Why employee engagement matters and why engagement efforts fail.

• Author: Lavigna, Bob

Engaged employees are enthusiastic about their work --they and go above minimum job requirements and deliver "discretionary effort." As a result, engaged employees enable the organization to succeed. Specifically, research shows that organizations with high levels of employee engagement are more successful and productive as a result of this higher level of employee involvement and commitment. (1)

To improve employee engagement, governments must first understand what drives engagement--in other words, what they need to manage. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all way to improve employee engagement. There are more than 85,000 government jurisdictions across the United States, each with its own mission, strategy, culture, policies, and political and budgetary situation. All these factors are relevant.

However, research has shown that specific factors can improve employee engagement. In one such study, employees' attitudes about how the importance of their jobs and employers are more important than any other factor. (2) Another driver of engagement is making sure that employees clearly understand the employer's expectations and that they have the materials and equipment they need. (3)

Otherwise, employees can become bored and resentful. Employers also need to offer opportunities for employees to advance in their careers, provide regular feedback and dialogue, encourage good working relationships, and communicate effectively. Equally important is a perception that the organization has values--a conviction that the organization works toward a set of defined goals and has a strong value proposition. (4)

Organizations that achieve high levels of engagement outperform organizations with low levels of engagement. In key indicators commonly used to measure organizational performance such as achievement of strategic goals, customer service, innovation, employee retention, and attendance, high-engagement organizations outperform low-engagement organizations. This holds for both the private and public sectors.

For example, in one study, high-engagement government agencies were almost twice as successful as low-engagement agencies in achieving their strategic goals.' Engaged public-sector employees are four times more likely to stay in their current jobs, five times more likely to recommend their workplaces to others, and five times more likely to be very satisfied with their work!' Higher levels of engagement in government also lead to improved employee performance in supporting the organization's mission, more collaborative and innovative work environments, and lower costs of disengagement. (7)

MEASURING ENGAGEMENT

Employee engagement can--and should--be measured. Building engagement for the long term requires a culture of engagement. In other words, engagement needs to become part of the organization's DNA, not something the human resources (HR) department tries to do unilaterally or something managers pay attention to only when they have time. While HR has an important role in measuring and improving engagement, doing so in individual units is a fundamental responsibility of managers and supervisors.

There are many different ways to improve engagement. Successful organizations measure engagement, analyze the results to identify what areas to specifically focus on, take action in these areas to improve engagement, and then measure again to determine if the needle of engagement is moving in the right direction. Although no one practice works for every government, there are basic employee engagement principles. Engagement surveys developed by various organizations share some basic principles. For example, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has identified a set of 16 questions/statements that public-sector organizations can use to assess the level of employee engagement. (8) The statements are organized into six...