Employee Engagement

Definition of Employee Engagement

It is evident in the present world that employees are much more committed to their work place activities than their personal lives. Kahn (1990) defines employee engagement as “the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances”.

The CIPD(2007),  suggests engagement ‘can be seen as a combination of commitment to the organisation and its values plus a willingness to help out colleagues (organisational citizenship). It goes beyond job satisfaction and is not simply motivation. Engagement is something the employee has to offer: it cannot be ‘required’ as part of the employment contract’. 

The cognitive aspect of employee engagement concerns employees’ beliefs about the organisation, its leaders and working conditions.The emotional aspect concerns how employees feel about each of those three factors and whether they have positive or negative attitudes toward the organisation and its leaders. The physical aspect of employee engagement concerns the physical energies exerted by individuals to accomplish their roles.

Organisations with higher engagement levels tend to have lower employee turnover, higher productivity, higher total shareholder returns and better financial performance (Baumruk, 2006). Towers Perrin (2007) found that organisations with the highest percentage of engaged employees increased their operating income by 19 per cent and their earnings per share by 28 per cent year‐ to‐year.

                                                  Video 1 : What is employee engagement?

Why employee engagement is important?

• Employee who are engaged will boost the productivity of the organization

It is evidenced from the reports that employees that get engaged will produce more than the employees that does not engage to work.According to Ann Latham, “Engagement is, at best, a symptom of success. Employees who are succeeding and feeling good about their contributions to the company are naturally more likely to be proud to work for their company, be happy to come to work each day, and feel valued.”

Finding ways to engage people, whether that means giving them a challenge or more responsibilities, means and also finding ways to boost  organization’s productivity. In short, it’s good for everyone involved.

•  Employee engagement increases customer satisfaction.

People who are passionate about their work are often the best people to interact with customers. Why? Because that view  is infectious and customers will take observations.

The most engaged employees are,   are more inclined to put in the effort that translates into buzzing productivity levels, a happier sales force, and a more credible product pitch. In other words, customers are treated to a better experience when dealing with engaged employees.A better experience can be facilitated by the customers.

• Can retain the talented personnel s.

Engaged employees are involved and invested in their roles and are therefore less likely to leave their job. Since the best individuals will increase the effectiveness of the organisation.If an  organization is dealing with low retention rates, it’s time to think why they are not engaged yet. Because when the best people at an organization leave, the rest of the people will notice and gets demotivated. 

• Company culture is enhanced with the fusion of employee engagement.

People who are engaged in what they perform  are easier to work with than others.A better organizational culture is important for the employees to perform their tasks with less obstructions.

According to Forbes ,  it’s a workplace that's “designed, first and foremost, around its company values.” Creating a culture of employee engagement requires “checking in with their employees to ensure that the company mission aligns with the ways that people currently work and the ways that they want to work.” 

• Employee engagement is a root cause to the  success of the organisation

This means when the employees are engaged to their duties and responsibilities ,the organisation can lead to the defined goals and objectives easily.As far as it is concerned the employees add value to the organisation everyday by performing the right thing. Therefore new candidates feel that there is a good work environment to work with.Once the success of the employees are  recognized and they are highly motivated the productivity of any organisation will maximize.

Whilst much of the literature has focused upon the drivers of engagement, there is also a growing focus upon identifying those factors that will inhibit employees’ ability to engage. Key factors include bureaucracy and heavy workloads. Lockwood (2007) maintains that bureaucratic behavior in organisations severely handicaps the potential of an organisation to engage its employees, as well as being over‐worked, as both increase an employee’s susceptibility to stress. 

Speaking at the Employee Engagement Summit in 2009, John Purcell, Strategic Academic Adviser at Acas National, suggested six key factors that limit or damage engagement

 ■ Job insecurity: fear of job loss is particularly likely during a recession.

 ■ Unfairness, particularly in reward and pay systems.

■ Jobs with no space example  repetitive work with short cycle times such as call center work with very short call times.

 ■ Highly stressful jobs with very little flexibility or autonomy.

 ■ Poor line management behavior and bullying.

 ■ Working for long periods of time without a break

References

• Armstrong, M. (2006). ‘A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice’, 10th edn., London, Kogan.
• Corey Moseley (23rd September 2018) Why employee engagement is important, Available at: https://blog.jostle.me/blog/5-reasons-why-employee-engagement-is-important (Accessed: 23rd September 2018).
• Gemma Robertson-Smith and Carl Markwick (23rd September 2018) Employee Engagement, Available at: https://www.employment-studies.co.uk/system/files/resources/files/469.pdf (Accessed: 23rd September 2018).

• Video 1 : what is employee engagement [Online] available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu7EG6EZeAM/ [Accessed on: 23rd September 2018].