Lets get engaged!
June 13, 2008
Are congratulations in order? Well, no, as much as I’d like to be celebrating a lovely proposal from my other half, I’m not talking about a diamond ring… I’m talking about staff engagement, one of the favourite HR buzzwords of the century. HR gurus and managers go on about engagement all the time, so I’ve been considering what it is and what we have to do to get it.
Wikipedia describes employee engagement in the following way: “an engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work”. Obviously this has become such a big thing in recent years because of the increasing competitiveness in business, and the need for companies to ensure that they are delivering to better standards than their competitors. This, more often than not, means having better performing employees. Engagement can be seen therefore to be a key driver of business performance.
I don’t think the idea of engagement is new really – it stems from age old theories of motivation from the likes of Maslow and Hertzberg – what do you need to do or provide to make sure your employees have what they need, in order for them to be satisfied with their working experience and therefore motivated and committed to performing well for the company. Engaged employees are the ones who are proud to work for the organisation, will strive to perform above expectations and go the extra mile, and will stay with the company, even through challenging situations.
In the next article I’ll discuss what sorts of things employers can do to develop high levels of engagement.
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