Employee Engagement

 


As Human Resources are believed to be an organizations source of having a competitive advantage, effective talent management practices should be in place. As such, an organization’s strategy should therefore contribute to employee engagement. Employee engagement according to Gibbons (2006), is an employee's increased emotional and intellectual attachment to his or her workplace, company, manager, or coworkers, which motivates him or her to put forth extra effort. Employees who are engaged take action to improve their organizations' business success. Employee retention is better in companies with engaged employees as a result of lower turnover and intention to leave, as well as increased productivity, profitability, growth, and customer satisfaction. Organizations may profit from people that are willing to go the additional mile and achieve greater financial performance by creating a culture that allows employees to engage in their work (Baumruk, 2006). Highly engaging organizational cultures may also have a strong employer brand, attracting and retaining top personnel as an employer of choice.

However, companies with disengaged personnel, on the other hand, squander effort and bleed talent. Employees who tend to withdraw emotionally from work obligations and the other employees while at work are said to be disengaged according to (Kahn, 1990). Gallup (2006) suggested that workforce could be categorized into three types based on their level of engagement: engaged, not engaged, and actively disengaged, with the latter displaying the biggest danger to the employer brand due to their willingness to share their displeasure with their coworkers and the wider world.



Source: Gallup (2006).

 

Engaged employees show 3 characteristic behaviors improving organizational behavior ( Baumruk and Gorman, 2006).

Say-the employee promotes the company to coworkers and introduces potential customers and employees. This has a positive impact on organizational performance.

Stay-the employee has a strong desire to remain a member of the organization despite other job opportunities. Lower turnover is observed in companies.

Strive-the employee goes above and above in terms of time, effort, and initiative to contribute to the company's success

In order to have employees engaged in any organization, some of they key strategies that can be used according to (Sridevi & Markos, 2010) are :

Managers should devise both financial and non-financial incentives for employees who demonstrate higher levels of involvement in their occupations. According to several management theories, when employees receive more money, recognition, and praise, they are more likely to put in more effort in their work. There should be a clear correlation between employee performance and the incentives they get.

Provide adequate training to employees: By providing suitable training, you may assist employees in keeping their knowledge and skills up to date. Employees' confidence grows when they have a better understanding of their job, allowing them to operate without as much monitoring from their immediate managers, which boosts their self-efficacy and dedication.

Begin at the top: Employee engagement necessitates leadership commitment in the form of a clear purpose, vision, and values statement. Employee engagement will never be more than a "business fad" or "another HR thing" unless those at the top believe in it, own it, convey it down to managers and employees, and improve their leadership. Employee engagement does not require lip service from top management, but rather a committed heart and action-oriented service. It necessitates "Leading by Example."

Ascertain that personnel have all they require to complete their tasks: Managers are responsible to ensure that employees have all of the resources they need to accomplish their jobs effectively, including physical, financial, and information resources.

Therefore, the top drivers of employee engagement according to most research, include feeling appreciated by management, two-way communication between management and employees, management's concern in employees' well-being, and providing more possibilities for people to improve.



References 

Baumruk R (2006), ʹWhy managers are crucial to increasing engagementʹ, Strategic HR Review, January/February

Baumruk R., and Gorman B. (2006). Why managers are crucial to increasing engagement. Melcrum Publishing

Gallup (2006), ʹGallup study: engaged employees inspire company innovation: national survey finds that passionate workers are most likely to drive organisations forwardʹ, The Gallup Management Journal, http://gmj.gallup.com/content/24880/Gallup‐Study‐Engaged‐Employees‐ Inspire‐Company.aspx

Gibbons, J.M., 2006. Employee engagement: A review of current research and its implications. Conference Board.

Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33, 692-724. doi:10.2307/256287

Markos, S. and Sridevi, M.S., 2010. Employee engagement: The key to improving performance. International journal of business and management, 5(12), p.89.

Piansoongnern, O., Anurit, P. and Kuiyawattananonta, S., 2011. Talent management in Thai cement companies: A study of strategies and factors influencing employee engagement. African Journal of Business Management, 5(5), pp.1578-1583.






Comments

  1. ChulangaPerera6 May 2022 at 17:43

    Yes Ashanthi.Some of the important employee engagement strategies lead to, Decrease in employee turnover, Better productivity, Finer efficiency, Gain bottom line profit and loyal towards customers (Robertson-Smith and Markwick, 2009).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ashanthi Rajapakse7 May 2022 at 13:26

      Thank you Chulanga for your comment. Employee engagement is an absolute strategic approach for driving improvement and encouraging organizational change. High levels of employee engagement, however, occur only when employees are committed, enthusiastic and passionate about their work ( Ram & Prabhakar, 2011 ).

      Delete
  2. Ruwan Attanayaka6 May 2022 at 18:04

    Hi Ashanthi. Agreed on your post and would like to share that according to Kahn (1990), engagement means to be psychologically as well as physically present when occupying and performing an organizational role.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ashanthi Rajapakse7 May 2022 at 13:32

      Indeed Ruwan. Kahn (1990,p.694) also defines personal engagement as the harnessing of organization members' identities to their work roles; through engagement, people use and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performance.

      Delete
  3. Udana7 May 2022 at 12:17

    Hello Ashanthi. I agree with your post content. Let be also shed some light upon it. Fully engaged employees are an asset to any irganization which will lead to its success in the long run. Organizations are tending to invest on skills, abilities and innovative behaviours to reciprocate external inconstancy. Organizations’ success in this regard would directly proportionate to Return on Investment (Bhuvanaiah &Raya,2014).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ashanthi Rajapakse7 May 2022 at 13:45

    Hi Udana. Thank you for the insight. Jobs that are high on the core job characteristics provide employees with motivation to be more engaged ( Kahn,1992 ). The five job characteristics include skill, variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous13 May 2022 at 23:04

    Hello Ashanthi. I agree with your post. Most often employee engagement has been defined as emotional and intellectual commitment to the organisation (Baumruk 2004, Richman 2006 and Shaw 2005) or the amount of discretionary effort exhibited by employees in their job (Frank et al 2004).

    ReplyDelete

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