On employee engagement

Much is spoken about employee engagement, but what does it mean in practice?

Look for a definition of engagement, and you find the ‘harnessing of organisational members’ selves to their work roles’, and the notion of ‘flow’: the ‘holistic sensation’ that people feel when they act with total involvement. In effect, it is a modernised version of job satisfaction, and thus of morale, with the implied level of commitment to the job that accompanies it.

The academic literature is full of evidence of the links between levels of engagement and desirable business outcomes such as retention of talent, customer service, individual performance, team performance, business unit productivity, and even enterprise-level financial performance:

• Employee engagement scores account for as much as half of the variance in customer satisfaction scores. This translates into millions of pounds (or dollars) for companies if they can improve their scores.
• Studies have statistically demonstrated that engaged employees are more productive, more profitable, more customer-focused, safer, and less likely to leave their employer (employees with the highest level of commitment perform 20% better and are 87% less likely to leave the organisation).
• Another study found a 52% gap in operating incomes between companies with highly engaged employees and companies whose employees have low-engagement scores.

And yet, the literature suggests that only 29% of employees are actively engaged in their jobs. How to improve this?

Of course, the answers to this question are endless. But have you considered novel ways of investing in your employees, of showing that you value their contribution and that the values of your organisation are aligned with theirs? Read more about the benefits of a Skills Venture mentoring assignment to find out how we can help.

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