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EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT






01.  Employee Engagement
In present organizational context employee plays a vital role and contemporary organizations should consider them as an asset instead of direct cost (Beer et al, 1984). Further Boxall and Purcell (2016) discuss that Human Resource is dynamic and unique resource it varies person to person therefore it must be managed very carefully further he explains Human Resource is very sensitive and reacting to either positively or negatively to the way of managing it. Therefore it is very important to recognize of people and invest in them as a source of ‘human capital advantage’ rather than applying cost cutting initiatives (Boxall and Purcell, 2016).
In contemporary organizations Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) mainly focuses on following themes (Itika, 2011).
         Strategic resourcing and talent management
         Learning and Development
         Employee Relations
         The Design of Work
         Rewards and Employee Engagement
         Organisational Culture
         Ethics and HRM
         Managing Diversity
         Change Management

Human Resource Management in a contemporary organization is built on these theories and each of them are equally important and failure of one area may be cost failure of whole organisation (Itika, 2011). Among these themes Employee relation plays vital role in SHRM because as per Daniel (2003) “If relationships are strong, then employees are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and more productive as a result” (Daniel, 2003, p. 56) according to Daniel (2003) final outcome of a succeed employee relationship is having a highly engaged workforce. Engaged employees are always satisfied with their job and will stay with the company for long time and they always look for new effective ways of value addition to the organization therefore the end result is a high performing company where people are flourishing and productivity is increased and sustained (Catteeuw et al., 2007).
As per Catteeuw (2007) defining only satisfaction and long term employment will not meet the Employee Engagement threshold but most important criteria is looking for new effective ways of value addition to the organization. In Sri Lankan Public-sector organizations above two criteria of Long term employment and    employees satisfaction can be seen abundantly but value addition to the organisation cannot be seen. As an example Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Employees have satisfaction with their jobs because relatively their salary scales are higher than other government organisations and they have relax working environment due to plentiful number of workforce. Further they are having good recognition within the society as well. However, these employees are not actively engaged contributing little value to the development of the organisation. Therefore Customer Loyalty, one of main outcome of an Employee engagement cannot be seen towards these organisations.
Kahn (1990) defines Employee Engagement as “the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances” (Kahn,1990, p.694). Further Saks (2006) says it is not merely an attitude but it is degree to which an individual is focused to their work and become success of their role. Employee Engagement shows the level of commitment and involvement of an employee towards their organization and its values. Engaged Employee is having positive feelings toward his work, find their work to be personally meaningful and manageable, and he has the confidence about the future of his work (Saks, 2006). Kenexa Employee Engagement Index shares four emotional states which an actively engaged employee is having as follows (Kenexa, 2008),
1. I am proud to work for my organization.
2. Overall, I am extremely satisfied with my organization as a place to work.
3. I would gladly refer a good friend or family member to my organization for employment.
4. I rarely think about looking for a new job with another organization.
According to the Karsan and Kruse (2011) Employee Engagement is the level of employees’ motivation to contribute to organizational success and are willing to apply unrestricted effort to accomplishing tasks on achievement of organizational goals. Further they reveal that employee engagement can be measured and it is a combination of pride, satisfaction, advocacy, and retention
                                           (Petracoach,2017)
02.  Level of Engagement
Employees can be categorized according to their level of engagement mainly in to three groups (Allen, 2014),
2.1. Engaged Employee
Engaged employees are always passionate about their work and always helps organization to grow through innovations. They always try to achieve targets and focused towards their goals they want to know the desired expectations. They highly concerned about both company and their place in it. Their performance is at a higher level, and wants to use their talents and strengths at work every day. engaged employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive innovation and move the organization forward. (Gallup,2006)
  2.2. Not Engaged Employee
Not-engaged employees are more focused on completing their task or achieving their own goals rather than achieving organization’s common goals. They always think they are not recognized and their contribution and potential are being ignored.  This type of employees don’t have good relationship with rest of team members such as subordinates, peers and superiors. Not engaged employees are essentially ‘checked out’. They’re sleepwalking through their workday, putting time – but not energy or passion – into their work. (Gallup, 2006)
 2.3. Actively Disengaged Employee
These employees are called "cave dwellers”. They are consistently against everything and are always unhappy with the job. They always try to create problems among the team and cause damage to the organization by creating problems and tensions Actively disengaged employees aren’t just unhappy at work; they’re busy acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers undermine what their engaged co-workers accomplish. (Gallup,2006)

03.  Characteristics of engaged employees
3.1. Always recommend existing company to others as good place to work.
Gain a good sense of someoneʹs engagement by asking a simple question,
would you recommend Barclays as a good place to work?’ (Barclays, 2008).
3.2. Always happy to stay with a team and involve in  team activities
Dell refers to being engaged as‘giving time and talent to team building activities’
(Dell, 2008). 
3.3. Committed to work by own willingness
Vodaphone defines employee engagement as ‘an outcome “measured or seen as a result  of people being committed to something or someone in the business a very best effort     that is willingly given” (Suff, 2008).
3.4. Long term employment
Engaged employees will stay with the company longer and continually find  smarter, more effective ways to add value to the organization(Catteeuw et al., 2007). 
3.5. Motivated
Engaged employees are satisfied with their jobs, feel valued, and experience                     collaboration and trust (Catteeuw et al., 2007). 
3.6. Better Understanding on Company Vision and desire to have continuous personal improvement.
Nokia Siemens Networks define employee engagement as “an emotional attachment to the organization, pride and a willingness to be an advocate of the  organization, a rational understanding of the organizations strategic goals, values,  and how employees fit and motivation and willingness to invest discretionary effort  to go above and beyond” (Nokia Siemens Networks, 2008).

04.  Impact of Employee Engagement
Bakker and Leiter (2010) state that actively engage workforce gives positive organizational outcomes on following areas,
4.1. Employee productivity
High level of engagement helps employee to improve his/her innovative thinking. According to the Lockwood (1997) high level of engagement helps employees in taking initiative and pursuing learning goals. Engaged employees develop new ways and means to improve the organization’s performance levels and go extra mile. Main reason for this behavior is engaged employees are motivated with their job and are more committed to the organization (Schaufeli and Salanova, 2007). They always go beyond the job description and very enthusiastic at work. Highly engage employees are hunger for   achieving challenging goals, and the urge to succeed therefore such employees are ready to change and arrange their job according to the changing work environment (Bakker and Leiter, 2010). 
      Figure 1.0: Employee engagement and employee productivity
                                              (Source: Insync Surveys, 2012)
4.2. Employee Retention
Employee engagement leads high employee retention within the organization mainly due to two reasons those are high level of motivation and Low level of working stress. Perrin (2003) has found that around 66% of highly engaged employees had no plans to leave their job.
Figure 2.0: Employee Engagement and employee retention
                                                 (Source: Insync Surveys, 2012)
4.3. Customer loyalty
The study by Salanova et al. (2005) has identified positive influence of employee engagement over service climate. As per Saks (2006) Engaged Employee is having positive feelings toward his work, find their work to be personally meaningful and manageable, and he has the confidence about the future of his work (Saks, 2006) this attitude influences the quality of their work and the satisfaction and loyalty of their customers.
Figure 3.0: Employee Engagement and Customer Loyalty
(Source: Insync Surveys, 2012)
4.4. Organizational performance
Studies have observed correlation between employee engagement and organizational performance outcomes. Highly engaged employees are always cause to increase the revenue and profitability of the company.  Gallup research found that higher employee engagement results higher earnings per share of publicly-traded businesses. (Gallup, 2004 cited in Ott, 2007)
Report of Hewitt Associates (2004) discussed about three general behaviors of engaged employee which improve organizational performance regularly.
·         Say - the employee advocates for the organization to co-workers, and refers potential employees and customers
·         Stay - the employee has an intense desire to be a member of the organization despite opportunities to work elsewhere
·         Strive - the employee exerts extra time, effort and initiative to contribute to the success of the business
 Figure 4.0: Employee Engagement and Organizational Performance
               (Source: Insync Surveys, 2012)

05.  Strategies to Build Employee Engagement 
In order to gain maximum employee engagement researchers are proposed several strategies. All these strategies are based on four major principles (Kulkalyuenyong, 2016). These principles include,
5.1.Employee involvement and participation
5.2.Employee career development.
5.3.Employee recognition and rewards
5.4.Internal communication between management and employees
Many Characteristics of actively engaged workforce discussed in section 3.0, “Characteristics of engaged employees” can be seen in the staffs who are working for blue-chip multinational companies such as Nestles, Toyota and Fonterra. Because these organizations profoundly follow above strategies to improve the engagement level of the employees.
5.1. Employee Involvement and Participation
According to Lawler (1986) Employee involvement and participation refers to extent to which allowing employees to participate in managerial decision-making and suitable improvement activities in the organization. Further Ledford (1993) has identified four key strategies for Employee Involvement and Participation,
  • Educate employees on organization’s vision, mission, performance, plans, goals, and strategies
  • Train them to improve leadership skills, analytical skills, team work and problem solving.
  • Design best rewarding and recognition system which influence employees to get more responsibility and ownership on duties and responsibilities that they are handling.
  • Power sharing, assign both authority and responsibility for decision making  on operational activities. 
5.2. Employee career development.
Both employee and organization are benefited from career development and it is equally important to both parties. Because this helps to realize full potential of employee as well as the organization and further it helps stretch to the maximum (Armstrong, 2001). Career Counselling and Training programs are the main components of career development.
5.3. Employee recognition and rewards                                                                      
Rewarding and recognition mainly focus on motivating employees, increasing job satisfaction and enhancing employee loyalty.   Increases in pay, Promotions and performance rating, Special recognition, Employee Benefits and Services and Team rewarding are the main strategies come under Employee recognition and rewarding (Kulkalyuenyong, 2016).                                                      
5.4. Internal communication between management and employees
This is an art which helps educate employees on organization’s vision, mission and goals as well as get ideas of the employees for the well-being of the organization. As per Welch and Jackson (2007) internal communication helps to improve employee loyalty. Internal communication has four dimensions such as communication frequency, appropriate channels, sharing of information, and communication quality(Johlke and Duhan, 2000).
At present, internal communication has been identified as significant practice. In contemporary organizations such as Business Process Outsourcing organizations (BPO), Software Development companies and Audit firms arrange their office locations to avoid all the barriers relating to internal communication. These organizations never separated managers and subordinates at the office. All employees are work in same working area and separated cubicles and chambers are now become outdated.

06.  Employee Engagement in Global Context: Reasearch Findings
6.1. Gallup study (2004)
Gallup studies have found the levels of engagement of developed Asian and Australian Continent countries
Australia 18%, China 12%, Japan 9%, New Zealand 17% and Singapore 9%. .
6.2. Towers Perrin Survey in 2003, 2005, and 2007 (Gebauer and Lowman, 2009).
The survey used data collected from more than 85,000 employees from 16 countries.
Towers Perrin Survey findings can be summarized as follows,
Overall 24% of employees worldwide were disengaged, 62% of employees were moderately engaged, and Only 14% of employees were considered to be highly engaged.
Country wise percentages of highly engaged workforce,
 Mexico (40%) ,Brazil (31%) , United States (21%) ,Canada (17%) , Europe (11%) .Asia (7%).
6.3. Aon Hewitt survey - 2017 Global Engagement Trends
Every year, Aon Hewitt measures employee engagement for more than 1,000 organizations around the globe. This study has been conducted using data from more than five million employee responses in 2015 and 2016 . The responses come from organizations with as few as 100 employees to the most complex organizations with hundreds of thousands of employees. More than 60 industries are represented in the study. In addition to measuring employee engagement, this study also measures 15 work experience dimensions: Employee Value Proposition (EVP), Reputation, Career Opportunities, Collaboration, Diversity and Inclusion, Empowerment/ Autonomy, Enabling Infrastructure, Learning and Development, Manager, Performance Management, Rewards and Recognition, Senior Leadership, Talent and Staffing, Work Fulfillment, and Work/Life Balance( Hewitt, 2017). 
Key Findings:
                                  (Source: Aon Hewitt survey, 2017)

07.  Conclusion
Current business environment is very turbulent and dynamic. Today’s technology may not help for tomorrow. Due to the rapid changes in customer demands and other macro environment factors (PESTEL & SWOT) Today popular products and services may outdated tomorrow. Because of this consistent change, an organization can’t keep competitive advantages over long time since it can be either copied or obsolete. But having engaged employees may be a key to competitive advantage. They always deliver more than the job description and prepared to change. Engaged employees are having proper knowledge on company vision, Mission & Goals and they are always working with innovative thinking. Therefore engaged employees can bring organization forward and ensure achieving its vision. Organization also should invest more on Building Employees Engagement. Discover and apply more strategies covering the principles of Employee involvement and participation, Employee career development, Employee recognition and rewards and Internal communication between management and employees will be key to success.
                                               


List of References
Allen, M. (2014) Employee Engagement – A Culture Change. The Insights Group Ltd Journal, PP.1-4
Aon Hewitt (2017) 2017 Trends in Global Employee Engagement:Global anxiety erodes employee engagement gains. Available at  http://www.aon.com/unitedkingdom/attachments/trp/2017-Trends-in-Global-Employee-Engagement.pdf [Accessed on 1st October 2018]
Armstrong, M. (2001) Human Resource Management Practice. London: Kegan Page Ltd

Bakker, A.B. and Leiter M.P. (2010) Work Engagement: A Handbook of Essential Theory and Research. New York: Psychology Press.
Barclays (2008), Definition,  www.business.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=articleFWvi6&value= 7220&target=_blank&site=bbb#definition 
Beer, M., Spector, B., Lawrence, P. R., Mills, Q. D., and Walton, R. E. (1984) Managing Human Assets. New York: Free Press.
Boxall P and Purcell J (2016) Strategy and Human Resource Management. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Catteeuw F, Flynn E, Vonderhorst J (2007), ʹEmployee engagement: boosting productivity in turbulent timesʹ, Organization Development Journal, 25 (2), 151– 157 
Daniel, T. (2003). Tools for Building a Positive Employee Relations Environment. Employment Relations Today, 30(2), 51-64.
Dell (2008), Community and Employee Engagement, www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/about_dell/values/community_outr each/connected_emp?~ck=ln&c=us&l=en&lnki=0&s=corp   
Gallup Organisation (2004), Available: www.gallup.com. Access : October 1, 2018.
Gallup (2006), ʹGallup study: engaged employees inspire company innovation:  national survey finds that passionate workers are most likely to drive  organizations forwardʹ, The Gallup Management Journal, 
http://gmj.gallup.com/content/24880/GallupStudyEngagedEmployees InspireCompany.aspx 
Hewitt Associates.  (2004). Employee Engagement Higher at Double Digit Growth Companies, Research Brief, Hewitt Associates LLC.
Insync Surveys(2012),White paper: The impact of  employee engagement  on performance
Itika, J.S. (2011) Fundamentals of human resource management Emerging experiences from Africa. RB Leiden: African Studies Centre.
Johlke, M. C., and Duhan, D. F. (2000) Supervisor Communication Practices and Service Employee Job Outcomes. Journal of Service Research, 3 (2) 154-165.
Kahn, W.A. (1990) Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, Vol 33, pp692-724.
Karsan, R. and Kruse K. (2011) We: How to Increase Performance and Profits through Full Engagement. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Kenexa (2008), Engaging The Employee: A Kenexa Research Institute World Trends  Report., Kenexa Research Institute.
Kulkalyuenyong, P. (2016) The importance of employee engagement in the hospitality industry, Dusit Thani College Journal, Vol.10, No.1, pp 269-282.
Lawler, E. E. (1986)  High Involvement Management. 3rd Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ledford, G.E. Jr. (1993) Employee Involvement: Lessons and Predictions. In J. R. Galbraith & E.E.Lawler III (Eds.) Organizing for the Future: New Approaches to Managing Complex Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lockwood, N.R. (2007) Leveraging Employee Engagement for Competitive Advantage: HR's Strategic Role. HR Magazine, 52(3), PP.1-11.
 Maslow, A. H. (1954) Motivation and Personality: NY: Harper.
Nokia Siemens Networks (2008),  www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/global/AboutUs/Careers/Why+join+us/Emp loyee+Engagement.htm?languagecode=en 
Ott, B.  (2007)“Investors Take Note: Engagement Boosts Earnings.” The Gallup Management Journal, (June 2007).
Petracoach (2017) Employee Engagement Impact [Online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mv5PEAa1Aw [Accessed on 2nd October 2018]

Saks, A.M. (2006) ‘Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement’, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21 (6), pp.600-619.  
Salanova, M., Agut, S. and Peiro, J.M. (2005) “Linking Organizational Resources and Work Engagement to Employee Performance and Customer Loyalty: The Mediation of Service Climate.” Journal of Applied Psychology, 90 (6), pp.1217– 1227.
Schaufeli, W.B. & Salanova, M. (2007). Work Engagement: an emerging psychological concept and its implications for organizations . In. S.W. Gilliland, D.D. Steiner & D. P. Skarlicki (Eds.), Managing Social and Ethical Issues in Organizations. Volume 5: Research in Social Issues in Management.
Suff R (2008), ʹVodaphone’s entertaining employee engagement strategyʹ,IRS  Employment Review, 896 
Towers Perrin (2003), Working Today: Understanding What Drives Employee  Engagement, Towers Perrin HR Services
Welch, M., Jackson, P. R. (2007) “Rethinking Internal Communication: A Stakeholder Approach.” Corporate Communications: An International Journal. 12 (2), pp. 177–198.

Comments

  1. Hi Suresh, your blog content provides end t end connection of employee engagement and it's impact on organizational performance.As per the Vidoe Clip you have included if, 70% of employees are disengaged & do not provide their 100% to the company.According to my opinion, superior's role is vital to correct this repercussion. Engaged employees have much smoother relationship with their superiors compared to the disengaged ones (Van den Broeck et al, 2008) as they encourage unity and embrace team-spirit (Hallberg, 2007). This is where the leadership skills of the superior should emerge to convert the disengaged employees to engaged employees.

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    1. I totally agree with you Akila. Managers/superiors have big role to play on employee engagement this was highlighted by Arakawa and Greenberg (2007) according to them employee's manager is the most influential individual in an employee's working life, same idea was established by Kruger & Kilhan (2005) who also advocate that managers greatly influence engagement. Therefore It is clear that superiors ability to influence employee engagement is at a greater extent.

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  2. Hi Suresh, In your blog it is clearly identifies the importance of employee engagement to an organisation for a better commitment and performance. According to John Purcell (2013: 247) ‘Employee engagement is worth pursuing, not as an end in itself, but as a means of improving working lives and company performance’.
    Therefore CIPD (2012: 1) noted that: Engagement is not about driving employees to work harder but about providing the conditions in which they will work more effectively – it is about releasing employees’ discretionary behavior.

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    1. Yes Lasitha, I am with your argument working condition is very critical to an organizational performance and According to Anitha (2014) work environment is a factor that can be used to determine the level of engagement for each employee working in the organization. Therefore employee engagement in the organizations have focused more on improving working conditions of employees because it has direct impact on its performances. Studies by Miles (2001) and Harter et al (2001) found that various aspects of work environment can result in various levels of employee engagement.

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  3. Employee is a valuable asset to the organization, I accept that idea which taken from your blog. Yes the employees should engage in a positive manner for the betterment of the organization. I agree with you, Yes an engaged employee will always deliver more than the job description. The organizational environment needs to be prepared for a better employee engagement. According to Robinson (2006) the organizational environment needs to be created with positive emotions such as involvement, pride and encouragement. These factors need to be there to experience a better employee engagement.

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    1. Yes Vayanga, organizational environment is very important for employee engagement as per Kahn (1990) supportive environments allow members to experiment and to try out new things and even fail without fear of the consequences. Further Popli & Rizvi (2016) and Anitha (2014) confirm that meaningful workplace environment is considered a key determinant of employee engagement.

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  4. Suresh, Super job explaining how Employee Engagement is vital to Companies, and why employee engagement can’t be forced. You’re right, it’s not a causal relationship, perks and engagement. People generally tend to act based on intrinsic motivation, so creating an environment in which they want to engage is crucial. No organization can expect engagement if they’re not willing to make investments in those things. Once companies define engagement, they can start working on an employee engagement strategy. The goal of an employee engagement strategy isn’t to get rid of disengaged employees. Hate to say it, but when two out of three employees are disengaged, that’s not practical. Organizations can’t afford it (Sharlyn 2017)

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Yes Cristal your view is true nearly 60%-70% of employees are not actively help to run an organization properly. But real danger is not this As per Gallup study (2004) and (Gebauer and Lowman, 2009) when it comes to Asia, where we are living, actively engage employee percentage is below 10%. So imaging how we could bring our companies forward.

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  5. Hi Suresh, you have well explained the Employee Engagement and its impact to the organization. Employee engagement can be considered as a strategic tool to enhance performance and employee engagement improves employees’ and organizations’ competitiveness. Employee engagement includes social, intellectual and emotional engagement in the work and work environment at large and these are the different dimensions of employee engagement (Jha and Kumar, 2016). Hence, employee engagement should be viewed as an important strategy involving all the levels of organization (Frank et al, 2004).

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    1. Yes Dinuka as you correctly said Employee engagement is not only for organization, but it help employees in many aspects by helping their innovative thinking Lockwood (1997) and providing better working environment (Anitha,2014). Further it helps employee Work-life balance as well (Baral & Bhargava,2010)

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  6. Hi. Suresh, you have well delineate a popular subject area in your blog. Moreover I will append this too. It is a distinctive salient feature that management influence on employees for positive engagement. As Ott et al. (2007) illustrates reputation and ability to select the right people at right time brings right people into the organization with the potential to be highly engaged in their work. Therefore positive relationship between a manager and employee is a crucial driver of engagement and satisfaction with the organization.

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    1. Yes samanthi, positive relationship between a manager and employee is a crucial driver of engagement. As per Abraham (2012) fair treatment invokes trust from employees and is a key element in Employee Engagement. As per Welch and Jackson (2007) internal communication, which is between superiors and subordinates, helps to improve employee loyalty.

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  7. Dear Suresh, well illustrated writing on Employee Engagement.
    It further explains the concept of employee work engagement to which workers are implicated with, committed to and passionate about their work. It provides a contemporary issues on how to measures and promote employee engagement, the role that mental health may play, and corporate case studies on promoting engagement. It has examined the concepts of employee engagement (Bhavani, Sharavan and Arpitha, 2015)

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    1. You are correct Ruwani Employee engagement is difficult to measure because as per Kahn (1990) in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances. Physical activities can be measured to some extent but measuring others are challenging

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  8. Agree with the content. Could consider & recommend as a better reading material to understand the rationale behind employee engagement as well as its outcomes. Out of three employee categories highlighted in the blog, the role of HRM is to convert Disengaged and Actively Disengaged employees in to Engaged Employees yet a toughest task. It is essential to identify why they have become disengaged & appropriate measures could be taken thereupon. According to Cataldo (2011) disengaged workers may have been actively engaged workers at one time & became disengaged because of a lack of career growth or promotion, a perception of salary inequity, job dislike, or distrust in their direct manager and senior management. If we are able to provide acceptable solutions, there is a higher possibility in transforming such employees as Actively Engaged.

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    1. I agree with you Amal. to over come this challenge employers must were formulate strategies on these principles, such as Employee involvement and participation,Employee career development, Employee recognition and rewards, Internal communication between management and employees (Kulkalyuenyong, 2016)

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  9. Good job done Suresh. Your blog well explains importance of employee engagement. Thayer (2008, p. 74) who agrees that the concept of employee engagement is rapidly gaining popularity, use, and importance in the workplace and that by identifying the factors that can increase employee engagement, employers can make strategic adjustments within their organizations to create a positive psychological climate for employees.

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    1. Yes Gayani, current business environment is changing rapidly therefore only competitive advantage can be retained is only engaged work force. because they are the people Who can bring the organization forward. as per Bakker and Leiter (2010) Highly engage employees are hunger for achieving challenging goals, and the urge to succeed therefore such employees are ready to change and arrange their job according to the changing work environment.

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  10. Dear Suresh, very impressive Blog assignment and fruitful to read. You blog article emphasize many dimensions of the subject and critically connect each other with valid remarks. In your blog Strategies to Build Employee Engagement is very well covered and clear to understand the contents.
    I would like to further add to you that most often employee engagement has been defined as emotional and intellectual commitment to the organization (Baumruk 2004, Richman 2006 and Shaw 2005) or the amount of discretionary effort exhibited by employees in their job (Frank et al 2004). Wish you all the very best Suresh.

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    1. Thank you Shiran, Same view has been confirmed by Kahn (1990) he also defined engagement in terms of a psychological state as ‘the harnessing of organisation membersʹ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances’ (p. 694).

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  11. Employee engagement is one of the common approaches that is been spoken of with regard to organizations productivity and performance. In any organization's productivity and performance are determine by the level of employee engagement towards its organization's objectives. Kompaso and Sridevi,(2010). the blog critically discusses the facts with detail statistics that are truly relevant to the topic in a comprehensive state.

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    1. You are Correct chaminda, Gallup research (2004) found that higher employee engagement results higher earnings per share of publicly-traded businesses. Further Schaufeli and Salanova (2007) discuss engaged employees are motivated with their job and are more committed to the organization. therefore it is clear that engaged employees help to improve organization's productivity and performance

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  12. Employee Engagement has become a buzz word in management circles, mainly due to its attractiveness as a tool in getting work done. Job well done Suresh, find it interesting as there is a continuous flow to your blog. However additional piece of knowledge from (Vance, 2006) which outlines ten ways of measuring Employee Engagement in a more straight forward manner –

    1. Pride in employer
    2. Satisfaction with employer
    3. Job satisfaction
    4. Opportunity to perform well at challenging work
    5. Recognition and positive feedback for one’s contributions
    6. Personal support from one’s supervisor
    7. Effort above and beyond the minimum
    8. Understanding the link between one’s job and the organization’s mission
    9. Prospects for future growth with one’s employer
    10. Intention to stay with one’s employer

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    1. Very important and valuable findings Bernadine, Kenexa Employee Engagement Index also shares four emotional states which an actively engaged employee is having as follows (Kenexa, 2008),
      1. I am proud to work for my organization.
      2. Overall, I am extremely satisfied with my organization as a place to work.
      3. I would gladly refer a good friend or family member to my organization for employment.
      4. I rarely think about looking for a new job with another organization.

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  13. Hi Suresh. You have perfectly identified the importance of employee engagement to an organisation. Furthermore, whilst it is acknowledged that employee engagement has been defined in many different ways, it is also argued the definitions often sound similar to other better known and established constructs such as ‘organisational commitment’ and ‘organisational citizenship behavior’ (OCB) (Robinson et al 2004).

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    1. yes Mohan this also popular Alternative expressions to employee engagement
      and some scholar have defined Employee engagement simply as follows too,
      Most often employee engagement has been defined as emotional and intellectual commitment to the organisation (Baumruk 2004, Richman 2006 and Shaw 2005)
      Frank et al (2004) says it is the amount of discretionary effort exhibited by employees in their job

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  14. Hi Suresh , Your blog show why important employee engagement to the organization . So Employee engagement goes beyond activities, games, and events. Employee engagement drives performance. Engaged employees look at the whole of the company and understand their purpose, where, and how they fit in. This leads to better decision-making. Organizations with an engaged workforce outperform their competition. They have a higher earning per share (EPS) and recover more quickly after recessions and financial setbacks. Engagement is a key differentiator when it comes to growth and innovation.Moreover, expectations of employees have changed. Mobile professional careers are much more common than “job for lifers”. Retention of top talent is more difficult than before. A company that has an effective employee engagement strategy and a highly engaged workforce is more likely to retain top performers as well as attract new talent. Successful organizations are value-driven with employee-centric cultures (Leodford , 1993)

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    1. Hi Ajantha I agree with your comment and same views that you have shared such as employee innovation, retention and attraction were assured by some scholars as well. As per Catteeuw et al (2007) Engaged employees will stay with the company longer and continually find smarter, more effective ways to add value to the organization and as per Kenexa (2008) engaged employees are refer others to the organization for employment through that organisation will receive good attraction. Further Lockwood (1997) says High level of engagement helps employee innovative thinking and high level of engagement helps employees in taking initiative and pursuing learning goals.

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  15. Hi Suresh , Well descriptive Blog on Employee Engagement . Negative side of engagement is the burnout or disengagement . Burnout is described as a syndrome of emotional exhaustion and cynicism (Maslach and Jackson 1981 cited on Armstrong and Taylor , 2014) . Burnout is caused as a result of high workloads ,high pressure on the employee to perform to achieve unrealistic targets of the organization .

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    1. Yes Kasun Engagement is not about driving employees to work harder but about providing the conditions in which they will work more effectively – it is about releasing employees’ discretionary behavior. (CIPD, 2012).

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  16. Hi Suresh, it is clear that you have communicated the theory on Employee Engagement and it is very interesting to read. As I commented in Shantha’s Blog same application should be amended as follows in your blog.
    According to Armstrong (2010, p155) as cited by Murlis and Watson (2001) defined ‘engaged performance’ as ‘A result that is achieved by stimulating employees’ enthusiasm for their work and directing it towards organizational success.
    I am commenting on this extract from in such a way, that employee engagement for organizational success should be well define. So you may have to comment on which type of methods we can use.
    ''KAIZEN projects which is well known as small improvement activities will be the most effective ways for organizational success and Improvements. It was the story behind the Japan success and how they achieve their targets in a small lead time. So your blog will be more enriched with this argument. Also cross functional teams and small overlap team method also a very best way of employee engagement.

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    1. in any organisation key to success is attracting customers and retain them. therefore as you requested best method is improve the customer loyalty through employee engagement. As per Saks (2006) Engaged Employee is having positive feelings toward his work, find their work to be personally meaningful and manageable, and he has the confidence about the future of his work, this attitude influences the quality of their work and the satisfaction and loyalty of their customers.

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  17. Employee engagement at full tilt is when the emotional contract is intact and the organization produces the ultimate results which you have very well detailed, Suresh. However, for the worker or the workforce to be totally dedicated is something that comes from within, though could be influenced by internally and externally gratifying avenues proposed by Motivational theories. Abraham Maslow debates that motivation could be a realized phenomenon, when it is approached in terms of a ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ in the following order, Physiological, Safety, Love, Esteem and Self -actualization (Bagozzi et al, 2003).

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  18. I agree with you saliya. Futher Kulkalyuenyong (2016) discussed following principles which were recognized as influencing factors for employee engagement, such as Employee involvement and participation,Employee career development, Employee recognition and rewards, Internal communication between management and employees

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  19. HI SURESH

    Employee commitment is a comparatively wide concept, directly related to enthusiasm, which gives a useful focus for people supervision strategy. However, dimensions of employee engagement can be challenging, as they often try to condense too much. Rather than a single score metric, it’s better to use a range of specific relevant metrics as these will be more enlightening and actionable.

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    1. Yes Shantha it is valid point, I think Hewitt Survey (2017) covers this. In addition to measuring employee engagement, this study also measures 15 work experience dimensions: Employee Value Proposition (EVP), Reputation, Career Opportunities, Collaboration, Diversity and Inclusion, Empowerment/ Autonomy, Enabling Infrastructure, Learning and Development, Manager, Performance Management, Rewards and Recognition, Senior Leadership, Talent and Staffing, Work Fulfillment, and Work/Life Balance.

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  20. Hi Suresh this is a nice read, By focusing on engagement you move away from the traditional approach of HR management (HRM) where employees are seen as a cost and need to be controlled and rewarded. The challenge for companies seeking to improve engagement levels is to determine the unique elements of the work experience that are most likely to influence engagement in the country or region in which they operate(Cook, 2008).

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  21. You are correct Sheriff, Organizations should identify employees as an asset instead of cost (Beer et al, 1984). Further Boxall and Purcell (2016) discuss the importance of recognizing of people and investing in them as a source of ‘human capital advantage’ rather than applying cost cutting initiatives.

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  22. There is an increasing awareness that employee engagement is pivotal to successful commercial and business performance, where engaged employees are the ‘backbone of good working environments where people are industrious, ethical and accountable’ (Levinson, 2007a; Cleland et al, 2008).

    Engagement can affect employees’ attitudes, absence and turnover levels and various studies have demonstrated links with productivity, increasingly pointing to a high correlation with individual, group and organisational performance, a success measured through the quality of customer experience and customer loyalty

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  23. Yes Dilshani, same view was establishe by Bakker and Leiter (2010) and said that actively engage workforce gives positive organizational outcomes on Employee productivity and the Organisational performance

    Further Saks (2006) says Engaged Employee is having positive feelings toward his work, this attitude influences the quality of their work and the satisfaction and loyalty of their customers

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  24. @Suresh Rodrigo As it for an organization, profitability and brand equity is a significant favorable end result. Mostly depended on customer satisfaction either internal or external. Further studies into “employee engagement” has revealed that to reach service excellence in any field, The front line has to be motivated to deliver the organization’s mission without a compromise. Work – Family imbalance been one of the challenges the researches have identified which have a higher tendency to exhaust employees. As a result, less motivated, frontline delivering a bad reputation for the organization. Improper employee engagement strategy, which lacked attention to all facets, was highlighted as a improvement area (Karatepe & Tekinkus, 2006).

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  25. Employee engagement is the burning topic for any company during the globalized era. Engaged employees incline to contribute more of organizational productivity. It also supports in maintaining a higher level of commitment.According to Robinson (2006), employee engagement can be achieved through the creation of an organisational environment where positive emotions such as involvement and pride are encouraged, resulting in improved organisational performance, lower employee turnover and better health.

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  26. Organizations have come to realize that in today’s constantly changing business scenario, the most valuable resource that needs to be leveraged is human resource.
    This means not just attracting the best and retaining them but keeping them motivated and committed to achieving the organization goals.
    An engaged workforce produces better business results, does not hop jobs and more importantly is an ambassador of the organization at all points of time. This engagement is achieved when people consider their organization respects their work, their work contributes to the organization goals and more importantly their personal aspirations of growth, rewards and pay are met.Understanding employee engagement drivers, measuring and enhancing engagement offers promise of better business performance by ambassadors of the organization who work like entrepreneurs and help sustain organization growth through innovation and lower employee turnover(Management Study Guide Content Team).

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    1. Hi Ruwanga,
      I agree with your comment, Further, Hewitt Associates (2004) discussed about three general behaviors of engaged employee.
      Say - the employee advocates for the organization to co-workers, and refers potential employees and customers
      Stay - the employee has an intense desire to be a member of the organization despite opportunities to work elsewhere
      Strive - the employee exerts extra time, effort and initiative to contribute to the success of the business

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  27. Hi Suresh, I am 100% agree with the statement "engaged employees can bring organization forward and ensure achieving its vision" because Employees are critical assets for an organization and when employees are disengaged they do not fully contribute to the organizational success.This historical perspective of employee engagement is an attempt to put a foundation under a concept that has potential to improve the lives of individuals in organizations.
    Too many people go to work every day actively disengaged from their work (Harter et al., 2002). For human resources in organizations to contribute productively and even passionately to the success of their organizations is an outcome that every HRD practitioner and scholar has concern for(Shuck and Wollard,2010).

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    1. Hi Maheshika, according to Marrelli, (2011), this how engaged employees bring organization forward, Do their best every day, Put organizational interests ahead of their own, Are innovative, offering new ideas and suggestions, Are eager to contribute to the organization, Try hard to make the work environment pleasant and respectful.

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  28. Dear Suresh, I strongly agreed on your content, according to Robinson et al (2004) employee engagement is all about relationship between the employer and the employee. When employee receiving the expected level of resources from the organization employee will devote them self’s to give their best out comes as much as possible.

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    1. Hi Charith,
      Above your explanation more relate with the factor of "rewads and recognition" wich is highly influence on increasing employee engagement. According to Saks (2006), when organization compensate the employees on their effort, they feel grateful to repay the employers with excessive level of engagement and expected to be in good quality relations with their organizations.

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  29. Hi Suresh, It is well structured blog and very informative and shared Employee Engagement to international statistics. In the global content, the true cost of replacing employees can be twice their base salaries depending on their wage, role and experience. The cost of replacing high performers who often deliver 400 percent more in productivity than their average counterpart can be higher still (Misra, 2018).

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    1. Dear Dharshika,
      Further to the above, Dube (2010) says following costs also associated with replacing employees, substantial size of replacement costs per recruiting, the large lost happen in the quantity of works, cost on establishment policies and training .

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  30. Wonderful post. Thanks for sharing
    Virtual employee engagement ideas is an online event to engage work-from-home employees in various team building activities and games to boost their morale. These ideas also help in maintaining the balance between social life and the work-life of a remote employee.

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  31. Great Info! Virtual Employee Engagement Activities are one of the great ways to improve the relationship between an company and its remote employees.

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  32. It's really very informative and wonderful structured blog. You can visit yaksha who offers the Best Effective Employee Assessments solutions

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  33. Wonderful blog! Employee engagement is an opportunity for every employee to gather around a big table with colleagues. Due to the current situation, we can't organize these employee engagement events in person. Online employee engagement activities make it possible to connect with remote team employees around the world.

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  34. Amazing Blog! Are you searching for a monthly engagement calendar? If yes, then you’re in the right place. This calendar is a way to communicate with your employees. It's a great idea to use this as a reminder of all your company events. It includes monthly ideas and activities to enjoy with your coworkers.

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  35. If you're looking for an easy way to increase employee engagement and morale, Indoor employee engagement games are a great way to do it. Employees are more engaged, more productive, and more loyal to employers when they're given the chance to have fun.

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  36. Tired of searching for the indoor fun activities for employees? Then we are here to help you. We have one of the best indoor games for office workers who want to build trust, have fun as a team, and accomplish company goals.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Employee engagement plays an important role in the team-building process in the organization, it is more crucial when employees are working remotely. Virtual team building company in US help organizations and companies to create positive and meaningful employee engagement events to boost employees bonding.

    ReplyDelete

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06. Employee Engagement in Global Context: Reasearch Findings & Conclusion

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