Employee Engagement is the name of the game (Part 2)

Is a “happy” employee an engaged employee?  Do happy workers translate to hardworking and productive employees? And if so can company fun days/outings, free lunches and Friday casual days which are fun, sustain employee happiness? –Experience would indicate that whilst these efforts may be beneficial for other reasons, they cannot sustain ongoing employee happiness and more importantly making employees happy does not equate to them being engaged.

Is a satisfied employee and engaged employee? Satisfied employees may turn up for work day in day out without complaint, yet have very little impact and influence. Can those “satisfied” employees be motivated to go above and beyond just because or are they biding time, doing the minimum and just staying below the radar? Satisfied isn’t enough.

Quality trumps quantity in most areas of life and this is no exception. The frequency of lunches, performance reviews, volunteer program outings, and team-building exercises does not produce higher levels of employee engagement. Employee engagement is determined by the quality and meaningfulness of these interactions, and more importantly, the compelling journey managers and leaders are enlisting their employees to engage in. 

Thanks to a much deeper statistical analysis of more than 2 million workplace observations from employees around the world (The Global How report) we now know the source of engagement has nothing to do with breaking bread and everything to do with the extent to which trust, values, and mission actually inspire and drive daily activities and interactions.

Every organization has some supply of trust, values, and mission; however, the research shows that the companies with super-engaged employees treat these core enablers as a reactor. When this reactor “heats up,” it produces truly inspired employees who want to build cathedrals rather than merely lay bricks.

Our existing approach to employee engagement only produces brick-layers: people who perform tasks for money; people who may briefly become more productive in these tasks via one-off awards, bonuses and other motivations (whose positive effects fade as quickly as sugar highs); and people who feel stuck in unsatisfying, dead-end jobs when they truly desire careers.

This definition encapsulates the true essence of engagement: Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.

This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work, their company, and all stakeholders. They don’t work just for a pay cheque, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization’s goals and compelling vision. They want to make a difference.

When employees care—when they are engaged—they use discretionary effort.

This means the engaged IT programmer works overtime when needed, without being asked. This means the engaged retail clerk picks up the trash on the store floor, even if the boss isn’t watching. This means customer services will call a distressed customer, even if their shift is over.

Engaged employees lead to better business outcomes. 

  • According to Towers Perrin research companies with engaged workers have 6% higher net profit margins

  • According to Kenexa research, engaged companies have five times higher shareholder returns over five years.

Engaged Employees lead to…

  • higher service, quality, and productivity, which leads to…

  • higher customer satisfaction, which leads to…

  • increased sales (repeat business and referrals), which leads to…

  • higher levels of profit, which leads to…

  • higher shareholder returns (i.e., stock price)

Questions worth considering:

  1. Does your Organisation transform a workforce of bricklayers into a highly focused, coordinated and inspired team of cathedral-builders whose inspired work generates both success and significance for your companies and the greater community?

  2. Do your leaders understand that engaging and mobilising a diverse workforce towards fulfilling a compelling vision is one of their core responsibilities just as important, if not more so, than cost control, revenue generation and continuous organisational improvement?  

  3. Are your leaders ABLE and ready to create engagement or are they unknowingly responsible for the very disengagement which is eating into your bottom line?  

 

References:

Tina Shahengagement, leadership