Embracing Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a state where employees feel a vested interest in the organization’s success and perform high standard that may exceed the stated requirements of the job” (Bakkar and Scheufeli, 2008). Engaged employees are good decision makers as they understand the purpose of the organization. It is a driver of performance as engaged employees are passionate and inspired for the job they do.

For employees to be engaged, they need to be happy in their role. “Happy employees work harder, improving personal productivity by 12%, while unhappy employees can be up to 10% less productive” (Chignell, 2016). Happiness at work alone cannot retain employees for long. There has to be some mechanism that they will be genuinely committed and care for both the job role and the organization. To do this there are 3C’s that play an important role in enhancing employee engagement.

Figure 1: 3C’s of Employee Engagement (Juneja, 2019).

Career - When employees join a firm, they aspire to build career with it. They are willing to gain and shape their knowledge while excelling in the career ladder. Therefore it is the responsibility of the top management to shape the lives of employees through necessary care and make them feel they are a part of a winning team. This can be done through investing in training, assigning challenging projects, and sponsorships for higher studies.

Competence – Employees need to grow both professionally and personally. Trainings or workshops can be used to improve skills and competencies so that they are able to improve marketable skills and excel in their careers.

Care – “Sitting at the topmost, care is regarded the finest art of the managers by which they can make employees feel an indispensable part of their organization” (Juneja, 2019).  Managers need to be empathetic and be able to understand employee problems. As small daily gestures could go a long way, managers need to be extra careful to make them feel they are a part of a great team.

“Engaged employees perform with passion, drive innovation and move their organization forward through their performance” (Vazirani, 2007). Therefore it is crucial for any organization to invest in creating engaged employees as their emotional attachment towards the firm is a great asset that pave a firm footing for success.

References

Bakkar, A. B., & Scheufeli, W. B. (2008). Positive organizational behaviour: Engaged employee in flourishing organizations. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 29, 147-154. doi: 10.1002/job.515

Chignell, B. (2016). How to nurture 7 key elements of employee engagement - CIPHR. [online] CIPHR. Available at: https://www.ciphr.com/advice/employee-engagement/ [Accessed 6 Jun. 2019].

Juneja, P. (2019). 3 Phases of Employee Engagement. [online] Managementstudyguide.com. Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/employee-engagement-phases.htm [Accessed 6 Jun. 2019].

Vazirani, N. (2007). Employee engagement. Working paper series (WPS05), SIES College of Management Studies. Retrieved from http://www.siescoms.edu/ images/pdf/reserch/working_papers/employee_engagement.pdf