3 min read
Let’s just put this out there again: Employee Engagement is not a strategy.
Let's just put this out there again: Employee Engagement is not a strategy.
I just read somewhere that it is ... which tells me that it bears repeating both what it is and what it isn't. Employee engagement is...
“...the emotional connection or commitment that an employee has to the organization that then causes the employee to want to put forth the additional effort to ensure the organization and the brand succeed.”
What the company can do is have a purpose and build a culture that facilitates employee engagement. But keep in mind that t-shirts, free food, and surveys do not a strategy make. And no company can make an employee engaged.
When there's some confluence of: (1) emotions, commitment, passion, sense of ownership, etc. on the part of the employee about the brand and (2) what the organization does (purpose, brand promise, who the company is and why, etc.) to facilitate and enhance those emotions or that commitment - then we have employee engagement.
Aon Hewitt and Edelman recently released the results of some of their employee research. The findings are interesting, but I wanted to see if/how they defined "Employee Engagement."
Aon Hewitt claims that employee engagement is starting to rise, according to their latest study. They define engagement as: "the psychological and behavioral outcomes that lead to better employee performance." They also define engagement using three attributes that include the extent to which employees:
Edelman called out "Employee Engagement findings from their 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer," but the research was not focused on employee engagement specifically. As a matter of fact, as you can tell from the title, the annual research is all about trust: trust in leadership, institutions, and industries. They did, however, uncover a couple of interesting things that relate to the employee experience:
This last point echoes a statement - "we have a crisis in leadership in this country" - that Bob Chapman (Chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller) made in his Tedx presentation last year. Take a look at my post about his talk; you'll see that he addresses the first bullet point as well: "7 out of 8 employees believe they work for a company that doesn't care for them."
So, why is employee engagement constantly referred to as a strategy? Good question. I actually think we should be talking about leadership strategy, not employee engagement strategy. What should leadership's strategy entail? Creating the right conditions to allow employees to become engaged. Those conditions include:
Tall order? Yes. But totally worth it!
—Jack WelchThere are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. ... It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.
Seasoned Client Services executive with a track record of success in building and leading global teams of Services professionals and guiding them to sell, design, implement, and operationalize enterprise-wide customer experience solutions that drive business and organizational improvements. Leadership experience over the following Services teams: Account Management, Solutions Implementation, QA, Best Practices, Analytical Consulting, Research Methods, Training, and Customer Support. Passionate about employee and customer engagement (and how they relate).
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Annette Franz
Jostle’s employee success platform is where everyone connects, communicates, and celebrates at work. Find out more at jostle.me. © 2009–2024 Jostle Corporation. All rights reserved.