Remote operations
Marc Prempain
15 April 2024
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Employee engagement is one of the most overused and misunderstood terms in organizational management. Individuals often tend to mistake employee engagement with employee satisfaction, this article seeks to clarify what is employee engagement and identifies the advantages for companies with engaged employees.
Employee engagement refers to the emotional commitment and passion which the employees have towards the organization and its goals and put discretionary efforts into their work. When employees are engaged, they care about the organizational goals and are willing to voluntarily put in extra efforts to work towards their achievement.
Employee engagement must not be confused with employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction merely measures the happiness of employees. Improved employee satisfaction might not result in improved performance. Employees could be satisfied by just doing lesser work and still collecting a full paycheck at the end of the month. Low performing employees would be happy to continue with the same condition and ensure the status quo. High performing employees on the other hand embrace change, accept new challenges, and consistently look for new ways to improve.
Employee engagement drives higher performance. Engaged employees recognize the values of the organization and understand the organization’s purpose. Organizations that have high levels of employee engagement can outperform their competitors, they have higher profitability and are able to recover faster from financial setbacks. Moreover, employee engagement helps attract and retain top talent within the organization.
Human resource personnel within the organization are responsible for ensuring high levels of employee engagement. The HR department can design employee engagement surveys to measure employee engagement. Employee engagement surveys need to be detailed (50 to 80 questions) and must cover a wide range of topics, this would enable personnel to diagnose engagement problems in the company.
The two primary components of employee engagement are
i. engagement with the organization and;
ii. engagement with the manager.
Engagement with the organization measures how employees feel about the organization, its values, and its senior leadership. Engagement with the management is more specific and measures how employees relate to their supervisors. It includes topics such as being treated fairly, recognition for work, receiving feedback, and direction.
Employee engagement efforts can then be initiated on the basis of the survey results. The HR department can drive employee engagement by adopting an employee engagement strategy. It is imperative to recognize that employee engagement affects the company’s bottom line and that employee engagement needs to be embraced by the entire organization to create a change.
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