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Employee Engageme nt

Employee engagement can be defined as an employee putting forth extra discretionary effort, as well as the likelihood of the employee being loyal and remaining with the organization over the long haul. Research shows that engaged employees: perform better, put in extra efforts to help get the job done, show a strong level of commitment to the organization, and are more motivated and optimistic about their work goals. Employers with engaged employees tend to experience low employee turnover and more impressive business outcomes.

Employee engagement is more than just the current R !buzzword!" it is essential. #n order for organizations to meet and surpass organizational objectives, employees must be engaged. Research has proven that wholly engaged employees exhibit,

igher self$motivation. %onfidence to express new ideas. igher productivity. igher levels of customer approval and service &uality. Reliability. 'rganizational loyalty" less employee turnover. (ower absenteeism.

)ocus on employee engagement:

%urrent studies show that organizations are focusing on the meaning of employee engagement and how to make employees more engaged. Employees feel engaged when they find personal meaning and motivation in their work, receive positive interpersonal support, and operate in an efficient work environment. *hat brought engagement to the forefront and why is everyone interested in it+ ,ost likely, the tight economy has refocused attention on maximizing employee output and making the most of organizational resources. *hen organizations focus attention on their people, they are making an investment in their most important resource. -ou can cut all the costs you want, but if you neglect your people, cutting costs won.t make much of a difference. Engagement is all about getting employees to /give it their all.0 1ome of the most successful organizations are known for their uni&ue work environments in which employees are motivated to do their very best. 2hese great places to work have been recognized in such lists as )ortune.s 344 5est %ompanies to *ork )or.

2he concept of engagement is a natural evolution of past research on high$ involvement, empowerment, job motivation, organizational commitment, and trust. 6ll of these research streams focus on the perceptions and attitudes of employees about the work environment. #n some ways, there are variations on the same fundamental issue. *hat predicts employees /giving their all+0 'bviously, all organizations want their employees to be engaged in their work.

1everal standardized tools exist for assessing employee engagement and providing feedback for making changes. 2hese tools tend to have several common goals and characteristics:

%reate a simple and focused index of workplace engagement$,any organizations are using very short, simple, and easy to use measures that focus on the fundamentals of a great workplace. #nstead of conducting broad culture7climate surveys with 344 or more &uestions, organizations are opting for a focused approach that measures fundamental &ualities of the workplace that likely will be important 34 years from now 8e.g., feedback, trust, cooperation9.

6llow for benchmarking$,ost organizations want to know how they compare to other organizations. :sing a standard measure of engagement allows organizations to see how they compare to other companies along a simple set of fundamental work &ualities.

;irect action$Engagement measures tend to be very actionable. 2his means that the organization can alter practices or policies to affect employees. responses to every item in the measure. 1how relationship to company performance$*ithout a link to company performance or other critical outcomes, measures of engagement have little value. 2he whole idea behind engagement is that it leads to enhanced performance. 2he link to performance outcomes is a necessary underlying assumption of all engagement measures.

Engagement <redicts 'rganizational 1uccess

,any studies have shown that investments in people 8i.e., R$related practices9 have a reliable impact on the performance of organizations. 2he 5ureau of (abor conducted a comprehensive review of more than 344 studies and found that people practices have significant relationships to improvements in productivity, satisfaction, and financial performance. Research has shown that when engagement scores are high, employees are more satisfied, less likely to leave the organization, and more productive.

Each organization is different and there are many factors that affect bottom$line outcomes" however, engagement scores can serve as meaningful predictors of long$term success. 1ome organizations use engagement scores as lead measures in their R scorecards. *hen an organization can show the relationship between engagement scores and bottom$line outcomes, everyone pays attention to the engagement index. Establishing this critical link between people and performance helps R professionals prove that people$related interventions are a worthwhile investment.

Elements of Engagement

1ome researches conclude that personal impact, focused work, and interpersonal harmony comprise engagement. Each of these three components has sub$components that further define the meaning of engagement.

<ersonal #mpact$Employees feel more engaged when they are able to make a uni&ue contribution, experience empowerment, and have opportunities for personal growth. <ast research 8e.g., %onger and =anugo, 3>??" 2homas and @elthouse, 3>>49 concurs that issues such as the ability to impact the work environment and making meaningful choices in the workplace are critical components of employee empowerment. ;evelopment ;imensions #nternational.s 8;;#9 research on retaining talent 85ernthal and *ellins, A4449 found that the perception of meaningful work is one of the most influential factors determining employees. willingness to stay with the organization.

)ocused *ork$Employees feel more engaged when they have clear direction, performance accountability, and an efficient work environment. 6side from the personal drive and motivation to make a contribution, employees need to understand where to focus their efforts. *ithout a clear strategy and direction from senior leadership, employees will waste their time on the activities that do not make a difference for the organization.s success. 6dditionally, even when direction is in place, employees must receive feedback to ensure that they are on track and being held accountable for their progress. #n particular, employees need to feel that low performance is not acceptable and that there are conse&uences for poor performance. )inally, employees want to work in an environment that is efficient in terms of its time, resources, and budget. Employees lose faith in the organization when they see excessive waste. )or example, employees become frustrated when they are asked to operate without the necessary resources or waste time in unnecessary meetings.

#nterpersonal armony$Employees feel more engaged when they work in a safe and cooperative environment. 5y safety, we mean that employee trust one another and &uickly resolve conflicts when they arise. Employees want to be able to rely on each other and focus their attention on the tasks that really matter. %onflict wastes time and energy and needs to be dealt with &uickly. 1ome researches also find that trust and interpersonal harmony is a fundamental underlying principle in the best organizations. Employees also need to cooperate to get the job done. <artnerships across departments and within the work group ensure that employees stay informed and get the support they need to do their jobs.

,aking :se of Engagement

,easurement of employee engagement can have many applications in the organization. Earlier, it is mentioned that engagement could serve as a general index of R effectiveness in an R scorecard. 6lso, engagement measures serve as an easy way to benchmark the work climate against other organizations.

'ther uses include:

Beeds 6nalysis$2he fundamental issues measured in engagement provide a &uick index of what leaders and R need to do to make things better. #n addition, items in engagement surveys tend to be very actionable. 2his means that leaders or others in the organization can take action that will affect the score on a single item.

Evaluation$,any learning and performance interventions are designed to impact some aspect of engagement. *hen an engagement measure is used as a pre$implementation baseline, the impact of the intervention can be gauged by measuring post$ implementation changes in engagement.

%limate 1urvey$1ome organizations like to use engagement measures as simple indexes of the workplace culture. *hile more extensive surveys are valuable, sometimes it.s easier to focus attention on a few simple and proven factors.

(eader or ;epartment )eedback$;epending on the demographic information collected when the engagement measure is implemented, one can create breakout reports by department or leader. 2his means departments and leaders can gain a better understanding of how engagement in their groups differs from the rest of the organization. 2his information can be used to create development plans or plans for larger$scale interventions.

References: 3. www.greatplacetowork.com

A. www.ddiworld.com