Employee Engagement, Definition and Business Impacts
Definition:
Employee Engagement is a measure of employees’ behavioral, emotional, and cognitive involvement with their organization. It is not the same as employee satisfaction, which measures workplace elements that may or may not impact engagement.
Employee Engagement is a positive attitude held by employees toward their organization and its values, resulting in correspondingly positive behavior.
Engaged employees invest more of themselves in their work and are less likely to leave.
Impact on Business Outcomes
From numerous studies we know the following:
There is a positive relationship between employee engagement and business performance. Equipping employees to be successful and to experience positive emotions is good for both them and their organization.
Engaged employees:
- Believe in the organization and its purpose
- Desire to work to make things better
- Understand the organization’s business context and the “bigger purpose”
- Respect and help their colleagues
- Are willing to go the extra mile
- Keep up-to-date with developments in their field
Engagement is a two-way relationship. Organizations must work to engage employees. Employees chose their level of engagement with the organization.
Scary Statistics
The statistics on workforce engagement are shocking. According to the Gallup Management Journal’s semi-annual Employee Engagement Index:
A 2002 study found that cost of employee disengagement in the workplace is 16.5% of before-tax annual income.
How to Keep Employees Engaged
Engaged workers produce more, make more money for the company, and create emotional engagement and loyal customers. They contribute to good working environments where people are productive, ethical and accountable. They stay with the organization longer and are more committed to quality and growth than are the other two groups of employees. How do they do so?
Perhaps the most critical factor in creating and keeping engaged employees is the quality of employees’ relationships with their managers.
Engaged employees have a strong relationship with their manager. They have a clear communication from their manager. They have a clear path set for focusing on what they do best. They have strong relationships with their coworkers.
They feel a strong commitment with their coworkers enabling them to take risks and stretch for excellence.
Engaged employees tend to get the least amount of focus and attention from managers in part because they’re doing what they are needed to do. They set goals, meet and exceed expectations, and charge enthusiastically toward the next challenging task.
Great managers, however, don’t leave these excellent employees along. They spend most of their time with the most productive and talented people because they have the most potential.
JFA Consulting Assessment of Employee Engagement
We approach customer relationships as an ongoing conversation between management and employees. As you would measure financial performance on a routine basis, this employee dialogue should be conducted and measure n the same manner.
This program consists of a baseline measurement of employees’ viewpoints, identifying gaps in needs of the company compared to the needs of its employees. Strengths and corrections are identified at every level of the organization, resulting in clear and concise recommendations for improvement. Typical findings include gaps in managerial support, leadership communication, inclusion, and fair treatment in the workplace.
Subsequently, we routinely conduct a 60-Second Quality Check. This continuous measurement focuses on high priority issues most impacting employee engagement. This information enables you to observe trends in progress over time, based on new directives and employee support programs.
