Employee Engagement A Study with Special

reference to Postal Employees of Rural Areas

Dr. V.Vijay Anand
Asst. Professor, School of Management, SASTRA University, Thanjavur, TN - India
Dr. C.Vijayabanu
Associate Professor, School of Management, SASTRA University, Thanjavur, TN - India
E-mail: vijay@mba.sastra.edu
ABSTRACT
Employee engagement is a very driver in the organization to achieve the goal towards
productivity. EE is an emotional and psychological attachment of an employee within
organisational work environment. There are many factors are influencing employee engagement
in association with demographic factors. The researchers have identified some variables and
were grouped into one factor viz., Individual factor. Researchers have made an attempt to
understand the relationship between the demographic factors and individual factor. 100 samples
have been chosen for this study. The researchers have applied the statistical tools such as chisquare test, ANOVA and Regression.
Key Words: Employee engagement, Growth
Role Clarity, Productivity.

&

Development,

Discretionary

Effort,

I INTRODUCTION
Employee engagement is psychological involvement in the working place. It takes a
major role to obtain the objectives in time Warren (1990). Employee engagement can be
measured by the extent to which employees put discretionary effort into their work, in the
form of extra time, brainpower and energy Towers and Perrin (2003). Employee engagement
defines that it is a measurable degree of an employees positive and negative emotional
attachment to their colleagues, job and organization that profoundly influences their willingness
to learn and perform at work Scarlett (1993). Employee engagement can be achieved through
the organisational environment and culture and whereas positive emotions such as involvement,
acknowledgment and congratulate are promoted, resulting in improved organisational
performance and better turnover (Robinson, 2006).
II STUDY VARIABLES
1. DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE

Age
Gender
Income
Years of experience
Position
Area
Qualification

2. INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

Job
Co-Workers

 Superior
Department
Organization
Rewards and Recognition
Opportunities
Team work
Immediate supervisor
Output 1
Output 2
3. EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT (Gallup 12 Q)

Expectations

Materials and equipment

Opportunity to do what I do best

Recognition for good work

Someone at work cares about me

Encourages my development

Opinions count

Mission/Purpose

Associates committed to quality

Best friend

Progress

Learn & grow

.4. OUTCOME

Gassed-up

Confinement
III CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK
Demograp
hic
Vares
Gassed-up

Employee Engagement

Independent Variables
Job
Co-Workers
Communication
Superior
Department
Organization
Rewards and
recognition
Opportunities
Team work
Immediate
supervisor
Communication
Output 1
Output 2

Confinement

III STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Man power planning takes a major role in public sector especially service sector. Postal
employees were chosen to study their engagement level in different dimension. Though the lot
of resources and facilities are available in the Postal departments, how they are making use of
resources especially in rural areas? Henceforth, the researchers have chosen employees of postal
departments from rural areas of Thanajvur viz., (Thiruvaiyaru, Ayyampet, Papanasam &
Vallam). Employee engagement facilitates the organisation towards employees performance
and their speedy services in a better manner. If the Postal departments want to build a good
position in the competitive era, it is inevitable to enhance worthy employee engagement
strategies. This also meets out the competitions of private parties like courier services.
IV OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
To study the association between demographic variables of respondents and employee
engagement
To understand the variation between the individual factors and employee engagement
of postal employees of rural areas
To study the effect of individual factors on employee engagement
To study the relationship between employee engagement and career satisfaction as
outcome variable
To understand the effect of employee engagement and career satisfaction & retention as
outcome variable
V LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH
This study is restricted to India Post especially in rural areas. Researchers have chosen
100 samples from selected post offices of Thanjavur area. The results may vary according to the
perceptions and opinions of the respondents.
VI RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research is based on the analytical in nature. The primary data were collected
through the structured questionnaire with the sample size of 100 by adopting simple random
sampling and snow-ball method. The statistical tools such as chi-square test, ANOVA &
Regression analysis were applied to meet out the study objectives. The study variable have been
chosen in three dimensions viz., demographic variables, Individual variables, Employee
Engagement by applying Gallup 12 Q statements and Career satisfaction & Retention as
outcome variables.
VII HYPOTHESIS STATEMENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.

There is no association between the demographic factors and employee engagement.

Individual factor do not vary with the demographic characteristics of the respondents.
There is no significant effect of individual factors on employee engagement.
There is no relationship between employee engagement and outcome variables.

VIII LITERATURE REVIEW

Wagner, Patrice (2011), the researcher examined the leadership and employee
engagement. The researcher found the employee engagement and employment turnover.
Leadership effectiveness and employee engagement is major part of this study by the researcher
who found that some major traits that are influencing the employee engagement. In this article

they have examine on finding a relationship between transformational leadership and employee
engagement.
Coumont, Allison (2007) here the researcher is examine; Continuous communication is
a process of within this framework aimed at providing managers a consistent method across the
health authority to engage staff through scheduled conversation. And he finds the three themes,
growth & development, co-workers involvement and working environment and opportunities.
PS Newswire (2012): Employee engagement is the key to improving performance of
Employees who fail to fully engage themselves in their work. Employees are emotionally
involved with their concern and get more energetic enthusiasm to attain the goal of their
hospital. Further this research focuses on the job satisfaction, employee commitment and
organizational cultural change.
Mitchell, Jonathan I (2004) the researcher aims to investigate whether a relationship
exists between demographic variable and employee engagement. Results showed a positive
correlation between the employee engagements, therefore the empowerment supports their idea
to the employee engagement.
Johnson, Mark Alan (2005) The author investigate and examine the psychological state
of the managers. 5 scale model questionnaire is been used for the analysis. They have used
many tools to determine the efficiency of managers. And the overall result shows that the
employee engagement is more depending the concern.
Dobson, Sarah (2010): In this article the researcher argue that it is to improve the levels
of the employee, commitment and employee engagement takes a vital role to achieve. They
have taken 9000 samples in 17 hospitals and they used multiple regression method to find out
the state of the employees. Cross sectional analysis is done with the self report data.
Bullock, Brenda (2011): The author conducted an internal and external review of how
our people feel and developed a plan to address key areas of employee engagement, and found
how the employees are approach positively about the working culture.
Meyer, Miles (2011): This researcher discuss about the employee engagement
contribution in the external environment and leadership effectiveness. The author relates the job
and person with the employee engagement. And the researcher found that the employees are not
fully involved in their job. And he evaluate the solution for this analysis as by creating good
working conditions and then only the employees get engaged.
Aisha Juma A L Rasasi (2005): The researcher found the hr practices on employee
engagement in service sector: the author identifies the key drivers of employee engagement and
it has a great relationship between the financial results. The results show that there is a
significant relationship between the employee engagement and decision making, performance
reward systems and whereas training and career development and employee performance
appraisals are insignificantly related.
Rosemarie, Brantford (2011): This article talks about the employee engagement are
much beyond the organizational commitment. He also discusses about that the engagement will
not only work for being the attainment of organizational goal. Thus he found that alternatives
for the engaged workers, in order to achieve higher levels of employee engagement.
IX DATA ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION
Table No:1
Demographic profile of the respondents

1
.

Age (Yrs)

20-25

26-30

31-35

36-40

41 & above

17

40

47

24

11

Male

Femal
e

Female

57

82

82

Monthly
Income
(Rs.)

15000-20000

20001

25,000

25001

30,000

29

52

48

5
.

Experienc
e

0-5

6-10

11-15

16-20

20&abov
e

52

45

32

06

04

6
.

Position

High

Middl
e

Low

36

78

25

7
.

Area

2
.

Gender

3
.

30001&above
10

Rural

Urban
59

80

Source: Primary Data

The above table depicts that 30% of respondents were in the age group
of 36-40 years. The table also shows that 72% of respondents were male and the rest of
respondents were female. 61 % of respondents were married and the rest of respondents were
unmarried. 34% of respondents were in the monthly income group of Rs.10,000 to Rs. 20,000.
Table 5.1 also depicts that 43 % of respondents were in the middle level of employment
position. The majority of the respondents (39 % & 35 % ) have more experience such as 1-5yrs
and 6-10 yrs categories.
Table No:2
Chi-Square Test between Demographic factors and Employee Engagement
S.No

Factors

2 Value

Sig.

Decision

1.

Age

1.984

0.00

Reject

2.

Gender

75.25

0.02

Reject

3.

Monthly income

1.935

0.00

Reject

4.

Years of experience

1.870

0.00

Reject

5.

Position

1.072

0.00

Reject

6.

Area

53.686

0.32

Accept

7.

Qualification

2.834

0.09

Accept

(*= Ho accepted at 5% significance level)

Hypothesis (H0): There is no association between demographic factors of respondents and the
employee engagement.

From the above table it was found that null hypothesis is rejected (p<0.05) and it was
concluded that there is association between the demographic factors such as age, gender,
monthly income, experience, position of the respondents with the employee engagement.
The results also revealed that there is no association between the area and qualification of the
respondents and the employee engagement, since the null hypothesis is accepted.(p>0.05)
Table No:3
Employee Engagement and the Demographic characteristics
of the respondents One way ANOVA
S.No.

Demographic Factors

Sig.

Decision

1.

Gender

1.958

0.012

Reject

2.

Age

3.749

0.000

Reject

3.

Income

3.056

0.019

Reject

4.

Year of experience

2.251

0.034

Reject

5.

Position

2.653

0.136*

Accept

6.

Area

3.318

0.069*

Accept

7.

Qualification

6.110

0.173*

Accept

(*H0 accepted at 5% significance level)

Hypothesis (H0): Employee Engagement do not vary with the demographic characteristics of
the respondents.
From the table, the results reveal that the employee engagement do vary with the
demographic factors such as gender, age, income and experience of the respondents. (p<0.05)
The results also revealed that the employee engagement do not vary with the demographic
factors viz., position, area and qualification of the respondents (p>0.05).
Table No:3
Unstandardized Coefficients of Regression Model Independent factors - I
and Employee engagement
Predictors

S.No

Unstandardized Coefficients

Sig.

Std. Error

(Constant)

0.011

0.447

0.043

1.

Job

0.455

0.129

0.001*

2.

Co-Workers

0.304

0.136

0.027*

3.

Superior

0.110

0.128

0.394

4.

Department

0.127

0.135

0.047*

5.

Organization

0.151

0.100

0.033*

R = 0.757

R2 = 0.573

Hypothesis (H0): There is no significant effect of independent factors -I on employee

engagement
The above shows that the predictor variables such as rewards & recognition,

opportunities, team work and communication (p<0.05) are statistically significant towards
employee engagement. The table also shows that the variable, i.e., immediate supervisor is not
significant (p>0.05). The table also depicted the R and R2 values of the model. The R value
represents the simple correlation and is 0.794, which indicated a high degree of correlation
between the individual factors and employee engagement. The R 2 value indicated that 63 %
(0.630) of variance in dependent variable employee engagement, is explained by the
independent variables.
From the above table, it can be inferred that there are significant effects of independent
factors viz., rewards & recognition, opportunities, team work and communication on employee
engagement. The researcher also inferred that there is no significant effect of factor viz.,
immediate supervisor on employee engagement.

Table No:4
Unstandardized Coefficients of Regression Model Independent factors II
and Employee engagement

Predictors

S.No

Unstandardized Coefficients

Sig.

Std. Error

(Constant)

1.056

0.389

0.008

1.

Rewards & Recognition

0.109

0.109

0.027*

2.

Opportunities

0.489

0.106

0.000*

3.

Team work

0.333

0.099

0.001*

4.

Immediate supervisor

0.059

0.115

0.610

5.

Communication

0.175

0.093

0.048*

R = 0.794

R2 = 0.630

* = significance at 5% level
* (If the sig. of p is less than 0.05, and it indicates that the concerned factor is significant in the
model)
Hypothesis (H0): There is no significant effect of Independent factors II on employee
engagement
The above shows that the predictor variables such as rewards & recognition,
opportunities, team work and communication (p<0.05) are statistically significant towards
employee engagement. The table also shows that the variable, i.e., immediate supervisor is not
significant (p>0.05). The table also depicted the R and R2 values of the model. The R value
represents the simple correlation and is 0.794, which indicated a high degree of correlation
between the individual factors and employee engagement. The R 2 value indicated that 63 %
(0.630) of variance in dependent variable employee engagement, is explained by the
independent variables.
From the above table, it can be inferred that there are significant effects of independent factors

viz., rewards & recognition, opportunities, team work and communication on employee
engagement. The researcher also inferred that there is no significant effect of factor viz.,
immediate supervisor on employee engagement.
The significant individual factors with predictors values towards employee engagement
are shown in the figure:1

Dis.
0.09
7

Role Clarity

Employee
Engagement

0.09
4
0.08
7

Emotional Energy
0.19
3

Learning

Figure: 1
Regression Model - Individual Factor - I and Employee Engagement

Dis.
0.09
7

Role Clarity

Employee
Engagement

0.09
4
0.08
7

Emotional Energy
0.19
3

Learning

Figure: 2
Regression Model - Individual Factor II and Employee Engagement

Table No:4
Chi-Square Test between Employee Engagement and Career satisfaction
S.No

Factors

1.

Gassed-up

2.
Confinement
(* = Ho accepted at 5% significance level)

2 Value

Sig.

Decision

16.02

0.03

Reject

15.04

0.01

Reject

Hypothesis (H0): There is no significant relationship between the employee engagement and
career satisfaction as outcome factor.
The above table shows that significance of the chi-square values are less than 0.05,
hence the null hypothesis is rejected and it is found that there is a significant relationship
between employee engagement and career satisfaction & retention as outcomes
Table No:5
Unstandardized Coefficients of Regression Model Employee engagement
and Career satisfaction
Predictors

S.No

1.

Unstandardized Coefficients

Sig.

Std. Error

(Constant)

1.291

0.074

0.000

Gassed-up

0.837

0.032

0.000*

R = 0.793

R2 = 0.628

Hypothesis (H0): There is no significant effect of employee engagement on career satisfaction

The above table shows that the R value which represents the simple correlation and is
0.793 which indicated a high degree of correlation between the individual factors and employee
engagement. The R2 value indicated that 62.8 % (0.628) of variance in dependent variable
Career satisfaction is explained by the independent variable viz., employee engagement.
From the table, it can be inferred that there is (p<0.05) statistical significant effect of
employee engagement on career satisfaction.

Table No:6
Unstandardized Coefficients of Regression Model Employee engagement
and Retention
Predictors

S.No

1.

Unstandardized Coefficients

Sig.

Std. Error

(Constant)

1.436

0.101

0.000

Confinement

0.749

0.046

0.000*

R = 0.801

R = 0.641

Hypothesis (H0): There is no significant effect of employee engagement on retention

The above table shows that the R value which represents the simple correlation and is 0.801
which indicated a high degree of correlation between the individual factors and employee
engagement. The R2 value indicated that 64.1 % (0.641) of variance in dependent variable
Retention is explained by the independent variable viz., employee engagement.
From the table, it can be inferred that there is (p<0.05) statistical significant effect of employee
engagement on retention.
X RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

XI RECOMMENDATIONS
According to study results, there is positive relationship between the factors viz.,
organisational and group factors with employee engagement. These factors are equally gets
more importance and gives better performance. As per this study, more involvements have to be
needed to the employees which will give more impact in the organisation. In the current
competitive scenario, organization has to do something different, otherwise they cannot beat the
completion
and
sustain
with
their
customers.
So, the organization should give more importance to all the study factors very carefully for the
effective employee engagement. The organization also facilitates the good work environment to
employees to exhibit their talents with fullest efforts.
XII CONCLUSION
Employee engagement plays a vital role in increasing the productivity of an
organization. Though employee engagement depends upon the many factors, the present
research results are confined with the crucial factors viz., individual, group and organisational
factors which are having the positive effect. Thus Employee Engagement is the important
driver towards the organizational success. Unless the employee engagement, no organization
sustain in the current competitive business era.
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