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(Empxtrack, 2016) |
Employee
Engagement is a new concept attracting more importance in recent years. It considers
employees as the key to the organization’s success. Employees engagement with
organization can depends on many drivers. Today, employee engagement is seen as
a powerful tool of competitive advantage. It is management’s responsibility to
ensure that employees perform at work rather than just they come to work. In
other words, employees must come to work not only by physically but also by mentally
and emotionally (Bedarkar, 2014).
Many
researches have tried to identify drivers leading to employee engagement. According
to Mani (2011), employee welfare, empowerment, employee growth and
interpersonal relationships are the main drivers. Penna (2007) researchers
defined a new model “Hierarchy of engagement” which is like Maslow’s need hierarchy
model. Pay and working conditions are the basic needs of an employee. Once
satisfied, then the employee looks for learning and development opportunities.
Then possibility for promotion and then for leadership and respect. Finally, employee
looks to an alignment of value-meaning, which is related to a true sense of connection,
a common purpose and a shared sense of meaning at work.
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(Vaughn, 2018) |
Most drivers
that lead to employee engagement are non-financial. Therefore, organizations
can easily reach the desired level of engagement with less cost. Financial
factor can be a motivator. Therefore, it is important to not to forget financial
aspect which can be easily linked with performance of the employee (Markos,
2010). It is also identified that employee engagement results in employee
performance which can further lead to organizational performance. Therefore, true
employee engagement leads to better financial performance of the organization.
If an
employee engages to work, he or she will feel an ownership, and come work to perform.
Job will not be a burden and produce a greater result in more efficient manner (Robertson-Smith
and Markwick, 2009). Engagement also
provides mindfulness, motivation, creativity, authenticity, non-defensive
communication, ethical behavior (Kahn 1990). Employees would become advocacy of
organization and retain with organization. In other words, organization will
enjoy a better employee retention, employee productivity, and ultimately business
success (Robertson-Smith and Markwick, 2009). Similar research by Harter et al.
(2002) reveals that employee engagement will result in better customer
satisfaction, productivity, profit and employee turnover, which would pave the
path to business success.
References
Bedarkar, M. and Pandita, D. (2014) ‘A study on the drivers
of employee engagement impacting employee performance’, Procedia - Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 133(2014), pp. 106-115.
Empxtrack (2016) Did you notice changes in employee
engagement in 2015?. Available at: https://empxtrack.com/blog/did-you-notice-changes-in-employee-engagement-in-2015/
(Accessed: 31 December 2019).
Harter, J.K., Schmidt, F.L. and Hayes, T.L. (2002) 'Business
unit level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and
business outcomes: a meta analysis', Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), pp.
268-279.
Kahn, W.A. (1990) ‘Psychological Conditions of Personal
Engagement and Disengagement at Work’, Academy of Management Journal. 33(4),
pp. 692-724.
Mani, V. (2011) ‘Analysis of Employee Engagement and its
predictors’, International Journal of Human Resource Studies’, 1(2). Pp. 15-26.
Markos, S. and Sridevi, M. (2010) ‘Employee Engagement: The
Key to Improving Performance’, International Journal of Business and Management,
5(12), pp. 89-96.
Penna (2007) Meaning at Work Research Report. Available: https://www.ciodevelopment.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/2006-10-08-08-36-31_Penna-Meaning-at-Work-Report.pdf
(Accessed: 31 December 2019).
Robertson-Smith, G. and Markwick, C. (2009) ‘Employee
Engagement: A Review of Current Thinking’, Institute for Employment Studies.
Vaughn, G. (2018) How to Measure Employee Engagement for a
Better Workplace. Available at: https://medium.com/@zef.fi/how-to-measure-employee-engagement-for-a-better-workplace-9daca615f64d
(Accessed: 31 December 2019).