There are several definitions of employee engagement. However, it can be said that in broad terms, employee engagement brings together job satisfaction, motivation, work effort, organisational commitment, shared purpose, energy and ‘flow’.
In this way, employee engagement describes an internal state of being – physical, mental and emotional – and can also include behaviour, such as commitment and ‘going the extra mile’.
Gathering and measuring engagement
You may have come across employee attitude surveys or focus groups, employee boards and other ways in which engagement is recorded and measured. The advantage of a survey is that it provides a representative sample from across the whole organisation and scores can be tracked over time to see if actions are improving engagement. However, whether or not it is anonymous will have some influence on the way in which people respond.
Focus groups may have a similar challenge; however, by being open forums for discussion they allow organisations to get more qualitative data, and if necessary ask further questions to explore responses in more depth.
When measuring employee engagement by whichever means you choose, it is important that employees feel they can respond honestly without fear of repercussion, and that they feel any issues they raise will be responded to. This isn’t telling them that any reasons for dissatisfaction will necessarily be fixed, but that they will be heard and responded to.
Employee engagement is a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their organization's goals, objectives and values, encouraged to contribute to organizational success, and are able at the same time to enhance their own sense of well-being. The importance of employee engagement can't be overstated – employee engagement strategies have been proven to reduce staff turnover, improve productivity and efficiency, retain customers at a higher rate, and make more profits. Most importantly, engaged employees are happier, both at work and in their lives. Employee engagement is a property of the relationship between an organization and its employees. An “engaged employee” is one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization's reputation and interests. Employees could appear contented at work but this does not necessarily mean that they are engaged in the true sense. These employees may turn up at work without complaining and get along to doing their tasks of the day. However, making them happy is far different from making them engaged.
Top 5 Things HR Can Do to Improve Employee Engagement:
- Create a Proper Strategy to Start Educating and Supporting Your Workforce.
- Establish Strong Leadership Progression for Business Goals.
- Close the Perceived Gap Between HR and Other Employees.
- Organizational Design & Change Management.
- Driving the Change to Digital Business Transformation.
Engaged employees are happier and therefore typically provide better service to their colleagues and customers, as a result of being positive and proactive. Ensuring great customer service is a huge win for the company, ensuring happy customers into the future. The more engaged your employees are the more efficient and productive they become, and that certainly can't be a bad thing! A study by Wyatt Watson found that companies that have highly engaged employees produce 26% higher revenue per employee. A different study by the World Economic Forum and the Harvard School of Public Health reports employees with healthy habits are 3.1 times more productive than their unhealthy peers. While there are a lot of factors that contribute to productivity in the workplace, healthy employees set the bar high. Managers often mistake employees that are happy while they are taking part in staff meetings or company events, as being engaged employees. An engaged employee cares about their work and about the performance of the company, and they want to feel that their efforts could make a difference. It is generally seen as an internal state of mind; physically, mentally and emotionally that binds together the work effort, commitment and satisfaction in an employee.
