Business Imperative of

Employee Engagement

Organizations that fail to

engage their employees fail
to realise value.

Defining Engagement
The extent to which an employee is committed to their
work and their organization, and the extent to which this
commitment impacts their performance and intent to
stay with the organization.
A positive attitude held by the employee towards the
organisation and its value. An engaged employee is
aware of business contexts and works with colleagues to
improve performance within the job.
The extent to which employees identify with, are
motivated by, and are willing to expend energy and extra
effort for their employer.

So What is it?
Based on these definitions, engagement is the sum
total of the behaviour employees espouse in the
organisation which primarily should be
characterised by:
Belief in the organisation
Drive to work and make things better
Respect and support for others
Desire to learn new skills

Engagement is Commitment
Based
Rational Commitment:
Employees believe they will personally benefit financially, developmentally, or professionally from
the team or organization. It makes sense for them to
stay with the organization.
Emotional Commitment:
Believing in, valuing, or enjoying their day-to-day
work, teams, managers or organizations. Because
they can make a link between their role and
organizational objectives and value system, and they
enjoy or find fulfillment in the work

ISR report
Organizations with highly engaged employees have
lower staff
turnover, and lower absenteeism. The most dramatic
results are seen
when engagement is measured in the context of other
business
measures. In organizations with high levels of
engagement operating
income improved by 19.2 percent over 12 months, while
in
organizations with low levels of engagement
it declined by 32.7 percent

Rational Commitment
Driven By

Remuneration
Incentives
Career growth opportunities
Health benefits
Work environment
Learning and development opportunities
Work-life balance

Rational commitment drives intent to stay RETENTION

Emotional Commitment
Driven By
Enjoyment of ones job
Role clarity
Understanding the link between ones job
and organisational strategy
Belief in organisational values
Respect in direct manager, team and
organisation

Emotional commitment drives discretionary

effort - PERFORMANCE

Tangible Business Benefits

Better performance: engaged employees work smarter.
They keep looking for ways to improve performance. This
means more sales, lower costs, better quality and
innovative products.
Greater stakeholder satisfaction: engaged employees
go out of their way to meet stakeholder needs leading to
customer retention and reducing the cost to business of
acquiring or attracting new customers.
Lower employee turnover and greater ability to
attract key talent: engaged employees dont leave at the
rate their disengaged counterparts do, despite offers to
work elsewhere or opportunities arising elsewhere.

Drivers of Engagement
One of the strongest drivers is a sense of feeling valued
and involved. This has four key components:
1.The opportunities employees have to develop
themselves through their jobs and career
opportunities
2.The extent to which the organisation is concerned for
employees health and wellbeing
3.Involvement in decision making, and
4.The extent to which employees feel able to voice their
ideas, and managers listen to these views and value
employees contributions

Complimentary Drivers

Senior managements interest in employees well-being

Challenging work
Decision-making authority
Evidence that the company is focused on customers
Career advancement opportunities
The companys reputation as a good employer
A collaborative work environment where people work
well in teams
Resources to get the job done
Input on decision making
A clear vision from senior management about future
success.

Dimensions of Engagement

Source: Corporate Leadership Council

Rational
Rational Commitment:
Commitment: The
The
Extent
Extent to
to which
which employees
employees
believe
believe that
that managers,
managers, teams
teams
or
or organisations
organisations have
have their
their
interests
interests in
in mind.
mind.

Emotional
Emotional Commitment:
Commitment: The
The
extent
extent to
to which
which employees
employees
value,
value, enjoy,
enjoy, and
and believe
believe in
in
their
their jobs,
jobs, managers,
managers, teams
teams
or
or organisations.
organisations.

Day
Day to
to Day
Day Work
Work

Team
Team

Direct
Direct Manager
Manager

Organisation
Organisation

Intent
Intent to
to stay
stay Employee
Employee
desire
to
stay
with
desire to stay with the
the
organisation,
based
organisation, based on
on
whether
whether they
they intend
intend
to
to look
look for
for aa job
job within
within aa
year.
year.

Discretionary
Discretionary Effort:
Effort:
Employees
Employees willingness
willingness to
to
go
above
and
beyond
the
go above and beyond the
call
call of
of duty.
duty.

Retention
Retention

Performance
Performance

Only Useful Engagement is

Directed
If engagement does not lead to increased
effort, and or intent to stay, it is not directed.
Engagement drivers are those things that will
enhance an employees directed commitment
to the organisation.
Simply put, they are an exploration of the
conditions under which are employees are
either engaged or disengaged and examine
what happens under both conditions.

Why is it an issue now?

Greater and more challenging
opportunities arise for employees
Greater mobility of the workforce
The war for talent is intensifying
Businesses under more pressure to
perform

1.Right Employees in the Right Job

Skills to do the job (can do) and that their jobs tap into their personal
motivators (will do).
Effectively deploy talents
When job fit is high, an employee performs better and is more likely to stay
with the organisation.
Engagement propensity
In ten studies across six organisations and seven job families (using a
number of propensity test items) it was found that engagement was
significantly correlated to these six factors:
Attachment to the job
Agreeableness
Emotional stability
Openness to experience
Achievement orientation
Self efficacy
These findings show that in addition to assessing motivational job fit when
hiring new employees, organisations can use appropriate and validated
tests to identify employees who are more likely to be engaged on the job.

2. Exceptional Leadership

Employee engagement is directly affected by the quality of

leadership.
Leaders have the influence and power to serve as catalysts for
higher levels of engagement, not only in one or two areas, but in
all aspects of leadership.
Our research shows that:
More engaged managers have more engaged direct reports
The direct reports of engaged managers are less likely to leave
the organisation
Higher performing managers have direct reports who are more
highly engaged
Engaged leaders understand that their role is not to take charge of
all the decisions, but to be more encouraging.
Its about recognition for a job well done holding people
accountable for their performance.

3. Organisational Systems and

Processes

It almost has to go without saying organisations need strong

systems and strategies that support and foster engagement.
Examples of these systems are:
Screening at hiring
promotion,
performance management,
recognition,
compensation,
training and career development.
Aligned, these systems provide a firm foundation upon which to
accelerate engagement.
A shaky or incomplete foundation will make your efforts to build
engagement more difficult, if not impossible.

Value Proposition
ENGAGEMENT
ENGAGEMENT DRIVERS
DRIVERS
Right
Right employees
employees in
in the
the right
right
jobs
jobs
Exceptional
Exceptional leadership
leadership
Organisational
Organisational systems
systems and
and
strategies
strategies
INPUT
WORK
WORK ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENT
Aligned
Aligned effort
effort and
and strategy
strategy
Empowerment
Empowerment
Teamwork/collaboration
Teamwork/collaboration
Growth
Growth and
and development
development
Support
and
Support and recognition
recognition

ENGAGED
ENGAGED EMPLOYEES
EMPLOYEES
Intend
to
stay
Intend to stay longer
longer
Enhanced
effort
Enhanced effort

ORGANISATIONAL
ORGANISATIONAL SUCCESS
SUCCESS
Satisfied
/
loyal
customers
Satisfied / loyal customers
Increased
Increased retention
retention
Higher
Higher output,
output, productivity
productivity
and/or
profits
and/or profits
Revenue/
Revenue/ value
value growth
growth

OUTPUT

Introspection
Am an engaged HR leader?
How engaged is my workforce?
Is engagement something important
for my organisation

Conclusion
Engagement is the extent to which an
employee is committed to their job, and the
extent to which this commitment drives their
performance and intent to stay with the
organisation.
Engagement does not just materialise,
organisations must hire employees who fit the
job, develop leaders and provide support
through strong systems and strategies.
Further more, organisations must invest in
understanding, measuring and developing
solutions to engagement challenges.