What is Employee Engagement?
Engaged employees are those who are totally absorbed in their work, working longer and harder, taking on additional assignments and all focused on the needs of the organisation.
What affects Employee Engagement?
A review of the research by Ruyle, Eichinger & De Meuse (2009) identified the following 11 main factors affecting Employee Engagement.
1. Strategic Alignment – employees work is in line with where the business is going and how it is going to get there
2. Trust in Senior Leadership – Employees believe in, trust and follow senior leaders
3. Immediate Manager Working Relationship – the quality of the management team directly impacts the performance and retention of employees
4. Peer Culture – effective peer relationships leads to highly engaged, productive employees and drives organisation performance
5. Personal Influence – employees feel that they can strive to seek better ways of doing things, to innovate new ideas and that their efforts (be they successful or not) will be recognised
6. Nature of my Career – providing employees with meaningful career paths, that will inspire and provide them with a variety of opportunities to grow and develop and lead to their goals
7. Career Support – providing employees with the opportunity to develop through assignments or key jobs
8. Nature of the Job – providing employees with jobs that are designed to challenge them; that are a good fit with employees skills, qualifications, experience
9. Development Opportunities – providing employees not only with formal learning programmes but also with the opportunity to practice their newly acquired skills and knowledge on the job under the watchful eye and also the opportunity to learn from others outside formal learning programmes.
10. Employee Recognition – recognising in a sincere and timely manner employee contributions and incremental improvements
11. Pay Fairness – motivate employees by implementing equitable pay linked to performance and also to the type of the company (e.g. industry leader or follower)
What One Factor affects Employee Engagement the Most?
Research indicates that the single most important factor to drive employee engagement and retention is the Immediate Manager Working Relationship.
Good management is critical to the success of retaining and engaging employees and bad management is often cited as the reasons why employees leave their job.
Good People Managers are competent in informing employees of what is required and expected from them, providing feedback on their performance, providing opportunities for their development, delegating appropriate levels of responsibility and setting priorities. They are approachable, fair, good listeners and establish and maintain good relationships with their direct reports and other key colleagues.
How We Can Help You?
We provide employers with support and advice, by phone, email and on-site, for all employment law and HR matters. Our Employment Law and HR Support Service is a must for all employers. Find out more by clicking here
Next Steps
If you are an employer and have any questions, please contact your CollierBroderick HR Advisor, call us on 01 8666426, contact us, or email us on enquiries@collierbroderick.
