Employee Engagement:

A determinant of Productivity at the Workplace

Abstract
In recent years, the idea of employee engagement has become increasingly common in
organisations. It refers to an employee's level of dedication and connection with their company,
its ideals, and beliefs. An engaged employee is conscious of the organisational context and
collaborates with co-workers to enhance job performance. The productivity of the organisation
is directly impacted by employee engagement initiatives. All businesses desire active
participation from their workforce. Customer satisfaction is related to employee engagement,
which is related to an organization's financial performance. Engagement occurs when enough
employees are interested in doing a good job, the goals of the organisation, and the processes
used to accomplish those goals. People only behave in this kind of compassionate way when
they are happy in their employment, feel supported by their employers, and have a good HR
boss on their side.
Using a descriptive study method, a literature review of numerous research results and business
practices is used in this article. It makes predictions about how employee involvement will
affect an organization's output. It also lists the variables that affect corporate results and staff
engagement.
Keywords: Employee Engagement, Organisation, Outcomes, Productivity, Retention.
Introduction:
Numerous authors have written on the subject of "Employee Engagement" over the past ten
years. The term "engagement" was first used by Kahn (1990), who noted that individuals might
"employ varied degrees of their selves - physically, cognitively and emotionally in job role
performances." The phrase "positive attitudes and behaviour of workers at work" is not the
only one used to characterise employee engagement. Commitment, organisational citizenship
behaviour, and the psychological contract are other words that are frequently employed. "High
participation work practises" and "high performance working" are frequently used to describe
the policy and practise implications of employee engagement.
Possibly the most important metric for firms in the twenty-first century is employee
engagement. Growth of the organisation, value addition perceived by employees, and
employee opinion of the organisation all have a direct impact on employee engagement. HR
professionals think that employee attitudes towards their work experience and how they are
treated within the firm play a significant role in the engagement dilemma. It has a lot to do with
feelings, which are intrinsically connected to what makes a firm succeed financially. The
productivity of the organisation is directly impacted by employee engagement initiatives.
From earlier studies on strong involvement, empowerment, job motivation, organisational
commitment, and trust, the idea of engagement has logically developed. The fundamental
components of engagement are employee alignment with strategy, empowering people to
engage themselves, and fostering a sense of engagement. The Employee Engagement
Consortium at Kingston University does an excellent job of capturing the multifaceted nature
of employee engagement. The idea that all employees can contribute to the efficient operation
and ongoing improvement of organisational processes, according to the researchers, is key to
the concept of employee engagement. Making connections between employees and their
bosses, co-workers, and the larger organisation is the goal of engagement. It involves fostering
an atmosphere where workers are inspired to desire to work efficiently. It involves fostering an
atmosphere where workers are inspired to want to engage with their task and genuinely care
about performing well.
Literature Review:
Peer-reviewed journal articles, working papers, textbooks, and other published materials that
are pertinent to employee engagement are analysed in this survey of the literature.
Employees who are actively engaged are consistently upbeat, maintain positive human
relationships, and work at a high level for the company. (Jena, Pradhan, & Panigrahy, 2018).
According to Tiwari and Lenka (2020), the degree of engagement among workers is increased
by functional, financial, and psychological advantages. The findings show that employee
involvement was favourably correlated with internal company communication, perceived
communication happiness, knowledge sharing, constant learning, and intrapreneurship. This
study discovered that investing in human resources and creating an effective HRM system
within an organization results in more engaged employees, who then enhance an organization's
success. (Tensay & Singh, 2020).
A study conducted by Kibum Kwon and Taesung Kim (2020) innovative behaviour at
workplace is a major consequence of engaged employees. These findings indicate that, unless
job demands are far beyond the scope of handling, employees may perceive them as
surmountable obstacles and consider a mix of reasonably high demands and high resources (or
even high demands and low resources) to be ideal, while seeing low demands and high
resources as boring (Eldor, 2017).
In the study conducted by Alan M. Saks (2019) the findings show that the primary factor
predicting work engagement is ability variety. These findings indicate that, unless job demands
are far beyond the scope of handling, employees may perceive them as surmountable obstacles
and consider a mix of reasonably high demands and high resources (or even high demands and
low resources) to be ideal, while seeing low demands and high resources as boring (Eldor,
2017).According to Satata, Dian Bagus Mitreka. (2021),find out that there ia interrelationship
between the employee productivity & their emotional well-being.
Employee involvement is always greater for those whose dispositional happiness is at a higher
degree (Barreiro & Treglown, 2020). In order for a company to keep its valuable workers,
employee engagement is essential. Utilizing people resources within a company effectively is
crucial for its success. An company cannot last for a long time without staff engagement.
Holbeche and Springett (2003) assert that there is a direct correlation between employees'
assessments of the "meaning" of their jobs and their levels of engagement and, ultimately,
performance. They contend that people actively look for meaning in their work, and if
employers don't try to supply it, they will leave. Employee engagement is described as "a good
attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and its value" by Robinson et al. (2004).
An engaged employee is conscious of the organisational context and collaborates with
coworkers to enhance job performance. A two-way interaction between the employer and the
employee is necessary for the business to build and nurture engagement.
Pay and perks are equally significant to every employee, whether they are good or terrible,
according to Buckingham and Coffman (2005). A company's remuneration should at the very
least be on pace with the industry standard. But while it's a wise first start, bringing a company's
pay and benefits package up to market standards won't get them very far. They can bring the
business into the game, but they can't help it win. They are like tickets to the ballpark.
According to Saks (2006), one method for people to give back to their organisation is through
their degree of participation. In other words, depending on the resources provided by their
employer, employees will choose to engage to varied degrees. putting more of oneself into
one's professional tasks and investing more time and energy. Leena, P. Singh, & Binita, P.
(2021) highlights the case study of TATA of how their employees are engaged on a large scale.
Globalization, speed, and ambiguity in the corporate environment, according to Pech and Slade
(2006), necessitate the highest levels of fitness to support organisational survival. Competitors
with the ideal fusion of economic production, trust, innovation, and leadership have the best
chances of surviving in such unstable environments. A new paradigm, the "Hierarchy of
involvement," developed by Penna (2007) researchers also resembles Maslow's need hierarchy
model. The fundamental requirements of wages and benefits come last. Once these criteria
have been met, the employee looks at career options, potential for promotion, and leadership
style, which are then included to the model. When the individual has completed all of the
aforementioned lower-level goals, they look Employees place a strong emphasis on their job
possibilities, chances for growth, and, in the model, the addition of leadership style. Once all
of the aforementioned lower level goals have been achieved, the employee turns to an
alignment of value-meaning, which is represented by a real sense of connection, a shared
purpose, and a shared sense of meaning at work.
Individual engagement, according to Mone and London (2010), is "a state of an employee who
feels interested, dedicated, enthusiastic, and empowered and expresses those sentiments in
work behaviour." Thus, it is the degree of dedication and involvement a worker has for their
company and its principles. Engagement needs to be developed and nurtured by the company,
which calls for a mutually beneficial partnership between employer and employee. Employee
engagement is a barometer that assesses a person's connection to the company.
Engagement Impact on Organization’s Productivity:
Employee engagement is influenced favourably by their awareness of how effectively an
organization's resources are managed. Productivity and engagement are closely related.
Engagement is boosted when workers are aware of an organization's production numbers.
Employee engagement is influenced by four key factors at work, including the culture of the
organisation, the ongoing implementation of people-focused policies, relevant indicators, and
organisational performance.
1.Corporate culture enables a business to connect with its workforce, empowers them in
decision-making, and prepares them to take on more responsibility.
2. Continuous reinforcement takes place when a company creates policies that help its
personnel achieve their goals and benefit the company as a whole.
3. Developing performance assessment criteria in a way that ensures employees have a clear
understanding of their objectives is referred to as meaningful metrics.
4. Achieving organisational goals fosters pride, work satisfaction, trust, and a sense of
belonging.
Employees need to believe they have the necessary physical, mental, and emotional resources
to do their jobs as well as possible. The ability to project and share the organization's success
stories with its staff is another skill that should be had by organisations. Employees can thus
tie their own successes to their own performance and comprehend how their own performance
directly affects the performance of the company as a whole. As a result, employee engagement
is improved. Higher financial success, more productivity, higher customer happiness, and fewer
staff turnover are all correlated with high engagement.

Variables Influencing Employee Engagement:

All kinds of companies share a few essential elements that influence employee involvement.
These elements foster a sense of worth and engagement among the workers. The following are
the variables that affect staff engagement:
1. Recruiting and Selection: Finding qualified candidates, extending job offers to them, and
attempting to persuade them to take those offers are all parts of the recruitment and selection
process. By providing workers with opportunities for advancement in return for their steadfast
devotion, employers can increase the person-job fit and dedication when hiring for desirable
jobs.
2. Job Design: Jobs with challenge, diversity, and autonomy are more likely to foster
psychological meaning, which is a requirement for employee involvement. The employee finds
a work to be pertinent and appealing because it provides variety and a task, which influences
his level of involvement.
3. Opportunities for career development: Companies with high levels of employee
engagement give staff members chances to advance their talents, pick up new skills, increase
their knowledge, and reach their full potential. Career development affects employee
engagement, helps employers keep the best workers, and offers chances for personal growth.
4. Leadership: Workers must believe that the fundamental principles on which their
organisations are founded are unmistakable and obvious. Regardless of their position,
successful firms value each employee's traits and contributions. An individual's participation is
also influenced by a company's ethical standards.
5. Empowerment: Workers demand a say in decisions that have an impact on their jobs. High
engagement leaders foster a supportive and demanding environment where staff members are
encouraged to contribute their ideas and novel approaches.
6. Equal and Fair Possibilities: If all employees are given equal opportunities for
development and promotion, employee engagement levels will be high. Employees believe that
they are not subjected to any forms of discrimination at work.
7. Training and Development: This is an additional crucial aspect that boosts employee
engagement. One of the reasons for employee turnover has been noted as redundancy of skills,
demonstrating the need for training, retraining, and multi-skill training. The knowledge and
abilities required to do their tasks will be acquired by new and existing employees through
training.
8. Performance Management: Processes for performance management create the framework
for worker involvement. Managers are encouraged by performance management to concentrate
on the duties and obligations of their workforce and involve them in the goal-setting process.
It supports acceptance of difficult goals as well as the recognition and encouragement of
contributions that go above and beyond.
9. Incentives and Compensation: It is believed that compensation has a significant impact on
how employees perceive their employment relationship. In addition to financial components,
compensation may also include non-financial benefits like on-site childcare, support
programmes for employees, subsidised cafeterias, travel discounts, workplace picnics, and so
forth. In order to keep its employees motivated to work there, the company needs a good pay
management system.
10. Health and Safety: Employee engagement decreases when they don't feel secure at work,
according to study. Every organization should therefore have appropriate policies and
structures in place to guarantee the safety and wellbeing of its employees.
11. Job Satisfaction: Only a happy worker can develop into an engaged worker. Therefore, it
is crucial for a company to ensure that the employee's employment meets his professional goals
in order for him to enjoy his work and, in the end, be content with his position.
12. Communication: The company needs to have an open door policy. The utilisation of
proper communication channels inside the company should allow for both upward and
downward communication. if the worker has a voice in the decision-making.
Organisational Outcomes of Employee Engagement:
Any company's performance depends on its ability to engage its workforce. Employee
involvement is a predictor of the firm's growth, employee outcomes, and financial
achievement. Employee involvement or disengagement can be indicated by the organization's
customer outcomes, employee retention rates, organizational ethos, and output. The structure
of organizational results of employee engagement and the factors influencing employee
engagement is shown in Figure 3.

1. Higher profitability and productivity: Effective employee engagement will contribute to

higher profits while also increasing productivity. Engagement makes it possible for businesses
to expand and become more profitable while also having highly engaged employees, rather
than the other way around. As earnings rise, so does the possibility of pay or bonus increases,
which is likely to make employees feel good and possibly deepen their sense of loyalty to the
company.
2. Enhanced Quality: When employees are provided the right opportunity, the quality can be
enhanced. Customer satisfaction will be impacted by employee involvement since it aids in
preserving the organization's increased quality. The organization's commitment to effective
participation raises the bar for quality.
3. Customer Loyalty: Client loyalty is more likely to grow among happy employees. Because
engaged employees usually have a better grasp of how to satisfy client wants, consumer loyalty
generally tends to be better in organizations where the employees are engaged. Finally, this can
lead to what is sometimes referred to as "customer engagement," which is when there is a
psychological and emotional bond between the company and the customer.
4. Financial Success: The financial success of the firm will be more impacted by effective
employee engagement. The success of the firm, employee outcomes, and financial performance
are all predicted by employee engagement.
5. Employee Performance: Employee performance is impacted by engagement. Engaged
workers put in more effort, are more devoted, and are more likely to go above and above for
the company. An individual is driven to perform at a greater level by the "illusive force" of
engagement.
6. Commitment & Motivation: People who are highly engaged at work are more likely to
take initiative and seek learning. Individual level engagement cannot be reliably used to explain
much performance as engagement surveys only assess the symptoms of performance rather
than the reasons. By providing incentive programs, the staff is prodded to increase output.
7. Employee Retention: Strategies for keeping employees have gotten the most attention.
However, because keeping employees engaged is essential to keeping them, the focus on
retention has given rise to several research on engagement. Engagement studies are starting to
take centre stage as a result. Employees who are content with their jobs are more likely to stay
with the company, according to many academics.
8. Organizational Culture: Employee engagement is significantly influenced by
organisational culture, where employees are expected to collaborate and represent the interests
of customers. Employees who are actively engaged are more inclined to recommend the
company as a place to work and actively promote its goods and services.
9. Employee Investment: Employees are more likely to respond favourably to their
supervisors, put out strong effort, and succeed if they are invested in their company and their
jobs. As a result, their boss becomes more successful and effective, which raises the manager's
confidence in their own abilities.
Limitations of the Study and Implication for Research
Implications As with most new ideas and emerging frameworks, there are limitations that
bound our context and we should acknowledge those. First, the relationship between Factors
and Engagement has not been identified. The detailed study on Antecedent is unanswered,
antecedent often refers to specific drivers of engagement. As an extension of our work,
however, our study could be replicated using the terms antecedents and engagement to see if
results might be similar to our findings or even overlapping. Perhaps, there is a way to extend
our taxonomy to include resources that are directly connected to antecedents in some fashion.
Second, the literature review was the only method adopted to come to the conclusion. Future
studies might better balance this limitation by introducing primary research. Furthermore, the
study considers multiple industries hence coming to the industry wise conclusion is a real
challenge. The factors which work in one industry might not work for other and that is one of
the biggest limitations of the study.
The proposed framework will serve as a guide to designing empirical studies on engagement-
innovation dynamics. Its integrative nature will help generate solid research questions and
hypotheses from a much broader perspective. For example, given that there is an interaction
between factors bringing Job Engagement and the Organization outcomes, furthermore, it can
be analysed that which factor contributes to Job Engagement at what extent and further it can
also be measured that Job Engagement has what level of impact on various outcomes.

Conclusion
After reviewing the results of the various studies and surveys on employee engagement, it is
clear that high levels of employee engagement will result in improved employee commitment
and involvement towards the workplace and, as a result, create a motivated workforce that will
cooperate to achieve the organisational goals. Employee involvement should not be considered
to be another HR tactic. Employee involvement is a long-term process that is connected to the
fundamental tenets of the company, such as its beliefs, culture, and management ethos.
Employees must embrace behaviours in the workplace that will cause them to exhibit the
behaviours that organizations are seeking for. With each business action they conduct, a
company must promote the elements that have a favourable impact on engagement. In today's
dynamic economy like ours, hiring qualified labour is simply not enough; much more must be
done to keep them engaged and motivated to support the organization's objectives. Therefore,
engagement is a state in which a person is not only emotionally invested in his or her work but
also intellectually devoted to it, going above and beyond the call of duty to advance the interests
of the firm.
The conclusion aims at focusing on the factors such as communication at workplace,
leadership, empowerment, equality etc. may result into the engagement among employees.
Such factors are often considered as the Antecedents of Employee Engagement and which are
the independent variables in the process. Hence, Employee Engagement can be considered as
a mediating variable and that leads to the positive outcomes such as high productivity, loyalty,
long term association, etc. which are defined as the Consequences.
From the study it is also observed that organizations should give their employees the freedom
to make their work fascinating and an environment where they may wave goodbye to a life of
monotonous work in addition to excellent infrastructure and other facilities. As a result of three
HR priority areas, such as employee motivation, career advancement and reward, and
compensation, they should concentrate on retention. As a result, an employee's level of
engagement increases when they work in a secure and collaborative workplace.
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