Harnessing the power of employee engagement, Part I. Management & Careers).

• Author: Lavigna, Bob
• Position: Harnessing the power of employee engagement, Part I. Management & Careers

There is not much agreement on exactly what employee engagement is, or how to make it happen. LinkedIn, the social networking site, hosts online discussion groups (among other functions), provides a good example. One discussion group focuses on employee engagement, and a recent discussion question was, "In ten words or less, name what you believe are or could be the three most effective drivers of engagement." When this article was written, 124 LinkedIn members had posted a wide range of answers, including: creating conversations where none existed, work gratification, purpose, compelling vision, camaraderie, personal connection, inclusion, feedback, caring, and cash. The range of responses is interesting and instructive, but it doesn't give managers much help on how to engage their employees. For that, we need to look at the science of engagement--what it is, why it's important, how it applies to government in particular, and how to maximize it.

Employee engagement is defined as a heightened connection to work, the organization, the mission, or co-workers. It's not necessarily about happy employees, although it would be nice if employees were happy, at least most of the time. Engaged employees find personal meaning and pride in their work. They believe that their organizations value them. In return, engaged employees are more likely to go above the minimum and expend "discretionary effort" to deliver performance. Another way to put it is that "engaged employees plan to stay for what they give; the disengaged stay for what they get." (1) Engaged employees:

* Go the extra mile for customers.

* Work hard and smart.

* Aren't thinking about leaving.

* Volunteer their best ideas.

* Drive innovation to move the organization forward.

* Call in sick only when they really are.

WHY DOES ENGAGEMENT MATTER?

This may seem like a silly question--isn't it just common sense that managers should want their employees to be highly engaged? Maybe, but common sense isn't always common practice. Engagement matters because there is a strong research-based business case for improving employee engagement. Simply put, organizations that have engaged employees perform better than organizations whose employees are not engaged.

For example, a public opinion polling firm conducted extensive research on engagement. The firm's results demonstrate that high-engagement organizations outperform low-engagement organizations in seven critical areas--profitability, productivity, customer satisfaction, retention, absenteeism, safety, and lost or stolen inventory. (2) According to this research, high-engagement organizations are almost 20 percent more productive than their low-engagement counterparts. The polling firm defines engaged employees as those who work with passion and feel a profound connection to their organization, who drive innovation and move the organization forward. "Not engaged" employees are essentially "checked out," sleepwalking through their workday and putting time, but not energy or passion, into their work. "Actively disengaged" employees aren't just unhappy at work; they're busy acting out their unhappiness and undermining what their engaged coworkers accomplish. (3)

Another study, of 50 global companies, also found that the firms with high levels of employee engagement produced dramatically better results than companies with low levels of engagement. In three key metrics--income, income growth, and earnings per share--the high-engagement organizations performed dramatically better, by up to 43 percent. (4)

Most employees, however, are not very engaged. For example:

* The polling firm's engagement survey data, reflecting the views of millions of (mostly private-sector) employees, show that only 29 percent of employees are engaged, while 54 percent are not engaged and 17 percent are actively disengaged. (5)

* A consulting firm surveyed more than 17,000 public and non-profit sector employees and found that only 16 percent of employees are highly engaged, with 65 percent moderately engaged and 19 percent disengaged. (6)

* Survey data from by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board indicated that 35.3 percent of federal employees are engaged, 47.2 percent are somewhat engaged, and 17.5 percent are not engaged. (7)

One particularly powerful aspect of employee engagement is that individual managers and supervisors can move the needle of engagement without elaborate systems or processes, or even much involvement by their human resources departments. Improving employee engagement often comes down to creating a stronger...