Boosting Organizational Performance Through Employee Engagement

By Ernie A. Cevallos

For a business to have sustainable growth, one of the fundamentals that must be right is that of keeping talent for every key role well engaged. For several years now, employee engagement has been a popular issue in corporate circles. It is a concept that has gained the attention of business pundits, research organizations, HR managers, as well as the executive suite. The basic notion is that when employees are engaged, they will be motivated to act in ways that further their organization's interests, and have no reason to leave their jobs for greener pastures.

One of the hallmarks of good management is to attract and keep top talent. In view of that, the typical rewards using carrot and sticks to keep employees engaged is a commonly used approach, but is only a partial measure. To engage employees requires a combination of intrinsic (boss relations, belonging, recognition, personal development, growth, etc.) and extrinsic rewards (salary, incentives, benefits, perks, etc.) that communicate to employees what behavior is desired, and what kind of climate the business wishes to create for its members (Lawler 163-226). Unmistakably, dissatisfaction among employees can lead to high turn-over, perhaps even absenteeism and withholding of work, all of which are detriments to sound organizational performance.

So how does employee engagement factor in the equation? Many studies have been published about the topic by top research firms such as Towers Perrin, Gallup, Corporate Leadership Council and others. It turns out that these studies came up with different key drivers and inferences. Each of the studies used unique definitions, and came up with varied key drivers of engagement. For instance, some studies accentuated the underlying cognitive issues, while others focused on the underlying emotional issues.

Enter The Conference Board, a well recognized non-profit organization known for its essential business intelligence and forward-looking best practices. Recognizing the importance of the topic, The Conference Board published "Employee Engagement, a Review of Current Research and its Implications". This updated (2006) research came up with unifying definitions and key themes that combined the data from all the studies:

1. Trust and integrity: Is the leadership credible and do words match actions?
2. Nature of the job: Is the job relevant and mentally stimulating day-to-day?
3. Line of sight between employee performance and company performance: Is it well understood how individual performance and contributions affect the business?
4. Career growth opportunities: Are there real career path options that create opportunities for advancement and greater responsibility?
5. Pride about the company: How much self-esteem and pride is derived by being affiliated with the company?
6. Coworkers/team members: Is the work environment one that engenders cooperation and team work, and produces a sense of belonging?
7. Employee development: Are there programs to develop skills, and is there an interest to cultivate employee’s talents?
8. Relationship with one's manager: Is there a healthy and professional boss-subordinate relationship?

If you did not notice, the key themes affecting employee engagement lean towards an “intrinsic” nature, or those rewards that come from the nature of the work itself, and have to do with how employees feel about themselves, their work, and their company. Any consideration of rewards in engaging employees must start with the recognition that while rewards, both intrinsic and extrinsic, are important to all people in an organization, not all rewards are equally important to everyone. For example, some rate pay as the most important reward, while others rate it significantly less, and often behind things like security, recognition, opportunity for advancement, and company management. Notably, all studies agreed that the direct relationship with one's manager is the strongest of all drivers.

Presented with this valuable research work, how do you know if you are succeeding? You need a measuring stick to assess the strength of your workplace. The Gallup organization is one of the organizations that delved into the topic, and its research produced a set of 12 questions that determine the characteristics of your workplace (Buckingham et al. 28). If employees can answer each of the questions positively, you are likely to have a workplace where the best want to work and stay:

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the equipment and material I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last month, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor or someone a work seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my work is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, have I talked to someone about my progress?
12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

There is understandable and increasing evidence that high levels of employee engagement strongly correlate to personal, group and business performance in areas such as retention, turnover, productivity, customer service, and loyalty. The reported improvements are no just by small margins. The studies show that highly engaged employees do better than their disengaged counterparts by a whopping 20-28 percentage points! With this kind of upside it makes sense to do what is right in fostering a great workplace, and becoming the consensus employer of choice.

Works Cited

Lawler, Edward. “Reward Systems in Improving Life at Work: Behavioral Science Approaches to Organizational Change. “ Ed. Hackman and Suttle. California: Goodyear Publishing, 1977.

"Employee Engagement, a Review of Current Research and its Implications." 11 Sept. 2006. The Conference Board.
<http://www.conference-board.org/knowledge/knowledgeProd.cfm?id=1238&nav=hr>.

Buckingham et al. First Break All the Rules. New York: Simon & Shuster, 1999.