Employee Engagement, The Hertzberg Theory, And Organizational Culture Essay

I work for CFET S.A. which is a private Human Resource and Development firm created in October 1988. We pride ourselves in being one of the very few organizations with comprised of a mix set of shareholders making up 50% women and a ration of 9 women to 7 men at our headquarters. The firm primarily specializes in recruitment, human resources outsourcing, organizational development as well as learning and development. We also provide technical assistance in the areas of individual and group empowerment. I was attracted to CFET at a time when I wanted to desperately leave Unicef where I started my career in development thinking that I would contribute to making the world a better place, particularly in Haiti. My experience left me extremely disappointed, disillusioned and jaded. I became interested in CFET, because I wanted a change of perspective, it was a private for profit enterprise which had a social mission to build the capacity of communities so they are able to take the lead in their own development. I begin my career at CFET as a Recruitment Manager and was promoted soon after to the position of Recruitment and Outsourcing Contract Manager given my keenness for effective quality control, my knowledge of Haitian labor laws and my ability to maintain great relationships with clients. I am currently transitioning into the consulting department of the organization with the hope of overseeing and implementing new services in

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.

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: It’s a known perception that an engaged workforce provides many intangible benefits that is linked directly to retention. HR policies should focus on employee engagement initiatives that stimulate motivation levels of employees to perform better and bond with organisation. This process should be initiated right from induction and continue throughout their tenure by opening channels of continuous communication and encouraging interpersonal relations. HR is responsible to incorporate methods to measure engagement and at regular intervals track engagement contribution to company’s success.

In other nations meeting the altruistic and simple human needs of being part of something greater than yourself are the driving forces to an engaging environment (Vorhauser-Smith, 2013). According to Major Angelo’s actions of communicating with employees and developing a relationship with them demonstrate how leaders begin to create an engaging environment. According to Harter & Adkins (2015), employees whose manager communicate with them through meetings are practically three times more likely to be engaged as employees whose managers do not hold regular meetings with them. Another method to engage employees is by ensuring they understand their goals and helping them understand the big picture of how their role impacts the whole organization structure.

The purpose of this descriptive qualitative research is to explore how employees define understands, and link engagement to productivity within the workplace. Without a well-defined rigor understanding of engagement, employees remain unfocused, disengaged, and unproductive during working hours. Moreland (2013) found that too many individuals pursue opportunities that are not aligned with their experience, behavioral competencies, and education background. This impact of disengaged productivity undermine the success of other co-workers, and decrease employee morale across organizations. By exploring these factors this research will capture data that represent the contributing influences to improve the levels of engagement to increase productivity.

Employee satisfaction doesn’t necessarily mean employees are engaged. Employees can be happy, show up for work daily, but that doesn’t mean they are being productive or mindful of patient’s needs. When employees are engaged, they care. Examples would be a hospital employee making eye contact with visitors and patients, another would be a night shift worker being aware of quiet time during their shift. (Kruse, 2015) Leaders need to know what drives employees’ engagement. Leaders that behave consistently with the organizations core values and show a sincere interest in the employee’s well-being have been a link to improving employee engagement.

An organization’s performance and success is closely related to that organization’s ability to effectively manage employee engagement, and several advantages of engaged employees include profitability, more motivated employees and higher levels of performance, and an increase in employees’ trust in the organization (Hough, Green & Plumlee, 2015). One important aspect to include when discussing benefits with employee engagement is overall workplace satisfaction. Engaged employees not only create value, but in turn also feel valued in the workplace. This value is accompanied by a meaningful job which provides the employees with a sense of satisfaction. The more a person’s work environment fulfills his or her needs, values or personal characteristics, the greater the degree of job satisfaction (Abraham, 2012).

Employee engagement is a fairly new concept (Macey & Schneider, 2008), yet it has received extensive attention in the past decade, leading Schaufeli & Salanova (2007) to contend that engagement is indispensable for modern organisations given the multitude of challenges they face in such a dynamic business environment. Moreover, it leads Macey et al. (2009) to contend that organisations that harness engagement can even gain a competitive advantage. For example, research by Macey et al. (2009) showed “that among a sample of 65 firms in different industries, the top 25% on an engagement index had a greater return on assets (ROA), profitability, and more than double the shareholder value compared to the bottom 25%” (Gruman & Saks, 2011). Furthermore, Gruman & Saks (2011) note that numerous studies highlight the role employee engagement plays in driving “individual attitudes, behaviour and performance as well as organisational performance, productivity, retention, financial performance, and even shareholder return”. Therefore, as captured by Kaye & Jordan-Evans (2003), “the challenge today is not just retaining talented people, but fully engaging them, capturing their minds and hearts at each stage of their work lives”.

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.

Employee Engagement has no distinct definition. Many believe its meaning to be synonymous to terms such as job satisfaction, company loyalty, and retention of talents and potential to over achieve. All of this and more can only be derived by empowering the employees. Therefore, dear managers, developing a relationship of trust with your employees is crucial for an organization to thrive in today’s competitive world. This piece will enlighten you regarding the significance of engaging your employees and how to accomplish this feat by competently negating these myths mentioned below.

The employee's workplace environment is one of the main determinants of the quality of work and being productive. How well the supervisor and the workplace engage the employee impacts their inclination to learn new skills and their motivational level to perform. These workplace environment and supervisor relationship lead to factors to engagement or disengagement employees (Ashkanasy, Ayoko, & Jehn, 2014). Management can employ an engagement survey to measure employee motivation and satisfaction of their daily responsibilities. A consideration of these factors are useful in making sure that employees use their skill sets they have learned in their training programs (Gerst,2013).

Organizations with high levels of engagement provide employees with opportunities to develop their abilities, learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and realize their potential. When companies plan for the career paths of their employees and invest in them in this way their people invest in

“For true engagement to occur in a company you must first remove the issues that cause dissatisfaction – the baseline benefits offered by the company that satisfy the hygiene needs of the employee. Then you must focus on the individual and what they want out of their association with your enterprise.”