Employee Engagement and Interpersonal Dynamics

Exploring the Employee Engagement Practices and their effect on

Interpersonal dynamics at ACCENTURE in COVID Pandemic

Group-07

Submitted by -

Abhinav Burman - PGP/13**/06

F Lalramnghaka - PGP/1314/06
Rishav lakra - PGP/13**/06
Sayani Ghosh- PGP/1350/06
Subash Godwin Panna - PGP/1354/06
Unnikrishnan S - PGP/13**/06
Project Title of the Project: Exploring the Employee Engagement Practices and their effect on
Interpersonal dynamics at ACCENTURE in COVID Pandemic.

Introduction

Employee engagement has turned out to be the utmost prominent primacies for
HR managers of several organizations in this current situation during the
COVID-19 pandemic as work-from-home has become the new norm due to
lockdown.

Organizations are developing innovative and effective means to engage the

employees during this challenging time.

Organizations have developed various employee engagement activities and

practices like virtual learning, online courses, online family engagement
practices, webinars with industry experts, online conduct weekly alignment
sessions, online team building activities, short online game sessions,
appreciation sessions, team meet‐ups over video conference for lunch, virtual
challenges and competitions, online career strategy workshops, online sessions
on mindfulness practices and implementing them and many more activities that
focus on creative learning.

These engagement activities that complement the work‐from‐home regime are

fruitful for the employees and the organizations. Those organizations doing these
kinds of engagement activities for their employees learn new skills to develop the
workforce and, in turn, develop the corporate environment. These activities have
led to efficient employee engagement, and the employees are feeling committed
to the organization. These activities have also supported the employees to stay
motivated during this challenging time of the COVID‐19 pandemic.

About the Company:

Accenture plc is a multinational company based in Ireland and provides

management consulting and professional services related to technology. The
Fortune Global 500 company had 569,000 employees and reported revenues of
$44.33 billion in 2020. In 2015, the employee breakup in different companies was
150,000 employees in India, 48,000 in the US, and 50,000 in the Philippines.
Accenture's current clients include 91 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than
three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500.
With its experience across the value chain, Accenture helps clients create
business strategies that arise not just from knowledge but from the practical
approach of doing it.

The methodology followed by Accenture involves an integrated model that

promotes 360° value creation. This methodology gives their strategists the
Accenture advantage. The advantages come from optimizing and running supply
chains, the experience of efficiently operating business functions, designing and
delivering technology, and building resilient operating models combined with
insights from data science, AI, and deep industry expertise.

The strategy of Accenture leverages this advantage in its work with the board of
directors, CEOs, and C-suite executives to create 360° value for shareholders
and stakeholders.

This benefit from this advantage is delivered by defining and answering their
most strategic business questions on topics like growth, profitability,
technology-driven transformation, M&A, operating models, and sustainability.

Literature Review

Various articles were studied to find how employee engagement activities can
affect the interpersonal dynamics of an entity. In order to compile this review, the
usage of the internet was salient to a great extent. Employee engagement can be
the workplace mindset instilled that encourages all the employees to provide the
best they can each day, dedicated to the company’s goals and values. So,
companies are well aware that engaged employees do contribute to better
productivity at work, which in turn leads to increased customer satisfaction and,
then eventually increase in revenue and profitability. The enhancement of
employee engagement can be fulfilled by different HR practices comprising of
job design, recruitment, selection, compensation, training, and performance
management (Vance, 2006)
Accenture’s internal polling reveals the fact that for the majority of its employees
across all generations, the ability to manage work-life issues will impact their
engagement and commitment to stay in the company to a large extent. To
ensure that this is dealt with, Accenture has developed numerous work-life
initiatives to give the employees the time and flexibility to them. It has always
been a priority to ensure that work-life balance is maintained amongst its
employees. These practices like Future leave, Flexible transitions, etc. proved to
be successful and have helped the employees in keeping up with their
engagement as well as in the retention of high performing personals. At
Accenture, the success of our people is everything (Sharon, 2008).

Various methods were proposed by Robison (2009) on how to deal with

employees during trying and difficult times, in order to keep them motivated and
engaged. Like, organizations must ensure that the employees are well aware of
what is expected from them, and make sure they are appreciated, taken care of
and encouraged for their personal development and dynamics.

After the pandemic strikes, many employees have been shifted to the
work-from-home regime. But work from home has drawbacks as they lack the
organization environment at their home, resulting in loss of concentration; plus,
many employees are not well equipped with the proper tools like pc, stable
internet connectivity, etc. Also, it has affected them psychologically as the rise of
the Covid – 19 cases make them question their job security and salary. These
factors have contributed to a decline in employee engagement in comparison
than before. So, it is the organization’s primary job to look after its employees’
well being and appropriately engage them wherever needed. (Nisha, 2020)
 IV. Research design
1. Purpose statement: To explore the Employee Engagement Practices and their effect on

Interpersonal dynamics at ACCENTURE in COVID Pandemic.

2. Techniques to be implemented for collecting and analyzing research. They are:-

Primary data :

Questionnaire- Survey from Linkedin, and other sources.

We did a survey to find out the relationship between the employee and the organization. Whether
they agree to a statement related to engagement or not.

The necessity of the survey was to get the data in the form survey was to generalise the data and
get the optimal analysis out of it .

Interviews

We interviewed the employees of Accenture in order to get the details about the work culture, the
employees and most importantly the employee engagement.

During our research on qualitative interview surveys, we specifically came down to the
conclusion that to successfully interview is to connect with another person on a very profound
level. The giving of one’s story is a deeply valued gift. The researcher has a responsibility to care
for and respect that gift and to use it as it was intended, so that others may benefit from the
participant’s story. One such example is given in the form of a schedule of a telephone
interview.

Donalek JG (2005) Demystifying nursing research: the interview in qualitative

research. Urologic Nursing. 25, 2, 124-125.
 The second phenomenon which we saw during was the probable objections for research while
interviewing the candidates. One of them was, I as Interviewer to be “space invaders”

Here, the participants “fight back” regarding the interpretations made by the researchers on the
topic of employee engagement in Accenture. One part of the schedule ( Refer to Appendix B)
explains it all, where the employee initially starts by agreeing to the interviewer but immediately
rephrases her answer.

Other objections like, “learning from the interviewee” were also checked.

Tanggaard, L. (2008). Objections in research interviewing. International Journal of

Qualitative Methods, 7, 15-29.

Secondary data

Research papers: Corbin, J., & Morse, J. (2003). The unstructured, interactive interview:
Issues in reciprocity and risks when dealing with sensitive topics. Qualitative Inquiry,
9(3), 335-35

We also focused on employee feedback on job portals like glassdoor, also.

For some information, the primary research was not enough, like any event before the employee
might have missed, or is not aware of, or never practiced some employee engagement. So, to fill
the gap, secondary research was required.

3. The method applied for analyzing collected details:

We used Pie charts for questions. We have a mixed set of questions, mostly qualitative based on
different types of likert scales depending on the questions. We analyzed that it's better to go with
more quantitative methods as it would be easier to find out what is the choice of the majority.

We also used Bar graphs in order to analyse the order of the preferences of the employees.
4. Assessing the activities with the interpersonal dynamics: We used the above mentioned data
collected from various methods and also asked specific questions related to interpersonal
dynamics during the one on one sessions.

V. Discussions
"Interpersonal dynamics" means the way in which a person's body language, facial expression,
and other nonverbal aspects support a verbal message in one-on-one, or interpersonal,
communication.
Thus in short engagement between one to one, one to many or many to many.
It is important for maintaining a positive ambiance at the workplace. Good leadership and
effective communication can play a pivotal role in building the ecosystem of strong interpersonal
relationships and a conflict-free workplace.

We have divided our survey into different aspects so that we can understand better.

1. Employee Engagement Index-

It is the measure of how much an employee is engaged in their job and their day to day
activity.Therefore, employee engagement is different from employee retention, which
measures the willingness to leave and job search behavior. This measure is also different
from employee engagement, which measures attachment to the company and the
company's vision as a great workplace.
promises to be fully affected by the employee's perceived offer, and directly affects the
possibility of them staying in the company or leaving the company. Therefore, the
resulting decline in employee participation rates may lead to eventual departures,
especially if employees believe that there is a disconnect between the organization’s job
opportunities and their own needs.
To measure this we have used questions like -
How likely are you to recommend our company to your friends?
How likely are you to nominate the company as “Best places to work”?
Do you look forward to coming to work each morning?
The responses were positive, and it seemed that employees are satisfied with the work and would
be willing to recommend this company to others.

2. Communication.
Communication is one of the main problems in the workplace. Creating and maintaining a
positive work environment is the meaning of effective communication in the workplace.
Communication in the workplace is one of the hallmarks of a high-performance culture. The
exchange of information and ideas within an organization is called workplace communication.
However, only by sending and receiving messages accurately can effective communication be
carried out. In all aspects of life (professional and personal), effective communication is
important for success and happiness. Effective communication in the workplace is at the core of
all business goals.
Why is communication in the workplace so important?
● Avoid confusion
● Provide goals
● Build a positive company culture
● Build accountability
To check this, we have asked certain related questions, such as -
Do you feel comfortable contributing ideas and opinions in our workplace?
Do you feel comfortable asking for help if you do not have the skills required to meet
your goals?
Thus we can see the employees are comfortable in putting their ideas forward, and this shows the
communication path is clear.

Now the point comes where they need to ask for help or specific assistance on certain tasks, this
also shows that they are comfortable in asking for help , assistance or specific training. This also
shows there is an open communication between the team members and also between the
employees and the managers.

But while looking into the current pandemic scenarios, we had asked them how the situations are
while people are working from home.We asked them if the engagement activities have increased
or not, whether they have implemented more activities or efforts to improve the engagement.
But there has always been a delay in communication, which could have been easily done in the
case of office work environment.

3. Work-life Balance

Work-life balance does not mean fair balance. Trying to arrange the same number of
hours for your various work and personal activities is usually futile and impractical. Life
is now and should be smoother than this.
Your best work-life balance will change over time, usually every day. The balance that
works for you today may be different tomorrow. When you are married or have children,
the correct balance will be different when you are single; when you are about to retire,
when you start a new career.
 There is no perfect, one-size-fits-all balance that you should strive for. The best work-life
balance is different for each of us, because we all have different priorities and different
lives.
To understand the balance we have asked a few questions, such as -
Do you get enough time to do your job well?
Do you feel stressed with deadlines and workloads?
Do you often find yourself working on weekends and holidays?
Do you think you're missing out on significant time with your friends and family?

According to the responses there are most people who sometimes work on their
weekends and holidays as per client requirements. But when we look into the specific
work from home situation, we see there is almost half the crowd saying that they have to
sit specifically extra hours because they are working from home.

Whereas looking into the stress factor , if they feel stressed about the deadline or the
workload, that seems to have a rather neutral approach, and a bit tilted towards
disagreement, this shows that there is a sense of wellbeing in matters of stress for
submission.
4. Personal and Professional Development

Personal development includes activities that develop personal abilities and potential,
build human capital, promote employment, improve the quality of life, and realize
dreams and aspirations.Personal development is a life-long process. It is a way for people
to assess their abilities and qualities, consider their life goals, and set goals to achieve and
maximize their potential.
Professional improvement is gaining knowledge to earn or preserve expert credentials
which include educational levels to formal coursework, attending conferences, and casual
gaining knowledge of possibilities located in practice. It has been defined as extensive
and collaborative, preferably incorporating an evaluative stage.
To assess this we have used questions like -
Do you understand how your role correlates to the company’s success?
Has your supervisor helped you to succeed in your position?
Do you think the company cares about your growth?

Regarding the goal alignment, there might be certain doubts , which can be the case of lack of
understanding. Though majority says that they strongly agree, there is a gradual decrease in the
response, it might mean that there are certain people who are not confident about this.
Talking about if the company is concerned about the employees personal growth or not, there can
be seen a huge response for yes, and also similar amount for maybe, and very less for no, so it
can be concluded, that the employees believe the company also works for the overall
development of the employees working.

That was in the context of the overall company , but when the focus shifts to only the
manager, there a shift in response pattern is also seen.
Employees are not negative about there managers but, there can be seen a significant number
who are not sure about their managers contribution in their growth .

Some of the Employee Engagement practices in Accenture

● Fun Fridays
● Mental Health Programs
● Daily Connect
● Town Hall meeting
● Traditional Attire Day
● Inter Team Competition

VI. Recommendation

Some of the Recommendations that we would like to give to the Accenture Company are of the
following :
★ Praise your Workers - Verbal, coupons or redeemable points.
★ Motivational Sessions.
★ Value Based Employee Recognition & Incentives
★ Measuring Real-time Employee Engagement .
★ Check on overtime working.
★ Empower Your Team with Purpose, Clarity, and Psychological Safety.
Conclusion -

We see that 57% of the people say that the Employee Engagement activities have improved in
the COVID times.
About 84% of the people have no fear of coming forward with their problems to the company.
And 50% of the responses suggest that they are getting enough time for their work and only 11%
feel that they are sitting extra hours that others.
#7 in Great Place to Work's Best Workplaces in Consulting & Professional
Services™ 2021
All the data shows that Accenture is doing a phenomenal job in their employee engagement
culture yet there remains a few chinks in their armor, and we hope they do their best in solving
those aspects.

Reference -

https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/documen
ts/employee-engagement-commitment.pdf
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/joe.20229
https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/115213/building-engagement-economic-crisis.aspx
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7536939/

https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/1000886

https://www.accenture.com/nl-en/blogs/insights/the-secret-to-boosting-employee-engagement-fo
r-millennials-and-gen-z
https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-77/Accenture-servicenow-workforce-transformation
.pdf
https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-142/Accenture-HFS-Top10-Employee-Experience-
Excerpt-Accenture.pdf
APPENDIX A
 APPENDIX B
SCHEDULE OF A TELEPHONIC INTERVIEW

Abhinav: Good evening, XYZ. I hope you’re doing well. We are conducting
a small survey from all the accenture employees related to the employee
engagement modules they practice and how they impact you as an
employee.Hence please cooperate with me in answering some basic
questions…”

Anonymous Employee: Sure, Abhinav. Go on, I will be happy to help.

Abhinav:I feel the employee engagement modules are not up to the mark in
Accenture. What are your comments?

Anonymous employee:“Yes, actually not upto the mark, you know, but they
are trying their best and after being through a personal experience, I feel, it
is. Especially when it comes to the work from home setup, it's totally
unprecedented. It is very structured and you know whom to connect to
next like the hierarchical chain of reach is clear and also me being a corona
survivor I know how I approached them and they completely supported and
cooperated with me even when we all are miles apart…”

Abhinav: “ I see, But do you feel comfortable communicating with your

peers and boss?”

Anonymous employee: “Absolutely like I said before, my peers do use a

different tongue but they are very helpful and they are always helpful and
available to help, so as my boss so whenever I ping them they reply if not
immediately but after some time but I can always communicate and get
help from them, to discuss my doubts and queries”

Abhinav: “What was the best engagement module that has helped you
especially in the midst of covid?”
Anonymous employee: “Yes, they try to keep us mentally healthy, so
mental health sessions are conducted from time to time and help lines are
there for us to reach out to any professional, for any medical help if we are
having any sort of mental issues or if you're stressed out, we can talk to
someone and we can give a feedback and it is taken as a very positive
way. It has actually helped me once when I was too stressed out and I was
suffering from covid and I told my supervisor and HR and they were like
fine, take leaves as many as possible to recover and we will manage. They
are really very supportive so whenever I want to take it despite working
from home they never say no..”

“ Other than that we also have special activities like different online or
indoor games and yoga sessions and treasure hunts and different
exercises from time to time as well…”

Abhinav: “ Thanks a lot for your insights, and thanks for taking out time and
cooperating with us”