Raj Raghavan, Chief People & Culture Officer, CoreStack Inc. on Key Drivers of Modern Employee Engagement
In January 2023, Raj pursued an exciting opportunity with CoreStack Inc., an enterprise SaaS product company in Cloud Governance, based in Bellevue, Washington. He is part of their executive leadership team and leads their people function globally and has been tasked to support growth and scaling of this deep technology company.
Between early 2018 and Jan ‘23, Raj was Senior Vice President & CHRO of IndiGo, India’s largest airline company. Before joining IndiGo, Raj worked at Amazon for over seven years and was lastly their APAC & Middle East Head of Human Resources for International Retail & Technology Centers. Raj’s earlier stints were with General Electric for over ten years across various businesses and geographies. Prior to that he had held several senior HR leadership positions at Hindustan Unilever, Ford Motor Company, and HSBC.
Raj also serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director on the Board of HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd (HCG), India’s largest provider of Oncology care and at the forefront of the battle against cancer. He is also an early-stage angel investor at technology and food & beverage start-ups.
He has a Master’s in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from Madras School of Social Work, India and is a Global Fellow of The Wharton School in Talent Management.
Q1. What are the key factors driving employee engagement in today’s rapidly evolving work environment?
Having worked across industries over three decades, one thing that I can say is that the basic tenet of employee engagement has not really changed much. So, to me the question of “rapidly evolving work environment” is intriguing.
One of the most common mistakes companies make is to approach engagement as a sporadic exercise in making their employees feel happy — usually around the time when a survey is coming up. It’s true that we describe engaged employees as “enthusiastic”, and employee engagement surveys play a big role in measuring staff engagement. But in my mind, it’s not that simple.
Employees need more than a fleeting warm-fuzzy feeling and a good pay cheque (even if it helps them respond positively on employee engagement survey questions) to invest in their work and achieve more for your company.
People want “purpose and meaning” from their work. This is how I felt when I started working many years ago and exactly how I feel even today. Employees want to be known for what makes them unique. This is what drives employee engagement. And they want relationships, particularly with a manager who can coach them to the next level. This is who drives employee engagement.
So, coming to the original point I made, adoption of technology may have changed a fair bit but the human psyche of what engages an employee at work remains predominantly the same.
Q2. How has the shift toward hybrid and remote work influenced employee engagement, and what challenges do organizations face in this new model?
As I mentioned before, where employees find their work purposeful and has a meaning, hybrid work has not resulted in any adverse levels of engagement. In fact, I would go a step further to say that hybrid work has influenced workplace engagement in a positive way. As we all know, full-time remote work has pretty much gone away and replaced effectively by hybrid working.
In my opinion, hybrid work is not only strongly favoured by most “office-based employees”, but it also improves work-life balance, retention, and engagement without harming performance. Of course, there is distinction between office-based employees and those that must necessarily be at workplace to perform their duties.
The biggest advantage of working from a physical location is the collaborative opportunities that it provides employees, both for work related collaboration as well as improving general camaraderie.
Q3. In your view, what role does leadership play in fostering a culture of engagement across an organization?
I firmly believe that leadership plays a significant part in fostering an engaging culture. Recent research has also thrown light on how peers influence engagement and that would be another fascinating debate in the course of time.
There are many different leadership styles, but the most engaging leaders tend to have one thing in common: they make their employees feel valued. There are many ways to recognise valuable work, such as offering praise and recognition for a job well done, investing in training and development opportunities, or simply taking the time to listen to concerns and ideas. When employees feel valued, they are more likely to be engaged in their work. They’ll be invested in the company, knowing that their efforts are worthwhile and matter.
An engaging leader also understands the importance of building relationships within the team. By creating a positive and supportive environment, team members are more likely to feel comfortable expressing their ideas and working together towards collective success. Ultimately, an engaging leader knows that a motivated team is a productive one. Employee productivity is excellent for business, as businesses reap the benefits of higher performance and profitability.
Leaders who share their personal experiences with their team are more likely to be seen as relatable and approachable. This can help to build trust and mutual respect, which are essential for engagement. When leaders share their personal experiences, it also shows that they are willing to be vulnerable and open, which can encourage employees to do the same. This type of open and honest communication can help foster a sense of connection and belonging.
Q4. How can organizations integrate employee well-being into their engagement strategy, particularly regarding mental and physical health?
Employee well-being refers to an individual’s holistic state of health, happiness, and satisfaction within the context of their workplace. It encompasses physical, mental, emotional, social, and financial dimensions, reflecting the overall quality of an employee’s life as influenced by their work environment, job role, and organizational support.
In a recent study conducted by Deloitte, 68% of employees and 81% of C-suite executives revealed a surprising shift in their priorities: they consider working on their well-being to be more important than advancing their careers.
For decades, the pursuit of career advancement has been the primary driving force for professionals across industries. However, the tide is turning, and the shift is monumental. It’s not that individuals no longer aspire for career growth; they now recognize that true success encompasses more than just professional accolades.
Q5. What are some ways to ensure engagement strategies resonate across a diverse workforce, including different cultures and generations?
Across my working career I have had the privilege of working globally and with several cultures and generations. Each of these cultures have such unique sets of beliefs and values that at one level, it will be hard to understand how they all work together for a common purpose.
In my experience, one of the sure shot ways of ensuring resonance across such diversity is creating a sense of purpose. This in turn provides colleagues with a meaningful opportunity to collaborate and understand the larger vision and purpose.
Q6. How can technology enhance employee engagement, and which types of tools are most beneficial for supporting connection and productivity?
Firstly, technology can help understand what kind of workplace experience an employee has. In my experience, I have found that unless organizations understand an employee’s workplace experience, it won’t be able to help understand the levers of engagement. It is one thing to talk about purpose but another to ensure that employees have the tools and autonomy to perform their roles appropriately.
Q7. Looking ahead, what trends or changes do you anticipate will shape employee engagement strategies in the coming years?
As I said in the beginning of this op-ed, “purpose and meaning” will always ace the employee engagement agenda. This said, there are several other drivers of employee engagement, which include:
- Meaning and a sense of purpose.
- Job satisfaction.
- Psychological safety.
- Goal support and employee feedback.
- Company culture.
- Autonomy.
- Shared values among team members and senior leaders.
- Relationships with supervisors.
- Trust and integrity with your leadership team.
- Relationships with coworkers.
- Pride in the company.
- Career growth opportunities.
- A compensation and benefits package.
Well-designed workplace surveys often pop-up areas of opportunities and drivers for betterment. After deciding which drivers to address, your next step is to design an action plan. Go beyond perks and employee recognition, given that employees today seek an emotional connection with their work.
Each of the above drivers by themselves can be developed in to well meaning initiatives. The good part about this is everything can be linked to workplace experience and resultant engagement.
Thank you, Raj!
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