How do you measure "Employee Engagement" within your Quality Management System. Are there metrics?

How do you measure "Employee Engagement" within your Quality Management System. Are there metrics?

Wanna define "employee engagement"? :o
Cheers,
-R.

How do you measure "Employee Engagement" within your Quality Management System. Are there metrics?
For female employees, check lefthand ring finger. For male employees check for excessive perspiration.:lmao:

How do you measure "Employee Engagement" within your Quality Management System. Are there metrics?

We do this as another means of demonstrating communication and even for CI examples.


Attendance to Crew Meetings - A goal has been set and attendance is taken. If there is an adverse trend, we analyze who is not attending and why. Crew Meetings are important as this is where some basic safety training is done and company updates provided. A Supervisor with a low attendance record is questioned rather thoroughly.
Employee Request System - An electronic employee suggestion box. At first, some people thought of it as a joke and made suggestions like "Fire the QC Manager." Over time, it has become one of our strongest tools available to all employees...issues regarding safety, process improvements, and even environmental commitment!
Community activities - Not a formal metric, but we do often look at who gets involved in company-sponsored activies like tree-planting, clean-ups, dragonboat races, etc.

Forgive my curiousity.....but unless this is a dating agency, why should the QMS track engagement?

Hershal

For female employees, check lefthand ring finger. For male employees check for excessive perspiration.:lmao:


Now THAT was cute. . . :lmao:

Now THAT was cute. . . :lmao:
Thanks, I thought so. BTW, where is the shall to measure employee engagement?

Hello swagg,
On a more serious note........not that I don't like the humour side of this thread......but.......
A job description would be great for starters, this can at a later stage be used as a measurement tool. How much qualified a person do you need for the job in hand? is a question you should ask yourself. Another very valid and obvious question is how much am I willing to pay for the service being offered?

Forgive my curiousity.....but unless this is a dating agency, why should the QMS track engagement?

Perhaps there is a tie-in to communication? Or, as in my organization, employee involvement pertains to the Business Management System...sometimes still called a QMS.

Perhaps it wasn't as clear as I thought,
The question comes from our Director of Quality (at corporate)," How do you measure how involved your shop floor operators are within our QMS?"
How many employee suggestions made, do they know the quality policy, do they know where the policy manual is, etc..

I kinda feel his bottom line is the following:
Is the QMS involving all personnel at all levels or are there only a few folks making everything run.

Perhaps it wasn't as clear as I thought,
The question comes from our Director of Quality (at corporate)," How do you measure how involved your shop floor operators are within our QMS?"
How many employee suggestions made, do they know the quality policy, do they know where the policy manual is, etc..

I kinda feel his bottom line is the following:
Is the QMS involving all personnel at all levels or are there only a few folks making everything run.

How many employee suggestions are made?

Easy to track! :agree1: An employee suggestion database allows you to formalize the process, control and track it! Ours even allows to do some SPC so we can see who's doing the most initiating of requests (e.g., crew/department), who receives the most requests, etc.

Do they know about the QualPol and PolMan?

Internal (and external) audits can help with this...as long as the questions are asked. No findings + no issues = perceived involvement

Is everyone using it or just a few people?

This is not something that can be easily measured, but can be "judged" via audit findings. Over time, as the severity of audit findings decreases, you may conclude that more and more people are buying into the system.

I am, I admit, concerned that only some people may use the system at your organization. The system should be designed so that everyone can be involved...granted it does take time for them to admit it's part of their daily routine and not just something they do because of ISO.

I am, I admit, concerned that only some people may use the system at your organization. The system should be designed so that everyone can be involved...granted it does take time for them to admit it's part of their daily routine and not just something they do because of ISO.

I agree with the concern now that I know what you are asking. . . ALL employees are involved in the QMS at some level or to some degree. . . level or degree of involvement is measureable and thus auditable as stated above.

I would also look at the tie-in to Management Review here. That is (Should be) where that involvement is analyzed and AWARENESS training prescribed. IMHO of course

I would also look at the tie-in to Management Review here. That is (Should be) where that involvement is analyzed and AWARENESS training prescribed. IMHO of course

If not analyzed, at least acted upon. I know that my Management Committee does not have the time to analyze the audit results or anything to that level. That's what I'm for! But based upon my analysis (and recommendations), outputs are generated that can result in some very positive effects!

Forgive my curiousity.....but unless this is a dating agency, why should the QMS track engagement?

Hershal

GotTo Do What you Got to Do To Get A Date.

I should have thought of this sooner! Only Females May Apply! :biglaugh:

:thanx:

If not analyzed, at least acted upon. I know that my Management Committee does not have the time to analyze the audit results or anything to that level. That's what I'm for! But based upon my analysis (and recommendations), outputs are generated that can result in some very positive effects!

Remember Roxy. . . Management Review is not necessarily a meeting. . . it is a review by Management. . . could be the HR manager. . .

Remember Roxy. . . Management Review is not necessarily a meeting. . . it is a review by Management. . . could be the HR manager. . .

True...but they still don't have the time. They're busy amassing and analyzing data specific to their processes. Business Management System data is all mine to collect, filter, analyze, torture and otherwise maim such that it fits nicely into my powerpoint presentation. :whip:

Business Management System data is all mine to collect, filter, analyze, torture and otherwise maim such that it fits nicely into my powerpoint presentation. :whip:

:nopity: :lmao:

:nopity: :lmao:

Hah....I do admit, however, to somewhat enjoying my torture time. I remember hearing someone say, "If you torture the numbers long enough, they'll eventually tell you what you want to hear." I always joke with departments not to get on my bad side...I can always make the numbers look bad for them.... :rolleyes:

" I always joke with departments not to get on my bad side...I can always make the numbers look bad for them.... :rolleyes:

I tell the 4 singers in the band not to get me angry :mad: . . . I could start them in a key that would have them sounding like the Chipmunks. . . :topic: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

Perhaps it wasn't as clear as I thought,
The question comes from our Director of Quality (at corporate)," How do you measure how involved your shop floor operators are within our QMS?"
How many employee suggestions made, do they know the quality policy, do they know where the policy manual is, etc..

I kinda feel his bottom line is the following:
Is the QMS involving all personnel at all levels or are there only a few folks making everything run.

I would exercise a little caution here, only because I have seen and experienced this before. We start down the path of developing the QMS, and we start to get the feeling that no one is really paying attention or getting involved, seeing the QMS as something that the Quality group will take care of. We then begin to pose questions as your corporate director is doing.
But I think what works better is to keep the focus on the key process measures. For your shop floor operators it would probably be something like number or percent of nonconformances produced. Is the measure flat or increasing? Are there any corrective actions in place addressing the top reasons for the nonconformances? The answers to these questions will give you a measure of involvement.

Remember guiding principle #1, Customer Focus. What would your customers rather see, a chart showing the number of employee suggestions turned in is increasing, or a chart showing the number of nonconformances you are shipping them decreasing. ;)

Good luck.

Andy

But I think what works better is to keep the focus on the key process measures. For your shop floor operators it would probably be something like number or percent of nonconformances produced. Is the measure flat or increasing? Are there any corrective actions in place addressing the top reasons for the nonconformances? The answers to these questions will give you a measure of involvement.

Remember guiding principle #1, Customer Focus. What would your customers rather see, a chart showing the number of employee suggestions turned in is increasing, or a chart showing the number of nonconformances you are shipping them decreasing.

Good point, but if elaborated on, it can still tie into employee engagement. True, as a Customer, I'd rather see NCs decreasing, but this is also a topic that requires heavy involvement from the People.

The #1 is Customer Focus, but #2 and #3 were Leadership and Involvement of People (respectively). Leaders need to ensure that we're all going in the same direction and working for the same goal(s). Involving the People by letting them work on the problems in team and by communicating the ongoing results is great! And KPI's are an amazing tool for doing this....but you also want to keep an eye on attendance at these communication meetings. If attendance numbers are low...why?...is it the material, the length, same people?

Now can't such activities be examples of "employee engagement"? :agree1:

Good point, but if elaborated on, it can still tie into employee engagement. True, as a Customer, I'd rather see NCs decreasing, but this is also a topic that requires heavy involvement from the People.

The #1 is Customer Focus, but #2 and #3 were Leadership and Involvement of People (respectively). Leaders need to ensure that we're all going in the same direction and working for the same goal(s). Involving the People by letting them work on the problems in team and by communicating the ongoing results is great! And KPI's are an amazing tool for doing this....but you also want to keep an eye on attendance at these communication meetings. If attendance numbers are low...why?...is it the material, the length, same people?

Now can't such activities be examples of "employee engagement"? :agree1:

It's been a while, but I had some time and wanted to re-start a good thread. I love it when I see more of the guiding principles discussed, :tg: , thanks Roxane.

If nonconformances are reducing, and there is evidence that corrective action is working, that would provide me more evidence that employees were engaged because you typically don't see improvement unless they are.

If nonconformances are reducing, and there is no documented evidence of corrective action, it would tell me that people are engaged and making positive changes, but they aren't willing to take the time to document the improvement either as a corrective or preventive action. I would want to know why because review of those improvements might trigger other system improvement ideas and I would also want the employees recognized.

If nonconformances are increasing, and there is no evidence of corrective action, then I would be concerned about employee engagement and I would perhaps start to look at some of those things you suggest.

The point is I would not want to worry too much about low comm meeting attendance numbers if things were improving. I would rather want to do away with the comm meeting. Otherwise, by focusing on attendence metrics our actions might put more focus on awarding raffle tickets and prizes for meeting attendence, and we draw less attention to the performance metrics that really count.

Andy

The question comes from our Director of Quality (at corporate)," How do you measure how involved your shop floor operators are within our QMS?"
How many employee suggestions made, do they know the quality policy, do they know where the policy manual is, etc.?

I kinda feel his bottom line is the following:
Is the QMS involving all personnel at all levels or are there only a few folks making everything run.

Before coming up with solutions, wouldn't you want to know for what purpose the information is to be used for? I had an opportunity in 1991 to go to one of Dr. Deming's seminars and he demonstrated the importance of this question in an activity he did duing the seminar.

A person from the audience was brought up and Deming stood him in front of a table and gave the following instruction: I need to have a clean table to insure the highest quality, describe to me how you would clean the table. The person thought and then described removing all items from the table and wiping it off with a cloth.

Deming acknowledged his effort and then said he wanted to know if it was clean enough to use as an operating table in surgery and would he clean it differently. Of course the person said that disinfectant and other cleanings would be needed in that case. Finally Deming asked what cleaning would be needed to make computer chips and the person described the need for a clean room with even more stringent cleaning and air filtration.

Deming's point was that the "worker" started cleaning the table without knowing what the purpose or requirements were. Before the Director of Quality's question can be answered, I would want to know for what purpose it was to be used for before you develop any measurement system.

When you read through the posts, there are suggestions to track meeting attendance (# and who attended, length meeting etc.), employee suggestions, management review meetings, # of non-conformances with correlation to employee involvement, # people working on strategic goals and KPIs, and community involvement. All are possible but for what purpose will they be used?

Deming asked 66 questions (Chap 5 Out of the Crisis) to help managers understand their responsibilities. I am sure if management answered those questions, they would know if all employees are involved.

Bill Pflanz