Importance of Employee Engagement (Essay Sample)

Importance of Employee Engagement
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Importance of Employee Engagement
Employees play a critical role in the growth and expansion of companies. This is because they are directly and indirectly involved in an organization’s daily operations. Firms across the world are designing ways of enhancing employee engagement. Improving employee engagement is vital because it makes the workers feel that the companies value their contributions. Besides, it presents them with an opportunity of giving their opinions. Also, it allows the employees to be connected to the mission, vision, and objectives of a company. Therefore, a company needs to interact and comprehend the employee's needs with the objective of retaining them happy. This would improve the organizational performance since they would strive to give their best in their respective responsibilities. The paper explores components and principles of employee engagement. Besides, it discusses how organizations can enhance employee engagement and the metrics that they can use to evaluate whether it is effective or not.
Meaning, Principal Dimensions, Related Concepts and Components of Employee Engagement
Meaning
Employee engagement refers to the emotional or mental connection workers have towards their work, work teams, and the entire organization. Engaged employees are mindful of their work and the performance of a company (Macey & Schneider, 2008). In this, they feel that their efforts are critical to the realization of the organizational goals. Given the increased competition in all industries, promoting employee engagement plays a crucial role in giving a company a competitive advantage. There are different levels of employee engagement, including; disengaged, highly, moderately, and barely engaged. Highly engaged workers have a favorable view of their organizations. Such workers love their workplace responsibilities, feel connected to their teams and hold positive feelings about their corporation. As a result, they end up speaking positively about their organizations to their friends and family. Secondly, the moderately engaged workers have moderate opinions about their company. Although they like their corporations, they still believe that there is an opportunity for improvement. Such employees may end up underperforming or not wanting additional responsibilities. Thirdly, the barely engaged workers feel indifferent about their organizations. Occasionally, these workers lack motivation and rarely give their best in their responsibilities. In some instances, barely engaged workers are always researching for other jobs in other organizations. Lastly, disengaged employees hold negative opinions about their workplace. Also, they feel disconnected from the organization's goals, vision, and mission. Remarkably, the views of disengaged workers may negatively influence the productivity of their colleagues.
Principal Dimensions
Employee engagement has three principal dimensions, including; emotional, physical, and cognitive engagement. Emotional engagement is grounded on the emotional association that workers feel towards their employers. A worker who is highly engaged is likely to have a strong emotional connection with the company. This can be illustrated by the corporation's willingness to commend potential employees, investors, or clients. Besides, being emotionally engaged goes beyond the performance of the set responsibilities. Such workers are willing to do everything to see that the organization accomplishes its mission, vision, objectives, and positive corporate culture. Also, these employees are willing to stick with the firm during the good and bad times. As such, they can accept the cut down of their wages whenever the company is performing poorly. Another characteristic of emotional engagement is that workers have a positive work-life balance and are less likely to blame their workplace responsibilities for their misfortunes. Physical engagement influences employees to put in additional efforts to ensure that responsibilities are completed within the stipulated duration. For instance, they are willing to do overtime work to make sure they meet the deadlines (Saks & Gruman, 2014). Also, physically engaged workers strive to ensure that their performance is of the highest standard. Moreover, the engagement enhances critical thinking among the workers as they endeavor to create new ways of doing their job more effectively. Lastly, cognitively engaged employees know what is required from them at the workplace. They are well-versed with the job processes and how to navigate through the potential challenges. They also strive to learn and develop skills on how they can exceed the employer's expectations. Besides, they have an active interest in the activities that happen in the organization and are ready to give their recommendations to make the company a better workplace.
Components of Employee Engagement
An organization depends on various components to effectively create employee engagement. First, leadership is vital in creating a meaningful association with the managers. Skilled and responsible leaders are able to build healthy relationships with the employees, which is vital in enhancing employee engagement. Such leaders are willing to go beyond their powers to motivate and support the worker's ideas. Also, they strive to create a culture of transparency where everyone feels comfortable expressing their views and grievances. Responsible leaders also endeavor to investigate something that is going wrong and find a solution. As a result, workers of the specific company will feel that their managers care about their wellbeing, thus creating employee engagement. On the other hand, irresponsible leaders will disengage the employees since they will fear expressing their opinions. In the end, they may give negative views about the organization, which would, in turn, impact the performance of other workers. Secondly, communication is essential in driving employee engagement. Communication influences how workers execute their duties. In this, ineffective dissemination of information may confuse the workers, making them not perform their duties as required. Besides, ineffective communication would lead to increased conflicts that may cause employee disengagement. Thus, an organization needs to ensure there is open communication regardless of a person's job position (Swaminathan, 2010). Every worker should feel free to present their views to the managers without fear of being discriminated against. Also, they should feel comfortable interacting with their colleagues, which would, in turn, result in meaningful work. Thirdly, a positive culture impacts the employee's satisfaction. An organization that has a trustworthy, transparent, and accountable culture makes the employees happy. The culture makes the employees feel equal regardless of their racial, ethnic, religious, or socioeconomic background. Such workers will be more engaged and willing to recommend the institution to other potential employees. Forth, rewards, recognition, and career growth opportunities motivate the workers to work harder. This component influences employee engagement in that hardworking employee feels that they are appreciated for their efforts.
Related Concepts
Employee engagement is supported by other concepts such as; organizational commitment, employer involvement, and job satisfaction. Organizational commitment is the connection that employees have with the organization. Organizational commitment can aid in predicting the worker's performance, satisfaction, and engagement. When the workers experience a strong organizational commitment, they feel like part of the firm's vision both at a personal and professional level. Besides, organizational commitment makes them feel that they fit into the organization and that they are respected (WeiBo et al., 2010). This is likely to positively contribute to employee engagement and increase the chance of the workers remaining in the company for a longer period. Furthermore, an organization can enhance employee engagement by promoting job satisfaction. Notably, the job satisfaction concept is the most influential in improving employee engagement. Job satisfaction revolves around different aspects such as rewards, recognition, work environment, career development prospects, benefits, job security, and work-life balance. These elements influence the behavior of employees towards their work. They enhance job satisfaction which reduces high turnover rates. This is because the workers feel that the company values their contribution by giving them fair benefits and wages. Additionally, the employer's involvement in the worker's issues positively affects the employee's engagement. The involvement of the employer ensures that the organization addresses the worker's concerns before they escalate. It also ensures that employers identify areas within the organization that requires improvements. These activities make the employees more productive since there is a conducive work environment. Employer involvement also makes the workers loyal to the organization since their grievances are addressed fast.
Benefits of Employee Engagement and Benefits of Having an Engaged Workforce
Principal Drivers of Employee Engagement
There are different principal drivers of employee engagement, including; growth opportunities, job security, and appreciation and rewards. The assurance of job security motivates the employees to work hard to attain a permanent place in the organization. Workers who have job security dedicate all their energy to retain their jobs. O...