An overview of employee engagement and its importance in driving business outcomes

Question

employee engagement
There are many examples of organizations clearly misunderstanding the concept of employee engagement. Employee engagement levels are often measured by very superficial methods that add little value, such as using employee surveys. The recently appointed CEO has been pushing engagement research very strongly in the past. He asked you (in HR) for advice and suggestions on how to effectively measure employee engagement levels. He/She requested an initial report containing a description of the concept and components of employee engagement and evidence of employee contributions to business outcomes. The report should be structured around the following key topics: An overview of the concept of employee engagement and why CEOs and all other key stakeholders need to be aware of its importance. Specifically, the following issues should be addressed:

1. An analysis that includes key aspects and components of “employee engagement” and a comparison with related concepts.
2. Rationale for the need to align engagement practices with other organizational components (such as mission) to maximize the benefits of high engagement.
3. Identify key drivers of employee engagement and assess business benefits for key stakeholders such as customers, employees and managers.
4. A description of how work design, discretionary behavior, role autonomy, and organizational citizenship contribute to employee engagement.

Answer

Employee engagement in an organization is about keeping employees engaged by feeling passionate about their work and achieving desired goals. Discretionary efforts are expected from employees, but engagement does not define satisfaction because it is not about employee happiness or satisfaction (Kruse, 2012). Employee engagement is critical to an organization’s success by involving employees in organizational goals and tasks, decision-making and job satisfaction. Social impact on society is based on employees’ commitment to achieving organizational goals. To create a productive work environment, it is also important to think about the relationships between employees (Shoaib, 2019). Key aspects of employee engagement are understanding what employees get from the organization, what they give in return, where they belong within the organization, and measuring their ongoing growth. That’s it. As such, it consists of work commitments, interactions with everyone, and interactions with customers (Roden, 2012). In addition, employee engagement can also be analyzed based on factors such as employees being psychologically, physically or emotionally involved in their work. At work, employees consider engagement, loyalty, motivation and trust as factors of engagement (Insights, 2014). Therefore, in this day and age, it is imperative that dedicated employees secure a highly valuable, competitive workforce. You are passionate, dedicated, and inspirational, while also inspiring others when promoting employee involvement in your organization is important. Organizations should support their employees to build, improve and excel in teams (Turley, 2019).

Justification

There is a connection between a clear mission, an inspiring vision, and strong values ​​that lead to organizational success that would not be possible without great employees. Employee engagement is an essential function of human resources (HR) work, as aligning it with organizational goals and objectives positively impacts productivity and other key organizational benefits. The need to align HR strategy with business is paramount, as positive employee behavior influences HR strategy as well as business strategy (Casserley, 2011). HR strategy integrates both vertically and horizontally to drive success within an organization.

For vertical efforts, consider alignment between business and HR strategies. Horizontal integration, on the other hand, considers different HR strategies to contribute to the overall business strategy. Horizontal integration includes employee engagement and relationships, resource sourcing, compensation and performance strategies, development and learning (Johnson, 2014). Benefits for organizations include increased volunteerism and increased employee engagement. It is important to increase employee development opportunities while encouraging meaningful work. It defines the benefits derived from increased employee satisfaction in life and improved physical and mental health. For customers, high levels of employee engagement translate to increased customer satisfaction, which translates into organizational productivity and business continuity (Rogers, 2014). Here, communication is a key pillar of organizational alignment for employee engagement, and employees understand their role within the organization as essential to their success.

Employee engagement has key drivers that must be identified to reduce customer complaints and maintain employee performance. Balancing improved customer service, employee engagement, and increased overall profits are also critical to a company’s success. This requires awareness of employee involvement to prevent ongoing problems within the organization (Clapon, 2016). There are many factors that drive employee engagement, but the most important are leadership called the strategic narrative, employee voice, leadership engagement, and integrity focused on success. Redefining such dynamics can be seen as leadership, values, opinions, the environment in which employees are satisfied with their work, etc. (Ward, 2018). The main driver of employee engagement is to help key stakeholders such as employees, customers and managers.

Therefore, the driving force behind employee engagement is making sure employees feel connected, free, entertained, contributing and evolving (Gifford, 2019). In a business, evaluating these drivers not only benefits key stakeholders, but employees, customers and managers as well. Employee engagement ensures that customers are happy without complaining, employees are happy with their work, and managers can easily guide employees toward achieving organizational goals. Employees should be actively involved and committed in the workplace to help the company and key stakeholders. This includes higher satisfaction and growth within the organization to achieve lower turnover and higher retention, higher profitability, higher productivity, higher employee retention, and lower absenteeism. (Robins, 2017).

Identification and evaluation

Employees are defined as engaged and valued based on better performance by their superiors, as well as practicing more organizational citizenship, engaging in less deviant behaviors (Shantz, et al. 2013). Discretionary effort is easily evidenced by employees demonstrating passion for their work, its importance and appreciation, while being proactive in the organization within their roles, values ​​and goals. Employee engagement is described through the contributions of role autonomy, work design, organizational citizenship, and discretionary behavior. This is made possible by selecting employees based on their personal characteristics, driving competitiveness, and sales orientation (Kariuki, 2015). In addition, setting individual her SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) helps employees foster a high degree of role autonomy.

Promoting autonomy in this role drives innovation through high levels of employee engagement and culture development, while working in teams where open feedback prevails. This defines employees who work together flexibly and support and help each other. Work design, on the other hand, completes the main aspects of employee engagement surveyed, such as work content, work context, line management, and work relationships (Kappel, 2018). A greater degree of personal autonomy leads to a clearer definition of one’s role and a more committed attitude and behavior. These high scores indicate positive discretionary behavior, one of which is his OCB (Organizational Citizenship Behavior), which defines organizational goals and intentions. OCB consists of psychological contractual compliance, is trust-based and free, does not require an employment contract, and has mutual expectations between workers and employers (Bedarkar & Pandita, 2014).

Employee engagement is beneficial in transferring new skills and knowledge into work processes in terms of maintaining management and quality work within an organization (Brown, 2018). For businesses, this creates a healthier, happier and more fulfilling environment for employees, produces better products and services, and increases productivity and innovation. Encouraging employee engagement within an organization while striving helps create a shared view of talent management and success drivers. Employee engagement also relates to the relationship between work design and performance based on employees maintaining their work and providing a high degree of autonomy, task importance and variety, and feedback. Employee engagement improves job performance, increases loyalty, motivation, productivity and retention, and supports recruitment and employer selection within an organization. It’s important for organizations to define a clear vision and mission to provide direction and guidance and keep stakeholders engaged. This is made possible through effective communication that demonstrates the purpose of employee engagement. Finally, it is important to achieve business goals and improve employee engagement through professional development.

References

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Clapon, P., 2016. The Top 3 Employee Engagement Drivers. [Online]
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Johnson, A., 2014. How to get employees to align with the company’s mission. [Online]
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