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The concept of employee engagement is based on trust, integrity, two way commitment, and communication between organization and employee or team member.
Employee engagement is a catchphrase across almost every organization and company in today’s world, and this concept has been becoming increasingly crucial for companies and organizations across the globe. The concept of employee engagement is based on trust, integrity, two way commitment, and communication between organization and employee or team member. This approach is proving to enhance individual worker productivity, satisfaction, well-being, and contribution to success of the business.
Employee engagement is becoming more crucial as companies realize the positive outcomes an employee who has a clear understanding of his/her role can have by fitting into the purposes and objectives of the organization. Also, engaged employees have a positive impact on fellow workers and overall team morale, and while contributing significantly themselves, can drive engagement objectives and enhance overall productivity and performance of peers.
However, it is equally crucial to understand levels of employee engagement, as well as the differences between employee engagement, which should not be confused with similar concepts such as happiness, satisfaction, and wellbeing on the professional front or at the workplace.
The Human Resources (HR) team plays a key role in helping to develop company culture with employee interests and well-being playing a major role in most aspects of a business, including profitability, revenue, customer experience, employee turnover, and more. Key objectives of implementing this concept is to create the right conditions for all members of an organization to remain motivated, and put in best efforts each day and contribute to organizational goals and values with an enhanced sense of well-being. Studies show that employees who are engaged and who feel connected to their organization work more diligently, perform better, remain with the company longer, and motivate coworkers positively in this direction. These outcomes of employee engagement also support higher success rates of teams, thereby driving positive outcomes for the organization.
Enhanced productivity is a primary outcome of employee engagement as these employees are more emotionally committed to their job or work. Such employees do not move or change jobs easily and this results in improved employee retention and lower turnover rates, which enables savings on recruitment and training costs for the company. Also, a culture that encourages engagement fosters creativity, leading to better problem-solving and innovation, and such employees given the right support are more likely to contribute innovative ideas and solutions.
Employee engagement also has a positive impact on how an employee deals with customers and engaged employees are more likely to provide genuine and pleasant customer satisfaction. This can be attributed to satisfied and emotionally healthy and engaged employees creating positive interactions and enhancing overall experience and satisfaction.
Employee engagement is also linked to better physical and mental health, and satisfied employees experience lower stress levels and are generally healthier than peers who are not engaged, and have reduced absenteeism, and healthcare costs to company for such employees is relatively lower. Besides, such employees contribute to a positive company culture, which translates to a positive workplace culture, attracts top talent, enhances collaboration, and promotes a sense of belonging among peers and other employees.
Overall, employee engagement has been proving to be a positive concept for companies to follow and deploy, as the advantages and benefits far outweigh the investment and efforts. Companies save in a number of ways, and more importantly, more effectively retain talent, build and maintain employee loyalty, encourage effective two-way communication, drive positive employee development outcomes, and nurture an environment that supports adaptability to change. An increasing number of companies investing in strategies to enhance employee engagement are realizing the transition to a more resilient, successful, and sustainable organization.
Ascertaining level of employee engagement is done through measuring how an employee feel about the organization, and based on workplace perceptions, are categorized into four main groups. The categories include highly engaged employees, moderately engaged employees, barely engaged employees, and disengaged employees.
An employee who has favorable opinions and positive outlook on the organization is categorized among highly engaged employees. Such employees hold the organization in high regard, and also encourage other employees to deliver their best.
An employee with moderately favorable opinions regarding workplace or organization can be termed as a moderately engaged employee. While such employees may like their organization, they may not be able to open up or fully express their loyalty owing to some aspect or factor holding them back from becoming fully engaged. A key drawback with such employees is reluctance to request for or take on more responsibility and underperforming.
Employees with little motivation and desire to be where they are at the moment and those exhibiting an air of indifference towards place of employment can be categorized as barely engaged employees. Such employees invariably lack motivation for their position and will not be inclined to do any more in terms of work or tasks as is required, or less. Most barely engaged employees show poor focus on the job and this can be attributed to many among this category researching other jobs or opportunities elsewhere, which makes barely engaged employees a high turnover risk for companies.
Disengaged employees most probably have a negative opinion about the workplace and show no indication of connection to mission, goals, and future of the organization. Such employees display lack of commitment to their position and responsibilities, and can influence negative perceptions and have negative impact on productivity of employees around them.
Another crucial detail is for companies not to misinterpret employee engagement or confuse the concept with similar concepts like happiness, satisfaction, or wellbeing. Recognizing some clear differences among these concepts is equally important and this can determine and nurture the desired outcomes in an organization.
Most companies focus on strategies to keep employees happy, but this is different from employee engagement. Implementing policies and benefits, or regularly organizing events and engaging employees in activities merely results in more time and funds spent, but not on productive outcomes and avenues related to business and organizational goals. Also, offering a raise to an employee only serves to provide short-term or temporary happiness, but does not ensure employee places mission of the organization on priority, and employee can slide back into the disengagement category shortly after. Understanding this serves to avoid unnecessary expense and efforts in the wrong direction, as employee engagement needs to develop into a long-term connection with the organization.
Employee satisfaction can be shallow and be measured at surface level, as employees who seem satisfied and hold organization in high regard, may actually not be engaged sufficiently and hence the level of satisfaction may be because of no responsibilities and workload or pressures. Also, an employee who is satisfied in such a situation may not be readily inclined to be more engaged or go the extra mile beyond the comfort zone currently created. While such employees may have a low turnover rate, as they ideally remain with the company and reap easy benefits and invest least effort, their contribution to the organization is negligible or void. Satisfied, disengaged, and non-contributing employees can also have a potentially negative impact on perceptions of those employees who are genuinely engaged and satisfied, and understanding the differences can enable proper action and measures to permanently disengage such employees in the better interest of the company.
Employee wellbeing may be a crucial factor that determines drive and level of productivity delivered by an employee. However, this aspect is considered personal, and employees need to understand the boundaries between personal well-being and well-being in a professional setting. This is also crucial for companies to differentiate in order to ensure the both are not overlapping each other. Evaluation of well-being enables understanding of an employee’s life, including how well they are able to cope with stress or if they are fulfilling their potential on the workfront.
Employee engagement activities are designed to cultivate and nurture connection of an employee with company or organization, and well-being in this relation and to the job. Well-being on the personal front is the responsibility of the individual or employee, and should ideally not be merged with well-being on the professional front.
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