Employee Engagement: How Does It Work? Essay Example

organization. Engagement is most closely related to the existing construct of work engagement (Brown, 1996) and flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

Work participation is defined as “the degree to which the work situation is central to a person and his or her personality” (Lawler & Hall, 1970). Kanungo (1982) argued that work participation is a cognitive or belief state of psychological identification. Participation in the work is considered to depend on both the importance of the need and the ability of the work to meet those needs. Thus, the outcomes of work engagement form a cognitive judgment about the possibilities of meeting work needs. From this point of view, work is related to your self-image.

Engagement is different from work because it has more to do with how individual employees perform on their own while doing their job. In addition, engagement entails the active use of emotions. Finally, engagement can be seen as antecedent to work engagement, where people who are deeply involved in their roles must identify with their work.

When Kahn talked about employee engagement, he paid a lot of attention to all three aspects: physical, cognitive and emotional. Whereas in job satisfaction, more emphasis is placed on the cognitive side. HR professionals believe that the communication problem has a lot to do with how the employee feels about their work experience and how they are treated in the organization. This has a lot to do with emotions, which are fundamentally associated with achieving success in a company.

There will always be people who will never do their best, no matter how hard HR and line managers try to attract them. But for the most part, employees want to

partner with companies because it satisfies and contributes to a strong and basic need to connect to something significant. ” Aspects of employee engagement According to global research, there are three main aspects of employee engagement: employees and their own unique psychological mindsets and experiences. Employers and their ability to create an environment conducive to employee engagement. Interaction between employees at all levels. Thus, it is in large part the responsibility of the organization to create an environment and culture that fosters this partnership and mutually beneficial equation.

Categories of employee interactions According to the consulting organization Gallup, there are different types of people: Engage employees are construction workers. They want to know the desired expectations for their role in order to meet and exceed them. They are naturally curious about their company and their place in it. They work at a consistently high level.

They want to use their talents and strengths at work every day. They work with enthusiasm, innovate and grow their organization. Uninvolved employees tend to focus on the tasks rather than the goals and results they expect. They want to be told what to do so that they can do it and say that they are done. They focus on getting things done, not getting things done. Unemployed employees tend to feel that their contributions are being ignored and their potential is not being tapped.

They often think so because they don't have productive relationships with their managers or colleagues. The “actively withdrawn” employees are the “cave dwellers”. They are "consistently against practically everything." They are not just happy at work; u they are busy acting out their misfortune. They sow the seeds

of negativity at every opportunity. Every day, actively detached employees undermine what their engaged colleagues are doing.

As workers increasingly rely on one another to create products and services, the problems and tensions that are generated by actively laid-off workers can wreak havoc on the functioning of an organization. The Importance of Involvement Involvement is important for managers to cultivate, given that withdrawal or alienation is central to the problem of lack of commitment and employee motivation (Aktuf). Pointless work is often associated with apathy and detachment from one's work (Thomas and Welhaus). Under such conditions, people are considered alienated from themselves (Seeman, 1972).

Other studies that used a different engagement resource (engagement and enthusiasm) have linked it to variables such as employee turnover, customer satisfaction - loyalty, safety, and, to a lesser extent, performance and profitability criteria (Harter, Schnidt & Hayes, 2002) ... An organization's ability to manage employee engagement is closely tied to its ability to achieve high levels of productivity and excellent business results. Some of the benefits of having an engaged employee will continue to exist in the company, protect the company, its products and services, and contribute to business success.

They usually perform better and are more motivated. There is a significant relationship between employee engagement and profitability. They form an emotional bond with the company. This influences their attitude towards the company's customers and thereby increases customer satisfaction and service levels. It fosters enthusiasm, commitment and alignment with the organization's strategies and goals. Increases employee confidence in the organization. Creates a sense of loyalty in a competitive environment. Provides an energetic work environment. Stimulates business growth. Makes employees effective brand ambassadors for

the company. An active employee will consistently exceed all expectations.

In a survey of employee engagement in the workplace (Harter, Schmidt & Hayes, 2002), employees were repeatedly asked if they were able to do what they do best every day. Moreover, every fifth employee fully agrees with this statement. Work units scored higher in this perception have significantly higher productivity.

Thus, employee engagement is critical to any organization that seeks to retain valuable employees. Consulting firms Watson Wyatt have proven that there is an intrinsic link between employee engagement, customer loyalty, and profitability. As organizations globalize and become more technology-dependent in a virtual work environment, there is a growing need to connect and interact with employees to give them organizational identity. Factors Leading to Employee Engagement Research has shown that there are some critical factors that lead to employee engagement.

Leaders in highly engaged workplaces create a trusting and challenging environment in which employees are encouraged to disagree with prevailing orthodox views and to contribute and innovate to move the organization forward. Image The extent to which employees are willing to support the products and services that their company provides to its customers depends largely on their perception of the quality of these products and services. High employee engagement is inextricably linked to high customer engagement.

Employee engagement rates will be high if their superiors (bosses) provide all employees with equal opportunities for growth and promotion. A company that follows an appropriate performance appraisal methodology (which is transparent and unbiased) will have a high level of employee engagement.

The company must have a proper remuneration system so that employees are motivated to work in the organization. In order to increase

its level of engagement, employees must also be provided with certain benefits and compensation. Health and safety research shows that engagement rates are low when an employee does not feel safe on the job. Therefore, every organization must apply appropriate methods and systems to ensure the health and safety of its employees.

Only a satisfied employee can become a committed employee. Therefore, it is very important for the organization to ensure that the work provided to the employee is in line with his career goals, which gives him pleasure in his work and, ultimately, he is satisfied with his work.

The company must adhere to an open door policy. The organization should have both upstream and downstream communications using appropriate communication channels. If an employee is given a voice in decision making and has a right to be heard by his boss, the level of engagement is likely to be high. Family friendliness A person's family life influences his life in the wok.

When an employee realizes that the organization also considers the benefits of his family, he will have an emotional attachment to the organization that leads to interaction. Collaboration If the whole organization works together to help each other, that is, all employees, as well as managers together, what will the employees do.

How do you measure employee engagement? Gallup research consistently confirms that busy versus least engaged jobs are much more likely to have lower turnover, higher-than-average customer loyalty, productivity, and higher-than-average earnings. These are all good things that prove that recruiting and engaging people makes good business sense and increases shareholder value. Negative attitudes in the workplace can be a big part of why so

many employees are not busy with their jobs.

An employer must listen to their employees and remember that this is an ongoing process. Submitting the employee's information will give direction. This is the only way to identify their specific problems. When leaders listen, employees respond by becoming more interested. This translates into increased productivity and employee retention. Involved employees are much more likely to be satisfied with their job, stay with the company, get promoted, and strive for higher levels of productivity.

Employee engagement needs to be measured at regular intervals to track their contribution to the organization's success. But measuring engagement (feedback through surveys) without planning how to handle the outcome can lead to layoffs. Therefore, it is not enough just to feel the pulse - the plan of action is equally important.

Employee Engagement Satisfaction Surveys measure the current level of employee engagement. A well-organized satisfaction survey will allow us to find out at what level of engagement employees are working. Customizable employee surveys will be the starting point for your efforts to optimize employee engagement. The key to successful employee satisfaction surveys is paying close attention to employee feedback. It is important that employee engagement is not seen as a one-off activity.

Employee engagement should be an ongoing process of measuring, analyzing, defining and implementing. Employee survey is the diagnostic tool of choice in the battle for employee hearts. Research by Gallup, Mercer, Hewitt and Watson Wyatt (consulting companies) asked workers a series of questions regarding their job satisfaction. Gallup, one of the oldest consulting organizations (in terms of engagement survey), creates a feedback system for employers that identifies and measures the elements of employee engagement

that most affect bottom line.

Things like sales, growth, productivity, and customer loyalty are available. After hundreds of focus groups and thousands of interviews with employees from a wide variety of industries, Gallup developed question 12, a twelve-question survey that reveals a strong sense of employee engagement. They identified 12 questions that most effectively measure links (Gallup Q12):

1. Do you know what is expected of you at work?
2. Do you have the materials and equipment you need to work?
3. At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
4. In the past seven days, have you received recognition or praise for your good work?
5. Does your boss or someone at work seem to care about you as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
7. At work, does your opinion matter?
8. Does it make you feel like your job is important because of your company's mission?
9. Are your co-workers (co-workers) committed to delivering quality work?
10. Do you have a best friend at work?
11. In the past six months, has anyone at work talked to you about your successes?
12. Over the past year, have you had opportunities to learn and grow at work?

The interpretation of the questionnaire and one of the levels of involvement of the company are summarized in the table below. Here are some of the discussions that arise from the Gallup questions: Know what is expected of me at work — Employees need to know exactly what is expected of them. If expectations are unclear, employees will inevitably face frustration and be open to other opportunities when they know what is expected of them and where

their contribution is being valued and recognized.

Employees need the right tools and equipment to support their skills, experience and talents so that they can do their jobs at an optimal level. Do what I do best every day. Are your employees assigned to the right roles? Knowing the critical requirements for each position is key to ensuring that talent meets those requirements. Managers should spend most of their time with their most productive talents. Many managers give the most attention to the stragglers.

Talented, productive people crave the time and attention of their managers and will leave your company if they have a weak relationship (or no relationship at all) with their manager or boss. Colleagues committed to quality. Many companies arbitrarily create teams without considering that employees are psychologically connected to teams only if they believe that their team members will maintain their high levels of commitment and performance. Talented employees set high standards and depend on those around them to support their growth towards excellence.

The company must create an environment that encourages employees to innovate or build better systems for more productive results. Great managers always ask what skills and knowledge are needed to achieve the best result for each of them. As stated, the Gallup Q12 study is based on positive psychology and emotions. Having a best friend at work or being recognized every week makes you feel cared for and proud, respectively.

If you want to continue to reproduce these positive emotions, keep getting back to work. So question 12 measures engagement, and engagement is a positive emotional connection to work. Thus, the mechanism of expansion and construction theories and the tendency towards

positive emotion action helps to understand why Q.12 has been so powerful for Gallup in terms of predicting outcomes. Borden and Build's theory speaks of the evolutionary meaning of positive emotions. Positive emotions are best observed in the long run.

Their effects accumulate and worsen over time, and adaptive benefits emerge later when people face new challenges. Thus, Gallup's research contributed to adding extra Ps to the 4 Ps of marketing, i.e. to product, price, and location, and now people. Gallup brings together 13 engaged employees and engages interested customers to shape the Human Sigma vision. These include customer engagement, loyalty, and emotional attachment. Hierarchy of customer interactions, assessing customer interactions, and developing a culture of engagement and customer focus.

Gallup decided to initiate a multi-year research project to try to define a great workplace - a great workplace is a place where employees are happy with their jobs and thus contributes to positive business results. According to research by Watson Wyatt, the service-to-profit chain establishes the relationship between profitability, customer loyalty and employee satisfaction, loyalty and performance. The links in the chain (which should be considered as suggestions) are as follows: profit and growth are driven primarily by customer loyalty.

Loyalty is a direct result of customer satisfaction. Satisfaction is highly dependent on the service provided to customers. Satisfied, loyal and productive employees create value. Employee satisfaction is primarily the result of high quality services and support policies that enable employees to deliver results to customers. While many organizations are beginning to measure the relationship between individual links in a service, few have linked these links in a meaningful way that can lead to overarching strategies for

achieving long-term competitive advantage through employee engagement.

Employee engagement is a buzzword for employee communication. This is a positive attitude of employees towards the organization and its values. It is rapidly gaining popularity, use and importance in the workplace and has a lot of impact on organizations. Employee engagement underscores the importance of employee communication to business success. Thus, the organization must recognize employees, more than any other variable, as powerful factors contributing to the company's competitiveness. Therefore, employee engagement should be an ongoing process of learning, improvement, measurement and action. Hence, we can conclude that increasing and maintaining employee engagement is in the hands of an organization and requires the perfect combination of time, effort, commitment and investment to build a successful enterprise.