Employee engagement

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Employee engagement is a concept that is generally viewed in terms of employees feeling a strong emotional bond to the organization that employs them. This is associated with people demonstrating a willingness to recommend the organization to others and commit time and effort to help the organization succeed. It suggests that people are motivated by intrinsic factors (e.g. personal growth, working to a common purpose, being part of a larger process) rather than simply focusing on extrinsic factors (e.g. pay / reward). The concept has gained popularity as various studies have demonstrated links with productivity. Watson Wyatt (2002) found that high-commitment organizations out-performed those with low commitment by 47%. In a study of professional service firms, the Hay Group found that offices with engaged employees were up to 43% more productive, based on a comparison of revenue generation.

Employee engagement is shaped by a number of distinct variables and these include individual attributes i.e personality, role characteristics, the quality of work relationships, and perceptions of the ethos and values of the organisation. Recent research has focused on developing a better understanding of how these variables interact and their link to important work outcomes. From the perspective of the employee, 'outcomes' range from strong commitment to disaffection. Access to a reliable model enables organisations to conduct validation studies to establish the relationship of employee engagement to productivity/performance and other measures linked to effectiveness (e.g. staff retention).

It is an important principle of occupational psychology (industrial and organizational psychology) that validation studies should be anchored in reliable scales (i.e cohesive groups of items) and not simply focus on individual elements in isolation. To understand how high levels of employee engagement affect organisational performance/productivity it is important to have an a priori model that demonstrates how the scales interact. There is currently relatively little published research that explains the dynamics of employee engagement, based on a coherent model. There is also overlap between this concept and those relating to well-being at work and the psychological contract.

As employee productivity is clearly correlated with employee engagement, creating an environment that encourages employee engagement is considered to be essential in the effective management of human capital.

Current studies suggest that employee engagement will be influenced by:

Employee perceptions of job importance
Employee clarity of job expectations
Career advancement/improvement opportunities
Regular feedback and dialogue with superiors
Quality of working relationships with peers, superiors, and subordinates
Perceptions of the ethos and values of the organisation

As additional research becomes available, the significance of the various factors will become more evident. At the present time, many organizations assess specific statements/perceptions without reference to a coherent model, or use benchmarking based on scales that display no evidence of psychometric reliability. This is short-sighted as reliable metrics are essential for effective decision making.

Employee engagement

See also