Bosch: Employee Engagement Practices

Abstract

Purpose. This research aims at analysing the employee engagement practices at Bosch, Germany. Such an endeavour was expected to help companies around the world to adapt its employee engagement practices for the post-COVID period. Moreover, the research closed an important gap in the current body of knowledge.

Research Questions. This research aimed at answering five research questions. RQ1: What employee engagement practices did Bosch use before the pandemic in Germany? RQ2: How did employee engagement practices at Bosch, Germany, change during the pandemic? RQ3: Why did the changes in employee engagement practices had to occur at Bosch, Germany? RQ4: How are the employee engagement practices different for employees working at home and employees working at the office? RQ5: How can employee engagement practices at Bosch, Germany, be improved after the pandemic?

Methods. Qualitative methods were used to answer the research questions. The research utilised the data collected from 10 interviews with employees and HR managers at Bosch, Germany. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The themes were classified by research question to answer them.

Results. The results demonstrated that, before the pandemic, the employee engagement practices revolved around performance and trust. However, after the pandemic, the priorities shifted to analysis of individual needs and focus on employee well-being. The primary reasons for the change were shifts in the group dynamics and priorities in strategic HR management. Even though the influence of the pandemic deteriorated, it still affects employee engagement practices at Bosch. Its effect can be seen in the differences between the employee engagement practices for the remote employees and in-office employees. HR managers at Bosch started to build personal connections with employees and pay more attention to their individual needs. A list of four recommendation were provided to improve employee engagement practices at Bosch.

Introduction

Background and Context

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on all spheres of human life around the world. The pandemic resulted in hundreds of millions of confirmed cases, millions of deaths around the globe, and fear of global economic crisis and recession (Nicola, M., et al., 2020; Worldometer, 2022). Self-isolation practices and global mobility restrictions to significant shrinks in the workforce, which led to many people losing their jobs (Nicola, M., et al., 2020). The pandemic had a devastating impact on small and medium business around the globe, as many firms did not have sufficient financial strength to live through the times of uncertainty and decreased business activity (Belitski et al., 2022). The pandemic created an atmosphere of increased uncertainty, which affected business practices of companies of all sizes on various levels (Ojo, Fawehinmi, and Yusliza, 2021). Employee engagement practices have also changed significantly in different companies.

Employee engagement is foundational for large corporations and is the primary aspect of human recourses (HR) management practices. Maintaining workforce motivation and involvement determines the strategic goals achievement and the ability to address crises. Kahn (1990) defined employee engagement as one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization’s reputation and interests. Engaging employees is critical for retaining valuable talent and is an important piece of the employee satisfaction puzzle, as disengaged employees are more likely to leave their jobs (Geue, 2018).

The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies worldwide to revise and adjust their engagement strategies causing massive disruption to operations due to health regulations and lockdowns (Meyer et al., 2021). Corporations switched to a hybrid work format, provided their employees with additional insurance and support, and reconsidered how their engagement is measured (Chanana, 2021). An example of a multinational company that faced the demand for adjusting their employee retention strategies during the pandemic is Bosch, an engineering conglomerate with German origins.

Bosch Group is the leading manufacturer and provider of technologically-advanced products and services. The company operates in four large business sectors, including Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology (Bosch, 2022). The company operates in 60 countries through more than 440 subsidiaries and the parent company Robert Bosch GmbH (Bosch, no date). The defines its purpose as making life simpler and better through development of innovative technologies (Bosch, 2022). The company provides its customers with technology designed to “spark enthusiasm, improve quality of life, and help conserve natural resources” (Bosch, 2022, p. 2). The company sees environmental sustainability as one of the central priorities (Bosch, no date). Bosch demonstrated its commitment to sustainability by being carbon neutral since 2020 (Bosch, 2022).

Bosch employed 402,600 associates as for the end of FY2021 with 76,100 people working in the research and development (R&D) department, among which 38,000 are software engineers. Such a strong dedication to innovation allowed the company to become a world leading provider of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), smart homes, and Industry 4.0 solutions (Bosch, 2022). Bosch sees that three strategic points will lead them to success, which include focusing on the customer, shaping the change, and striving for excellence (Bosch, 2022).

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the company in 2020 and 2021, as the company’s revenues fell significantly. Bosch’s sales fell from €120,459 million in 2019 to €95,146 million in 2020 and €94,834 million in 2021 (Yahoo Finance, 2022). The primary reason for the decline in revenues was the economic recession associated with the pandemic, which led to decreases in demand and production potential due to mobility restrictions and lockdown measures around the globe (Bosch, 2022). The company had re-invent its practices and workplace culture due to the need to adapt to the new circumstances. In particular, the company implemented flexible work models, which allowed employees to work from any location at flexible hours (Bosch, 2021). Such a practice inspired innovation among employees and increased workplace satisfaction and employee loyalty (Bosch, 2021). As a result of the change in the workplace routine, the employee work engagement practices also changed considerably.

Research Problem and Rationale

This research aims at analysing the employee engagement practices at Bosch during the post-COVID period. Such an endeavour is expected to help to help the company ensure high workplace satisfaction, company loyalty, and employee performance. The pandemic has changed the business processes, including employee engagement practices (Risley, 2020). Employee engagement practices became difficult to maintain at the pre-COVID level without affecting employee performance (Risley, 2020).

Maintaining high levels of employee engagement is crucial for a wide variety of reasons. First, work engagement is one of the crucial motivators for talent to stay in the current organisation (Woodruffe, 2006). Employees’ engagement helps them to see the achievement of their firm as part of their own achievement, which makes them associate themselves with the firm (Woodruffe, 2006). As a result, if employees are engaged with a company, they are less likely to turnover, which is crucial for talents, as they are valuable intangible assets of any organisation. Second, Dalal et al. (2012) state that employee engagement is a central predictor of employee performance. The reason for the improved performance among employees is similar as that for increased company loyalty – as employee become more involved with a firm, they begin to see the cause of the company as their own cause and do their best to help the company flourish and prosper (Dalal et al., 2012). Third, employee engagement is closely correlated with workplace satisfaction, as it job satisfaction depends on a job meeting certain emotional needs of employees (Mahipalan, 2018). Work engagement helps to ensure that these emotional needs are met, which increases workplace satisfaction (Mahipalan, 2018). Thus, the importance of having adequate employee engagement practices is crucial for a firm, which demonstrates the importance of this study.

The research problem is considerable because the pandemic’s aftermath in terms of employee engagement practices lacks sufficient scientific exploration. Various corporations are still addressing the outcomes of the crisis and are incapable of analysing if their decisions were correct from the long-term perspective; thus, the rationale to conduct relevant research occurs (Meyer et al., 2021). A study about employee engagement issues, the influence of the pandemic, and a specific company case exploration is a valuable contribution to the current body of knowledge in economic and behavioural sciences. Bosch is a multinational corporation, the experience of which would be insightful for other businesses and HR managers worldwide.

This study uses qualitative methods to explore the problem from various angles. In particular, this study at collecting data from HR managers and employees at Bosch in Germany by conducting semi-structured interviews. The interview scripts are then used to conduct thematic analysis to identify the crucial changes in terms of employee engagement practices at the company. Even though the results have limited generalisability, they may be crucial for other company to ensure that they can retain their human capital, improve workplace satisfaction, and boost employee productivity. The results of the study are analysed against Maslow’s pyramid, the AON-Hewitt model, and the Kahn model to provide further explanation of the results.

Research Aim and Objectives

The purpose of this study was to explore the employee engagement practices at Bosch during the post-COVID period to ensure high workplace satisfaction, company loyalty, and employee performance. In particular, this research aimed at providing recommendations concerning the employee engagement practices during the post-COVID period for large corporations. Four objectives were identified to achieve the purpose of the study, which are outlined below:

1. Describe the employee engagement practices at Bosch before the pandemic;
2. Determine how employee engagement practices changed during the pandemic;
3. Explain the reasons for employee engagement practices to occur;
4. Provide recommendations concerning how employee engagement practices can be improved after the pandemic.

The objectives were achieved by conducting semi-structured interviews with the employees and HR managers of Bosch. In particular, the research was able to identify the central changes that occurred in employee engagement practices at Bosch and the central reasons for these changes. Moreover, the research provided recommendations for HR managers so they can adapt their employee engagement practices to the post-COVID realities. However, the results were based on a limited sample, which implies that further research may be needed to confirm the results of the study.

Research Question

Setting relevant research questions is crucial for the research process. Well-formulated research questions set a path for researchers in their endeavour by identifying what needs to be answered by the study (Creswell, 2007). As a result, good research questions help to plan a research and save time energy and effort in the path to achieving the purpose of the study (Creswell, 2007). Therefore, defining a clear, concise, and focused research question is an essential step in getting started with your independent research project.

This research aimed at answering one central research question, which was divided into five sub-questions. The research question is stated below:

RQ1: How can employee engagement practices can be maintained in large corporations in Germany during the post-COVID period?

The research can help to close the important gap in current literature. Meyer et al. (2021) stated that large firms experience significant issues with employee burnout after the pandemic due to inadequate employee engagement practices. While there is some research that provides suggestions about how the employee engagement practices can be improved, little evidence is available that explores successful practices of multi-national companies (Chanana, 2021). Thus, answering the research question will help HR managers to improve their employee engagement practices.

The research question was answered by conducting an in-depth case study of Bosch, Germany and its employee engagement practices after the pandemic. The data for the case study was collected from employees and HR managers to compare the perspectives of different stakeholders. In order to study the research question from in great detail, the following sub-questions were formulated:

• Sub-Question 1: What employee engagement practices did Bosch use before the pandemic in Germany?
• Sub-Question 2: How did employee engagement practices at Bosch, Germany, change during the pandemic?
• Sub-Question 3: Why did the changes in employee engagement practices had to occur at Bosch, Germany?
• Sub-Question 4: How are the employee engagement practices different for employees working at home and employees working at the office?
• Sub-Question 5: How can employee engagement practices at Bosch, Germany, be improved after the pandemic?

It is crucial to note the importance of Sub-Question 3 in the context of the post-COVID period. While it appears self-evident that the employee engagement practices had to change due to the pandemic, this research aimed at examining more specific reasons. The study aimed at determining what processes affected the employee engagement practices at Bosch, Germany. The sub-questions allowed to look at the problem in the context of the past (pre-COVID period), present (the current state of the company’s employee engagement practices), and the future by asking the opinions of the employees and HR managers about how the employee engagement practices can be improved in the future. Thus, even though the study took place during the post-COVID period, the design of sub-questions allowed to address the problem from different points in time.

Structure of the Thesis

This thesis has a classic dissertation structure based on five chapters. The research structure by chapter is explained below.

Chapter 1: Introduction. The purpose of the first chapter was to introduce the problem, the background, and context of the research. Moreover, the chapter identified research aims and objectives together with research questions.

Chapter 2: Literature Review. The purpose of the second chapter was to conduct an in-depth analysis of literature concerning employee engagement. The literature review aimed at identifying the gaps in the current body of knowledge to confirm the importance of the study and provide scientific background this study builds upon.

Chapter 3: Methods. The purpose of the third chapter was to explain the methods this study used to answer the research questions. The chapter provides all the needed details to help other researchers replicate the study in other contexts.

Chapter 4: Results, Analysis, and Evaluation of Findings. The purpose of the fourth chapter was to describe the results of the analysis and discuss them against the findings of previous research and theory.

Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations. The final chapter sums up the findings of the research and provides recommendations for managers and future studies.

Literature Review

Concept of Employee Engagement

This study views the concept of employee engagement to be synonymic to the concept of work engagement. There are several ways of approaching the notion of employee engagement. Xiang, Chen, and Zhao (2017) define work engagement as “a combination of work ability and willingness to work” (p. 240). Diniyati and Sudarma (2018) characterize employee engagement by attributing the properties such as vigor, dedication, and absorption to it. Vigor refers to excitement about the idea of achieving high results at work, absorption is defined as the ability tl sustain focus on the working objectives and work process, while dedication is associated with the level of loyalty to the company. (Diniyati and Sudarma, 2018). Even though one may find significant similarities between job satisfaction and work engagement, these are not synonymic notions.Representing the enthusiasm and motivation to perform (work engagement) as opposed to obtaining gratification from the obtained results (job satisfaction), work engagement requires the support of job motivation (Evitha et al., 2021).

Kahn (1990) defined employee engagement as one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization’s reputation and interests. Engaging employees is critical for retaining valuable talent and is an important piece of the employee satisfaction puzzle, as disengaged employees are more likely to leave their jobs (Geue, 2018). According to Evitha et al (2021, employees who are engaged in their work are more likely to be motivated and remain committed to their employer.

The definition of employee engagement differs among researchers. These definitions may be confusing, as researchers may see different meanings behind the concept of employee engagement (El Junusi, Widarno, and Mubarok, 2021). Therefore, it may be difficult for researchers to compare the results of research with previous findings, as these results may be inapplicable due to the differences in the definition of employee engagement. The concept of employee engagement was first proposed by Kahn (1990) as the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; self-employment and self-expression of people physically, cognitively, and emotionally in their work lives (El Junusi, Widarno, and Mubarok, 2021).

Employee engagement is thoroughly explored from various angles as it involves interpersonal communication, which may be crucial for the efficiency of large organisations. Business peer-reviewed materials introduce the term as a critical variable for estimating revenues and building a successful organization (Chanana, 2021). Human recourses management research includes common issues and strategies to enhance and maintain high motivation and low turnover rates among workers and to support a positive workplace environment. For instance, switching to a remote format during the pandemic forced HR to digitalize monitoring, practice virtual meetings, and develop different retention strategies (Hurtienne et al., 2022). From a psychological perspective, employee engagement is studied as a determinant of decision-making and reactions to certain circumstances at work. The primary literature research suggested that the theoretical framework should be based on the HR strategies and aspects of crisis management, including organizational workplace environment, leadership, training, and motivation.

Furthermore, the scope of theory regarding the changes in employee engagement practices during the pandemic and the outcomes of forced modifications at facilities is meagre due to the issue’s novelty. Indeed, businesses are still addressing the consequences of lockdowns and health challenges and have not evaluated and analysed the outcomes of their crisis management (Chanana, 2021). Multinational companies switched to the hybrid work format, allowing their employees to combine remote and in-office hours, and adjusted their engagement approaches to new circumstances (Meyer et al., 2021). A theoretical framework for exploring the workforce management issues and operations at Bosch requires studying the other companies’ experiences for comparison.

Employee Engagement Theories

Maslow’s Pyramid

In 1943, Abraham Maslow, a psychologist from the US, published a famous work that introduced it pyramid of needs (Bridger, 2018). The pyramid demonstrates a hierarchy of needs every human has divided into five levels (Huitt, 2007). The first level of the pyramid includes physiological needs, such as food, water, comfort, and rest (McLeod, 2007). The second level includes the safety needs, which implies physical security from being harmed, the general feeling of safety from outside dangers (McLeod, 2007). The first to levels are also known as the basic needs of humans (Huitt, 2007). The third level in Maslow’s pyramid consists of belonginess and love needs, which include intimate relationships and friendship (McLeod, 2007). The fourth level of the pyramid includes esteem needs, which are the feeling of prestige and accomplishment (McLeod, 2007). The third and the fourth levels of the pyramid are collectively known as psychological needs (McLeod, 2007). The highest level of the pyramid consists of self-actualisation needs, which is activity one’s full potential through creativity and responsibility (McLeod, 2007).

This pyramid was later improved to include more levels. In his late works, Maslow described eight levels of the pyramid (Huitt, 2007). The first four levels were the deficiency needs, which included physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, and esteem needs (Huitt, 2007). Within these four deficiency needs, a person cannot think of higher needs until the lower-level needs are fulfilled (McLeod, 2007). At the same time, Maslow described four growth needs, which included needs to know and understand, aesthetic needs, self-actualisation needs, and transcendence needs (McLeod, 2007). The highest level of self-transcendence is connecting to someone beyond the ego, or the need to help others achieve self-actualisation (Huitt, 2007).

Maslow’s theory model can be transferred to employee engagement. The basic standpoint is that all the needs of the employees need to be addressed to ensure full engagement of an employee (Kelleher, 2013). In the case when the job allows to cover only the physiological needs of employees, they are disengaged with their work (Bridger, 2018). Such employees often say that they work at their current position only for the money and they would leave their current position as soon as they get the chance (Bridger, 2018). If the current position in a company fulfils the safety needs along with the physiological needs, employees are not engaged with their job (Kelleher, 2013). Such employees often read job ads and do not like working in their team (Kelleher, 2013).

When the current position in the company covers the belonging needs, the employees are almost engaged with their work (Bridger, 2018). Such employees understand that they are a part of something bigger, but they are likely to leave the company if they find a better offer (Kelleher, 2013). When the esteem needs of employees are met, they are engaged with the company. They feel to be playing a crucial role in the company’s life and unlikely to turnover, as they aim at high achievements in the company (Bridger, 2018). Finally, if the self-actualization needs of the employees are fulfilled, they are fully engaged with their current job. This implies that they are happy at their current workplace and expire others to higher achievement (Kelleher, 2013). It should be mentioned that HR managers cannot aim at fulfilling the higher needs before completing the basic needs, such as salary and work conditions (Bridger, 2018). At the same time, higher employee engagement is associated with higher retention rates and lower HR costs (Kelleher, 2013).

Aon Hewitt Model

Aon Hewitt’s model has an advanced understanding of the concept of employee engagement in different types of organizations. While the majority of employee engagement models assume that employee engagement is a crucial contributor to the organization’s success, Aon Hewitt model explicitly builds a connection between employee engagement and three outcomes (Turner, 2019). The model introduces three outcomes, known as Stay, Say, and Strive (Segalla, 2021). The Say part is associated with people expressing positive opinions about the company, it’s employee relations, its mission, and its vision (Turner, 2019). Engaged employees share their enthusiasm both internally and externally, which allows the company to improve the relationships with employees, potential employees, and the general public (Turner, 2019). The Stay outcome is associated with decreased level of employee turnover (Segalla, 2021). The model assumes that if employees are engaged, the develop deep ties with the company, which leads to improved retention rates (Turner, 2019). Finally, the Strive outcome is associated with employees willing to go an extra mile to help the company succeed in achieving its mission (Segalla, 2021). In other words, the employee efficiency improves if employee engagement increases (Turner, 2019). Thus, Aon Hewitt model states that employee engagement is associated with increased retention rates, workplace productivity, and better employee and public relations.

The model suggests that there are six engagement drivers, which can be subdivided into foundational engagement drivers and differentiating engagement drivers (Ayob and Mat, 2019). The foundation drivers include basic needs, company practices, and the work (Turner, 2019). The basic needs include the need to have acceptable salary, normal work-life balance, and the need to be taken care of (Turner, 2019). Close attention to basic needs leads to improved employee retention (Turner, 2019). Company practices is a driver which is associated with the day-to-day operation of the company (Segalla, 2021). The managers need to encourage their employees through initiatives, goals, and programs to contribute to Strive and Stay outcomes. Finally, the work should be challenging but manageable for the employees, which implies that they should have interesting tasks and right tools to accomplish these tasks (Turner, 2019). This driver increases employee performance.

The differentiating engagement drivers include brand, leadership, and performance reviews. If an employee perceives an organization in a positive life, it becomes the key to the Say outcome (Segalla, 2021). In other words, managers need to ensure that they have a positive brand image among employees to receive positive reviews from them. The leadership driver affects all three outcomes of employee engagement (Turner, 2019). In other words, the employees are more likely to Stay, Say, and Strive if the company’s leadership team is actively involved in the corporate life and seek to fulfil the company’s mission (Segalla, 2021). The performance review driver is associated with employees’ need for recognition (Segalla, 2021). The employees are a lot more likely to strive and stay if their success is acknowledged through reviews (Turner, 2019). In summary, the model suggests that addressing the six drivers in a careful way can improve the three outcomes.

Aon Hewitt model is used extensively in current research to explain employee engagement. For instance, a recent research by Ayob and Mat (2019) focused on acquiring empirical evidence to confirm the model. Quantitative analysis demonstrated that employee engagement positively affects retention and performance employees, which is in accord with the model (Ayob and Mat, 2019). A qualitative study by Burnett and Lisk (2019) revealed that modern technology can contribute to improve employee engagement. The researchers used Aon Hewitt model to explain the results (Burnett and Lisk, 2019). Manjaree and Perera (2021) used the model to explain how the employee engagement practices should be improved after the pandemic to maximise retention, job satisfaction, and employee performance. Thus, the model is still usable in current conditions.

Kahn’s Model

Another model of employee engagement was introduced by William A. Kahn in 1990. The employee engagement model included three dimensions of employee engagement and three psychological conditions that were affected by these levels of employee engagement (Kahn, 1990). According to the model, an employee needs to be engaged on the physical, cognitive, and emotional levels. The physical level includes an employee using its physical and mental abilities to do their job (Kahn, 1990). In other words, managers need to make sure that situations where employees have nothing to do at work exist (Saks, 2006). Kahn (1990) states that employees that expend their mental and physical abilities at work have higher levels of confidence, which makes the physical level of employee engagement crucial for employee satisfaction and efficiency.

The cognitive level of engagement includes understanding the purpose of the job and the bigger picture associated with the company’s vision and mission (Saks and Gruman, 2014). The model explains that the employees need to put some meaning in their work, which promotes more creativity and more confident decision-making (Saks, 2006). Kahn (1990) states that if the employees know the meaning of their work instead of only the instructions, they can be more flexible. Therefore, engagement on the cognitive level is crucial for achieving better employee outcomes.

Finally, engagement on the emotional level is associated with developing a sense of belonging among employees (Kahn, 1990). In other words, the managers need to develop the feelings of safety and trust among employees to ensure that they support the mission and vision of the company emotionally (Saks, 2006). This level includes creative positive inter-personal relationship and group dynamics to ensure the atmosphere of trust and respect (Kahn, 1990). The emotional level is identified as the most difficult to maintain and alter.

Kahn (1990) believed that engaging people in the three dimensions describe above would lead to improve three psychological conditions, which are meaningfulness, safety, and availability. In other words, Kahn (1990) stated that employee engagement on all three levels could lead to the feeling of security, the feeling that their efforts are worth the cause, and that they are supported.

Employee Engagement Issues

Employee engagement strategies are necessary to maintain workers’ involvement, reduce their turnover rates, and include transformational leadership, training opportunities, and performance improvement events and bonuses. Sun and Bunchapattanasakda (2019, p. 75) claim that “with regard to variables related to employee engagement, antecedent variables include organizational, job and individual factors, and outcome variables are mainly focused on individual and organizational performance.” Consequently, the main issue is proper evaluation of the practices’ effectiveness and the inability of HR managers to timely modify their communication or activities.

Another problem is talent management: staff members with significant capabilities and scope of experience might be undervalued while working with colleagues with average skills, damaging their willingness to achieve goals. A recent research revealed that employee engagement lacks talent-related systems that could help HR departments match the skillsets to the jobs and form agile teams motivated to help the company succeed (Hancock and Schaninger, 2020). An empirical study by Nayak, Jena, and Patnaik (2021) demonstrated that the psychological perception of a job mediates the relationship between knowledge integration and employee retention. According to a quantitative review, in addition to the psychological attachment to work, overall satisfaction enhances engagement, and the problems, such as lack of feedback and rewards, must be addressed to prevent staff from burnout (Supriyanto, Ekowati, and Pujianto, 2021). Achieving sufficient job contentment enables HR managers to improve employee engagement on professional levels, from interns to executives, to avoid performance detriment.

Employee Engagement and HR Practices after the Pandemic

The pandemic enabled HR managers to revise their employee engagement practices and adjust them to the remote work and lockdown circumstances. Indeed, Meyer et al. surveyed and assessed German employees during the pandemic from April to June 2020, revealing that the majority experienced exhaustion and consequent performance decrease and burnout (Meyer et al., 2021). Therefore, employee engagement required adjustments to assist staff members in developing work-life balance and including pandemic-specific efficacy metrics. Indeed, Chanana (2021, p. e2508) identified practices such as “conduct weekly alignment session, team meet-ups, virtual challenges and competitions, shared content such as books, online courses, communication exercise, and emphasize results over timelines.” Furthermore, according to the surveys, assistance with health management and deliberate safety addressing strategies improvement were essential factors for employee engagement during COVID-19 (Zadros, 2021). New practices formed because of lockdowns and challenging situations with healthcare integrated into the HR strategies and remained efficient in the post-pandemic circumstances.

Indeed, current research advocates for a flexible work format where staff members choose between remote and in-office hours, depending on the tasks they should complete. Weideman and Hofmeyr (2020, p. 2) state that “a common motive for organizations to implement flexibility is to assist employees to better balance their time, where commuting times consumed a major portion of employees’ time.” According to another study, after the pandemic, considering workers’ individual needs and circumstances became essential for maintaining their willingness to work (Pass and Ridgway, 2022). HR practices modified to the novel conditions are more cost-efficient but lack a legislative foundation and should be aligned with the company’s goals and basic performance metrics (Shahi and Neloy, 2020). From employees’ perspective, an ability to adjust work schedules and integrate unique approaches to complete tasks became more valuable than KPI-based monetary bonuses.

Employee Engagement at Multinational Engineering Companies

Bosch is a multinational corporation primarily representing the engineering industry, meaning employees with diverse skill sets and backgrounds should work collaboratively and stay equally engaged. In addition, most jobs are based on assembling and manufacturing and, therefore, cannot be performed remotely, making it challenging for HR managers to address health threats during the pandemic. Employee engagement in engineering companies is developed based on the lean metrics of production and estimated rewards; thus, switching to hybrid or flexible practices must be cost-efficient (Yadav, Seth, and Desai, 2018). Complicated manufacturing processes also require supervision and accessibility of experts to assist workers in completing their tasks and maintaining adequate performance. In the related qualitative study, Busse and Weidner (2020, p. 544) emphasized that “supplementing a modern working environment by the appropriate amount of leadership presence, however, can raise employee engagement to higher levels. In the post-pandemic circumstances, HR should extend flexibility and improve the proper work environment maintenance practices.

Engineering companies have specific demographics, and the workforce’s needs must be considered in motivation and retention strategies. HR Research revealed that most employees represent the millennial group, and their engagement must align with safety, community, education, collaborative environment, and appropriate leadership (Hurtienne, Hurtienne, and Kempen, 2022). Utoft (2020) identified and explained the problem of gender and cultural equality in manufacturing corporations, suggesting that this factor diminishes the effectiveness of administration and workers’ retention. At Bosch, managers’ work is strict and structured, enabling them to overcome the barriers by direct interaction with staff members or by developing and presenting the initiatives to executives before taking action (Hodapp et al., 2022). Employee engagement at multinational engineering companies lacked approaches based on the staff member’s specific needs; thus, motivation maintenance during and after the pandemic was challenging.

Gap in Literature

The literature review demonstrated that although employee engagement is broadly explored, the pandemic aftermath lacks research due to the topic’s novelty. Businesses in different industries have diverse practices to motivate and support their staff members; thus, there is no comprehensive study on the best strategies for the post-pandemic world (Pass and Ridgway, 2022). The gap in current research occurred due to the lack of unique case studies of how employee engagement was modified, what issues were faced, and if the common approaches are still suitable.

Methods

Research Purpose and Design

The purpose of this research was to explore how Bosch adapted its employee engagement practices during the post-COVID period. This study has a qualitative design due to its exploratory character. The purpose of exploratory studies is to gain an understanding about a problem that has not been defined with a precision (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). Exploratory studies are usually associated with frequent changes of research paths, as the results of such research are difficult to predict (Creswell, 2012). Exploratory studies usually inspect a certain area of interest to identify problems or issues that might be of interest for future research (Cooper and Schindler, 2014). The literature review revealed that there is a limited number of studies about the changes in employee engagement practices, which demonstrates that there is no reliable information available concerning the topic of interest. Therefore, this research will explore the topic to identify the possible issues in the employee engagement practices for future studies to examine. This section provides an overview of research methods using the concept of “research onion” described by Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2019).

Research Philosophy

A research philosophy is a set of common beliefs among researchers concerning how a problem should be understood and addressed (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). In particular, research philosophy answers the questions of what can we know about the world and how we can get this knowledge (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). There are three types of research philosophies utilised by researchers, including positivism, interpretivism, and pragmatism. Positivism presupposes that there is only one reality and t can be measured and understood using rigorous quantitative methods (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). Interpretivists believe that the reality cannot be measured due to cultural and psychological factors, which implies that studies should focus on people’s thoughts and ideas (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). Finally, pragmatism presupposes that reality may be renegotiated and interpreted, which implies that the methods that should be used depend on the purpose of the study (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). Pragmatists believe that both qualitative and quantitative methods can be used if they solve the problem.

This study uses the antirealistic approach to reality, as we believe that reality may differ for employees of Bosch depending on their social and cultural characteristics. While pragmatism was also suitable for the purpose of the study and allows the use of quantitative methods, it was decided in favour of adopting interpretivists’ approach due to the personal preference and ideology of the researcher.

Research Approach

There are two types of approaches, including an inductive and deductive approach. An inductive approach presupposes that a researcher does not have a hypothesis before starting a study, while a deductive study is usually based on a theory of hypothesis (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). The researcher did not have a clear hypothesis about the subject of interest before the study, which implies that the inductive approach was imperative for this study. As a result, qualitative approach was used to answer the research questions, as the inductive approach is associated with qualitative methods.

Research Strategy

This research’s strategy is case study, as the it aims at acquiring in-depth knowledge within the context of one company. Instead of focusing on achieving high generalisability, this study focused on a relatively small population with their unique culture and values. In particular, this study focused on employees and HR managers of Bosch and their perception of employee engagement practices with the idea that the findings can help to modify employee engagement practices in other companies.

Further Choices

Exploratory studies require a qualitative approach because qualitative methods analyse phenomena through behaviours, experiences, and observations made locally (Basias and Pollalis, 2018). Quantitative studies require clearly identified hypotheses tested using rigorous statistical methods, such as correlation analysis, comparison of means, or assessment of differences in proportions (Creswell, 1994). Thus, quantitative studies us numerical data received from surveys, experiments, or observations and apply statistical and mathematical tools to draw conclusions (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). Quantitative studies are associated with increased breadth and reliability of findings due to the ability to collect data from multiple participants (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). However, quantitative studies have a limited ability to explain the results of the analysis due to very limited data available in terms of variability (Creswell, 1994). Moreover, quantitative research requires in-depth prior knowledge to be available for the study to build upon (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). The area of interest of this study is underexplored, and quantitative approach to answering the research questions would be inappropriate.

Using a mixed-method approach would also be inappropriate for this research, as it requires previous knowledge to build upon. Mixed-method studies can help to achieve both breadth and depth of knowledge by testing hypotheses using quantitative methods and explaining results using qualitative methods (Creswell, 1994). However, this study has no previous findings it can used to make hypotheses, which excludes the mixed method approach form being a viable option for designing this study.

Qualitative design does not require a clearly formulated hypothesis to be tested. Moreover, qualitative research allows for a more in-depth understanding of the interviewees’ thoughts and experiences on the issues (Creswell, 2007). Qualitative studies rely on unstructured data acquired from interviews, observations, or focus groups (Creswell, 2007). Moreover, qualitative design uses the inductive approach to analysis of finding patterns and themes, which relies on the abilities of the researcher (Hair et al., 2015). In qualitative studies, the researcher is the central instrument of data collection and analysis, which requires much experience and skills from the researcher (Creswell, 2007). As a result, the selection of the qualitative approach for this study may be associated with significant drawbacks. In particular, the researcher does not have enough experience and skills in scientific or business research. Even though, the researcher has a rich background in HR management, the results may still be biased due to the limited abilities of the researcher. However, it should be noted that the researcher attempted to minimise the probability of error and bias by frequent consultations with a supervisor.

Three central advantages associated with the qualitative approach were identified. First, qualitative methods were expected allow participants enough time to thoroughly think over the asked questions and elaborate the answer as the data collection process continued. Second, the qualitative approach allowed the researcher to use a limited sample of participants, which was crucial for the researcher due to the limited access to the participants. Finally, the results of qualitative analysis are expected to have detailed information about the topic of interest, which would be unachievable in case of using quantitative or mixed-method approaches.

Target Population and Sample

The population under analysis were the HR managers and employees of Bosch, Germany. Moreover, it was identified that the participants needed to be an HR-related position for at least two years at the company to allow the comparison between the pre-COVID employee engagement practices and post-COVID employee engagement practices. The number of employees at Bosch in Germany was 131,652 in 2020, which was understood to be population size for this study, as both employees and HR managers are of interest to the study (Statista, 2021).

The research utilised a non-probability approach to sampling. In particular, convenience sampling was used to secure the required number of participants. Showkat and Parveen (2017) state that convenience sample is the preference of the researchers to select the participants “as per their own convenience,” which usually means using the information from participants that can be easily reached by the researcher (p. 8). Such an approach is associated with a significant danger of being biased

There are two types of approaches to sampling, including probability and non-probability sampling methods. The probability sampling methods are based on the idea to allow all members of a population to have an equal chance to participate in the study (Etikan, and Bala, 2017). There four general types of probability sampling that include simple random sampling, systematic random sampling, stratified sampling, and cluster sampling (Acharya et al., 2013). Probability sampling methods are usually used to avoid selection bias, when it is a major concern (Etikan, and Bala, 2017). An analysis revealed that participant selection bias was not a significant concern for the study due to a unified approach to engagement practices in all branches of the company in Germany.

Non-probability sampling methods are associated with participants having different chances to participate in the study. The four most common types of non-probability sampling methods include convenience, purposive, snowball, and quota sampling (Cooper and Schindler, 2014). While non-probability sampling may be associated with increased danger of low reliability of findings, these methods allow to collect valuable information with limited access to data sources (Cooper and Schindler, 2014). Since the researcher had limited access to the population under analysis, it was decided to utilise convenience sampling to ensure that the required number of participants is secured.

The data was collected by finding Bosch employees on LinkedIn and contacted personally. The potential participants were sent personal emails inviting them to participate in the study. The recruitment emails contained a basic description of the purpose of the study and what was expected of them as participants. After receiving a confirmation from the potential participants, an online meeting was arranged with them to collect the data through an interview.

The final sample included 10 participants from different departments of the company. The age of the participants varied between 28 and 47, with an average age of the participants of 35 years old. The mean time worked in the company was 6.6 years, which implies the participants had significant experience of working at Bosch on average. Half of the sample had a Master’s degree, and another five participants had a Bachelor’s degree. The characteristics of the sample are provided in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Characteristics of the sample

The sample was divided into two groups. The first group included only HR managers, while the second group included other employees. The idea behind dividing the sample into two groups was to understand how the opinions of HR managers differed from the opinions of regular employees.

Data Collection

Data Collection Procedure

A total of 12 interviews and a pilot interview were conducted to collect the data. The small sample size was explained by the fact that qualitative research does not aim to achieve high generalisability by attracting numerous participants to the study. The sample is usually dependent on the purpose of the study and the quality of knowledge received from the participants. Any sample sizes, even as low as one can be justified, if the research provides meaningful insights (Boddy, 2016). A rule of thumb is that researchers should stop conducting interviews as soon as they stop receiving new information from participants (Boddy, 2016). Initially, it was planned to conduct a pilot interview and 15 data acquisition interviews. However, after conducting 11 interviews, the researcher realized that no new data was received during the last three interviews. Therefore, it was decided to stop the data collection process and commence to data analysis.

All the interviews were conducted using Zoom for the convenience of the participants. Eight participants were offered to meet in person or online. Some four other participants were not offered to meet in person due to the location differences and inability of the researcher to travel to distant locations. All the participants confirmed that meeting online was more convenient to them than in-person meetings. It is also crucial to mention that using online interviews as a primary source of data was appropriate due to the possibility of COVID-19 exposure during personal meetings.

The meetings followed a standard protocol of semi-structure interviews described by Creswell (2007). The participants were asked the interview questions consecutively in the order provided further in this chapter. All the questions were open-ended to allow the participant freedom in terms of reflecting about the problem of interest. The researcher asked clarification questions when it was appropriate to ensure that the interviewee was correctly understood. The meetings were not taped for the ethical reasons. It was assumed that the participants would be more comfortable sharing the information about the employee engagement practices without the fear of the footage leaking to the internet. Therefore, the researcher took notes during the interview to save as much information as possible. After the interview, the notes were sent to the participants to ensure that notes were error free. The data was used only after receiving the confirmation from the participants that all the notes were correct. The time limit for the interviews was set to one hour.

Pilot Interview

It was decided to conduct a pilot interview before collecting data. Knox and Burkard (2009) stated that the characteristics of the interviewer have a significant impact on the outcomes of the study. Therefore, it was decided to conduct a pilot interview to determine if the interviewer had a significant effect on the interviewees. Moreover, the pilot interview was used to test the interview questions for their ability to collect relevant data. Creswell (2007) stated that conducting semi-structured interviews is a complicated process for researchers that have limited experience. Therefore, the author of this paper used the pilot interview to practice the skill of conducting interviews.

The pilot interview also helped the researcher to determine if all the interview questions were appropriate. After the interview, the interviewee was asked to provide feedback on the interview process and the interview questions. The pilot interview was recorded for the self-evaluation purposes, and the interviewee was informed that the results of the meetings would not be included in the final data analysis. The results of self-evaluation and feedback of the pilot participant were used to modify the interview questions, the attitude of the interviewer, and the interview length. In summary, the pilot interview helped to improve the quality of collected data for further analysis.

Interview Questions

All the participants were asked the same research questions according to the developed protocol. Even though slight variations of the order of questions was considered acceptable, the researcher aimed at keeping the questions sequence the same for all participants to increase the reliability of findings. Only open-ended questions were used in the study due their crucial characteristics. According to Creswell (2007), open-ended questions assume that the participant can give free-form answers, while close-ended questions provide the participant with a set of possible variants for the answers, such as yes-no questions. However, the researcher allowed using closed questions for clarification purposes if the response was unclear.

The interview questions were divided into five sections according to the number of sub-questions of the central research question. The interview questions are provided below be section.

Section 1: Engagement practices before the pandemic

1. How would you describe the level of employee engagement at Bosch Germany before the pandemic?
2. What kind of employee engagement practices did managers at Bosch use before the pandemic?
3. Which do you think were the most successful engagement practices? Why?

Section 2: Engagement practices after the pandemic

1. How would you describe the level of employee engagement at Bosch Germany immediately after the pandemic?
2. What changes did managers at Bosch Germany had to make to improve the employee engagement practices?
3. What kind of employee engagement practices are most successful now at Bosch, Germany?

Section 3: Reasons for changing the employee engagement practices

1. What are the reasons for the employee engagement practices to change?
2. What are the possible outcomes of the failure to change the employee engagement practices?

Section 4: Differences in employee engagement practices

1. How are employee engagement practices different for people that work at home

Section 5: Improving the employee engagement practices

1. How satisfied are you with the current employee engagement practices at Bosch Germany?
2. How do you think the employee engagement practices at Bosch, Germany, can be improved?

All the questions described above were evaluated before being included in the final questionnaire. First, the questions were assessed for the clarity of the meaning. The researcher read the questions several times to make sure that the meaning could not be misunderstood. Moreover, the researcher asked the interviewee of the pilot interview to assess the quality of questions and their clarity.

Data Analysis Procedure

The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The approach is most appropriate for researching people’s views, opinions, knowledge, values, or experiences, which is coherent with the purpose of the present study (Creswell, 1994). The purpose of the thematic analysis is to find the codes and form them into themes that help to answer the research questions. The importance of relevancy of the themes was evaluated by the frequency of the occurrence of these themes. The thematic analysis followed the standard six-step approach introduced by Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke (Sang and Sitko, 2015). These steps are outlined below.

1. Familiarisation. The first step was associated with reading the notes from the interviews to get a general sense of the collected data without trying to analyse it. The first stage aimed at getting the general unbiased idea of the data without any assumptions or opinions.
2. Coding. This stage was associated with highlighting the frequent key words with context to determine the central ideas associated with the research questions. It was decided to include context of the keywords, as different people may apply different meanings to the words.
3. Pattern search. This step was associated with combining several codes in themes according to their meaning. Several codes were united into themes during this stage of the analysis.
4. Reviewing. The fourth stage of the analysis was associated with checking the themes for reoccurrence. During this stage several themes were united into one due to close meanings.
5. Refining. This stage is associated with analysing the themes for their ability to answer the research questions. This stage was associated with excluding several themes due to their inability to fit the argument.
6. Writing up. This stage was associated with producing the results section.

Reliability and Validity

Validity of a study are associated with the instruments measuring what they are expected to measure (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2019). This study implemented the majority of methods to ensure high validity of the research results. These methods are discussed below:

Triangulation. The research questions were discussed from different viewpoints to allow a broader view on the matter of interest. In particular, the viewpoints of HR managers, top managers, and middle managers concerning the employee engagement practices at Bosch were discussed.

Peer review. The research process was reviewed by an expert (supervisor) who had a high level of expertise in conducting qualitative research in the field of HR management. The supervisor ensured that the research methods were appropriate for achieving the purpose of the study. Moreover, the supervisor checked the interview questions for their wording increase the validity of acquired data.

Bias acknowledgement. The researcher understood that conducting a qualitative study is associated with a high degree of bias possibility. Therefore, the researcher conducted a thorough literature review to outline all the possible biases a researcher may face during the process. In particular, the researcher considered interview process biases, theme determination biases, and data analysis biases.

Detailed explanation. This paper provides a thorough overview of the research methods utilised to achieve the purpose of the study, which allows the reader to make judgements about the validity of findings. Instead of stating the opinion of the researcher, the results were written in the objective manner to the extent possible.

High expertise level in HR. The researcher has significant experience in the field of HR management in general and employee engagement practices in particular. This fact allowed them to help to conduct the interviews.

The reliability is a measure of how the results of the research can be repeated using the described methods (Creswell, 2012). Reliability was ensured by avoiding recoding of the interviews. It was assumed that the interviewees would feel more relaxed if they understood that they would have full control over what was being recorded. The participants were informed that they would be allowed to edit the notes that were taken during the interview. Moreover, the participants were informed about the fact that the collected data would be protected according to the high standards of the institutional ethics board of the University.

Ethical Considerations

A qualitative study based on surveying Bosch staff members to explore the company’s employee engagement strategies has ethical limitations and considerations. Research ethics apply fundamental principles to the design, methodology, and other operations necessary for achieving objectives (Goncalves and Cornelius Smith, 2018). The term is based on scientifically, socially, and morally approved standards of respect and regulation throughout the study. The universal principles are autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity, and justice, and all research decision-making should comply with them (Arnold, 2021). Addressing possible ethical issues before the active phase is crucial for avoiding serious barriers to reaching desired outcomes and objectives. Furthermore, the effects, such as recommendations for the company, must have a theoretical and evidence-based foundation to eliminate the risks of harming the company’s employee engagement practices. Ethical aspects should be mentioned in the study and informed consent for the participants to ensure their appliance throughout all procedures, from theoretical framework formation to the interpretation of the results. This research required the participants to sign the informed consent forms so that the participants understood their rights and benefits associated with participation in the research.

Ethical concerns exist at most stages of research because interviews contain information exchange and is based on individuals’ experiences. Indeed, according to the principle of nonmaleficence, the obtained information must be kept anonymous, and all participants must sign the informed contest about their confidentiality protection. However, if the results demonstrate severe tendencies or employee engagement practices ineffectiveness, the dilemma of the managers should be notified occurs, because the disclosure might be addressed as beneficence for Bosch (Arnold, 2021). The issue can be addressed with the initial elimination of conflict of interest by identifying that the research team is not related to the company and will not directly contact them to share the results unless they are published.

Scope Limitations

The results of this study are limited to its scope. In particular, this study assessed the changes that had to be made in the employee engagement practices at Bosch, Germany. Thus, the findings and recommendations provided by this study are applicable only to Bosch in Germany. The characteristics of the sample do not allow high generalizability of findings, which implies that the results of the research may have limited applicability to companies from other countries or even for the Bosch’s branches in other countries. According to Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions, different nations may have completely different cultures that affect workplace culture of the companies (Dellner, 2014). Thus, the results of this research should be used for companies from other countries with caution. At the same time, countries that have national cultures similar to that of Germany can use the results of the study freely due to the similarity. The features of the countries that can use the results of the study are discussed in greater detail in Section 5.2 of this study.

Results, Analysis, and Evaluation of Findings

Results

The primary data used for the study were notes from semi-structured interviews. It should be noted that this study did not record the interviews to ensure high trustworthiness of findings. It was assumed that recording the interviews may be associated with decreased reliability of collected data, as interviewees would fill nervous to reveal sensitive information. Notes from two interviews are provided in Appendix A of this paper. Appendix B includes an interview guide utilised for data collection.

The purpose of this section was to describe the results of thematic analysis in the most unbiased way to allow the readers draw their own conclusions. The results of the study are discussed in this section by groups according to the sub-questions that they answer. After that, a summary of all the results is provided to compile all the central themes in place to answer the central research question, which concerned the improvement of employee engagement practices in multinational companies during the post-COVID period. The results of thematic analysis are provided below.

Employee Engagement Practices Before the Pandemic

The first sub-question was answered by the first section of interview questions asked during the interviews. A total of five codes were extracted from conversations with both employees and HR managers. The codes were united into two central themes, which were ‘Performance’ and ‘Trust’. The results of thematic analysis are summarised in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Summary of analysis for Sub-Question 1

Note: The frequency of the occurrence of different codes are demonstrated in Appendix C.

The first central theme was ‘Performance’. This theme included the codes of assessment, recognition, and development. The code of assessment emerged 11 times during the interviews. While HR managers saw frequent assessment as a positive addition to employee engagement, some employee felt overwhelmed with constant performance assessments and numerous metrics. One of the employees stated “We used to have way more assessments. Some of us even felt overwhelmed with the number of standards and norms we had to look up to.” The code of recognition emerged seven times during the interviews. The employees and HR managers saw recognition practices in the positive light. They were included in the ‘Performance’ theme, as the Bosch recognized achievements of individual employees, groups, and departments. One of the HR managers stated “Success needs to be recognised. It was and still is one of the central assumptions of employee engagement practices here at Bosch.” Finally, the theme of development emerged five times during the interviews. HR managers and employees agreed that Bosch provided every opportunity for employees to grow through corporate training programs. One of the HR managers said “Employee development has always been the core to the company success. Bosch sees investing in human capital central for growth of the company and improving performance of employees.” Both the employees and the HR managers agreed that employee development was the key to increased performance of employees.

The theme of trust was less recurrent with 11 total mentions over the codes of friendly atmosphere and honesty. The code of friendly atmosphere appeared for seven times during the interviews. One of the HR said “The HR department went over their heads to create a friendly atmosphere in the office.” The code of honesty also emerged during the interviews with different viewpoints on the matter among employees and HR managers. While HR managers believed that has always been one of the core values at Bosch, the employees stated that the level of honesty was lower before the pandemic that it was after the pandemic. Of the employees stated, “I don’t think HR managers and managers in general were as honest as they are now. I think I have a lot more trust in what they are saying now than I used to.” Thus, it may be stated that trust was one of the central employee engagement practices before the pandemic.

Changes in the Employee Engagement Practices

Sub-Question 2 was answered by the analysis of replies to questions from Section 2 of the interview questions. Since the second research questions was the most important for the study, the researcher put increased emphasis on the discussion of these questions. A total of three themes emerged during the discussion of the second section of interview questions, including trust, flexibility, and individual approach. The themes and the codes with the quotes from the interviews are provided in Table 3 below.

Table 3. Summary of analysis for Sub-Question 2

Note: The frequency of the occurrence of different codes are demonstrated in Appendix C.

The most frequent theme was ‘Flexibility’, which had a total of 37 mentions during the interviews. The central codes were working from home, working hours, and technology for flexibility. The code of working from home appeared 17 times during the interviews, as the opportunity to work from home first emerged during the pandemic. One of the HR managers said “The biggest change was that we introduced the ability of a vast majority of our employees to work from home. Such an option was unavailable before the pandemic.” Both employees and HR managers agreed that it was the most impactful change. The code of working hours appeared 11 times during the interviews. HR managers stated that introduction of flexible working hours allowed to help the employees to maintain a better life-work balance. However, some employees mentioned that flexible working hours did not have a positive effect on work-life balance. One of the participants said “I now have the ability to work almost whenever I want from wherever I want. However, now sometimes it feels that I am always at work.” However, it should be mentioned that many people did not receive the opportunity to work from home even though they wanted to. The code of technology appeared 9 times during the interviews. The HR managers stated that Bosch investing in introduction and development of new technology to ensure flexibility. One of the employees mentioned, “Now we have a whole world of new apps. They track our time at work, help us communicate, send notifications…” While HR managers were enthusiastic about the introduction of new technology, employees were somewhat sceptical about it, as it made their working life more complicated.

The theme of individual approach emerged 12 times during the interviews. The code of individual needs appeared seven times during the interviews. The HR managers stated that the course of employee engagement practices changed from managing group dynamics to attending to individual needs of employees. The employees confirmed that HR managers started to dedicate more time to personal communication. One of the employees said “The approach is more personal. HRs may call to check up on how I am doing. It’s very nice, really.” The code of attention to family emerged five times during the interviews with HR managers. One of the participants said “The families became more impactful than they used to. We have to pay more attention to them to ensure that employees are engaged.” However, the code of attention to the families did not appear during the interviews with employees. Thus, it may be stated that even if HR managers started to pay more attention to families, the change was unnoticed by the employees.

The third theme that emerged during the interviews with was trust, which was represented by the code of honesty. The employees mentioned that managers became more honest after the pandemic. Managers admitted that they had absolutely no idea how the pandemic is going to affect the operations; however, managers continued to demonstrated sincere concern about all the employees, which developed the atmosphere of trust. On of the employees said “HRs and managers are more honest now. During the pandemic, managers used to say that they don’t know what is going to happen. That made me trust them.” The theme of trust did not emerge during the discussion of the second part of interview questions with HR. However, previously HR managers mentioned that trust was always a significant part of the employee engagement practices.

Reasons for Changes in the Employee Engagement Practices

The third sub-question of this research was discussed based on the replies to the questions from Section 3 of the interview questions mentioned in Chapter 3. The discussion of the reasons was rather brief most of the time. Two themes emerged during the interviews, including the theme of ‘priorities’ and ‘group dynamics’. The themes and the codes with the quotes from the interviews for RQ3 are provided in Table 4 below.

Table 4. Summary of analysis for Sub-Question 3

Note: The frequency of the occurrence of different codes are demonstrated in Appendix C.

The analysis of the data demonstrated that employees and HR managers arrived at two central reasons for the changes in the employee engagement practices. Employees stated that the lockdown measures and decreased demand had a significant impact on the company’s engagement practices. These comments were not included in the discussion of reasons, as they appeared self-evident. Moreover, participants mentioned other possible reasons for the need to change employee retention practices. This section includes only recurrent suggestions and ideas with a minimal recurrence rate of five.

The first theme, ‘priorities’, explained that the engagement practices changed due to the shift in strategic HR management priorities. Before the pandemic, employee performance was the central priority of HR management. However, during the pandemic, employee well-being became the central priority, which included both physical and emotional well-being. The theme of well-being appeared seven times during the interviews. One of the HR managers said “The pandemic shifted the priorities of the company. Well-being of the employees became central concern during the pandemic.” During the first months of working during the pandemic, Bosch developed an internal body temperature tracking application for mobile phones to ensure that all the employees have a minimal risk of encountering the virus at work. Additionally, Bosch opened on line for psychological support for any employee to contact with psychological problems.

Another theme included in the theme of priorities was work-life balance. Before the pandemic, it was assumed that all the employees could come to the office or production facility and leave their family problems behind the entrance door. During the pandemic, many people worked from home, which also meant living at work. The work-life balance was broken by employees having little opportunity to switch between work and family. One of the employees said “It was like my family started living in my office. Nothing that worked previously could work during the pandemic.” One of the HR managers said that “work-life balance was disrupted. Employees could no longer leave behind their home worries when they are at work. We needed to acknowledge that.” Therefore, restoring the work-life balance became a new priority of the HR management team.

The second theme that emerged 6 times through the code of turning to individualism was changing ‘group dynamics’. The HR managers mentioned that they could no longer address the employees as a group, as many employees had little connections with their co-workers. One of the HR managers said “We could no longer work with the group. Everyone was scattered and alone.” Even though the employees tried to preserve the group dynamics, they failed under the pressure of external circumstances. One of the employees mentioned “We tried to have online drinking parties or coffee breaks. It did not work. Everyone was involved with their own home activities instead of work activities.” Thus, it may be stated that group dynamics changed significantly, which led to modification of employee engagement practices.

Differences in Employee Engagement

The fourth sub-question on this research focused on defining the differences in employee engagement practices between those who work from home and those who work in the office. The themes were extracted from answers to the question from Section 4 of the questions list provided in Section 3.3.3. The data collected for this research question was very close to data collected previously. Moreover, it was difficult to collect data from employees, as they could rarely compare employee engagement practices. The themes, codes, and examples from participants’ words are provided in Table 5 below.

Table 5. Summary of analysis for Sub-Question 4

Note: The frequency of the occurrence of different codes are demonstrated in Appendix C.

The results of the analysis revealed two central themes that answered the fourth research question, including ‘individual approach’ and ‘well-being’. The theme of individual approach was mentioned 11 times and consisted of two codes, which were individual needs and personal connections. The first code was individual needs, was found in interview with both HR managers and employees. The respondents mentioned that HR managers were more attentive to the individual needs of people working at home. One of the HR managers said “We generally focus more on individual needs of our employees working from home. This is less applicable to employees working in the office.” One of the employees noted “As I said earlier, since I started working from home, HRs started calling me more often to check if there was anything I needed.” The code of personal connection was mentioned 5 times during the fourth part of the interviews. The theme was associated with HR managers trying to build informal relationships with employees working from home. One of the employees said “We often talk about non-work stuff, such as families or even politics with everything going around today.” Thus, one of the differences in the employee engagement practices for employees working from home and employees working from the office was HR managers trying to build personal relationships with employees working from home.

The second theme that answer the research question was well-being, which was represented in two codes, including health and work-life balance. These codes emerged only during the conversations with HR managers and received no confirmation during the interviews with the employees. The code health was met five times during the analysis of the fourth section of the interview. One of the participants said “Physical and especially emotional health is crucial for people working from home.” HR managers stated that employees working from home have an increased chance of receiving emotional or physical conditions, which may lead to decreased labour efficiency. Therefore, HR mangers put increased emphasis on health of employees working from home in comparison with those working in the office. The second code was work-life balance. One of the participants said “As I said earlier, work-life balance is often disrupted by working from home. HRs work to restore this balance.” Work-life balance of the employees was distorted by working from home since everyone felt they were living at work. Therefore, the HR managers needed to improve the situation.

Improving Employee Engagement Practices

The fifth research question was answered by analysing the data acquired from answers to the last section consisting of two questions. This section was of increased interest as the data allowed to compare the opinions of professionals and non-professionals. It should be noted that some employees chose to dismiss the question by saying that employee engagement practices were perfect at Bosch. Others, while suggesting some improvements, still emphasised a high level of employee engagement practices at Bosch. A total of two themes, including ‘teambuilding’ anc ‘care’ emerged during the discussion represented by a total of four codes. All the themes and codes with examples from the participants words are provided in Table 6 below.

Table 6. Summary of analysis for Sub-Question 5

Note: The frequency of the occurrence of different codes are demonstrated in Appendix C.

The theme of ‘teambuilding’ included all types of teambuilding activities. Both employees and HR managers mentioned that Bosch did not have enough teambuilding activities, such as gaming sessions, karaoke nights, board games, or corporate culture workshops. The theme was quite frequent with a total of 13 mentions during the interviews. The opinions of both employees and HR managers were best summarised by one of the participants saying “Some of my colleagues from other companies say that they often get together for workshops, online board games, and even online karaoke. I think that would be awesome here at Bosch.” Thus, the participants agreed that introducing new teambuilding practices for remote employees would be effective.

The theme of ‘care’ included three codes. This theme was extracted primarily from the analysis of responses of employees. The code of informing was mentioned seven times during the interviews. The code included all the suggestions concerning the current system of informing. The central idea is that report employees are overwhelmed with the amount of news they receive, and they do not understand which of them are important. One of the employees said “I am always overwhelmed with newsletters, notifications, updates that I don’t even understand. If some would prepare digests of news that concern me personally, that would be great.” The code of listening was mentioned only during the interviews with employees. The participants mentioned that they often feel unheard by managers. One of the employees said “HRs often ask for our opinions, but it’s like they don’t listen.” Finally, the code of trust was mentioned five times during the interviews with employees. The employees said that they want to be part of the decision-making process. The opinions of HR managers concerning the level of employee involvement in the decision-making process is unknown. One of the employees said “I want to be part of the decision-making process. It’s like managers don’t trust my experience and knowledge.” Moreover, the employees mentioned that they liked that HR managers became more honest with them during the pandemic, as it contributed to trustful relationship.

Summary of Results

The results demonstrated that some of the themes reoccurred for different sub-questions of the study. In particular, three themes appeared to be the strongest among all the sub-questions. First, the theme of individual approach appeared to be the most frequent, as it emerged in four of the five sub-questions, when the participants spoke about how employee engagement practices evolved after the pandemic and how they are supposed to improve. Second, the theme of well-being appeared in the discussions of three out of five sub-questions. Finally, the theme of trust was also assumed to be of importance, as it appeared in the discussions of two sub-questions and the opinions about it differed between employees and HR managers. Thus, these three themes can help to answer the central research question, which concerned the improvement of employee engagement practices in multinational companies during the post-COVID period

Analysis

This section focused on the summarizing the results of the analysis provided previously in the chapter and draw conclusion. The analyses demonstrated that before the pandemic Bosch created a culture of employee engagement through performance and trust. The theme of performance was mentioned 23 times, while the theme of theme of trust was mentioned 13 times during the interviews. These results were in accord with Aon Hewitt’s model, which stated that performance and leadership were the central differentiating engagement drivers that affect the Stay, Say, and Strive outcomes (Segalla, 2021). Moreover, the findings are intact with Kahn’s model of employee engagement. Focus on trust and performance affects all three levels of engagement, including physical, cognitive, and emotional, which leads to high employee engagement and positive engagement outcomes (Kahn, 1990). However, it should be noted that some employees thought negatively about the frequency of performance assessments. This may mean that increased emphasis on assessment may lead to negative effects on job satisfaction and employee engagement. However, further research is required to confirm the assumption.

The second research question focused on the changes in the employee engagement after the pandemic. All the HR managers stated that the central change associated with the pandemic was introduction of working from home and flexible working hours, which was mentioned. These two codes were mentioned 17 and 11 times correspondingly. HR managers mentioned that people started to be more scattered and engaged more with their families than with co-workers. In other words, the measures associated with fighting the pandemic forced Bosch to introduce new options of work, which is not in any case unique. According to Chanana (2021), numerous companies of different sizes and from different industries introduced flexible working hours and working from home options. Moreover, companies all over the world increased their technology use to include in the engagement practices, similar to Bosch (Chanana, 2021). However, it is crucial to note that before the pandemic, Bosch did not offer the work from home option to the employees. Moreover, many employees at Bosch were not offered the option to work from home, as they had to be physically present to ensure that manufacturing process at Bosch’s plants did not stop.

This research also discovered some unique characteristics about employee engagement practices of Bosch after the pandemic. In particular, the HR managers developed a strategy to pay more attention to the individual needs of employees and their families. While more individualized approach of HR managers to company employees was noticed by the employees, increased attention to families was not mentioned by the employees, which may mean that the strive of the HR managers was not noticed. Such an increased emphasis on the increased attention to individual needs of employees was not mentioned previously in scholarly literature. Individual approach to employees makes them feel valued and important. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the feeling of importance makes an employee engaged (McLeod, 2007). If all the basic needs, such as salary and the feeling of job security were covered, promotion of the feeling of importance through attention to individual needs is crucial for engaging the employees. Thus, such endeavours of Bosch were in accord with Maslow’s pyramid of needs.

Another crucial aspect of new employee engagement at Bosch were increased emphasis on trust, as mentioned by the employees. The theme of trust and honesty was mentioned six times during four out of five interviews with employees. The honesty about the situation during the pandemic developed of sense of security among employees. However, HR managers did not mention that they put increased emphasis on honesty to develop trust after the pandemic. Such a phenomenon may have two explanations. On the one hand, HR managers started to be more honest with the employees. On the other hand, employees may have become more sensitive to honesty of HR managers. Previously, during the analysis of responses to questions from the first section, HR managers mentioned that HR managers at Bosch were always instructed to be honest to the employees to develop trust. Therefore, this aspect of employee engagement practices was not new to HR managers.

The third research question touched upon the reasons for the change in the employee engagement practices. The research revealed two central reasons for the change in the employee involvement. The first was the shift in priorities of strategic HR management. The Bosch shifted the priorities from getting the best from its employees to preserving its human resources. The pandemic had a disastrous effect on employees emotional and physical health as well as work-life balance. In other words, according to Maslow’s theory, the basic needs of the employees were undermined, which decreased their work engagement (Huitt, 2007). Since focus on higher needs is impossible unless the lower needs are satisfied. Therefore, the company returned to the basic needs, such as survival and security (Huitt, 2007). Thus, the initiative of the company’s HR department to adopt a more interpersonal approach to focus on the individual needs of the company is in accord with Maslow’s pyramid of needs.

Another reason that drove the changes in employee engagement practice at Bosch was the natural changes in group dynamics. Remote work made employee more detached from each other, which made working with the group less effective. Even though Bosch tried to preserve group dynamics using remote teambuilding practices, the company decided to adopt a more individualized approach to employee engagement practices. In other words, the company was flexible enough to acknowledge the change and adopt to it minimising the damage to employee engagement in the company. Previous research demonstrates that it was an adequate approach to the employee engagement practices during the pandemic. Risley (2020) stated that company’s flexibility on all levels, including employee engagement practices, was the key to the company’s survival. Therefore, Bosch took a viable standpoint in terms of modifying its employee engagement practices.

The fourth research question was considered central for this paper, as it provides insights on how employee engagement practices differ for remote workers and in-office workers. The results of the analysis demonstrated that there were two core differences between the employee engagement practices for remote workers and in-office employees. In particular, when working with remote employees, HR managers tend to have a more personalised approach and focus on well-being. The reasons for the differences were discussed earlier in this section. Individualised approach was needed so that the employees feel needed, which is in accord with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs due to the feeling of importance (Huitt, 2007).

The increased attention to employee well-being was associated with increased concern about the employees’ emotional health. The respondents mentioned that became difficult for them to maintain work-life balance, as the felt that they and their families were living at work. The participants explained that they could no longer understand where their working day ended and their family life started due to the inability to switch to home activities after the working day. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, having comfortable working conditions is one of the basic (physiological) needs of the employees (Huitt, 2007). One cannot think of higher levels of employee engagement practices unless the needs from lower deficiency levels are satisfied. While HR managers could control the working condition in the office, they could affect the working conditions at home. Therefore, it is crucial for HR managers to assess the needs of remote workers frequently to ensure that their basic needs are met.

The final research question focused on collecting data to understand how HR managers and employees thought the employee engagement practices can be improved. The recommendations can be divided into two parts – those given by employees and those given by HR managers. The HR managers provided two recommendations to improve employee engagement in Bosch, Germany. On the one hand, they recommended to increase the number of teambuilding activities for both remote and in-office employees. The employees agreed that increasing the number of teambuilding activities is crucial for the company. In particular, the participants suggested organising workshops, online board games, online karaoke, and video game parties. Such a suggestion is in accord with the findings of previous research (Chanana, 2021; Nayak, Jena, and Patnaik, 2021; Supriyanto, Ekowati, and Pujianto, 2021).

On the other hand, HR managers suggested that the company could use a new informing strategy. Both the HR managers and employees agreed that employees are overwhelmed with all the information about the company news, policy changes, and project updates they receive. As a result, they give up reading all the updates to avoid stress, which makes them feel left out. In office environment, employees can naturally exchange news, which enables them to understand which news are important and which are not. Therefore, HR managers should help the employees to navigate in the world of company news. In particular, HR managers could organise new quizzes or prepare new digests for employees. Such a finding is in accord with Maslow’s pyramid of needs, as knowing the news helps to acquire a feeling of belonging to the company, which is the third level of Maslow’s pyramid (Huitt, 2007).

While employees agreed with HR managers, they also provided additional suggestions about the ways to improve employee engagement at Bosch, Germany. In particular, they stated that they wanted to feel more trusted and important. The four out of five employees stated that they felt unheard despite frequent communication with HR managers. In particular, the employees stated that HR managers did not seem to actually listen or care foe the needs of employees, which suggests that a deeper level of empathy is needed. Additionally, employees suggested that engagement practices can be improved by demonstrating more trust to the employees by allowing them to participate in the decision-making process. Both needs described above appeal to the third level of Maslow’s pyramid of needs, which deal with the feeling of belonging (McLeod, 2007). Therefore, even though the opinions of employees were not professional, they provided valuable insights about how employee engagement practices can be improved at Bosch, Germany.

Evaluation of Findings

This study produced valuable results that attempted to close the literature gap acknowledged in Section 2.6. The results allowed to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the employee engagement practices in Bosch, Germany. The research allowed to gain knowledge about the in-depth reasons of the changes that needed to occur. The central contribution of this paper was that it highlighted the differences in the employee engagement practices for remote employees and in-office employees. Moreover, this research provided recommendations for HR and middle managers about how employee engagement practices can be improved in Bosch Germany and other companies from the industry.

The findings presented in this paper are associated with a high degree of trustworthiness. The interview questions went through a rigorous process of validation described in Section 3.5 of this thesis. The reliability was ensured by not recoding the interviews, which allowed the participants to speak more freely during the conversations. Moreover, reliability of findings was ensured by closely following the thematic analysis process described in Section 3.4 of the thesis. However, despite the research using all the available methods to increase reliability and validity, there several limitations of the study that may have affected the results of the study. These limitations are discussed below.

The central limitation of the study is the characteristics of the sample. The researcher had limited time to complete the research, which led to decreasing the sample size to 10 participants. It was initially planned to conduct at least 15 interviews to increase the reliability of findings. While the data acquired from HR managers was reliable due to repetitiveness of information among interviews, this research would benefit from conducting more interviews with the employees.

Another crucial limitation of the study is the abilities of the researcher. Even though the researcher has significant experience and knowledge in HR management, her experience in conducting a full-scale research was limited. Even though the limitation was partially offset by consultations with the supervisor, the results may still be affected researcher’s biased opinion and limited skills to collect and analyse data.

Finally, the results of this research are limited by its scope. In particular, the results are applicable in full extent only to Bosch, Germany. Since Bosch is a multinational engineering company, the results can also be applied to other companies from the industry. However, managers should use the results of this study with caution.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Conclusion

This research provided a significant contribution to the current body of knowledge concerning employee engagement practices. In particular, this research demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on employee engagement practices in multinational engineering companies using the example of Bosch, Germany. In particular, the study revealed that companies had to demonstrate a high level of flexibility to be able to survive in the environment of high uncertainty associated with measures against the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Bosch offered its employees the possibility to work from home and flexible working hours, which was had not been available before the pandemic. As a result, the company managed to maintain high level of employee engagement after a short period of downturn during in employee engagement during the first months of the pandemic.

There are other changes in the employee engagement practices the company had to make to adapt to the new external environment. In particular, the company acquired a more individualized approach to the needs of employees and their families. Additionally, HR managers were reported to become more honest with employees. The primary reasons for such changes in the employee engagement practices were the shift in strategic priorities and changes in the group dynamics. In particular, the company realised that after the disruption of the employee engagement practices, it had to return to the basic needs of employees, as described by Maslow’s pyramid of needs. The pandemic negatively affected the work-life balance of the employees, which led to problems with emotional and physical well-being of the employees. Moreover, employees started to act less like a group and more like individuals due to being geographically scattered instead of being in the same location.

Even though the influence of the pandemic deteriorated, it still affects employee engagement practices at Bosch. Its effect can be seen in the differences between the employee engagement practices for the remote employees and in-office employees. HR managers at Bosch started to build personal connections with employees and pay more attention to their individual needs. The HR managers explained that these practices helped the employees feel needed at the company. Moreover, HR managers pay more attention to work-life balance and well-being of remote employees in comparison with in-office employees.

Even though the results of the research were received by using rigorous research methods, there are several limitations to its generalisability, validity, and reliability acknowledged in the previous sections. Despite of these limitations, the results of this research contributed to closing the gap in the current body of knowledge about post-COVID employee engagement practices. Moreover, the research provided a set of recommendations for HR managers that can help to improve employee engagement practices, which are discussed further in this chapter.

Recommendations

Recommendations are a mandatory part of applied business research, as they provide relevant stakeholders with possible solutions to the problems they face. The recommendations provided below are based on the results of the study and confirmed by previous research and employee engagement theory.

1. Engage employee in the decision-making process. The employees at Bosch appeared to have trust issues to the company’s management. The central reasons are lack of power in the decision-making process and inability to value the opinions of the employees. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, employee engagement is impossible if the workers do not feel that their opinions matter for the management team (Huitt, 2007). Zhi, Abba, and Hamid (2021) stated that increased employee involvement in the decision-making process is associated with higher motivation to perform well in their workplace. Khalid and Nawab (2018) stated that employee participation in decision-making positively affected retention rates. Kurup and Murugesan (2021) stated that employee participation in the decision-making increases workplace productivity. Thus, Bosch is recommended to increase employee participation in the decision-making process to address employees trust issues and make them feel heard by the upper management.
2. Improve employee informing practices. The employees at Bosch are overwhelmed with the amount of information related to work they receive. As a result, they do not know the most important news about the company, which makes them detached from the company. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the feeling of belonging is on the third level of the needs pyramid (Huitt, 2007). This implies that full employee engagement is impossible to achieve unless the employees start feeling that they are an important part of the company. The HR managers are recommended to test different approaches to informing the employees. On the one hand, they can create weekly news digests to help the employees get to know the most important news. On the other hand, HR managers can conduct quizzes about the most important news of the company. Such a change will encourage the employees to read all the news and stay informed.
3. Design and conduct more teambuilding activities for remote employees. This research suggests that teambuilding practices for remote employees can help to increase employee engagement at Bosch, Germany. Maslow’s model explains that teambuilding activities help the employees to bond with each other and with the managers (Huitt, 2007). As a result, the feeling of belonging increases, which enables HR managers to design employee engagement practices on higher levels of Maslow’s pyramid. The possible teambuilding activities include online gaming nights, online karaoke, workshops, and online board games.

The analysis of employee engagement practices of Bosch also helped to create recommendations for HR managers from other multi-national engineering companies. These recommendations are based on the successful adaptations of the company to employee engagement after the COVID-19 pandemic. These recommendations are provided below.

1. Personalise the approach to remote employees. The COVID-19 pandemic scattered changed the group dynamics, as many employees feel separated due to working at home. As a result, approaching groups became less effective than approaching individuals. Therefore, HR managers are recommended to build personal relationships with employees through frequent calls or check-ups through messenger and social media. Such an approach can help to understand the individual needs of employees and help the employees feel a part of the company.
2. Be honest to develop trust. The employees of Bosch trusted the employer because HR managers were honest about the situation during the pandemic. Therefore, HR managers are recommended to discuss the problems openly in the situations with uncertainty. This can help the employees to feel valued and needed.
3. Balance the assessments. The analysis of employee engagement practices at Bosch revealed that the company put an increased focus on performance assessment, which is crucial, according to Kahn’s model of employee engagement (Kahn, 1990). However, some employees thought negatively about the frequency of performance assessments, which may have an unafavorable impact on employee engagement and workplace satisfaction. Therefore, it is recommended to limit the frequency of performance assessments in case of danger of employee dissatisfaction with the matter.

This research aimed helping HR managers to improve employee engagement practices at Bosch, Germany. Therefore, the recommendation provided below are meant for HR managers from Bosch in Germany. The results are also fully applicable to middle and top managers at Bosch in Germany. However, the results of research may apply to companies from countries that have similar characteristics. Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions can be used to describe Germany’s national culture. In 1980, Hofstede introduced a unique model for defining and understanding the national culture of a country (Dellner, 2014). This model includes five dimensions against which national culture can be assessed. The five national culture dimensions proposed by Hofstede are as follows (Dellner, 2014):

• Power distance. This dimension refers to the extent to which less powerful members of the country accept the unequal distribution of power. The higher the power distance index, the more tolerant the people are to strict hierarchy and the absence of power.
• Uncertainty avoidance. This dimension refers to the extent to which the people belonging to a culture feel comfortable in ambiguous situations. The higher the index, the more people tend to avoid situations associated with high degrees of uncertainty.
• Individualism vs. collectivism. This dimension refers to the degree to which the people operating in that culture wish to work as individuals overworking as part of a team. The higher the index is, the more people value individual success and expect everyone to be independent.
• Masculinity vs. femininity. This dimension refers to the degree people support either competition, achievement, and success (masculine values) or modesty, tenderness, and the quality of life (feminine values). The higher the index, the more a country supports masculine values.
• Long-term vs. short-term orientation. This dimension refers to the consideration people give to the future. Cultures that are long-term oriented are generally characterized by the values of greater adaptability, persistence, and perseverance. On the other hand, national cultures with a short-term orientation invest less in building relationships and more in obtaining immediate results. The higher the index, the more people tend to be long-term oriented.

The power distance and individualism dimensions appear the most important for apply the results of the study, since the recommendations are connected with the engaging in the decision-making process and using individual approach to employees. According to Hofstede’s Insights (no date), Germany has a low Power Distance score of 35, which implies that co-determination rights are comparatively extensive in the country. The recommendation for engaging employees in the decision-making process may be incorrect for countries with high power distances, such India, China, Saudi Arabia, and even France (Hofstede’s Insights, no date). At the same time recommendations for using individual approach to distant employees may not be applicable to countries with lower individualism index. Germany’s individualism score is 67, which implies that there is a strong belief in the ideal of self-actualization (Hofstede’s Insights, no date). The results of study may not apply to companies from countries with lower individualism index, such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia (Hofstede’s Insights, no date). Thus, it is recommended that manager assess their corporate and national cultures before applying the results of this research.

Future Research Direction

Future research should focus on addressing the limitations of this research to improve it reliability and generalizability. The recommendations provided below are based on the assessment of limitations of this study.

1. Conduct a similar research using quantitative methods. This study explored the area of post-COVID employee engagement practices and acquired valuable insights concerning how the employee engagement practices can be changed to adapt to the new realities of the pandemic. This study provided enough information to form hypotheses and test them using rigorous quantitative analysis. Future studies are recommended to create a questionnaire and collect data from multiple corporations from the sector to increased the generalisability of findings.
2. Conduct similar research in different context. This study provided a good template for future research in terms of data collection and analysis method. It may be beneficial to conduct similar research in other context to increase the generalisability of findings and compare employee engagement practices after the pandemic in different companies. Thus, it is recommended that future research uses the same methods to study employee engagement practices in other companies with national cultures different from that of Germany.
3. Increase the sample size. If researchers decide to replicate the methods utilised for this paper, it is recommended that the sample size is increased to increase the reliability of findings. This study was limited by the timeframe, which did not allow to conduct numerous interviews. One of the limitations of this study was insufficient amount of data collected from employees. Therefore, future research is recommended to increase the sample size at least to 15 participants, among which at least nine should be regular employees of the company.
4. Conduct in-depth study of the effect of performance assessment on employee engagement and workplace satisfaction. This study hinted that the relationship between the frequency of performance assessment is not linear. While performance assessment is crucial for employee engagement, according to Aon Hewitt model, excessively frequent performance reviews may lead to exhaustion and decreased workplace satisfaction. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct a quantitative correlational study to test the relationships between the variables.

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Appendices

Appendix A: Notes from Interviews (Transcripts)

Interview 1 (Employee)

Interview 2 (HR Manger)

Appendix B: Interview Guide

Question: How would you describe the level of employee engagement at Bosch Germany before the pandemic?

Comment: Ask about general opinion. It is a starting-off question that helps to warm up the interviewee. Try to avoid short answers and ask to expand on the issue.

Question: What kind of employee engagement practices did managers at Bosch use before the pandemic?

Comment: Help the interviewee to name as many as possible without delving in too much detail about every type of employee engagement.

Question: Which do you think were the most successful engagement practices? Why?

Comment: The most important question in the first section of questions. Try to get as much detail as possible.

Question: How would you describe the level of employee engagement at Bosch Germany immediately after the pandemic?

Comment: This question concerns general impressions. It is unnecessary to ask the interviewees to expand on any of the topics with additional questions.

Question: What changes did managers at Bosch Germany had to make to improve the employee engagement practices?

Comment: Ask the participants to expand more on the practices that failed to establish their effectiveness.

Question: What kind of employee engagement practices are most successful now at Bosch, Germany?

Comment: It is the most important question of the second section and the entire interview. Try to get as many details as possible.

Question: What are the reasons for the employee engagement practices to change?

Comment: The participants will to say that the pandemic was the central reason for the change. However, this question is intended to discover more in-depth reasons. Therefore, it is crucial to ask additional questions to acquire more in-depth data.

Question: What are the possible outcomes of the failure to change the employee engagement practices?

Comment: This question can be skipped if enough info is gathered from the answer to the previous question.

Question: How are employee engagement practices different for people that work at home?

Comment: Some employees may fail to answer this question due to the lack of knowledge. Thus, this question is of extreme importance for HR managers.

Question: How satisfied are you with the current employee engagement practices at Bosch Germany?

Comment: This question is to understand the general attitude of participants to changes in the employee engagement practices.

Question: How do you think the employee engagement practices at Bosch, Germany, can be improved?

Comment: It is the second most important question of the interview. To is crucial to leave enough time for it and gather as much data as possible.

Appendix C: Results of Thematic Analysis

Themes, codes, and frequencies for RQ1

Themes, codes, and frequencies for RQ2

Themes, codes, and frequencies for RQ3

Themes, codes, and frequencies for RQ4

Themes, codes, and frequencies for RQ5

Appendix D: Participant Agreement Form

Appendix E: Ethics Form

Appendix F: Supervision Record