Source slco.org

Employee engagement plays a crucial for any organisation. People who are committed tend to give their best to the organisation. According to Vence (2006), Employees who are engaged in their work and committed to their organisations give companies crucial competitive advantages—including higher productivity and lower employee turnover.

Definition of Employee Engagement

"Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give of their best each day, committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being" (Engage for Success, 2018).

Engagement is something that the employee has to offer and cannot be ‘required’ as part of the employment contract or objective setting process (Bridger, 2014)

Levels of engagement

Each employee has a different level of engagement with the organisation. Everyone is on a different scale. According to CIPD (2017), employees tend to be more engaged are women, younger workers, managers and employees are on flexible contracts.

‘In the United Kingdom 17% of employees are engaged, 57% are not engaged and 26% are actively disengaged’ (Gallup 2011-2012 cited in Allen, 2018).

1. Engaged employees - These employees are characterised as loyal, committed, productive and deliver results. They are passionate workers who feel emotionally connected to the organisation.

2. Not engaged - The show little energy or passion for work. These employees tend to do just what is instructed. All ways on the look for another job vacancy.

3. Actively disengaged - These are a set of unhappy workers. They display their unhappiness publicly, they display a negative attitude and undermines the company and the team.

(Allen, 2018).

Companies in which 60% (or more) of the workforce is engaged have average five-year total returns to shareholders (TSR) of more than 20%. That compares to companies where only 40 to 60% of the employees are engaged, which have an average TSR of about 6%. (Baumruk et al. 2006: 24 cited in Storey et al., 2008).

Highly engaged employees achieve 12% more of their goals than employees with low engagement. 12% of an employee salary of $35,000 equates to $4,200. When considering the impact on an organization with 10,000 employees, the value of engagement can yield a major impact of $42 million (Storey et al., 2008).

Eliminating active disengagement from the workforce would result in a significant increase in productivity per employee. This increase, applied against the current average output per U.K. worker, would amount to between £52 billion and £70 billion in productivity gains nationwide per year (Allen, 2018).

According to Storey et al (2008), Organisations need to have the following factors to achieve employee engagement.

■ Vision: The work unit has a clear sense of the future that engages hearts and minds and creates pride among employees.

■ Opportunity: The work on offer provides a chance to grow both personally and professionally, through participation in the work unit’s activities.

■ Incentive: The compensation package is fair and equitable, including base salary, bonus, and other financial incentives.

■ Impact: The work itself makes a difference or creates meaning, particularly as it connects the employee with a customer who uses the employee’s work.

■ Community: The social environment includes being part of a team when appropriate, and working with co-workers who care.

■ Communication: The flow of information is two-way, so employees are in the know about what is going on.

■ Experimentation: The work hour, dress, and other policies are flexible and designed to adapt to the needs of both the firm and the employee

Having positive employee engagement, the company will thrive as everyone will work as a team. When an employee is engaged with the organisation employee will be more confident with them self as well as with the organisation. They will be self-motivated and will display a positive attitude towards the organisation. Engaged employees will bring a positive environment for themselves as well as for the overall business performance.

References

Allen, M., 2018. Insights. [Online] Available at: https://www.insights.com/media/1091/employee-engagement-a-culture-change.pdf [Accessed 20 September 2018].

Bridger, E., 2014. Employee Engagement. London: KoganPage.

CIPD, 2017. CIPD. [Online] Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/engagement/factsheet#6227 [Accessed 20 September 2018].

Engage for Success, 2018. ENGAGE FOR SUCCESS. [Online] Available at: http://engageforsuccess.org/what-is-employee-engagement [Accessed 20 September 2018].

Storey, J., Welbourne, T.M., Wright, P. & Ulrich, D., 2008. The Routledge Companion to Strategic Human Resource Management. London: Routledge.

Vance, R.J., 2006. Employee Engagement and Commitment: A guide to understanding,measuring and increasing engagement in your organization. USA: SHRM Foundation.

Image source:

https://slco.org/human-resources/employee-engagement/