This presentation by Dr. Beatrix Behrens from Germany's Employment Agency, (Bundesagentur für Arbeit), was made at the made at the Lead, Engage, Perform expert meeting on public employment and management, OECD, 21-22 January 2015. For further information please see http://www.oecd.org/gov/pem/lead-engage-perform-expert-meeting.htm

1. Strengthening leadership capabilities of public
sector organizations for improved employee
engagement – Expert Meeting
Dr Beatrix Behrens, Head of Division, HR Policy | Federal German Employment Agency

2. Seite 2
BM14 International Relations, 2014, © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Head Office
Management Board
Member and
Chief Business
Development
Officer (CBDO)
Chair of the
Management
Board and CEO
Member and
Chief Operating
Officer (COO)
Regional Directorates
Management Board
Local Agencies
Management Board
Branch Offices
Governance Board
Employers’
Organizations
Trade
Unions
Public
Authorities
Federal Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs
Shared Services
Benefits Administrative
Services
Call
Centres
10
156
604
1
40 40 52
Federal
Republic
approx.400
administrative
districts
National level
Regional level
Local level
303
Jobcentres
(BA / Municipality)
16Federal
States
Basic Income Support
for Jobseekers
Unemployment
Insurance
CFO CEO COO
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Organization and structure of the BA

3. Seite 3
Sustained improvement
of counselling and
integration
Motivate
employees,
recognize and
tap potentials
Achieve high
customer satisfaction
Efficiency and
effectiveness
The BA’s
business
goals
BA’s four top-level business goals put the focus on
customers and employees:
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
What BA’s top-level business goals look like …

4. Seite 4
We approach our
customers where they
are.
Our support of near-
market customers is
innovative and
aligned to their needs.
We support market-
remote customers
intensively.
We offer new services
for employers –
targeted and aligned
to their needs.
1 2 3 4
Develop new capabilities.
IT – key technology for a business
undergoing change.
Economical, sustainable, responsible –
how we handle financial resources
Shape personnel management with
foresight
5 6
7 8
The setup we need to accomplish this –
impact-orientated and economical, now and in future
What our customers can expect from us – our value proposition
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Areas of Action for the BA 2020 Strategy - Overview

5. Seite 5
Challenges
Demographic
change and the
extension of
working life
Staff ageing
and becoming
more diverse
Promoting and securing
work ability and motivation
The BA’s response to these challenges:
- Integrated HR Management
- Diversity Management
- Employee Engagement
- Corporate Health Management
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Integrated approaches needed to be an innovative and
attractive employer

6. Seite 6
Phase 2 Phase 3Phase 1 Phase 4
Career (second phase)
Occupational
development
(horizontal/vertical)
Returning after long family
phase
Care for relatives in need
of care
School
Apprenticeship/
academic studies
Career entry
Returning after
phase of
parenthood
Career (start)
"Active
retirement"
"Rush hour of
life"
Promoting beneficial working relationships – Fostering
work engagement throughout all phases of life –
Engagement Index
Lifelong Learning, Exchange and transfer of Knowledge
Corporate Health Management
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Life-phase oriented HR policy at the BA: Fostering work
engagement and performance of the organisation

7. Seite 7
Reintegration after long
illness
pursuant to Section 84 (2)
Social Code IX
Leadership and Cooperation – Engagement
Health promotionWorkplace safety and
health
 Aim: Maintaining performance and work ability against the backdrop of extended
working life as well
Occupational
Health Management
Prevention concerning
behaviour
Prevention concerning
working conditions
- Life-phase oriented personnel development
- Ergonomics
- Safety at work
- Situational Health Management measures
- individual
- organisational
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Corporate Health Management – a holistic approach

8. What is employee
engagement at the Bundesagentur für
Arbeit?

9. Seite 9
BM14 International Relations, 2014, © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Competence-oriented HR
Management/Competence
Management
Equal rights policy/
gender mainstreaming
Life-phase oriented HR
policy
Diversity Management
Performance
Management
Occupational Health
Management
Flexible working time
models and work
organization
Performance and
development interviews
Strategic frame and HR policy instruments for fostering work engagement
Development paths
Employee suggestions
program
Continued improvement
Willingness to
perform
Ability to perform
Employee
Engagement
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Enhancing work engagement: use of relevant HR policy
instruments

10. Seite 10HR Policies, October 2014 © Federal Employment AgencyEmployee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Item development in an
interdisciplinary work
group
(psychologists, survey
experts, committee
representatives,
executives, employees)
Pre-test to verify
construct in cooperation
with Jacobs University
Bremen
Initially 31 items and 47
enablers, Utrecht Work
Engagement Scale
(UWES)
Reduction from 31 to 19
items that belong to 5
dimensions
Factor analyses
(explorative and
confirmatory) to verify
Engagement Index
structure
Detailed statistical
analysis to ensure
reliability
Correlations between
ENGI and Utrecht Work
Engagement Scale
Indication for convergent
validity
Interviews with
employees and
executives after pre-test
for additional validation
and to ensure
practicability according
to organizational culture
Development process of the BA’s Engagement Index as a
new employee survey

11. Seite 11HR Policies, October 2014 © Federal Employment Agency
Willingness to
strive
Identification
Psychological
contract
Communication
Workability
High ambition for own job performance and willingness
to contribute and become involved in own and team
tasks.
Sense of belonging to and identification with the
employer and the aims of the BA.
Ability to communicate effectively and to become
involved actively (e.g. in the team).
Conviction to cope with job requirements
permanently, even during processes of change.
Balance of my personal expectations at work and the
aims and expectations of my employer/supervisor.
EngagementIndex
Willingnessto
perform
Abilitytoperform
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Engagement Index of the BA – ability and willingness to
perform with five sub dimensions

12. Seite 12HR Policies, October 2014 © Federal Employment AgencyEmployee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Implementation and communication of Engagement Index
at the BA
 Comprehensive communication over the whole development and
implementation process of the Engagement Index – participation of the 10
Regional Directorates and 10 Agencies
 Target group specific communication through different media (workshops top-
down, seminars for top executives, FAQs Intranet, practical guides, info flyer,
articles in employee magazine, management newsletter, internal TV spots)
 Clearly defined communication process as a combination of centralized and
decentralized communication to create a structured, qualified follow-up process
 Central communication of stringent process specifications and assignments in a
highly binding manner

13. Fostering employee engagement
at the Bundesagentur für Arbeit –
Strong Leadership

14. Seite 14HR Policies, October 2014 © Federal Employment Agency
Transactional leadership
Transformational leadership
Performance
Exchange relationship
Management by objectives
Performance and counter-
performance
Compensation
Promotion
Training
Management by objectives
Management by delegation
Leadership and personnel
development
Leadership and welfare
Leadership in processes of
change
Employee orientation as a
main task
To lead with "heart and
mind"
Trust and appreciation as
basis of a dialogue-oriented
successful cooperation
Holistic view and network
thinking
Impact of leading role and
positive attitude towards
people
Employee
engagement
Illustrate meaning and goals
Identification, inspiration,
stimulation
Advisory and visionary
Lead by a good example
Appreciation and trust
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
BA Leadership Compass
contents:
BA Leadership Compass: achieving goals through trans-
actional leadership, rising above through transformational
leadership

15. Seite 15HR Policies, October 2014 © Federal Employment Agency
Work engagement
Institutional
level
Engagement
Index/Survey
Individual
level
Performance and
development
interview
Identifying organizational performance interferences
Communication
Communication
Communication
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Fostering work engagement via Engagement Index and
dialogue-based leadership instruments

16. Results and Empirical Evidence
(2013/2014)

17. Seite 17HR Policies, October 2014 © Federal Employment Agency
Work organisation
Work environment
Engagement
Index
Predictor
Consequences
for
organisational
performance
Work Engagement
Support by supervisor
Psychological contract
Employees who rate their work organization, the support of their supervisor, the
work environment and the psychological contract highly, have significantly
better results in work engagement as well.
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Enhancing work engagement at the BA: significant
predictors can explain approx. 50 per cent of variance

18. Seite 18HR Policies, October 2014 © Federal Employment Agency
Engagement
Index
ConsequencesWork Engagement
Performance appraisal
(LEDi)
Enablers
Job satisfaction
Intention to stay
Commitment
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Employees who have high results in Engagement Index score significantly
higher in their performance appraisals, job satisfaction, intention to stay and
commitment as well.
Engagement Index at the BA: correlations with positive
outcomes can be measured

19. Seite 19HR Policies, October 2014 © Federal Employment Agency
▬ The rating of engagement is slightly better among older employees
(50+: 2.0; younger than 25: 2.2)
▬ Older employees score especially higher in their psychological
contract (employees 60+: 2.2; younger than 25: 2.8).
▬ Strongest impact of age: "My work is more than just a job"
(employees 60+: 1.9; younger than 25: 2.8).
Age
▬ No relevant findings according to aggregated index
▬ Participation rate of men is slightly higher (52% vs 45% women)
▬ Male employees rate their identification on average lower than
females (2.4 vs 2.2)
Gender
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Results of the Engagement Index 2014: there are differences
due to demographic characteristics

20. Seite 20HR Policies, October 2014 © Federal Employment Agency
▬ There is a positive impact of the Engagement Index (especially subfacet psychological
contract) on client satisfaction, even after controlling for demographic and structural
characteristics.
▬ Regional employment market characteristics have a direct impact
on client satisfaction as well.
Engagement
Index
Client
Satisfaction
Gender
Age
Part-time
Region/
employment
market
Leadership
responsibility
No significant relationship
Significant relationship
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Survey: Engagement Index survey 2013, performance data 2013
(e.g., client satisfaction of the units)
Participants: 34,161 employees and supervisors, investigation
of 156 agencies
Methods: Path analyses
Procedure: Investigation of the results at an aggregated level of
organizational units. It is planned to reciprocate the relationship
between work engagement and client satisfaction in 2014.
Path analyses: significant relationships between engagement
and client satisfaction

21. Structured
follow-up process

22. Seite 22
 Engagement Index
 Linking with other
surveys and key
figures (e.g. Health
Management)
Available
aggregated data,
e.g.
"Engagement
Coordination
Circles" in every
local agency
Workshop with executives
Workshop with employees
Working group "Health" in every agency
Interpretation of results
+ analysis of causes
Portfolio of
appropriate
measures
Monitoring of
measures
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
A dialogue-based process dealing with the survey results
creates the precondition for enhanced employee engagement

23. Seite 23
Coordination Circle Interpretation
of results
Alignments
with other
information
Analysis of
causes
Communi-
cation
Analyzing
causes
Definition
of local
measures
Objectives
for future
evaluation
Developing
measures
Terminating
measuresExecutives Imple-
menting
measures
Continuous
communi-
cation of
results and
implemen-
tation
status
Monito-
ring
measures
according
to
termina-
tion
Evalua-
tion and
best
practice
sharing
HR managers and
consultants
Local process
coordinators
Planning and coordinating activities (workshops,
communication, implementation of measures, etc.)
Analyzing
causes
and
initiating
measures
Eva-
luation
and
interpre-
tation
Planning
measures
Implementing
measures
Monitoring
measures
Stakeholder/Activity
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Structured follow-up process with a coordination circle and
local process coordinators

24. Seite 24
Willingness to strive
Willingness to perform (“Want”) Ability to perform (“Can”)
Engagement Index
Identification
Psychological
contract
Workability Communication
Acknowledging
needs and
expectations
Fulfilling needs and
expectations;
creating new
offerings
Dealing with needs
and expectations
that cannot be
fulfilled
Transparency
through
communication
Leaders should
identify with the BA
and their own goals
Making BA goals
transparent and
understandable
Motivating for
measures of
continuous
improvement
Counteract
discrimination
Diversity
Management
Strengthening the
psychological
contract
Optimizing the
person-task fit
Creating scopes of
action
Supporting
Counteracting
discrimination
Suitable measures
of balancing work
and family life
Engaging in active
Health
Management
Optimizing the
person-task fit
Enhancing
competencies
Talent Management
Team-building
strategies
Setting common
objectives
Developing social
and communication
skills
Diversity
Management
Employee Engagement © Bundesagentur für Arbeit
How to influence engagement at the BA? There are several
ways