Scenario
Be sure to read the background for this scenario in the interactive learning module for this assessment.
Currently, CapraTek is experiencing what senior leaders in the organization consider poor engagement. In some cases, supervisors and managers are disconnected from their subordinates. Some leaders are being seen as insensitive to their direct reports’ professional needs and desires. Based on information gathered, gossip, and actual formal complaints, many employees say they don’t see their first line supervisors as invested in their futures, so they only focus on getting work done.
Among the many supervisors at CapraTek is Karla, whose employees and others have recently approached the HR department about the lack of connection, recognition, and professional development offered from first line supervisors to employees. Karla has a history as a good supervisor; she’s quite shy and reserved and supports her employees, but she is not really engaged with them and spends way too much time in her office. She avoids making contact with her direct reports and has not nominated any of them for recognition in four years, something that every other leader in the organization does. These types of complaints have been repeated by the employees of two other supervisors in CapraTek.
Alley is an HR Pro at CapraTek, responsible for the organization that Karla and her employees are part of, and she is about to attend a meeting with senior leaders. The senior leaders have been doing a lot of chatting among themselves about employee engagement. Alley wants to be ready to ask the questions she knows are coming, and she wants to have a plan of action to present to senior leaders if they ask what strategy she is planning to use to address the employee engagement challenge. The HR Pros are now in a situation where they will need to collect information from employees about their attitudes and opinions on their supervisors, managers, and the leadership overall. Exactly how this will be accomplished is a major component of this assessment.
Your Challenge
As an HR professional at CapraTek, you have been tasked with putting together an internal memo that briefly describes the employee engagement issues that have been observed and options that the leadership team could consider to address the engagement issues in advance of a meeting with the organization’s leadership team.
Instructions
Write an internal memo of approximately 2–3 pages that an HR professional could use as a reference when attending a meeting with the organization’s leadership team. Include the following in the memo:
■ Format your paper as an internal memo that includes the following fields at the top of the page:
■ To, From, Internal Memo: CapraTek Employee Engagement, Date.
■ The rest of the memo can be written as a normal paper including an introduction, conclusion, and the following elements:
■ Describe the current employee engagement situation at CapraTek as observed from the material throughout the course.
■ Explain the stages in the employee life cycle according to the Gallup model.
■ Explain theories of motivation that lead to organizational commitment, employee retention and employee development.
■ Prepare a list of tools and practices that could be used to collect data about employee engagement at CapraTek.
■ What are the actions that could address the engagement problems?
■ Analyze what criteria would be present for you to know that employees at CapraTek are engaged and functioning as effectively as possible in the workplace.
■ What is the ideal state of employee engagement?
■ What would that look like in the day-to-day work of employees?
Submission Requirements
The deliverable for this assessment applies professional skills in Human Resources Management (HRM) to workplace situations which you will likely encounter in your day-to-day work in HRM. As part of your learning, we focus on the development of effective professional communication skills for the workplace.
○ Length of paper: Your memorandum should be 2–3 double-spaced pages, including the resources page.
○ Organization: Make sure that your assessment writing is well-organized, using headings and subheadings to organize content for the reader.
○ Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point.
○ Number of resources: A minimum of four course readings.
○ Evidence: Support your thoughts and ideas with data and/or in-text citations. Use current APA format for in-text citations and create a reference list at the end of your documents.
○ APA formatting: Resources and in-text citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
○ Written communication:
○ Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.
○ Write for a specific audience, using the vernacular of the profession.
○ Use spell-check and other tools to ensure correct spelling and grammar.
Scoring Guide Criteria
○ Competency 1: Apply models of employee motivation, growth, and engagement in the workplace to create the employee experience.
○ Describe the current employee engagement situation at CapraTek.
○ Explain the phases in the Gallup employee life cycle and theories of motivation.
○ Competency 2: Analyze the ways in which culture, employee, and leader behavior impact strategic retention.
○ Analyze what criteria would be present in the workplace for you to know that employees at CapraTek are engaged and functioning as effectively as possible in the workplace.
○ Competency 4: Design practices that impact the employee life cycle and generate positive employee and organizational outcomes.
○ Create a list of possible tools and practices from the field that could be used to assess and address employee engagement at CapraTek.
○ Competency 5: Communicate clearly, accurately, and professionally in the Human Resource Management field.
○ Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.
