What is Employee Engagement?

A popular keynote speaker "Kevin Kruse" says the definition of employee engagement is; "Employee Engagement is the emotional commitment that we feel for the organization and the organization's goals." When we are emotionally committed or emotionally connected to anything, it means we will give our discretionary efforts to make an impact. The same goes for employee engagement. That's why it's important when you feel engaged with your organization, you will go extra miles to give your 100%. Employee Engagement is beyond activities, picnic, games, and parties, surveys. Engaged employees look at the whole of the company and understand their purpose, where, and how they fit in.

According to Wikipedia "An organization with "high" employee engagement might, therefore, be expected to outperform those with "low" employee engagement." It doesn’t matter if your business is a start-up or huge multinational corp - disengaged staff can run it to the ground.

Now the question is What is Employee Engagement defined in "your company"?

First of all, if we know the value of employee engagement, then only we can understand the need. Just like any other relationship, trust, two-way commitment, integrity between both sides is important, similarly, it implies to employers and employees.

Employee engagement must not be confused with Employee Satisfaction. Employee Satisfaction suggests how happy, satisfied or subjective your employees are with pay scales, position, hygiene, perks provided from the organization. It does not measure their level of motivation, involvement, or commitment. The employee must be satisfied before they can be engaged. It's transformational rather transactional.

Why should an employer need to pay attention if an employee is engaged?

They:

• influence other employees

• are productive and profitable

• provide better customer service

• are enthusiastic about their work

• develop effective leadership skills

• are innovative for the organization

• take initiative

• lower absentees

Let's dig deeper, looking at the benefits, it’s evident that everyone wants employees that are enthusiastic and passionate and with a positive attitude.

Engaged Employees influence other employees:-

Engaged Employee develops the art of influencing other employees. They feel the urge to do something better and consistently work on their ability. They have the ability to fully acting as a member of the team, focused on common goals, trusted and empowered, developing new skills, and recognized for achievement. They set the Work Ethic standard for themselves as we as for the other co-workers.

"Influence is having people follow you because of what you represent." ― Paul Larsen

Engaged Employees are productive:

Engaged employees are more productive team members. They are highly committed to "go the extra mile" to make sure that they are doing their best. The more productive a team member is, the more likely that the entire team will notice, and follow to lift productivity, which is a win-win situation for the team and for the business.

“Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.” ― Franz Kafka

Engaged Employees provide Better Customer service:

"Happy Employees make Happy customers". This is very true in every area of work. If you are unhappy at work, the last thing you want to is to have a perky conversation with a customer. In a survey, it was noticed that workgroups with higher levels of engagement achieve 10% higher customer scores and a 20% increase in sales than those on the lower end. Happy customers keep coming back and they refer other people to your company when the employees are engaged to deliver the quality work.

“Satisfied customer is the best source of advertisement” ― G.S. Alag

Engaged employees are enthusiastic about their work:

Employee engagement is about organized actions that are consistent with the organization’s values. Engaged employees feel enthusiastic when they feel valued by such an organization's values. Employees who report feeling valued by their employers are far more likely to report they are motivated to do their very best for their employer.

“Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.” ― Gordon Parks

Engaged Employees develop effective Leadership Skills:

An engaged employee will show their passion for everything they do, including in the pursuit of learning how to develop leadership skills. The desire will be clear to other employees and inspire them to improve leadership skills, too.

"As a leader, you should look inward and focus on your own abilities and shortcomings, and ask yourself how you can find ways to empower and inspire your team" ―Tony Robbins

Engaged Employees take initiative:

A person who takes initiative will be a role model for others. Taking initiative shows the trademarks of a leader in the making. Get out of your comfort zone, take the risk, take initiative. Engaged employee builds the habit of taking initiative which strengthens their personal values. They feel responsible beyond their normal job responsibilities to make things happen.

“Real change is difficult at the beginning, but gorgeous at the end. Change begins the moment you get the courage and step outside your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.”― Roy T. Bennett

Engaged Employees are innovative for the organization:

It is evident by many surveys that engaged employees are more likely to be innovative than the unengaged. If you are dedicated to something with full energy you will think harder and innovate to make it even bigger. People develop innovation when they drafting connections between different ideas. It can be this as part of a group or alone.

"Innovation requires an experimental mindset". ―Denise Morrison

Less absentee:

Taking the occasional day off can be a sign that employees are engaged. They feel secure in their role, and they're confident one missed day won't affect the work to be accomplished. The deeper commitment from the employees results in fewer leaves, sick absence reduces, conflicts and grievances go down, productivity increases.

“Stop complaining and do something! Rise up! Grow up! And always show up!”

― Israelmore Ayivor

Bottom line

Employee engagement is worth it. According to BlessingWhite- Average organizations have 63% of their employees engaged, which is a good number. but who wants to be average. The great organization has 77% of its employees are engaged. And that's what drives success.

What are you doing to drive engagement? What changes are you making to move the needle on engagement? What are you doing for creating a culture of engagement which results in the collaborative success?