Employee Engagement
Employee engagement can be described as
how committed an employee is to an organization's vision, purpose, and values
and this can be achieved through by creating a healthy working environment in
the organization that harness their emotional commitment and unleash their full
potential to drive organizational goals & objectives. Further you can state
employee engagement is a corporate management concept that is also known as job
engagement or worker engagement. As states in Tran, (2018) an "engaged
employee" is totally invested in and excited about their work, and who
will contribute in ways that benefit their organizations interests both within
and beyond the organization.
Sun, (2019), has commented that
“employee engagement as the extent employees are willing to stay in the company
and work hard for the company, reflected in three aspects: 1) ―Say‖: employees
use a positive language to describe their company, colleagues, and their jobs.
2) ―Stay‖: employees strongly hope to be a member of the company, want to stay
in the company for a long time, instead of using existing jobs as a temporary
transition. 3) ―Strive‖: employees are willing to devote extra effort to work
for the success of the company”
Importance of employee engagement in an
organization
Employee engagement is one of the live
wires in an organization which motivates and drives the performance and
productivity of its employees and gives a cutting edge over the competitors.
Markos, 2010 stated that ‘Engaged employees are emotionally attached to their
organization and highly involved in their job with a great enthusiasm for the
success of their employer, going extra mile beyond the employment contractual
agreement’
In today’s world different organization uses various techniques and methods to engage people. The following are some of the key areas that the organizations are constantly working to enhance employee engagement
1.
Career development
Career development is one of the main
aspirations of any employee. One will give their best effort to go up in the
ladder. Through continuous learning and development employee can upgrade their
self to the next level. Some employees invest in themselves to achieve their
career development goals. Therefore, according to Jehanzeb, (2013) if companies
can also provide trainings and learning hours to support and sharpen their
skills so that employees will engage more with company activities.
2.
Empowerment
Employee empowerment is primarily
concerned with assigning responsibility and authority to make decisions to
employees. This encourages employees to give 100% since they feel valued.
3.
Talent recognition
Talent management is one of the most
crucial elements in an organization. That show the quality of the work force.
Arti Chandani, 2016 concluded that Senior managers must create positions that
allow their workers to take pleasure in their work, providing them a sense of
identity, autonomy, constructive feedback, and task relevance, while also
matching the credentials and present abilities of these trained and developed
personnel.
4.
Fair treatment
It is paramount important that
organizations treat their employees in a reasonable and respected manner, in
return, they are more focused on overcoming the barriers they face. They
establish trust in you as a boss because they feel appreciated and cared for,
rather than manipulating people or events so as to gain an advantage or outwit
one’s opponents and this has been debated in Society of Human Resource
Management, (2008)
5.
Leadership
Zahid, (2017) Observed that “factors
affecting employee engagement are to some extent related to leadership or
directly connected to leadership, especially of the immediate supervisor.
Employee engagement can be increased via increasing leadership competencies especially
in cases where budget is limited or economical results force companies to save
resources. Even smaller efforts can increase the employee engagement”
Once, the organizations genuinely
implement the above-mentioned practices, it can positively influence the
employee behavior and enhance the organizational growth and development.
1.
Reduction in absenteeism
Every company is different, but
workplace absenteeism is a prevalent issue since it not only hurts employees,
but it's also perceived as a management issue. Absenteeism is costly to a firm
and, if not handled, may grow out of control. To combat absenteeism, consider
your employees' contentment, motivation, and involvement. Think the results you
can accomplish if you improve the whole employee experience in your business
via employee engagement.
2.
Increase the productivity
As CHEUM, (2017) concluded When
employees are actively engaged and motivated, the organization can reap
unprecedented results, happy and satisfied employees will always ensure that,
they will go beyond boundaries to generate extra ordinary results for their
organization to stay abreast than its competitors
3.
Lower employee turnover
“Employee departures cost a company
time, money, and other resources. Research suggests that direct replacement
costs can reach as high as 50%-60% of an employee’s annual salary, with total
costs associated with turnover ranging from 90% to 200% of annual salary.4
Examples include turnover costs of $102,000 for a journeyman machinist,
$133,000 for an HR manager at an automotive manufacturer, and $150,000 for an
accounting professional.” (Society of Human Resource Management, 2008).
Therefore, through engagement, build a motivated set of employees which reduces
the rate of turnover.
4.
Increase productivity
When you treat your employees fairly,
they focus on navigating the challenges in front of them. They feel respected,
cared for, and they develop trust in you as a manager. Instead of focusing on
gamesmanship or one-upmanship, employees focus on working towards individual
and group goals stated in (REH, 2019).
In a nutshell, any organization needs to
focus more on their human capital. Just having set of employees who can get the
work done in day todays work will not take the company to a greater height.
Rather having set of employees who are engaged enough to run an extra mile with
a motivated and a positive mind set will make the company performance upside
down. Moreover, this whole topic of enhancing the level of engagement will not
only be limited to employee’s professional life, but this will also lead them
to have a healthy working pattern which will in return improve their personal aspirations
too. Therefore, to any organization is vital that they take initiatives to
engage employees on ground, on the job and wherever it is possible to engage
its employee.
References
Arti Chandani, ,. M. M. ,. A. M. V. K.,
2016. Employee Engagement: A Review Paper on Factors. Indian Journal of Science
and Technology,, 9(15), pp. 1-7.
CHEUM, J. J., 2017. EFFECTS OF TEAM
BUILDING ACTIVITIES AS A STRATEGIC ISSUE ON EMPLOYEE RETENTION: A CASE STUDY OF
SAFARICOM LIMITED, s.l.: UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITYAFRICA.
Kamil Zahid, A. Ö., 2017. Leadership and
Employee Engagement in, s.l.: Blekinge Institute of Technology School of
Management .
Khawaja Jehanzeb, D. N. A. B., 2013.
Training and Development Program and its Benefits to Employee. European Journal
of Business and Management, 5(2), pp. 243-252.
Markos, S., 2010. Employee Engagement:
The Key to Improving Performance. International Journal of Business and
Management, 5(12), p. 89.
Markos, S., 2010. Employee Engagement:
The Key to Improving Performance. International Journal of Business and
Management, 5(12), pp. 89-96.
Society of Human Resource Management ,
2008. SHRM foundation. [Online] Available at:
https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/documents/retaining-talent.pdf
[Accessed 31 March 2022].
Sun, L., 2019. Employee Engagement: A
Literature Review. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 9(
2162-3058), pp. 63-80.
Tran, Q., 2018. How does the
organization increase engagement? – From the viewpoint of HR representatives in
Finland, s.l.: Åbo Akademi University
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ReplyDeleteHere is the Employee Engagement Calendar 2022 India so that you can see the year ahead and plan for the year to come. It can help us keep momentum to achieve the goals of the organization.
ReplyDeleteHi Samantha, Agreed with the post. Engaged Employees have a lesser chance of leaving the organization and as a result it reduces turnover rate. As the employees are dedicated to work, it will increase productively and customers loyalty (Robertson-Smith and Markwick, 2009).
ReplyDeleteFurther adding to your comment according to Cheema et al., (2015). Employee engagement is beneficial in both individual and corporate contexts, in general. Employee engagement enhances their emotional condition while also improving their intellectual abilities and active conduct. Employee mental and physical well-being, job happiness, and personal results are all crucial.
DeleteHi Samantha, very interesting post. As you have clearly mentioned in your article based on Aon-Hewitt theory (2015), employee engagement has both individual and organizational benefits, and to be called "engaged," an employee must demonstrate all three aspects of behavior types of "Say, Stay and strive" which are more valuable to a company as they strive to their full potential. Engaged employees care about the company's performance and feel that their dedication makes a difference
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHi, Chamara I would like to further point out that more engaged employees, according to research from throughout the world, can help firms to attain extraordinary achievements. As a result of that, the profit margins have grown up exponentially. Because of this, there has been a surge in interest in researchers in employee engagement during the previous decade (Bakker et al., 2012).
DeleteHi Samantha, I agree with the contents of this post. I would like to add few more things to it.
ReplyDeleteFor sustainable business success, organizations are trying to adapt to the changes and focusing on intellectual capital instead of materialistic capital. 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 and Raya, 2014). Effective utilization of potential employees and retaining such employees is the biggest challenge that confronted the organizations (Macey, 2009). Employee engagement is one of the emerging concepts that will address multiple challenges organizations are facing such as attrition, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, profitability, and business productivity and employee related variables like absenteeism, individual performance, resilience (Gallup, 2013).
Hi Dinith your points are well taken and I would like to further add The U.S. Department of Labor (2015) has found out employee engagement is a real challenge, with a negative percentage of 35% or higher for organizations. Hence, it has become a major challenge for organizational leaders to find ways and means to keep their employees engaged for long-term employment. since it's evident that engaged employees are noted to have lower turnover rates and higher and higher retention rates (Ahmetoglu et al., 2015).
DeleteHi Samantha. I agree with the content of your post. The manner in which employees feel satisfied and enthusiastic about work-related activities is said to foster employee engagement (Nasomboon, 2014). According to Kompaso & Sridevi (2010) engaged employees are those who have an emotional attachment to the company. These employees are emotionally, physically, and cognitively engaged in their work and are more productive.
ReplyDeleteHi Ashanthi we can further drill down this topic Eldor & Harpaz, (2015) has stated that Employee engagement is linked to people's psychological experiences, which influence their work processes and behaviours. Employee engagement is a multidimensional process, it can be improved in several ways, the most effective of which is increased employee emotional, physical, and cognitive daily work involvement. Deci and Ryan, (1985)
Deletestated that , competence as the effectiveness and the use of an individual’s skills, which allows him or her to work at high levels. Employees that are confident in themselves are confident in their daily work duties.
Hi Samantha , Nicely done ., Workers' level of engagement can be assessed by how emotionally and mentally invested they are in their jobs, their teams, and the company as a whole. Employee engagement is a metric that measures how happy employees are at work (Lanny Entrekin, 2013).
ReplyDeleteHi, Maheshini I agree with your comments however, in contrast to employee engagement (Risambessy et al 2012) have mentioned, organizations today have understood of having motivated and satisfied employees as key contributors toward long term objectives. It has given positive vibes and made organizations crystal clear that they should proactively respond to the expectations and needs of the employees so that it could stimulate positive vibes of employees and unleash their true potential to drive the overall performance and growth of the organization.
DeleteHi Samantha, The construct, employee engagement emanates from two concepts that have won academic recognition and have been the subjects of empirical research-Commitment and Organizational Citizen Behaviour (OCB) (Robinson, Perryman and Hayday, 2004; Rafferty et al., 2005). Employee engagement has similarities to and overlaps with the above two concepts.
ReplyDeleteHi Nishad it is a very interesting area that you have touched on employee engagement and I would like further add Robinson et al. (2004) state that neither commitment nor OCB reflects sufficiently two aspects of engagement-its two-way nature, and the extent to which engaged employees are expected to have an element of business awareness, even though it appears that engagement overlaps with the two concepts
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