What is employee engagement? In simple words, an engaged employee loves his work and workplace.
To create an environment where people flourish employers need to understand what it means to be an engaged employee and how to manage people for engagement in their workforce. Employee engagement is about individual and organizational performance.
Employees who are engaged based on key place elements predict important organizational performance outcomes.
What is employee engagement: Factual
Galip’s employee engagement index is based on worker responses to 12 workplace elements with proven links to performance outcomes in the index provides high-level insights into the workplace by displaying the percentages engaged not engaged and actively disengaged employees overall.
Engaged employees are enthusiastic about their work. Those who do not engage stay unattached to their work and organization.
You should, first of all, know – how employee engagement is measured. And finally, an employee who does not have an interest isn’t just unhappy at work. They are resentful and potentially undetermined of what engaged co-workers might accomplish.
In 2016, 33% of US employees were engaged in their work and workplace. This is the highest number in Galip’s 15 plus years of tracking employee engagement but it does not quite cause for celebration.
The majority of employees 51% are not engaged and haven’t been for some time that leaves.
16% of employees actively disengage; looking for potentially undermine organization results. When your employees are engaged they don’t just become happier they become better performers.
What Is Employee Engagement: Traits
Happiness
Organisations falter in creating a culture of engagement when they solely approach engagement as an exercise in making their employees feel happy.
Simply measuring satisfaction and catering to their wants often fails to achieve the underlying goal of employee engagement which has improved outcomes although the concept of employee engagement and job satisfaction interrelated they are not synonymous.
Satisfaction
Employees being happy with their job or organisation, an attitude like loyalty or pride.
Engagement
It is about the employee’s activeness and involvement in their work and the value they add to the organisation.
Engagement predicts satisfaction as well as many other concrete organisational results.
When employees engage, they become emotionally attached to their work and workplace.
As a result, their performance rises and they propel their team and organisation to improved outcomes such as higher levels of productivity, safety, and quality.
Productivity
Engaged employees make it a point to show up for work and do more work.
Highly engaged organisations realise a 41% reduction in absenteeism and a 17% increase in productivity. Engaged workers are also more likely to stay with their employers and high turnover organisations; highly engaged business units achieve 24% lower turnover.
Safety
Engaged workers are more mindful of their surroundings. They are aware of safety procedures and diligent about keeping their co-workers and customers protected. Highly engaged business units relay a 70% decrease in employee safety incidents.
Quality
Finally, engaged workers care more about the products and services they deliver to customers and the overall performance of their organization.
An organization with a highly engaged employee experienced a 40% reduction in quality defects when taken together the behaviours of highly engaged business units result in a 21% greater profitability.
Management
Gallup measures employee engagement using a 12 elements survey, called the Q12. Rooted in an employee’s performance development needs. Each question reflects one element of great management.
12 Elements of Great Managing
Through rigorous research Gallup has identified 12 core elements that link to key organizational outcomes, these 12 statements emerged as the best product and predict employee and workgroup performance.
When employees’ needs are met, employees become more emotionally and psychologically attached to their work and workplace. This is why employee engagement is important.
The q12 is based on four types or levels of employee engagement, performance, and development needs.
First basic needs
- The foundation needs at work, what do I get from this role.
- Support needs, the management support of individual contributions, what do I give.
- The team needs a broad connection to the organisation to work.
- Personal growth, it needs the desire to learn, grow and innovate. How do we grow?
The first two elements addressed fundamental needs at work
- q1 addresses expectations.
- q2 ensures employees have the right material and equipment, I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
- The next elements measure individual contribution and management support.
- q3 focuses on strengths at work, I have the opportunity to do best every day.
- q4 emphasizes recognition for good work in the last seven days I received recognition or praise for doing good work.
- q5 draws on attention to unique individual needs, my superior or someone at work seems to care about me as a person.
- q6 encourages individual betterment, there is someone at work who encourages my development.
- The next four elements address teamwork and belonging.
- q7 is about input at work, my opinion seems to count.
- q8 emphasizes the purpose, the mission or purpose of my organisation makes me feel that my job’s important.
- q9 is about respect for quality, my associates or fellow employees commit to doing quality work.
- q10 is about close trusting relationships.
The final two levels include elements of growth and innovation.
q11 focuses on achievement and guidance, in the last six months someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
q12 emphasizes opportunities. Opportunities to learn and grow.
Conclusion
Focus more on data than development A teamwork leads to better achievement, rather working as an individual. Uplift engagement for a better prospect.
Employees need equipment to perform and then positioned for individual and team success. The first second and third levels create an environment of trust and support that enables managers and employees to get the most out of the fourth level.
These levels provide a roadmap for managers to motivate and develop their team members and improve performance, with each level building on the previous.
But levels do not represent phase, managers do not finish the first level and then move on to the second. This is why employee recognition is important.
They must ensure that employees know what the employers expect out of them. And they have the right materials or equipment to do their work well.
The best way to sustain progress is to keep doing more of what works to support employees and determine the barriers adjusting accordingly. Thus the explanation of – what is employee engagement in a simplistic manner.