Employee engagement has attracted a great attention of both employees and employers and is a topic of debate and research. In every organization, employees perform different roles and have a range of unique competencies and skills that contributes to achieving its goals and objectives (Meswantri & Ilyas 2018). However, some employees are fully engaged, passionate about their jobs and proud of the organization they work for, and others may not (Schaufeli 2013; Truss et al. 2013).
The definition of employee engagement has evolved in light of modern corporate cultures (Welch 2011). Kahn (1990) defined engagement in the broadest sense as harnessing the self of the members of the organization in their work roles or commitment, while Schaufeli et al. (2002) defined it as a positive, fulfilling work-related state of mind characterized by drive, devotion, and absorption. According to (Shuck & Wollard 2010), engagement occurs on three levels; cognitive, emotional, and behavioural levels. A newer definition suggests that it is about aligning optimal employee satisfaction with the maximum contribution to the organization's success (Markos & Sridevi 2010). However, engagement cannot be forced; it has to come from the employee because it depends on the commitment, motivation, loyalty and trust (Bridger 2014).
Developing employee engagement strategies is a long term commitment and necessary for long term organizational stability (Taneja et al. 2015) to ensure among other things communication, work life balance and leadership (Bedarkar & Pandita 2014). Previous research has shown that job characteristics can predict work engagement, and procedural justice predicts organizational justice (Saks 2006; Danish et al. 2014; Frinlicia & Nilasari 2019). Employee engagement contributes to the success of an organization by primarily contributing to productivity, profitability and employee retention (Coffman & Gonzalez-Molina 2002). Dedicated and committed employees are a valuable asset to a company because they can increase productivity and gain an advantage over competitors (Albrecht et al. 2015); in return, organizations want to retain and reward these employees.
The cognitive segment of engagement is critical as it is the beliefs or perceptions of employees about the organization, including employees, leaders, management, and corporate social responsibility the relationships among them (Kahn & Fellows 2013; Turner 2019; Bapat & Upadhyay 2021). The employee engagement with the job, however, is dynamic; it may fluctuate over time; engage, not engaged, actively disengaged (Hejjas et al. 2019) as the cognitive factor of engagement can change due to many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, including the personality styles of employees and employers (Rice et al. 2017). The previous research has shown that love, money, status, services, goods, offered by the organization and happiness all affect performance and engagement (Cooper-Thomas et al. 2018; Imran & Wajid 2022), suggesting the importance of keeping employees motivated and engaged by adopting strategic measures (Jeve et al. 2015).
Knowing the engagement level will help employers implement measures to improve positive engagement. Employee job satisfaction differs from engagement but is essential for engagement (Anitha 2014; Bellani et al. 2017) whereas the employee engagement is distinct from psychological empowerment and psychological contract. For instance, a satisfied government employee may not be an active, fully engaged employee but would be satisfied with the relaxed work environment and retirement benefits (Pritchard 2008). Therefore, workers' attitudes need to change as some may think their job is limited to just their work instructions or job descriptions, and employers too should create a work environment conducive to engagement through fair treatment for all, without favours for some (McManus & Mosca 2015).
My personal experience in the public service was that poor induction, negative influence by trade unionists, work stress, low financial benefits are the main reasons for lack of engagement. Unfair treatments to employees and work stress is the most common reason public service officials disengage after working several years as young talented people who highly engage at the beginning of their careers (Banerjee & Yadav 2017; Arslan 2018; Busse & Regenberg 2019). One way to create an engaging psyche is to provide new employees with a performance-driven rewards, positive and robust induction or on-boarding program, and later, offers a focused training and development program, certification program and give them a realistic job preview (Kernaghan 2011; Chandani et al. 2016).
In conclusion, employee engagement is a multifaceted phenomenon and the bond between the employees and employers are essential to have a highly engaged and motivated workforce (O'Callaghan 2007) ) and the corporate world has enough opportunities for workers with highly engaging characteristics.
References
Albrecht, SL, Bakker, AB, Gruman, JA, Macey, WH & Saks, AM 2015, 'Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach', Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance.
Arslan, M 2018, 'Organizational cynicism and employee performance: Moderating role of employee engagement', Journal of Global Responsibility, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 415-31.
Bedarkar, M & Pandita, D 2014, 'A study on the drivers of employee engagement impacting employee performance', paper presented to International conference on trade, markets and sustainability (ICTMS-2013).
Bellani, E, Ramadhani, SR & Tamar, M 2017, 'Job Satisfaction as Predictor of Employee Engagement', paper presented to Proceedings of The 8th International Conference of Asian Association of Indigenous and Cultural Psychology (ICAAIP 2017).
Bridger, E 2014, Employee engagement, vol. 10, Kogan Page Publishers.
Busse, R & Regenberg, S 2019, 'Revisiting the “authoritarian versus participative” leadership style legacy: A new model of the impact of leadership inclusiveness on employee engagement', Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 510-25.
Chandani, A, Mehta, M, Mall, A & Khokhar, V 2016, 'Employee Engagement: A Review Paper on Factors Affecting Employee Engagement', Indian Journal of Science and Technology, vol. 9, no. 15.
Coffman, C & Gonzalez-Molina, G 2002, A new model: Great organizations win business by engaging the complex emotions of employees and customers’, Excerpt from Follow This Path, Warner Books, The Gallup Management Journal.
Cooper-Thomas, HD, Xu, J & Saks, AM 2018, 'The differential value of resources in predicting employee engagement', Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 33, no. 4-5, pp. 326-44.
Danish, RQ, Ahmad, F & Khan, M 2014, 'Determinants of employee engagement in service sector of Pakistan', Universal Journal of Management, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 64-71.
Frinlicia, F & Nilasari, BM 2019, 'Perceived organizational support effect, rewards and recognition, and spirituality on employee engagement', Business and Entrepreneurial Review, vol. 15, p. 147.
Hejjas, K, Miller, G & Scarles, C 2019, '“It’s like hating puppies!” Employee disengagement and corporate social responsibility', Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 157, no. 2, pp. 319-37.
Imran, M & Wajid, H 2022, 'Employee Performance in the Fast Food Industry: A Mediating Role of Happiness', in Handbook of Research on Developing Circular, Digital, and Green Economies in Asia, IGI Global, pp. 387-400.
Kahn, WA 1990, 'Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work', Academy of management journal, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 692-724.
Kahn, WA & Fellows, S 2013, 'Employee engagement and meaningful work'.
Kernaghan, K 2011, 'Getting engaged: Public‐service merit and motivation revisited', Canadian public administration, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 1-21.
Markos, S & Sridevi, MS 2010, 'Employee engagement: The key to improving performance', International journal of business and management, vol. 5, no. 12, p. 89.
McManus, J & Mosca, J 2015, 'Strategies to build trust and improve employee engagement', International Journal of Management & Information Systems (IJMIS), vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 37-42.
Meswantri, M. and Ilyas, A., 2018. Determinant of employee engagement and its implications on employee performance. International Review of Management and Marketing, 8(3), p.36.
O'Callaghan, D., 2007. Employee
engagement: a study of employee engagement in organisations and its impact
(Doctoral dissertation, Dublin, National College of Ireland).
Pritchard, K 2008, 'Employee engagement in the UK: meeting the challenge in the public sector', Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal.
Rice, B, Fieger, P, Rice, J, Martin, N & Knox, K 2017, 'The impact of employees’ values on role engagement: Assessing the moderating effects of distributive justice', Leadership & Organization Development Journal.
Saks, AM 2006, 'Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement', Journal of Managerial Psychology.
Schaufeli, WB 2013, 'Employee engagement in theory and practice', Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice. sl: sn.
Schaufeli, WB, Salanova, M, González-Romá, V & Bakker, AB 2002, 'The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach', Journal of Happiness studies, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 71-92.
Shuck, B & Wollard, K 2010, 'Employee engagement and HRD: A seminal review of the foundations', Human resource development review, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 89-110.
Taneja, S, Sewell, SS & Odom, RY 2015, 'A culture of employee engagement: A strategic perspective for global managers', Journal of Business Strategy.
Truss, C, Delbridge, R, Alfes, K, Shantz, A & Soane, E 2013, Employee engagement in theory and practice, Routledge London.
Turner, P 2019, Employee engagement in contemporary organizations: Maintaining high productivity and sustained competitiveness, Springer.
Welch, M 2011, 'The evolution of the employee engagement concept: communication implications', Corporate Communications: An International Journal.
Effective employees are those that are intellectually and emotionally invested in their company. Snell (2009) states that employees that are engaged go above and beyond their job descriptions, aware of how their jobs help the company to achieve its goals. According to Duque (2020), employee engagement is a well-studied issue, the importance of innovative methods of working and physical environment aspects is still underappreciated.
ReplyDeleteThe definition of employee engagement has evolved in light of modern corporate cultures (Welch 2011). It is important that employees are emotionally connected to their work. For example a study conducted in the UK found that satisfaction with one's co-workers related significantly to engagement (Avery et al. 2007).
DeleteHi Ravi, You have well identified the subject matter. I agree that employee engagement plays a significant role in achieving the goals and objectives of the organisation (Kompaso and Sridevi, 2010). According to Kortmann et al. (2014) organisations should use minimum resources to make maximum profits in a rapidly changing environment. Therefore organisations should work hard to keep employees engaged and motivated to achieve profitability.
ReplyDeleteEmployee engagement contributes to the success of an organization by primarily contributing to productivity, profitability and employee retention (Coffman & Gonzalez-Molina 2002). Dedicated and committed employees are a valuable asset to a company because they can increase productivity and gain an advantage over competitors (Albrecht et al. 2015); in return, organizations want to retain and reward these employees.
DeleteHi ravi, agree with you, The engagement can affect employees’ attitudes, absence and turnover levels and various with productivity, increasingly pointing to a high correlation with individual, group and organizational performance, a success measured through equality of customer experience and customer loyalty (Hemsley Fraser,2008).
ReplyDeleteAccording to Schaufeli et al. (2002) is a positive state of mind characterised by drive, devotion, and absorption towards the work that conforms to Job Demands-Resources theory (JD-R). This positive attitude towards the job lead to work engagement and satisfaction(Saks 2019; Armstrong & Taylor 2020).
DeleteHi Ravi. Well explained article, Adding more to your points, Employee engagement is seen as a motivational factor towards organization’s achieving its objectives. The good environment that is offered to the worker enables him to offer the best that the organization needs for its achievement of goals and objectives (Paluku, 2016).
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the sector. A government employee may not be an active, fully engaged employee but would be satisfied with the work environment and retirement benefits(Pritchard 2008).
DeleteAgree with you, Ravi. Employee engagement is defined as "the psychological condition that leads to the behavioural investment of personal energy." When an employee is engaged, he/she is emotionally and intellectually connected to the organization, devoted to its value, and enthusiastic about its aims (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004).
ReplyDeleteSome industries are service-oriented, others production-oriented. Regardless of the type of industry or type of organization, every organization is concerned about active employee engagement, which includes physical, cognitive, and emotional aspects of role performance such as such as commitment, involvement, attachment, discretionary effort, energy, positive attitude and psychological presence (Kahn 1990; Gupta & Sharma 2016).
DeleteTotally agree with you Ravi. Further, Gibson (2006) defined employee engagement as an emotional connection that an employee feels for his or her organisation. Employee engagement, also called worker engagement, is a business management concept. An engaged employee is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests (Khan, 2007).
ReplyDeleteArmstrong and Taylor (2020) describe two aspects that influence engagement. The first is the rational aspect, i.e. the employees 'understanding of their roles, and the second is the emotional aspect, i.e. the employees' feelings for the organization. For full engagement, design a job that makes a person more meaningful, emotionally, psychologically, and cognitively engaged in order to perform better.
DeleteAgreed, employee engagement is the level of attachment or involvement of an employee towards the organization that helps in achieving the goal (Barclays, 2008).
ReplyDeleteEmployee engagement is organization-specific, culturally sensitive, and varies according to profession, industry and worldwide (Kular et al. 2008). This is mainly because the emotional and intellectual attachment of employees to the organization can vary depending on the type and size of the company; some organizations are for profit while others are not for profit, for instance, the public service organizations, public universities, intergovernmental organizations are not for profit (Armstrong & Taylor 2020).
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Ravi, Well explained. Further would like to add strategy that used by an organization in order to feel the employees to contribute the fullest capacity towards the company can be define as the employee engagement as per (Markos, and Sridevi, 2010). where 4 types were categorized accordingly. as such, Highly engaged, Moderately engaged, Barely engaged and Disengaged (Jha and Kumar, 2016).
ReplyDeleteLeadership has a crucial role to play. With the increasing use of technology and globalization, the type of ethical and authentic leadership that is genuine, confident, and transparent has a more significant impact on engagement (Penger & Cerne 2014)
DeleteI agree with your points and further, engagement in employees' feelings and behaviour. Engaged employees might report feeling focused and intensely involved in their work. They are enthusiastic and have a sense of urgency. Engaged behaviour is persistent, proactive, and adaptive to expand the job roles as necessary. (Developing and Sustaining Employee Engagement, 2021)
ReplyDeleteSome employees' engaged behaviour might not be persistent becasue employee engagement with the job is dynamic; it may fluctuate over time; engage, not engaged, actively disengaged (Hejjas et al. 2019) as the cognitive factor of engagement can change due to many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, including the personality styles of employees and employers(Rice et al. 2017).
DeleteHi RAVI, Well said, employee engagement” may seem pretty straightforward, it is actually much more complex than it sounds. Employee engagement is extremely important in building a motivated and effective team—engaged employees look forward to going to work and have a sense of their personal job performance and their role on the team (Schaufeli, WB 2013,)
ReplyDeleteTrue. It is complex and there are many tools available to measure employee engagement (Turner 2019). The choice of the most effective scale will vary based on the decision maker's preference (Khodakarami et al. 2018).
Delete