Employee engagement is getting up in the morning thinking, “Great, I’m going to work. I know what I’m going to do today. I’ve got some great ideas about how to do it really well. I’m looking forward to seeing the team and helping them work well today”.
Employee engagement is about understanding one’s role in an organization, and being sighted and energized on where it fits in the organization’s purpose and objectives.
Employee engagement is about having a clear understanding of how an organization is fulfilling its purpose and objectives, how it is changing to fulfill those better, and being given a voice in its journey to offer ideas and express views that are taken account of as decisions are made.
Employee engagement is about being included fully as a member of the team, focused on clear goals, trusted and empowered, receiving regular and constructive feedback, supported in developing new skills, thanked and recognized for achievement.
Engaged organizations have strong and authentic values, with clear evidence of trust and fairness based on mutual respect, where two-way promises and commitments – between employers and employees – are understood and fulfilled.
Employee engagement is about positive attitudes and behaviors leading to improved business outcomes, in a way that they trigger and reinforce one another.
Employee engagement is about our employees feeling pride and loyalty working for our organization, being a great advocate of the organization to our clients, users and customers, going the extra mile to finish a piece of work.
Employee engagement is about drawing on our employees’ knowledge and ideas to improve our products and services, and be innovative about how we work.
Employee engagement is about drawing out a deeper commitment from our employees so fewer leave, sick absence reduces, accident rates decline, conflicts and grievances go down, productivity increases.
Employee engagement is about organization actions that are consistent with the organization’s values. It is about kept promises, or an explanation why they cannot be kept.
Employee engagement cannot be achieved by a mechanistic approach which tries to extract discretionary effort by manipulating employees’ commitment and emotions. Employees see through such attempts very quickly and can become cynical and disillusioned.
