Although
most of us would be aware of this term which is a widely used term these days
in the Corporate World. But, how many of us have actually gone into deep as to
what exactly is employee engagement and what does it encompass?
First
of all, employee engagement does not mean employee happiness. Someone might be
happy at work but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are working hard,
productively on behalf of the organization. Employee engagement also does not
mean employee satisfaction. A satisfied employee may be very punctual at his/
her job but may not go the extra mile on their own for work.
So, if we want to define employee engagement it
can safely be said that employee engagement is the employee’s emotional
commitment to the organization and its goals. Engaged employee care about their
organization and work on behalf of the organizational goals. The engaged
employee does not need to be told that he/ she has to work on a holiday or
after working hours for completing a project on time. Engaged employees lead to
better business outcomes. In fact, according to Towers Perrin research
companies with engaged workers have 6% higher net profit margins, and according
to Kenexa research engaged companies have five times higher shareholder returns
over five years. Employee engagement is about employees feeling pride and being
loyal working for their organization, being a great advocate of the
organization to the clients, users and customers.
There
are three levels of employee engagement as defined by Gallup :-
1.
Engaged :- An engaged employee have a better
understanding of their role in helping the Organization meet its goals and
therefore willing to put in extra time or effort without being asked for. It
may sound like the description of a rare employee and according to Gallup only
32% or about one-third of all employees on an average falls into this category.
2.
Not engaged :-
These employees are neither positive nor negative about their association with
the Organization. They are likely to come to office and do the least amount of
work necessary to be done without Management intervention. As per Gallup, workers
who are not engaged “are less vigilant, more likely to miss work and change
jobs when new opportunities arise”. An average of 50.8% of employees’
population falls into this category as per Gallup study.
3.
Actively
disengaged :- These employees have a significant negative influence on an
organization’s success. They voice their negative opinions and attitudes about
the workplace, undermining any positive morale in their co-workers as well as
giving a negative impression of the organization to the external agencies. About
17.2% of the workforce globally falls
into this category as per Gallup study.
Hence,
in the age of changing global nature of work, cutthroat competition and cost
consciousness, an organization with higher percentage of engaged employees will
definitely have a competitive advantage over its peers.
