1. Scholarship-
Assignment1-
Engagement
Programme
August 24
2013
The followingisanassessmentof the conceptof employee engagement
and itsimportance withasuggestedprogram designtailored
specificallytoMcDonald’s Ireland. Thisengagementprogramissystem-
wide andincorporatesexistinginitiativesinthe companythatare
conducive toengagementatall levels.Myresearchincorporates
professionalpractitionerandacademic literature,referenced
accordinglyinthe bodyof the text andthe bibliography.All wording
and analysishereinismyownwork.
An Holistic
Approach to
Engagement

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Table of Contents
What is Engagement? ...........................................................................................................2
The Value of Engagement ....................................................................................................3
Engagement and Disengagement are contagious.......................................................... 4
A Comprehensive Strategy..................................................................................................5
Getting the right data........................................................................................................5
Communication................................................................................................................... 6
Focus on Management......................................................................................................9
On Micromanagement....................................................................................................9
The Challenges...................................................................................................................... 10
Job Engagement ............................................................................................................... 10
Scale.................................................................................................................................... 10
Summary................................................................................................................................ 11
Bibliography........................................................................................................................... 11
What is Engagement?
Engagement has been defined in numerous ways (Saks, 2006) and often
interchangeably with other terms, like job satisfaction (Lockwood, 2007).
There is an important distinction but the two are related. Job satisfaction
simply refers to how happy someone is with their job or aspects of it
(Lockwood, 2007). We can put this aside; a happy employee is not
necessarily a productive or committed employee. Engagement on the
other hand, despite its many definitions, refers generally to how
committed an employee is to their job and their organisation. The extent
to which an employee is engaged determines how much they will apply
themselves to the job and work towards the interests of the organisation.
It’s important to note that we now have two subsets of Engagement,
identified by Saks (2006) as Job Engagement and Organisational
Engagement. This distinction will have considerable consequences for
McDonalds in particular, as we shall see later. Engagement yields good

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health, mental and physical, increased flexibility, increased productivity,
higher energy levels at work and enduring commitment to the job and
organisation amongst employees. Disengagement is the flip side of the
coin, manifesting in poorer health, disinterest in going the extra mile or
voluntarily working extra hours when needed, lower productivity, an
increased likeliness to leave the job, lower energy levels and cynicism at
work. This is often described as “burnout” or disaffection.
The Value of Engagement
The ideal outcome of effective HR is a situation in which every part of the
organisation, from the very top to the bottom, is committed to raising the
standard of their respective work and to the success of the organisation
as a whole. Engagement should be seen as “bang for buck” on investment
in employees. Engaged employees present with better productivity and
health (which relates directly to productivity), are roughly 90% less likely
to leave the organisation (retaining talent and continually making returns
on investment in training) than disengaged employees, and even make
significant contributions towards customer retention and customer
satisfaction (Lockwood, 2007).
While engagement relies partially on rewards, nearly all research points
towards the limitations of financial rewards with regards to improving
engagement. While increased pay or financial rewards for achieving
targets may increase productivity somewhat, it does not sufficiently
compensate the costs or lost opportunities that disengagement generates.
Lockwood’s 2007 report (see bibliography) shows remarkable data
revealing that disengaged employees can cost more than three times
more to a company on safety incidents alone (and seven times less likely
to have a safety incident that takes them from the workforce). She uses
MolsonCoors as an example highlighting a difference of more than
$2million on performance costs between highly engaged and poorly

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engaged teams. A good engagement program will assist McDonalds in
cutting costs while allowing the company to make the most of the current
job market. There is one more aspect of engagement that I will discuss
before going into the engagement program, so important that it deserves
its own heading.
Engagement and Disengagement are contagious
Engagement of an employee is contingent, more so than any other factor,
on the direct supervisor, the workers first point of contact with the
organisation. For this reason an engagement strategy needs to pay
particular attention to managers. A disengaged, or burnt out shift
manager or area leader is highly likely to disengage those working under
her, whereas an engaged manager operates as a role model, inspiring
others to strive to be as committed and willing to put in the extra effort
as she is. The problem for McDonalds is the knock on effect of
disengagement where managers are promoted from within the
organisation. Disengaged managers are less likely to show recognition for
the work of talented employees, disengaging those employees. With a
lack of commitment to the company and a likely intention to leave, such
employees are far less likely to increase their involvement in the
organisation by taking steps up the ranks, regardless of their capabilities.
This situation can deteriorate if spaces in management are filled by
“whoever’s left”. Despite the best intentions of the settled for’s choice,
that worker, despite prior commitment, can find themselves disengaged if
the challenge is too great. A significant cause for disengagement among
managers is an overburdening workload (Welbourne P. T., 2007). The
consequence is another disengaged manager, further disengaging
employees. The problem becomes endemic and the effects are costly.
The above should be seen as a worst case scenario, one which we will
work towards avoiding at a minimum cost for maximum returns, using HR

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initiatives that are already in play. Because of the importance of
management in cultivating engagement, they should be the prime target
of the program. Unless stated otherwise, from here on in, the term
‘employees’ refers to both management and labour.
A Comprehensive Strategy
Getting the right data
Having accurate and up to date data can be the difference between
success and failure of this engagement program. Fortunately for us,
McDonalds already has the infrastructure in place to attain this
information; employee surveys and RAP sessions.
The surveys should be augmented to shift the focus from satisfaction to
engagement. The questions should be directly relevant leaving as little
room for ambiguity as possible. We should consider asking direct
questions, which leave lower room for misinterpretation for both the
person completing and analysing the questionnaires, such as;
 Do you care about the restaurant achieving its targets?
 Does work have a positive or negative contribution to your well-
being?
 Do you want to succeed in your job?
o Etc.
The right data will allow us to focus our efforts where most needed and
help us identify any barriers to engagement. The focus should also be put
on organisational engagement, one’s commitment to the organisation,
over job engagement, the reasons for which shall be explained later.
RAP (Rapid Planning) sessions should be targeted based on the results of
our surveys, with restaurants scoring low for overall engagement getting

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priority. RAP sessions, too, need to shift focus to engagement. RAP
sessions have been defined as engaging everyone involved in a project in
planning and contributing to the project (Thomsett, 2002). The project for
us is ‘The Engagement program’. RAP sessions also give HR direct
feedback on what’s going on and brings everyone in attendance into the
fold. Let employees know that there is an engagement program at these
RAP sessions, communicate our goals and ask them for contributions. Like
the questionnaires, RAP sessions should help us understand how engaged
employees are and what, if anything, holds back engagement in each
individual restaurant.
Communication
Engagement simply cannot exist without effective communication up and
down the organisation. We need to consider both what and how we
communicate information. For example; it may be counter-productive
with a view to engagement to inform disaffected workers about labour
reduction targets whereas it can be very beneficial to inform engaged
workers about increased sales targets.
This program, with regards to surveys and RAP sessions, involves
responding to the data received. Some employees currently believe that
surveys and RAP sessions are pointless, and change nothing. Whether or
not this is true is irrelevant. The perception is enough to disengage
employees (Welbourne, 2008). If the results of surveys and RAP sessions
and changes brought about where appropriate are not clearly expressed
then they can be missed. Any beneficial changes are not automatically
connected to our efforts in the minds of employees. The feeling of not
being listened to is a key indicator and cause of disengagement. It is not
necessary to disclose all the findings of the surveys, but acknowledging
what employees have communicated will foster organisational
engagement. Make it clear that we are all in this together and that their
contribution in the survey and RAP sessions is duly noted and valuable.

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The current practice is to inform employees of targets. This is a very
prudent move, but to further engagement, we must also ensure that
results are communicated, even if they fall short of targets, in the same
way and with as much importance. This is probably the greatest extent
that we can cultivate job engagement in McDonalds; by showing people
what their work has accomplished. It is through communication that we
can reward employees (at every level) too. By paying attention to the
results of employees work we can show gratification in a meaningful and
specific way that is unlikely to be confused for passive tokenism. This
should be done from the very top to the very bottom. The results should
become visible immediately with appreciation feeding back up through the
organisation, both as an increase in goodwill and improvement in sales
and performance.
How we communicate is another key issue for this program. In today’s
world people are bombarded with information. We have all learned to
filter through the noise to find what we’re looking for. We have to
consider that one poster in a crew room or on a bulletin board amidst
twenty others is more likely to go unnoticed. A concentrated effort should
be made to ensure that communications are streamlined and prioritised,
with the most pertinent and relevant information not getting lost among
notices gathering dust. I’d also like to draw attention to a letter that we
received with smoothie vouchers earlier this summer. This was a fantastic
initiative. Despite being mass produced, it was addressed to each
employee, making the communication more personal. The fact that it
came in letter form also made it stand out. With digital media becoming
the norm, a communication in the form of a letter has a higher
significance. As the letter (subtly) asked for a collective effort to make the
smoothies a commercial success, we should incorporate a follow up letter
to inform people of how well the initiative worked, rewarding success and
requesting a further effort if sales are below expectations. Further, letters

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may be the best way to communicate critically important information, due
to their rarity, exclusivity and because they are not competing with the
same volume of information present with digital communication or
posters.
While OurLounge.ie is a good initiative, it is important to recognise its
limitations. It is an effective way to make information available but it is
far from a reliable way to impress the information on the employee. As
most people are now immersed in the internet in their day to day lives,
they have learned how not to see the information in the sidebar and to
filter out all but the necessary information. There is not much that can be
done about that, and we shouldn’t be worried. However, if we want
include OurLounge.ie in our program to further engagement (the Livin’
Well and Lovin’ it program should also be incorporated); we shouldn’t rely
solely on its presence on the net. Where our information points to poor
work/life balance or the perceived ill effects of work on well-being among
employees further, targeted, efforts should be made to increase
awareness of this program in relevant restaurants and offices via poster
communications and RAP sessions. This is great for engagement as it
effectively says “we are listening and we care about you”.
Person to person communication is also vital in achieving widespread
engagement. Once again, McDonalds has already provided what is
necessary to make it work. I refer here to the People Promise card of the
‘message to new employees’ set. Particularly all the sections under the
heading of Communication (open door policy, provision of information
regarding amendments, quarterly crew-management meetings and
opinion survey) and the first point under the heading of Your Working
Conditions, which states that ‘Everyone in the team will be treated with
respect and courtesy by the crew and managers in the restaurant’. We
need to uphold these promises in our program to attain optimal
engagement.

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Focus on Management
As stated earlier, management plays the largest role in engagement and
should be the primary focus of the engagement program. Welbourne
(2007) highlights the fact that engagement programs could be wasted if
leaders in an organisation are not themselves engaged. We need to
ensure that we have the right conditions for engaged leaders. It is
important that managers benefit from everything we have discussed so
far. We must strive to ensure that managers are not overworked, that
their targets are realistic and that they have access to assistance in so far
as is possible for the company to provide.
As we focus our efforts on managers, it should be clear what we expect in
return. They should be committed, responsible, honest, caring and
respectful with regards to their subordinates and effective at helping
everyone achieve their best. If managers are found to continually foster
disengaged employees we need to consider re-training or re-appropriating
them from being a representative of the organisation to employees.
On Micromanagement
Micromanagement is a waste of human resources, having a manager
engaged primarily in doing a subordinates job and as a result ineffectively
doing their own. If there is an outright enemy to engagement, it is
micromanagement. This cannot be overstated. It creates resentment for
and damages trust in both co-workers and higher ups and is detrimental
to effective teamwork. It does not generate mere disengagement, it
creates enmity. Serial micromanagement is either conscious bullying on
part of the manager or pathological behaviour. Considering how
destructive it is in the workplace, all steps up to and including dismissal
should be on the table for due diligence (Chambers, 2004).

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The Challenges
Job Engagement
Thus far, job engagement has been on the backburner. The reality is that
due to the strict regimentation in the operating procedure for making and
delivering our products, the job on the labour level is at a disadvantage,
particularly in the kitchen, with regards to engagement. Conducive factors
to job engagement are levels of control and initiative available when
doing a job. Regrettably, the scope in which one can exercise these is
limited by the nature of the work (Schlosser, 2001). This is simply a
limitation we have to put up with. The best we can do is recognising
initiative wherever it is taken in accordance with food safety and QA
standards. We must make a concentrated effort to foster organisational
engagement to compensate for this. We should also encourage
recognition for people putting in the effort in secondary roles to mitigate
this factor. Due to the fact that the effects of both job and organisational
engagement are the same, a dedicated effort on everyone’s part will help
us overcome this obstacle.
Scale
The size of the program I have described is huge. It incorporates other
individual programs. It aims to affect the whole organisation; the concept
alone may, therefore, seem daunting or even untenable. I believe,
however, that McDonalds is precisely the company that can make this
work. As at every level of the organisation the question is asked “How can
we improve our customer’s experience?” HR management must answer
“by having committed, productive, happy and healthy staff dedicated our
collective success; how can we improve engagement?”
It will be no easy feat but it is certainly worthwhile, improving customer
service, talent retention, overall productivity and moral capital.

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Summary
The engagement program suggested should focus on gathering accurate,
up-to-date data to promote engagement through effective use of
communication, existing and future programs that foster engagement (ie.
Livin’ well and Lovin’ it, Scholarships, OurLounge.ie competition, etc.)
while identifying and overcoming obstacles to engagement. The goal is no
less than making McDonalds synonymous with engagement and reaping
the rewards in the process.
Bibliography
Chambers,H.(2004). My Way or the Highway:TheMicromanagementSurvivalGuide. Berrett-
KoehlerPublishers.
Lockwood,N.R. (2007). LeveragingEmployee EngagementforCompetitiveAdvantage:HR’s
StrategicRole. SHRMResearch Quarterly .
Saks,A. M. (2006). AntecedentsandConsequencesof EmployeeEngagement. JosephL.Rotman
Schoolof Management,CentreforIndustrialRelationsand Human Resources,University of Toronto .
Schlosser,E.(2001). Fast Food Nation:TheDark Sideof the All-American Meal.
Thomsett,R.(2002). Radical ProjectManagement. YourdonPress.
Welbourne.(2008).Are Employee SurveysDisengagingEmployees? Building High-Performance
Peopleand Organizations ,Vol1, pp.109-122.
Welbourne,P.T.(2007). Employee Engagement:BeyondThe FadandIntothe Executive Suite.
Leader-to-Leader.