The importance of employee engagement (EE) is becoming a highly discussed issue as it has a positive impact on work environment and employees. When applied correctly, EE can enhance the productivity level and general atmosphere in the organization. Therefore, the necessity of investigating the advantages of EE is completely justified.
Increasing Importance of Employee Engagement
EE is explained as a level of dedication of the worker to his/ her company and its values (Anitha 308). When a person is engaged, he/she realizes the accountability to business aims and stimulates other employees to do their best to reach the company’s objectives. In the current business world, where competitive spirit is the driving force, EE is getting more and more significant. Kahn remarks that people are stimulated to get professionally engaged according to the following psychological factors: safety, meaningfulness, and availability (qtd. in Anthony-McMann et al. 3).
Employees are divided into three groups: engaged, not engaged, and actively disengaged (Anitha 310). The first group consists of people who are trying to be proficient in their positions. The second group is represented by workers performing the tasks which are dictated to them rather than company’s aims. The third group is the riskiest one as it consists of people who undermine the firm’s values by not doing their job properly and discouraging others (Anitha 310). Thus, it is vital to thoroughly consider the ways of EE and implement these strategies in the workplace.
Business Benefits Presented by Employee Engagement
Apart from improving the company’s productivity, EE offers several other significant benefits. For example, highly-engaged companies have a better success rate and a lower turnover level (Breevaart et al. 140-141). Also, engagement significantly improves people’s health and quality of their work. Other advantages include profitability and employee satisfaction. When a company has a well-developed EE program, both the owners and employees benefit from it.
To gain business benefits with the help of EE, special features are needed in companies. Supervisory feedback is noted to have a positive impact on the implementation of EE (Menguc et al. 2163). Transformational leadership is another constructive feature which helps to produce the best outcomes of the EE process (Breevart et al. 139). Advantages for the organization and its managers are presented by higher profits and better image of the company. What concerns customers, they benefit from better services and higher product quality.
Application of Employee Engagement
One of the ways of applying EE is through organizational citizenship which presupposes people’s voluntary dedication to their work. Another good approach is encouraging discretional behavior which results in people’s willingness to perform beyond the expected norm. Job design is a crucial motivation method for the managers who want their employees to show better performance (Truss et al. 2657). Job design involves organization of favorable work environment and conditions so as to keep the employees satisfied with their work.
As it is a mediating variable, EE is closely connected with organizational-level consequences (Saks and Gruman 169). Thus, it is necessary to create a highly motivational environment in the company. Role autonomy may be a helpful tool here. When people are allowed to take part in designing their schedule, they feel more satisfied, become more motivated and show better performance.
Conclusion
EE is a vital part of modern business sphere. Successful implementation of EE brings about many advantages for the organizations and workers. It can increase profits and enroll more customers. Additionally, it has a positive influence on the employees who become more dedicated and make their companies more prosperous. Knowledge about EE will be useful in my working practice as it explains how to raise the efficiency of the employees, productivity of the company, and cooperation with the customers.
Works Cited
Anitha, Jagannathan. “Determinants of Employee Engagement and Their Impact on Employee Performance.” International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 63, no. 3, 2014, pp. 308-323.
Anthony-McMann, Paula E., et al. “Exploring Different Operationalizations of Employee Engagement and Their Relationships with Workplace Stress and Burnout.” Human Resource Development Quarterly, vol. 4, 2016, pp. 1-33.
Breevaart, Kimberley, et al. “Daily Transactional and Transformational Leadership and Daily Employee Engagement.” Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, vol. 87, no. 1, 2014, pp. 138-157.
Menguc, Bulent, et al. “To Be Engaged or not to Be Engaged: The Antecedents and Consequences of Service Employee Engagement.” Journal of Business Research, vol. 66, no. 11, 2013, pp. 2163-2170.
Saks, Alan M., and Jamie A. Gruman. “What Do We Really Know About Employee Engagement?” Human Resource Development Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 2, 2014, pp. 155-182.
Truss, Catherine, et al. “Employee Engagement, Organizational Performance and Individual Well-Being: Exploring the Evidence, Developing the Theory.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 24, no. 14, 2013, pp. 2657-2669.