A Critical Analysis &
Comparison of Employee
Engagement Practices at
McDonalds and Marriot
Hotels

This presentation critically analyzes the employee
engagement practices adopted by two of the top
twenty-five big companies selected by The Sunday
times, United Kingdom. The criteria of selection
by the magazine team is the extent and style
(intensity) of human resource best practices
implemented and as a result, the ones who are
most suitable for career and are suggested to be
joined as workplace are included in the list.

 The presentation will be focusing the comparison of
employee engagement practices, adopted and practiced
at McDonalds Restaurants, UK and Marriot Hotels,
UK.
 McDonalds has been selected for the analysis because
it has improved its results as compared to 2015 and is
now listed on No.8 on the list of Sunday Times, top
twenty five Big Companies, 2016.
 Marriot Hotels have been selected on the basis of
downfall as it was on No. 4 in the 2015 list but this
year it is recorded to be settled on No. 9(Global Senior
Executive Jobs | The Times & The Sunday Times,
2016)

 Employee engagement is a concept of involving the
employees in the work tasks at the workplace. It has been
also defined as the level of motivation, passion and
enthusiasm that an employee holds for his job as a result of
various organizational factors impacting his behavior and
his work(Brajer-Marczak, 2014).
 It is an approach that makes the employees productive and
committed towards their organizational goals. It is of sheer
importance as other human resource management practices
are because without if an employee will not have the
required interest in his work or is uncomfortable at his work
place, it will be highly difficult for the employers to keep
him on track and to obtain the best of the performances out
of hi. As a result overall organizational performance will be
affected because employees are the main asset and the
backbone of any organization, no matter what(Chandani et
al., 2016) .

 It has been stated by (Kumar and Swetha, 2011) and
(McBain, 2007) that employee engagement is a factor
influencing the employee satisfaction at a workplace.
 (Neault and Pickerell, 2011) claim that employee
engagement proves to be hidden tool behind brand image
and organizational competitiveness.
 Moreover, (Saran, 2014) in the research paper mentioned
that it is the responsibility of an employer to fully engage
the employees and then also keep a constant check and
balance on their level of commitment through various
techniques.
 (Vestal, 2012) also stated that employee engagement is a
two process i.e. even if the employer tries hard, if the
employee is not career oriented or is serious towards his job
then obviously, the efforts of employer will not be fruitful
and vice versa.

 Employee engagement is equally important as any
other human resource management practice is because
(Haski-Leventhal, 2012) states that it has a direct
impact on organizational growth.
 Product or service delivery also lies a great deal on
employee engagement as well as product quality is up
to some extent dependent on employee engagement as
mention by (Hoxsey, 2010) in research paper.
 Not only organizational growth, employee engagement
has a direct impact on the relationships with
shareholders as well as suppliers or distributors.
 Furthermore, (Ibrahim and Al Falasi, 2014) also
observed that employee engagement results into lower
rates of employee absenteeism and a definite decrease
in employee turnover rate.

 McDonalds UK CEO , Jill McDonalds, prioritize
the employee engagement as the most critical HR
practice required for growth and success.
 McDonalds realizes that a highly skilled and a
highly motivated workforce is as equally
significant to organization’s growth as the product
or the quality of product can be.
 The company thrives hard to engage a workforce
constituted of 80,000 employees and dispersed
around 12,000 restaurants around the
country(Editorial, 2016) .

 To enhance the employee engagement, the company started
a scheme of saving funds for the employees which perked
up to 2 million pounds. 60% of the staff registered
themselves for this saving scheme. This strategy was
awarded “The Outstanding Employee Engagement
Strategy” by the HR Excellence awards.
 The company has also devised a discount scheme for the
employees which is regarded to be one of the best benefit
plans by the employees. it has proved to be the central pillar
of employee engagement as highlighted by the Senior Vice
President of the company, Mr. Jez Langhorn.
 McDonalds put reward based strategies at the heart of
benefit plans. It gives a bonus of 50p per hour to the top ten
employees working in all the restaurants. This not only
enhances the employee engagement aspect but also keep the
employees motivated towards working efficiently and
fulfilling organizational goals and aims(Editorial, 2016) .

 Marriot believes that employee empowerment is a
main factor leading employee engagement. It takes
both the factors equally important for organizational
growth and success.
 Marriot focuses on open door policies which helps in
giving voice to the employees regarding their any
workplace related issues. This comfort level adds up to
their engagement and involvement level.
 It greatly frames the employee talent and gives value to
the ideas and innovations brought forward by the
employees. this is the way of the company giving
respect to the employees and at the same time giving
them a sense of being valued and involved in the
company tasks(Gallagher, 2015) .

 Employee engagement is enabled through transparency at Marriot. It
is believed at the company that if an employee is fully aware with all
the operations and strategies of the company it will help him in
having a clear thinking process about how he can add benefit and
value to the company processes, thus enhancing the engagement and
motivation level as well.
 Empowering the employees regarding their tasks give them a level of
self confidence and a sense of ownership. They feel responsible for
the actions they take so they take it carefully as they have in mind that
these tasks are representatives of their own behavior and style.
Marriot lets the employees connect with the situations instead of
having hard and fast rules or regulations or policies.
 Listening is the heart of employee engagement. It is essential for the
employers to have employee centered policies so that the employees
feel valued and have a sense that their organization is thriving hard
for their growth and improvement. As a result the responsible
workforce will never let the organization fail at any level of business
competitions and industrial development(Gallagher, 2015) .

Marriot McDonalds
Employees are considered as
family
Employees are dispersed and
shifted among chains regularly.
Innovation and Creativity is
welcomed
Policies are flexible and
employee centric
Employee Empowerment is
critical
Employee Performance is critical
No concept of reward based
strategies
Reward based strategies are
highly recommended
Transparency is integral Mission is integral
Philosophy “Take care of the
associates, associates will take
care of you”
Philosophy “Employees are the
backbone of growth as the
product quality is”
Strives to enhance employee
behavior
Strives to enhance employee
loyalty and retention

 For the analysis all secondary data was collected.
 Latest research papers created by management
scholars were considered for employee
engagement, its review and its significance.
 Annual reports and critiques articles were
considered for the company reviews.
 Sunday Times, UK is the main source of
information collection

The analysis of both the companies' employee
engagement policies have ended up in this conclusion
that no policy or strategy can entirely be wrong. It
depends on the scenario, nature of business and the
way of implementing policies. McDonalds strategies
are best fro their employee growth and development
because the employees are satisfied in that framework
while on the same page Marriot has enhanced the
employee satisfaction and contentment through its
practices. No organization can have same policies, its
impossible because each business is different at any
level. The chief factor is to focus on employee
engagement and never overlook it. Both the companies
tae it on a serious note and are constantly thriving hard
for a better framework to improve employee
engagement at the work place(Vitt, 2014) .

 Brajer-Marczak, R. (2014). Employee engagement in continuous improvement of
processes. Management, 18(2).
 Chandani,
 A., Mehta, M., Mall, A. and Khokhar, V. (2016). Employee Engagement: A
Review Paper on Factors Affecting Employee Engagement. Indian Journal of
Science and Technology, 9(15).
 Editorial, H. (2016). HR Excellence Awards 2011 - Outstanding Employee
Engagement Strategy: McDonald's. [online] Hrmagazine.co.uk. Available at:
http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/hr-excellence-awards-2011-
outstanding-employee-engagement-strategy-mcdonalds [Accessed 12 Aug. 2016].
 Gallagher, L. (2015). Why employees love staying at Marriott. [online] Fortune.
Available at: http://fortune.com/2015/03/05/employees-loyalty-marriott/
[Accessed 12 Aug. 2016].
 Haski-Leventhal, D. (2012). Employee Engagement in CSR: The Case of Payroll
Giving in Australia. Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt., 20(2), pp.113-128.
 Hoxsey, D. (2010). Are happy employees healthy employees? Researching the
effects of employee engagement on absenteeism. Canadian Public
Administration, 53(4), pp.551-571.
 Ibrahim, M. and Al Falasi, S. (2014). Employee loyalty and engagement in UAE
public sector. Employee Relations, 36(5), pp.562-582.

 Kumar, D. and Swetha, G. (2011). A Prognostic Examination of Employee
Engagement from its Historical Roots. International Journal of Trade, Economics
and Finance, pp.232-241.
 McBain, R. (2007). The practice of engagement: Research into current employee
engagement practice. Strategic HR Review, 6(6), pp.16-19.
 Neault, R. and Pickerell, D. (2011). Career engagement: bridging career
counseling and employee engagement. Journal of Employment Counseling, 48(4),
pp.185-188.
 Saran, S. (2014). Employee Engagement: Leveraging Strengths and Underpinning
Weaknesses (Identifying the Factors Underlying Employee Engagement Levels in
an Organization). JHRM, 2(3), p.47.
 Global Senior Executive Jobs | The Times & The Sunday Times. (2016). The
Sunday Times 100 Best Companies. [online] Available at:
http://appointments.thesundaytimes.co.uk/article/best100companies/ [Accessed 12
Aug. 2016].
 Vestal, K. (2012). Which Matters: Employee Satisfaction or Employee
Engagement?. Nurse Leader, 10(6), pp.10-11.
 Vitt, L. (2014). Raising Employee Engagement Through Workplace Financial
Education. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2014(141), pp.67-
77.