In an organisation, HR strategies have a profound impact on employee engagement. Lack of employee engagement is a global problem that is not confined to any country, industry, or sector (Attridge 2009). As discussed in previous posts, there is no universally agreed definition for employee engagement. Byrne (2014) describe a model for employee engagement that encompasses the staff environment, the work environment and the person (self), meaning engagement is a collective effect of these areas. They affect engagement both individually and in combination. Employee engagement is measurable at the employee and organisational level (Bakker & Albrecht, 2018, Othman et al., 2018, Saks, 2006), and can be measured by employee engagement surveys, one-on-one interviews, focus group interviews and exit interviews.
For employees to engage positively, basic needs must be satisfied: autonomy, competence, and confidence in action (Deci & Ryan 2004). Evidence shows that job satisfaction is a precursor to employee engagement, not the other way around (Shuck et al. 2021). (Breaugh 2020) conducted a large scale study in 30 countries, using the 2015 wave of the European Working Conditions Survey engagement and concluded that basic need satisfaction and engagement were positively related while stress and engagement are negatively related irrespective of the sector– but less for those with strong interpersonal relationships at work.
There are many tools available to measure job engagement, as listed below (Turner 2019). The choice of the most effective scale will vary based on the decision maker's preference (Khodakarami et al. 2018). However, before measuring the level of engagement, organisations need to have engagement goals and benchmark them against them, such as Turnover Rate and Employee Net Provider Score (eNPS).
Tools
- Utrecht Work Engagement Scale
- Job Engagement Scale
- Saks Engagement Scale
- Gallup Workplace Audit
- Gallup Q12 Survey
- ISA Engagement Scale
- Aon Hewitt Engagement Model
- Mercer-Sirota B Factor Model
- Oldenburg Burnout Inventory
- The Engagement Audit
- Employee Pulse Surveys
- Work-Related Bask Psychological Need Satisfaction Scale
- The Energy Compass
- Bespoke Employee Attitude Survey
- Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire
- Fletcher, Major, and Davis 4-item team Climate Scale
- Multi-dimensional Model of Psychological Well-being (Ryff 1989)
- Schwarz outcome scale 10 (Shuck et al 2017)
- Maslach Burnout Inventory
- Bespoke Team Engagement Survey
- Health and Well-being Survey
- Organizational Climate Survey
- Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument
- Organisational Commitment Questionnaire
- 3-Type Organisational Commitment Scale
- Leadership Behaviour Questionnaire
- Internal Leadership 'Audit'
- Job Engagement Organization and Employee-Organization relationship survey
- Human Capital Management Measures
- Bespoke Strategic Employee Attitude Surveys
Table 1. The Utrecht work engagement scale and Job Engagement Scale.
The Utrecht Work Engagement scale (Schaufeli & Bakker 2003)
Job Engagement Scale (JES) (Rich et al. 2010)
At my work, I feel that I am bursting with energy (Vigor)
I find the work that I do full of meaning and purpose (Dedication)
Time flies when I'm working (absorption)
At my job, I feel strong and vigorous (Vigor)
I am enthusiastic about my job (Dedication)
When I am working, I forget everything else around me (absorption)
My job inspires me (Dedication)
When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work (Vigor)
I feel happy when I am working intensely (absorption)
I am proud on the work that I do (Dedication)
I am immersed in my work (absorption)
I can continue working for very long periods at a time (Vigor)
To me, my job is challenging (Dedication)
I get carried away when I'm working (absorption)
At my job, I am very resilient, mentally (Vigor)
It is difficult to detach myself from my job (absorption)
At my work, I always persevere, even when things do not go well (Vigor)
Physical engagementI work with intensity on my job.
I exert my full effort to my job.
I devote a lot of energy to my job.
I try my hardest to perform well on my job.
I strive as hard as I can to complete my job.
I exert a lot of energy on my job.
Emotional engagement
I am enthusiastic about my job.
I feel energetic about my job.
I am interested in my job.
I am proud of my job.
I feel positive about my job.
I am excited about my job.
Cognitive engagement
At work, my mind is focused on my job.
At work, I pay a lot of attention to my job.
At work, I concentrate on my job.
At work, I focus a great deal of attention on my job.
At work, I am absorbed in my job.
At work, I devote a lot of attention to my job
Job Engagement Scale (JES) (Rich et al. 2010) has 18 items to assess under three factors; physical, affective, cognitive engagement (Table 1). A study conducted by (Jayanthi et al. 2020) in the IT sector found the following employee factors influence engagement in the workplace; Physical Work Engagement - Age; Emotional work engagement - gender, family type, title, income, and experience; Cognitive Work Engagement - Gender, Title, and Income. These two tools (UWES, JES) are correlated but not interchangeable (Byrne et al. 2016).
The results of these engagement measurements need to be carefully evaluated and generalised because not all engaged employees may be committed to the organisation (Jayanthi et al. 2020) ;engaged and committed, engaged but not committed, neither engaged not committed. There are many drivers of employee engagement, and these drives influence work engagement and job satisfaction. Merely changing the management practice sometimes can increase job satisfaction (Harter et al. 2002). For example, an engaging leadership style has a beneficial effect on individual and team performance. To measure engagement leadership Schaufeli (2021) developed a 12-item questionnaire based Leadership Engagement Scale. The results of this tool can be used to make improvements to the leadership styles.
To improve engagement, it is necessary to review performance indicators regularly to develop seriousness that will lead to a performance-oriented work culture (Upadhyay & Palo 2013). Moreover, organisations can help employees develop skills; knowledge by creating an environment that enables them to use this new knowledge and skills in their professional role to perform better (Turner, 2019).
My personal experience was that the government organizations where I worked never conducted employee engagement surveys; however, my current workplace, an intergovernmental organisation, recently conducted an employee engagement survey involving all staff worldwide and based on its results some positive actions are being taken to improve engagement.
In conclusion, although there are several tools for measuring employee engagement, all tools perform well in identifying if the employees are engaged or not.
References:
Attridge, M., 2009. Measuring and managing employee work engagement: A review of the research and business literature. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 24(4), pp.383-398
Breaugh, J., 2021. Too Stressed To Be Engaged? The Role of Basic Needs Satisfaction in Understanding Work Stress and Public Sector Engagement. Public Personnel Management, 50(1), pp.84-108.
Attridge, M 2009, 'Measuring and Managing Employee Work Engagement: A Review of the Research and Business Literature', Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 383-98.
Breaugh, J 2020, 'Too Stressed To Be Engaged? The Role of Basic Needs Satisfaction in Understanding Work Stress and Public Sector Engagement', Public Personnel Management, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 84-108.
Byrne, ZS, Peters, JM & Weston, JW 2016, 'The Struggle With Employee Engagement: Measures and Construct Clarification Using Five Samples', Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 101, no. 9, pp. 1201-27.
Deci, EL & Ryan, RM 2004, Handbook of self-determination research, University Rochester Press.
Harter, JK, Schmidt, FL & Hayes, TL 2002, 'Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis', Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 87, no. 2, pp. 268-79.
Jayanthi, D, Kowsalya, N & Manju, S 2020, 'Perception of jes (Job engagement scale) among It/Ites employees: A study', Int. J. Sci. Technol. Res, vol. 9, pp. 4256-61.
Khodakarami, N, Dirani, K & Rezaei, F 2018, 'Employee engagement: finding a generally accepted measurement scale', Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 305-11.
Rich, BL, Lepine, JA & Crawford, ER 2010, 'Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance', Academy of management journal, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 617-35.
Schaufeli, W 2021, 'Engaging Leadership: How to Promote Work Engagement?', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, p. 754556.
Schaufeli, WB & Bakker, A 2003, 'Utrecht work engagement scale', Occupational Health Psychology Unit Utrecht University, vol. 1.
Shuck, B, Kim, W & Chai, DS 2021, 'The Chicken and Egg Conundrum: Job Satisfaction or Employee Engagement and Implications for Human Resources', New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 4-24.
Turner, P 2019, Employee engagement in contemporary organizations: Maintaining high productivity and sustained competitiveness, Springer.
Upadhyay, AYA & Palo, S 2013, 'Engaging employees through balanced scorecard implementation', Strategic HR Review.
Hi ravi, agree with your points, Robinson (2006)says, employee engagement can be achieved through the creation of an organizational environment where positive emotions such as involvement and pride are encouraged and its resulting in improved organizational performance.
ReplyDeleteHi Ravi, As you have mentioned, measuring employee engagement plays a crucial role in achieving higher business outcomes in an organisation, directly influencing productivity, profitability, and maturity (Kompaso and Sridevi, 2010). Staff interested in their jobs and committed to their employers bring significant competitive advantages for companies, including higher productivity and a lower turnover of workers. Therefore, it is not shocking that organisations of all sizes and types have made substantial improvements in policies and practices that promote participation and dedication to their employees (Vance,2006).
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you Ravi. Organisation with engaged workers have higher employee retention as a result of reduced turnover and reduced intention to leave the organization, profitability, productivity, growth and customer satisfaction (Erickson, 2005). Organisation with disengaged workers suffer from waste of effort and bleed talent, earn less commitment from the workers, face increased absenteeism, less customer orientation, reduced operating margins, reduced net profit margins and less productivity (Heintzman and Marson, 2005). Most researches emphasize merely the importance of employee engagement on the business outcomes, failing to provide the cost-benefit analysis for engagement decisions. Similar to other management decisions, engagement decision should be evaluated in terms of both its benefits and its associated costs (Fernandez, 2007).
ReplyDeleteAgreed with your comment Ravi. Ryan Fuller, (2014) said that the typical approach is an annual engagement survey where employees are effectively asked, through various type of questions, to rate their own level of engagement.
ReplyDeleteHi Ravi, agreed your points and adding to that the concepts of commitment and organizational engagement are closely related, although Robinson et al (2004) stated that while engagement contains many of the elements of commitment it is not a perfect match.
ReplyDeleteHi Ravi adding some points, Employees who are engaged in their work and committed to their organizations give companies crucial competitive advantages—including higher productivity and lower employee turnover, further it is not surprising that organizations of all sizes and types have invested substantially in policies and practices that foster engagement and commitment in their workforces (Robert J. 2006)
ReplyDeleteHi Ravi, agreed with your points and lined up well, When considering the engagement strategies the first step is to establish what is happening now and determine what should happen in each of the areas of which is related to employee engagement.This means measuring levels of engagement regularly in order to identify successes and failures and analyse any gaps between what is wanted and what is actually going on(Armstrong,2008).
ReplyDeleteHi Ravi, Interesting points further according to the studies, there is general agreement that increased engagement drives results: Gallup, for example, suggests a 20% or better boost to productivity and profitability for companies with high engagement (Fuller,2014)
ReplyDeleteOrganizational productivity is determined by employees’ efforts and engagement, Interpersonal behaviors affect for productivity, consequently, and organizational growth, and employee motivation is directly impact to the organization employee motivation, (Upasana, A., Sumita, D., and Shivganesh, B. 2017).
ReplyDeleteHi Ravi, Well said, To identify strengths, problem areas, and “hidden truths.” Regularly measuring engagement helps you tackle obstacles before they become problems. You can also use engagement data to showcase what’s going well and connect weaker teams or departments to stronger ones. Harter, JK, Schmidt, FL & Hayes, TL 2002
ReplyDeleteWell Experienced blog Ravi. It is emphasized that assessing employee attitudes is a business necessity, even during a downturn or crisis. Following a study of the notion of employee engagement, current real-world examples and statistics from a variety of firms can be used to argue for the business value of an engaged workforce (Caleo , 2011).
ReplyDelete