CHARACTERISTICS AND DRIVERS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

CHARACTERISTICS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Employees classified in to three types based on their engagement level as engaged, not engaged and actively disengaged (Gallup, Krueger and Killham, 2006). Engaged employees easy to identify as they stand apart from not engaged and actively disengaged employees. Engaged employees work with passion and willing to go for and extra mile to achieve organisational goals (Reilly, 2014). Disengaged employees are hard to identified as they spend the day uninspired and lack of motivation. Most importantly they are not disruptive and work just to fulfil their job (Reilly, 2014). Actively disengaged employees do not urge to work and always stay unhappy at work. Not only that they undermine the engaged employees’ efforts. These employees are more likely cave dwellers (Saunders and Tiwari, 2014).

Figure 3: The Three Types of Employees

(Source: Krueger and Killham, 2006)

DRIVERS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENTS

Key factors that drives employee engagement & its antecedents as follows (Crawford et al (2013) 

·        Job challenge-Higher responsibility higher work load of the job will ultimately create the potential for accomplishment and personal growth

·        Autonomy-provide ownership and allow employees to schedule the work of their own way 

·        Variety- provide such opportunities to utilise different skills in different activities which will improve the interest of the job

·        Feedback- provide clear feedback of the performance and their effectiveness

·        Fit-existence of the compatibility between employee & work environment

·        Opportunities for development- create pathways to growth of employee’s & make meaningful of their job 

·        Reward & recognition-Highlighting an employee’s direct and indirect time for his job role 

Tredgold, (2018) illustrate five steps that drives employee engagement as below

1)      To create sense of purpose

2)      Employee involvement

3)      Not over complicated things

4)      Empowerment

5)      Recognition

Though these factors drive engagement, Motivation plays a major role in employee engagement (Comaford, 2018). Engaged employees results in sustainable competitive advantage (Pandey, 2013)

Line managers played an important role in facilitating participation and providing clarity of purpose, assessing goals, and employee effort and contribution (Armstrong, 2016). Motivation is another element in employee engagement and if the employees are unsatisfied and not respected they will leave the organization (Comaford, 2018) and engaged employees results in sustainable competitive advantage (Pandey, 2013).

REFERENCE

 Armstrong, M. (2014) Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. 13th ed. London: Kogan Page.

Armstrong, M. (2016) Armstrong’s Handbook of Management and Leadership for HR (Developing effective people skills for better leadership and management).4^th edition. London:kogan page.

Comaford, C. (2018) Increase employee engagement by 300% with this daily practice https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2018/11/03/leaders-increase-employee-engagement-by-300-with-this-daily-practice/#5490c75b461e.

Crawford, E. R., Rich, B. L., Buckman, B. and Bergeron, J.(2013) Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice. 1st ed. London: Routledge.

Krueger, J., & Killham, E. (2006). Who's driving innovation at your company? Retrieved November 26, 2018, from Gallup News Business Journal, Sept. 14: http://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/24472/whos-driving-innovationyour-company.aspx

Saunders, L. and Tiwari, D (2014) Employee Engagement and Disengagement: Causes and Benefits. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT, 2(5), pp. 44-52.