Development of employee involvement at GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. (9/12)
In recent years, GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. has been consistent in carrying out projects aiming at increasing the power security of Poland.
To carry out projects aiming at, without limitation, expanding the national transmission system, the construction of an LNG terminal and the expansion of cross-border connections in an effective way, many areas of the Company must be involved.
It would not be possible to manage such intricate and important investment projects efficiently without adequately committed and motivated staff. Every year GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. tests the involvement of its employees, which has increased from 28% in 2008 to 87% in 2013. This is much above an average involvement rate in Poland, which is only 51%. As a result, GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. was again one of the Best Employers. In 2013, it was ranked at the first position as the best employer in the category of companies with over 1000 employees. For companies of this zone, employee involvement underlies business success and high corporate performance. Thus, the company's priority is to maintain the existing achievements in this field.
86% of GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. employees believe that the company manages to attract employees that are necessary to achieve corporate business goals and the company's image in the market is consistent with the company's image as an employer. In addition, employees are of the opinion that the company offers and provides good cooperation conditions for its employees.
78% of GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. employees know the company's business goals and the manner how to contribute to their achievement. They are additionally motivated to achieve high results.
90% of employees are in general satisfied with their work with GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. The company's employees value, in particular, working conditions (87%), benefits (82%) and a balance between work and private life (82%).
The company's actions aiming at developing employee involvement focus mainly on areas that are already positively perceived by employees, i.e. career, personal development, feedback on duties and processes performed.
”We have a chance to take part in projects that have been never carried out in Poland, like the construction of the LNG terminal or projects strategic for Poland. Participation in such projects enables professional development, self-development and gives large satisfaction", adds Małgorzata Kaczmarska, Deputy Head of the HR Department.
The combination of such factors causes that the level of motivation and involvement at GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. is at very high and the investment programme is carried out effectively and brings about many benefits:
• the company has become a dynamic and open-to-changes corporation that creates ambitious attitudes among its employees;
• the company has transformed into a modern, effective and efficient corporation;
• employees have been stimulated and are proud of working with a company that carries out projects important for the whole economy;
• the investment programme composed of many intricate infrastructural projects has enabled to develop new competencies in the organisation.
Expert's comments by Szymon Zieliński, PwC, Manager, Expert in Project Management
Motivation, i.e. simply speaking, processes or factors that cause that people act or behave in a defined manner, is particularly important in team work. It is a foundation of project management since the final result of a project is determined by an employee involvement rate. A technocratic approach to human resource management consisting in simple work orders and acceptance of work deliverables generally performs well in few cases and is particularly risky in projects. Major problems that may appear in the project team in connection with motivation are, without limitation, as follows:
• high discouragement (leaving an employee and an employee's work without comments for a longer period, unreasonable authoritarian management methods in relation to competent employees);
• conflicts between particular project authors or the whole project groups (the atmosphere of competition, looking for the guilty instead of solving problems);
• low morale (the lack of the sense of work performed, inability to make changes because of inflexible project performance);
• wasting employees' energy (not making employees aware of project deliverables, hiring inadequate employees at workstations, too long meetings without specific outcome);
• not achieving goals (too many formalities, the lack of the sense of employee self-improvement and development resulting in inefficient work);
• high employee fluctuation (exclusion from a group, often public criticism, showing distrust towards employees).
To avoid effectiveness drop and low motivation in the project team, comprehensive organisations develop dedicated incentive systems connected with projects. Such an incentive system must meet a number of requirements, including, in particular:
• decreasing the impact of the Project Manager's subjective feelings on the final employee appraisal through the establishment of objective appraisal criteria (and guidelines);
• universality, i.e. ability to apply to projects of different size and complexity;
• taking into account an employee's involvement in particular projects;
• easy to apply.
Each incentive system should incorporate an appraisal system based on objective and multidimensional evaluation criteria, like:
• motivation and work quality and effects;
• project complexity;
• the rate of involvement in projects;
• project deliverables.
In organisations whose management structure and activity are project-based, the appraisal of achievements of employees as members of project teams, where they often play different roles, in various projects at the same time is an important element of a remuneration policy. In projects which are, by nature, exposed to risk and uncertainty, team motivation is fundamental to overcome threats and difficulties. It is necessary, however, to remember that not only employee motivation is necessary to establish an effective team, but open communication may be also another project success factor.
This Newsletter was prepared in cooperation with PwC
Editorial Board:
The Gas Transmission Operator GAZ-SYSTEM S. A.
Corporate Communications Office
Małgorzata Polkowska - Director, Press Spokesperson
tel. +48 22 220 15 46, mob. + 48 691 911 217
e-mail: pr@gaz-system.pl
Aneta Szczepańska – Coordinator
Tel. +48 22 220 18 79, mob. + 48 607 630 514
e-mail: pr@gaz-system.pl
