What is Employee Engagement?
Employee engagement is an important concept for businesses: clear correlations have been drawn between high levels of engagement and business success. Companies with high levels of employee engagement outperform those with lower levels of engagement, all other factors being equal. There are numerous definitions and conceptualisations of what employee engagement is, and what it is not. Employee engagement is not simply ‘employee happiness’ or ‘employee satisfaction’. Employees may be happy at work, but this does not necessarily mean that they are working optimally for the benefit of the organisation. In a similar way, a satisfied employee may consistently show up for each working day and seem content, but might not show any initiative, or go the extra mile to do his or her job with excellence. It is undisputed that a high level of engagement is desirable, and that involvement, passion, enthusiasm, commitment, focused effort and energy are necessary to achieving an engaged workforce. An employee who is engaged has an emotional commitment to the goals of the organisation, and, out of his or her own volition, takes positive action to further the success, reputation and interests of the company. Emotional commitment suggests that employees care about their work and the success of the company: they work not only to earn a salary at the end of the month, but also to achieve success for the organisation.
Value of employee engagement in organisations
Engaged employees lead to better business outcomes: their levels of service, productivity and work quality are higher, which leads to increased client satisfaction. This, in turn, leads to increased sales, resulting in higher profits, which ultimately produces higher levels of growth and stability for all concerned in the business. Based on the results of surveys conducted with employees the world over, it is clear that engagement contributes to business success through various mechanisms. Put simply, companies with engaged employees outperform counterparts with lower engagement levels by a significant margin. Statistics show that a five per cent increase in engagement yields three per cent increase in revenue in the following business year. High engagement also results in lower staff turnover, which can be very costly to companies.
The state of employee engagement in South Africa and globally
Despite widespread recognition of the importance of employee engagement to business, reports find surprisingly low levels of engagement globally. Gallup reports that only 13 per cent of employees working for organisations worldwide are engaged, and that this number is has remained stagnant over the last 15 years. It is clear, however, that companies that invested in a scientifically and experientially validated approach to engagement reaped the benefit of this investment: their engagement scores were significantly higher than that in companies which conducted unfocused, invalidated annual surveys. It is essential that the focus of companies is to improve, not only measure, engagement. If they are committed to acting on the results of the surveys, employee engagement will increase as a result of these actions.
In South Africa, the Gallup survey produced alarming findings: only nine per cent of the workforce is actively engaged. Of the 91 per cent who were disengaged, 45 per cent were actively disengaged, meaning that they were very negative about their job and work environment, and likely to spread that negativity to co-workers. Only the most highly educated South Africans, and those in professional job categories, reported balanced levels of engagement (i.e. about 50 per cent engaged and the other 50 per cent disengaged). Gallup’s survey revealed that fewer than 20 per cent of South Africans feel that their opinions count at work, or that their supervisors encourage their development.
Leadership failings were highlighted in South Africa, with 67 per cent of the staff surveyed indicating that they want their managers to lead and communicate better. A majority of South Africans in the workforce (58 per cent) do not believe that they have adequate opportunity to contribute to decisions that affect them. Of the South Africans surveyed, 20 per cent were disinterested in their work, and while 50 per cent reported that they were satisfied at work, employee satisfaction does not necessarily indicate that they are actively contributing to the success of the company they work for. Clearly, this leaves much room for development and enhancement of engagement strategies to improve levels of employee engagement.
Conclusion
Building an engaged workforce is a long-term and on-going process, but it is a worthwhile investment as increased engagement leads to increases in profit, productivity and efficiency. The Motto point of entry with our clients is through our independent reliable measuring instruments used to determine to what extent staff and leadership are engaged; focused on the strategic business goals of the organisation; and what their current mindset is. This is an ideal way to determine the internal culture and climate of the organisation.
We believe: ‘If you can measure it, you can manage it.’
Reference:
Kelly and Quest Staffing Solutions (Pty) Ltd. 2018. A Workforce of Human Beings: Towards a Holistic View of Employee Engagement. [23 July 2018]
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