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Employee engagement can be defined as a commitment to the organisation and its values which goes beyond the employment contract itself and encompasses an active willingness to help out colleagues and line managers. It goes deeper than job satisfaction and is far more than motivation itself. Engagement involves going the extra mile. It's all about being completely absorbed in ones work and focussed to the point where you lose track of time. It involves bringing your heart and soul to work as well as your head .It is essentially all about passionate work. Little wonder then that all companies are preoccupied with it right now and recognise the direct correlation with increased productivity and business performance which ultimately translates to bottom line profits. People who are engaged perform twenty percent better. Happy works make great business sense, leading to reduced absenteeism, satisfied customers, increased staff retention which assists a company's brand reputation when attempting to attract new recruits. With the average cost of a new hire at around nine thousand pounds it pays to keep the ones you have happy. When it comes to motivation and engagement, however, everyone is different and a one size fits all policy isn't going to work. The current reality of the engagement situation by line managers and employees alike is a very mixed bag. Loyalty has been further weakened over the last two years because of the extensive cost-cutting and redundancy programmes through the recession. The workplace has become more stressful, less satisfying, more pressurised and less supportive. There is a big disconnect between heart and head. Despite the introduction of a number of initiatives to boost employee morale, much of the situation appears to rest on the fact that workers still appear to be treated more as resources rather than as whole human beings with body, heart, mind and spirit and are easily expendable in difficult times. As many as one in four employees report bullying as a daily or weekly occurrence. A third of all Brits are so stressed they dream of quitting their jobs for a life abroad and greater time freedom . Downshifting is on the increase with twenty five percent of Brits aged between thirty and thirty-nine having downsized in the last ten years. Most have either reduced their hours or stopped work altogether or changed careers and ninety percent of those studied concluded being happier as a result. A top level government inquiry in spring 2009 into employee engagement reported that nearly half of all directors surveyed considered employee engagement as critical to assisting their company's performance levels. The survey also highlighted that at least one out of every two managers were still making decisions behind closed doors. Worst still, two thirds of managers were telling their employees what to do or expecting them to catch on to what had been decided with only one third making the effort to explain their decisions to their people. People are emotional first and rational second regarding preferences, likes and dislikes and workplace conditions. Thinking of human beings as emotional/rational creatures isn't new but encouraging a work environment that leverages that truth is. The role of leaders has changed significantly over the years with the old-school command and control tactics being less effective in today's society where people genuinely want more empowerment in their work. They are looking for leaders who inspire them and engage them with energy and passion, creativity and innovation. These issues are not IQ issues but EQ or emotional intelligence issues.
Unfortunately these kinds of leaders are still very rare and there is still a predominance of left-brain rational thinking. There are too many examples of egotistical Chief executives and low trust cultures with an abuse of power at the top where there is one rule for the figurehead and a very different rule for their employees. The new leaders need to lead with far greater authenticity, transparency, integrity, humility and compassion if they are to win the hearts as well as the minds of their people. Workplaces need to be far more about nurturing, coaching and facilitating personal growth and development of their talent. The top three engagement factors are; 1) Relationship with your line manager
2) Relationship with your colleagues
3) Recognition for your efforts and feeling valued for your contribution.
Many of the employee attitude surveys highlight the critical importance of communication and involvement in the decision-making process. Employees want the freedom to voice their ideas and opinions and to have the opportunity to develop their role without being exploited. Health and well-being consideration is also growing more in significance given the aging workforce and growth in dependents and increase in the levels of corporate stress.
Engagement is really about going with the flow not driving harder but bringing about the conditions under which people can work more effectively, for example, a healthy work and life balance rather than a long hour's culture where you get the emergence of presenteeism. Getting in the flow of work is possible with increased autonomy, support and feedback as well as variety and responsibility. Getting in flow and being one hundred percent focussed on the task in hand is the exact opposite of multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is devastating to your success because you are distracted, absent, out of flow and engagement is really about being in the now to stimulate greater creativity to bring about solutions and ideas which are unique and original. The new decade brings with it an opportunity to shape a new era of personal and business thinking based on the simple premise that the future is not what it used to be. It is everyone's birthright to be able to live a happy and engaged life full of promise and opportunity. The big difference today is that people are more aware and determined to do something about it. It is a future based on simplicity of purpose and on success being measured not by primarily material possessions but also by contribution and people discovering what they really want to do and who they really are. It becomes a way of life in which we take back control of our lives and in which organisations realise that the only way people will give of their best is because they really want to. We fulfil the demands of our work without being controlled by it and are free spirits with value and imagination. By treating individuals as whole human beings and improving the real quality of life for their staff, profitable growth across business will be automatic.
Kath Roberts has spent 12 years of her working life in senior leadership roles and is now a successful home-based entrepreneur.She coaches individuals looking for lifestyle change and the chance to be their own boss. To learn more please visit Alchemy4thesoul.com:
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