Importance of Employee Engagement

You can define an engaged employee as someone who is committed, passionate, and completely involved in his/her work. They are not only devoted to the success of themselves, but also care about the future of their company and have a strong attachment with it. According to an interesting article by Gerard H. Seijts and Dan Crim in The Ivey Business Journal entitled “The Ten C’s Of Employee Engagement”, engaged employees “care about the future of the company and are willing to invest the discretionary effort – exceeding duty’s call – to see that the organization succeeds.” Typically, such employees will exhibit higher levels of customer service, produce better quality of work, are more trainable, and are less likely to leave their organization. However, only a small percentage of employees are fully engaged.

A company’s challenge is how to get their team to this point. Creating an all-around engaging work climate in order to have a solid effect on the employees’ commitment and productivity is key. Being able to improve the relationship between employees and employers is essential in forming a solid team for your organization’s future. Building trust and integrity is important in this regard. When managers communicate effectively and practice what they preach, subordinates are likely to follow. The “do as I say, not as I do” concept is where leaders often stumble. They need to be consistent in their behaviors and lead by example. If your managers are not engaged, it is unlikely a high percentage of your team will be. The workforce needs a strong relationship with their manager, valuing his/her professional character.

Career growth opportunities and desire for constant development are areas of focus for employees. Are you making a significant effort to develop your employees’ skills or is your training program practiced for the sole purpose of “checking the box”? Do your team members feel like the opportunities to grow in your company are limited? Do your employees feel they are expendable or underappreciated? Do they understand how their everyday work contributes to the company’s overall performance and success? Being able to create these connections instills pride and confidence in your team. The longer employees stay with the company, the better the chance they will become more disengaged – having concrete development programs will help. Higher levels of employee engagement will increase individual and corporate performance in areas such as retention, output, customer service, efficiency, and allegiance. The costs of a disengaged workforce can ruin your company.

To be fully engaged, you must be physically energized, emotionally connected, and mentally focused, with a purpose beyond your own self interest. It begins with feeling eager to get to work, but equally happy to return home as well. By creating clear boundaries between your personal and professional life, you will be able to immerse yourself with the challenges at work, as well as spend quality time with your family and friends at home. Seek out other engaged employees within your organization and team up with them, and help others by leading by example. This kind of behavior is contagious. Take pride in yourself and your company, and understand how your job fits into the big picture of the organization.

Little by little, companies are finding ways to respond to these challenges by creating an all-around engaging work climate and focusing on ways to motivate employees by offering intangible incentives. They link specific job performance with larger goals for the organization. They recognize employees for some everyday type tasking, provide feedback, and focus equally on job completion and development of their people. Such dedication shows long term commitment to your employees, which will result in long commitment by your employees – they are more likely to stay with the company when they feel the company truly cares about them. This effective form of leadership will not only create engaged employees, but will also create loyal customers, resulting in bigger profits and more business. Ignoring this need and necessity will result in dissatisfied, disengaged, and unproductive working, especially when it comes to crunch time when stress builds. Reshape the relationship between the junior level workforce and the senior management, and encourage the individuals to invest energy. People want to offer more to the organization, but often feel there are obstacles in their way. Knock down those obstacles, renew their energy, and let loose the true potential of your team.