Employee Engagement – Definition, Benefits and Strategies

Employees are the lifeline of any business. Employee engagement is an often-spoken word not only in conferences by HR experts but also at board meetings within companies. In HR discussions too, it finds a place where the entire HR team tries to iron out possible employee engagement strategies, discussing the pros and cons of each.

We will be discussing some employee engagement models and employee engagement strategies in HR for this blog. The engagement models would depend on the kind of business. And as a disclaimer, these strategies should work for a business of any size but pick the ones you feel would be the best for your business. Before we get to that, let us first understand the meaning of employee engagement.

What Is Employee Engagement?

The extent of commitment and connection that an employee feels toward his work, team and his company is called employee engagement. It is reflected in the way employees think, feel and act towards their peers, their managers and others in the company. It might also affect how employees engage with the company’s customers.

What Are the Benefits of Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement brings a host of benefits to the table:

1. Increased productivity: Engaged employees complete their tasks on-time and with great accuracy
2. Excellent work environment: Happy employees bring an atmosphere of calm and purpose perfect for learning and upskilling
3. Better customer relationships: Engaged employees build better relationships with customers
4. Higher employee retention: Satisfied employees are less likely to leave the organization even in a crisis
5. Increased innovation: Creativity and innovation of employees engaged with work is very high
6. Greater collaboration: Engaged employees work better together and with others in a team
7. Enhanced leadership: Employee engagement makes for great leaders, and ideas from leaders better reach employees too.
8. Improved health: Engaged employees are happier and healthier, with a lower risk of burnout.

What Are the Models for Employee Engagement in HR?

The Aon Hewitt Model for employee engagement looks at six basic elements of the work experience in a company that can drive employee engagement. These are the factors that contribute to employee engagement that are within the company’s control.

1. Work that is assigned to employees
2. Peers and managers, they work with
3. Growth opportunities they have access to
4. Rewards received, including bonuses
5. Practices such as DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging)
6. Job security and stability and work-life balance

Once a company plans and achieves positives in all the above, it can then measure the performance of the employee engagement program by looking at three things pertaining to how employees behave. These three things are:

1. Say —Say positive things about the company, their work, and their colleagues
2. Stay —Feel they belong and want to be part of the company
3. Strive —Are motivated to put in their best effort

So, if employees have great things to say about the company, want to stay with the company, and at the same time are at their best, then you can rest assured that you have an engaged workforce.

Applicability: This model can be used by large organizations to get a bird’s eye view of how the employee engagement is in the company.

According to the Gallup model, managers and their peers need to provide the basic knowledge and tools necessary for an employee to fulfill their tasks, then it moves to an individual level where the employee can carry out tasks independently. At the third stage, the employee can function well in a team and at the fourth level, able to access personal and professional growth.

This engagement model is based on a 12-question survey developed by the Gallup Group and analyzes employee engagement in a company. Some of these statements to which the response is ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ are:

• I know what’s expected of me at work, and I have the opportunity to do what I do best.
• I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work well.
• In the last seven days, I’ve received recognition for my work.

Applicability: can be used for small startups and big businesses alike to get a clear idea of employee engagement.

Kahn’s model of employee engagement considers three core psychological needs, which involve intrinsic motivation to work. This model is more on psychological investigation than the other models mentioned here and strives to develop a holistic strategy to tackle the problem of employee engagement.

1.       Physical Engagement: How physically and mentally invested are the employees at work? How confident are they expend their energies at the workplace to complete their tasks? They must not be overcome by self-doubt or feel their work is too fatiguing.

2.       Cognitive Engagement: Are the employees aware of the mission and vision of the company and do they have the knowledge to contribute to it meaningfully. If so, are they willing to do that? These are some of the questions you must ask in this regard.

3.       Emotional Engagement: Are employees emotionally invested in the business that the company does? Do they have a sense of belonging to the company? Kahn suggested that better interpersonal relationships, better interactions with the managers and better support and ‘psychological safety’ will help create emotional engagement.

Applicability: Applicable more to larger companies than others where the teams are bigger in size, with a clearly defined mission and vision.

What Are Some Employee Engagement Strategies in HR?

Apart from the strategies mentioned under each model, there are other strategies that work for employee engagement.

1. Focusing on the Whole Person

Other than just employees, they are also parents, grandparents, children and even caregivers and volunteers for causes. There are things they value, causes that are dear to their heart. They will value a flexible work arrangement that enables them to work from home or follow a hybrid work schedule. So have such work schedules in place.

2. Understanding What Motivates People to Work

It is important for companies to recognize what motivates employees, not just at work but in life too and recognize and reward them for that. Companies now are using Gen AI to understand these motivations and to recognize and reward people in the right way that match their motivations.

3. Recognizing Uniqueness of People

Not just in the perspective of diversity, but every person has unique characteristics that he/she brings to work. Some may have a strong suit like attentiveness while others are great negotiators and still some others have brilliant ideas. The job of a manager is as much to get tasks completed on time as it is to understand each employee’s uniqueness and focus on strengthening and utilizing them.

4. Empowering People with a Sense of Purpose

When people have a sense of purpose, they work better in teams and as individuals too. They reach the targets assigned to them and find greater happiness and contentment at work. They are also able to develop professionally too. To achieve this, you must allow employees to answer why they find work rewarding and focus on making this matter for each employee. You must also instill a sense of purpose outside of work and start rewards and recognition programs too.

5. Using Data to Generate Real-time Insights

The surveys, like the one from Gallup and robust measures like data intelligence platforms, help understand employee engagement a lot better in a company and strategize for the future or to see if the strategies implemented are gaining traction. Assisted by data, managers can then see what strategies are working and what are not. And then proceed to make use of such strategies at work.

Why You Should Hire an Employee Engagement Partner

A partner with knowledge of employee engagement in HR can really help you put your employees first. A great HR services company would be familiar with most of the employee engagement strategies mentioned here. Are you looking for an HR partner who can help you not only hire great people but retain them for long with the right strategies?

Alp Consulting, with over two decades of recruitment, staffing, and talent management experience, should be your choice. We have helped several Fortune 500 companies earn laurels in employee engagement just by hiring the right candidates and focusing on improving the candidate and employee experience through novel methods and techniques. You could be next!