Employee
engagement can make a big difference
AAT News Service
In a
highly-competitive work environment when attrition is rather
the norm than an aberration, keeping employees motivated
has become a job in itself for employers. Gone are the days
when employers focussed on just employee satisfaction. Today,
what is being talked about is employee engagement.
What
is employee
engagement?
This
is indeed a complex phenomenon. It is the degree to which
people express at work not only who they are, but also who
they would like to be. It is a combination of heart and
mind, sense of identity and feelings of belonging and being
valued. It is the emotional and intellectual connection
with colleagues.
Beyond that, more extrinsic factors come into play: satisfaction
with the job itself and the level of support the organisation
provides in performing it. Highly-engaged employees are
aligned with organisational goals and with their colleagues.
They are confident, motivated for high performance and willing
to put forth extra effort. Employees on the low end of the
engagement scale lack of responsiveness, energy and motivation
to come to work.
It is increasingly felt today that an organisation’s
productivity is measured not in terms of employee satisfaction,
but by employee engagement. Employees are said to be engaged
when they show a positive attitude towards the organisation
and express a commitment to remain with the organisation.
According to Wikipedia, engagement at work was conceptualised
by William A Kahn (1990) as the ‘harnessing of organisational
members’ selves to their work roles. In engagement,
people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively,
and emotionally during role performances.
Employee engagement was described in the academic literature
by Schmidt et al (1993) using data from Gallup’s Q12
engagement survey. A modernised version of job satisfaction,
Schmidt and others’ influential definition of engagement
was ‘an employee’s involvement with, commitment
to, and satisfaction with work’. This integrates the
classic constructs of job satisfaction and organisational
commitment.
Three components of engagement are readily identified:
Vigour
Highly-engaged
people are physically energetic and mentally resilient.
They put energy into their work and maintain this high intensity,
despite obstacles and setbacks.
Absorption
Highly-engaged
people are absorbed by their work and throw themselves into
it, heedless of time or distractions.
Dedication
People
who are fully-engaged become better in their own eyes, through
the work they do. They are dedicated and passionate.
Now, what happens when employees are engaged? Fully-engaged
employees are easy to spot.
They typically appear happier and busier. They have higher
job satisfaction. They perform better in their jobs. They
work harder. They have lower levels of absenteeism and higher
loyalty. They have better relationships at work. They build
better teams. They are more likely to meet or exceed the
organisation’s standards for customer service.
Alignment
Alignment
and engagement are closely linked. Aligned employees understand
and identify with the organisation’s goals and link
their own objectives and abilities to them. They direct
their energies toward the common goals of the organisation.
Unfortunately, many top executives express little confidence
that their employees understand their corporate objectives
and are aligned with them.
In a 2007 survey, consultant company, Accenture found that
only 20 per cent of top executives believe that 75 per cent
or more of their employees understand their company’s
strategic goals. Only 22 per cent believe that 75 per cent
or more of their employees understand how they can contribute
to achieving these goals. This low degree of alignment could
contribute to low engagement.
Why
is employee
engagement important?
Talent
is the engine of modern organisations, and engagement is
the fuel that drives the engine to high performance. Another
survey linked a 5 per cent increase in engagement to a 0.7
increase in operating margin. In 2006, a global survey by
ISR reported that organisations with highly-engaged workforces
performed up to 50 per cent better than those with low engagement.
Do highly-engaged employees turn their companies into high
performers? Or does company success result in high engagement?
Both are almost certainly true.
What
are the signs of lack of employee engagement?
The
first sign of a lack of employee engagement is the high
ratio of employee turnover. Whether staff is volunteering
to leave or is being dismissed, only a small percentage
of turnovers are due to factors unrelated to employee engagement.
The simple truth is that if employees are engaged and have
high job satisfaction, they just won’t quit.
Another sign is the fall in productivity. The stats have
been slipping for a while now. If you were to chart the
decline it would be a slope downward. Further, when employees
are unmotivated and they are not working effectively as
a team, deadlines get missed.
Another sign to watch out for is the low morale. Employees
rarely walk around with a smile on their face. They are
not interested in planning or being a part of social activities.
You also feel like a parent at times as their leader. One
is complaining about another, so and so did this to that
and so on. The conflicts are over small things, but the
emotions around them are magnified. The maturity level has
dropped to a high-school level. Employees turn clock watchers.
As soon as they can, they are out of there. They arrive
when they must and leave when they can.
Also, in such a situation, employees often fall sick and
take leaves on slightest of pretexts. They call in sick,
seem to be going to the doctor a lot, plan their vacation
days carefully and use up all personal days.
Another problem is lack of punctuality. You may be seeing
a problem with staff arriving late. It started off with
one employee arriving late and now you are seeing others
arriving late.
Are you working in similar situations? It’s your call
whether to stay on or look for greener pastures.
