What is Employee Engagement?

• How Employees Can Help Business Success in the Public Eye and Financial Sector
  What is Employee Engagement? “It’s a heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his or her organization, that influences him or her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work”.
• It’s Not Employee Happiness
  What does it actually mean by employee engagement? In a simple understanding, it doesn’t mean employee happiness. Yes, someone could be happy with their job, but it doesn’t mean they’re going to work hard to be productive for the organization. While ensuring happiness of employees is important, it’s not as important as keeping them engaged.
• It’s Not Employee Satisfaction
  Employee satisfaction is not employee engagement. Many businesses will carry out employee satisfaction surveys and executives will hold meetings about employee satisfaction. The problem, however, is that the bar isn’t very high. While a content employee will be on time to their job, he/she may not go the extra mile and will leave the first moment they have a chance to earn more money.
• It’s All About Emotional Commitment
  So, what is employee engagement if it’s not employee satisfaction or happiness? It’s the emotional commitment employees have regarding the business and its objectives. When there is an emotional commitment, employees care to engage in their job and provide the best service possible for the company. They’re not working solely for a paycheck or promotion; they’re working to help the company attain its goals.
• When employees care about their job – when they’re engaged in it – they don’t mind discretionary effort. What does this mean? Here are some examples:
  1. Engaged computer programmers will work overtime when called for (without the boss asking)
  2. Engaged retail clerks will pick trash up off the floor (even when the boss isn’t looking)

  Employees who are engaged in the business will ensure the business’ success. Towers Perrin research companies have revealed businesses with engaged workers tend to have a six percent higher net profit margin. Kenexa research shows that companies with engaged employees tend to have shareholder returns that are five times higher than businesses with just satisfied employees.

• How is it that employee engagement can cause stock prices to increase? It’s known as the Engagement-Profit Chain.
  1. When a business has engaged employees, it causes them to be more productive and produce higher quality service levels.
  2. This then leads to high customer satisfaction
  3. This leads to an uptick of sales (from referrals and repeat business)
  4. This leads to higher profit levels
  5. This then leads to high shareholder returns

Doug Conant, a former CEO for Campbell’s Soup, said, when businesses win in their workplace, they can win in the marketplace.