Introduction
Employee engagement is a kind of work approach designed for workplaces in order to confirm that the staffs are committed to the organisation goals and understand the values which are intended for the success of the company and equivalently they are capable of reinforcing their own sense of well being. In this report, the topic of employee engagement has been discussed and supported with relevant details.
Elements of Employee Engagement
There are generally three categories under which employees can be categorized. They are:
Engaged – These kinds of employees are generally very passionate about their work and feel a profound affiliation towards the organisation. Their passion towards their work makes them very innovative which further leads to the benefit of the organisation.
Not Engaged – These second category of employees are clearly the exact opposite of the first one. They feel lethargic towards work due to their lack of either passion or motivation.
Actively Disengaged - These kinds of employees act to be unhappy in order to avoid their work. They not only avoid their own work but at the same time they demoralize those engaged employees on their accomplishments.
There are innumerable challenges faced by business executives and leaders these days in order to operate a business smoothly in complex and haphazard business environments. The job is the continuous growth of business, increase the profit share of the company and attain new customers as well as
Employee Engagement - This is the communication between an employee and staff on all levels. There are 3 dimensions of employee engagement - Intellectual, Affective and Social. If these dimensions are positive, encouraging and work related, staff will feel valued and make greater contributions towards the organisation.
The CIPD (2014) factsheet states that Employee Engagement is a concept that ‘is generally seen as an internal state of being – physical, mental and emotional – that brings together earlier concepts of work effort, organisational commitment, job satisfaction and ‘flow’ (or optimal experience)’. An engaged workforce willingly demonstrates discretionary effort within their roles; their goals and values reflect that of their employers/organisation; they express a passion for work, feel valued and that their work has meaning.
Not-engaged employee: They are focused on finish task rather than on completing organization goals. They physically present and work for all working days, but they don’t put their full efforts.
1.2 Analyse the three principle dimensions of employee engagement (the emotional, the cognitive and the physical)
Workforce engagement is the feeling of emotional connection someone has to their workplace. An engaged employee feels satisfied and enthusiastic about their work. They feel valued, driven, and that they belong to part of a team. This is the way a school should feel for its employees. When teachers and staff of a school are engaged in fulfilling the work of the school they show higher levels of performance and thereby increase the achievement of students. Principals should know the engagement level of their staff and also any events or feelings that may impact that engagement level.
Employee Engagement is a measurable degree of an employee's positive or negative emotional attachment to their job, colleagues and organisation which profoundly influences their willingness to learn and perform at work. Thus engagement is distinctively different from employee satisfaction, motivation and organisational culture.
As we learned in Organizational Behavior, people constantly search for job satisfaction and psychological happiness at work. People want to pursue a career the way that they want, and be happy every day at work. In chapter three, it describes five major job attitudes: satisfaction, involvement, psychological empowerment, organizational commitment, and employee engagement. It 's ideal to transition from just being satisfied to eventually becoming a fully engaged employee. Engaged employees demonstrate characteristics of loyalty, involvement, enthusiasm, and passion for their job. The book also describes major stages one ideally goes through as their career progresses. One should start as a satisfied employee where they perform all of their requirements but do not go above and beyond. As they progress, they will become more motivated employees where they start to strive for personal goals, then committed in which they are loyal to the organization and engage in collaboration. Lastly, the most ideal stage is to become an advocate in the organization which is someone who is proactive, challenges themselves, cares about the organization, and encourages innovation. As we learned, a proactive personality is an exemplary trait, as these employees will identify opportunities, take action, and persevere until change occurs. At Bloomberg, they strive to create an environment in which each individual can grow and pursue a career in which they
Employees who are “not engaged” exude the feeling that they are just there for a paycheck. This type of person is not contributing and just goes thru the motions in the performance of their job duties. The worst type of employee is an “actively” disengaged employee. That type of person is also known as a trouble maker. Whatever good that an engaged employee accomplishes, an actively disengaged employee tries to destroy. Disengaged employees are unhappy and they want everyone they come in contact with to know it. Organizations with disengaged employees are more vulnerable to lower productivity, higher absenteeism, higher turnover and lower product or service quality. During the years that have high unemployment there is less voluntary turnover. As the level of unemployment starts to drop and companies begin hiring employees that are disengaged are more likely to leave their current work situations. The old saying “the grass is always greener on the other side” is often expressed by disengaged employees when looking for a new job. For future reference the term disengaged employees will be synonymous with actively disengaged and not engaged.
Engagement is a sign of satisfaction and loyalty to the firm which can be incurred by increasing job resources
Fifty-four percent of employees are not engaged. These employees have essentially “checked out,” sleepwalking through their workday and putting time – but not passion – into their work. (Dan Crim, 2006)
Employee engagement, which reflects the emotional commitment an employee has to an organization is not just an organizational nicety but a business necessity due to direct ties to a number of performance outcomes, such as profitability,
Blessing white from the division of GP strategy defines employee engagement as “ the intersection of maximum contribution for the organization and maximum satisfactory for the individual,” (Blessingwhite.com,
Employees who are “not engaged” exude the feeling that they are just there for a paycheck. This type of person is not contributing and just goes thru the motions in the performance of their job duties. The worst type of employee is an “actively” disengaged employee. That type of person is also known as a trouble maker. Whatever good that an engaged employee accomplishes, an actively disengaged employee tries to destroy. Disengaged employees are unhappy and they want everyone they come in contact with to know it. Organizations with disengaged employees are more vulnerable to lower productivity, higher absenteeism, higher turnover and lower product or service quality.
Developing jobs to ensure all employees are fully satisfied and engaged is a difficult task. Human beings contain a variety of personal traits and qualities, which cause individuals to seek out an array of interests. Meaning, fully catering to each employee’s interest is nearly impossible. At the end of the day, duties must be completed, even if the job doesn’t completely align with a worker. With this being said, if all four employees enacted their jobs exactly as they were written– job performance, engagement, and satisfaction would suffer. It’s not as if these employees despise all aspects of their job. But, if these employees could not find a way to be motivated, engaged, and connected, it will force workers to reject their position
Engaging employees and keeping them motivated in their job is important for an organization. Engaged and disengaged employees perform differently from each other. Shuck and Wollard (2013) stated that engaged employees are 18% more productive, 12% more profitable, 12% better at engaging customers, 62% less likely to be involved in a workplace accident, and 27% less prone to absenteeism (as cited in Fleming & Asplund, 2007, p. 169). Additionally, engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave an organization than disengaged employees (Corporate Leadership Council, 2004). Supervisors can play a role in helping employees feel more engaged; therefore leading to less turnover and more productive employees within the organization. There are many theories that have been produced about employee engagement and motivation. Frederick Herzberg produced a theory in 1968 called Motivation – Hygiene Theory. This theory, along with a few others, marked a change in how employee motivation was viewed. This theory will be examined and discussed in terms of social service employees’ engagement and what role supervision plays.