The impact of engaged employees

 In the current time, we see that it is becoming increasingly difficult to actively feel the connection with our organization. This is of course not so strange if your office is also the dining table and your husband, wife, partner or other roommate feels more like your direct colleague than the colleagues you can admire through your screen. Many organizations see 'involvement' as THE key to success. Involvement should lead to better performance, but how does involvement really have a positive impact on the performance of your employees and what can you do as HR in this? This will be the focus of the rest of this article. 

 

What are engaged employees?

When we talk about involvement and the possible striving for this state of being for our employees, it is important to first explore the concept further. For example, involvement is one of the pillars of positive psychology in the concept: the engaged life, a life that is characterized by a combination of focus or concentration, interest, and pleasure. Furthermore, various researchers are going wild about the definition of involvement. For example, Kahn (1990), one of the pioneers in the field of employee satisfaction and engagement, calls engagement “the extent to which employees use their personal identity at work. In contrast, more recent researchers such as Schaufeli and Bakker view engagement as “a work-related positive state of fulfillment characterized by vitality, dedication, and absorption” (Schaufeli, 2002). The different definitions make it clear that involvement is a multidimensional concept, an affective-cognitive state that produces positive feelings.

An engaged employee can therefore be recognized in several ways. This committed employee shows an active attitude in making a positive contribution to the organization by means of her personal identity. It is therefore clear that such a committed employee does not sit in a corner of the office with earplugs waiting to be able to go home.

 

What does employee engagement mean for an organization?

When scouring the internet, engagement and positive performance quickly reveal a significant correlation. The following aspects of impact emerge:

Employee

retention Engaged employees feel positively connected to the organization and are committed to the goals pursued by the organization. Engaged employees are less likely to want to take a step outside the organization. This means that there will be less focus on the outflow of employees and more focus on the continuity and growth of the organization. To get more information visit vacatures hr adviseur

Increased productivity and innovation

In 1983 it was already published by Bateman and Organ that employees who are satisfied with their work show an increased level of involvement, which is reflected in behavior such as coaching and helping others in the organization to do their job better, personal interest in other colleagues, but also through behavior aimed at innovative ideas. This involvement is beneficial, because, according to Postmes et al. (2001), an engaged employee will show more effort and ensure more innovation.

Employees as promoters for your company brand

In an ADP white paper on engagement and performance, several studies show that companies with engaged employees actually outperform their industry peers. They point out that an engaged workforce can be the first line of defense for a company's global reputation: a barely engaged workforce, on the other hand, can have disastrous consequences for employers. “Companies that refuse to move to a more decentralized, collaborative, engaged and social model risk a sharp drop in profits and a significant decrease in the attractiveness of their brand,” warns Léon Vergnes, SVP/ GM EMEA ADP ES International. “Employee engagement makes a vital contribution to maintaining and promoting the company brand.”

Better results 

The above aspects have already shown several times that the results are positively influenced by an increase in involvement. This is once again confirmed by Bolino's research into behavior within organisations. Employees who feel connected to the organization and who see their manager as inspiring, turn out to be more productive than expected. Think of taking more responsibility and performing more tasks than their actual job description prescribes. In addition, these people work better together and show more ownership.

 

What can HR do? 

When reading all these positive influences of the feeling of involvement, I can imagine that you would like to get started with this subject within your organization. The following factors have been proven to influence the increase in employee engagement with their organization. To get more information visit hr interim.

Clearly formulated business goals

When it is clear to employees what the common goal for the organization is, they can make conscious choices to focus on activities that contribute to this. So make sure that employees are clearly and specifically communicated with what these goals are during the entire employee experience. It is important to ensure that a translation is made into the concrete desired contribution of each department, team and employee to the organizational goals. In addition, do not forget to regularly communicate the progress of the realization of these goals, this keeps everyone motivated.

The feeling of belonging

To really feel involved in an organization, it is important that you feel that you are a good fit. Employees who feel they belong, go the extra mile and generally leave less quickly. To achieve this, it is important that it is clear to employees what the vision is and the most important values ​​of the company. Only then will they know whether their own vision and values ​​match those of the rest of the organization. In addition, make sure that you involve employees in decisions that affect the entire organization. In this way, it becomes clear what the needs and opinions of your employees are and you automatically create more support. Another point that is often taken for granted, but at the same time often forgotten, is expressing sincere appreciation and showing interest in employees. Especially encourage this within your organization and remind people of this.

Work gives you energy

Getting energy from your work ensures that you as an employee feel good about yourself and that you enjoy doing your work. It should come as no surprise that those employees tend to be more productive, have a steeper learning curve, and collaborate better with colleagues. In addition to a positive effect on the individual, the entire organization benefits from this as it contributes to the achievement of the aforementioned business goals. There are a number of things you can do as a manager or HR professional to ensure that your employees get energy from their work. First of all, you naturally want a good match between the employee and the work he or she does. Keep in mind that this can also change over time. If this match is not available (for a while), make sure you are ready to help make adjustments. Think of training and development, but also possibly look at another more suitable position within or outside your organization. Also regularly poll what the (biggest) energy suckers are in their work and encourage them to come up with solutions for this. And last but not least; a good atmosphere within your team, department, and/or organization creates positive energy, keep investing in it!

Doing Challenging Work

It seems so logical, but employees want to feel that their work matters, is worthwhile. Taking challenges from work and a sense of accomplishment helps people feel that they are making progress in their work. Achievement feels like a positive step forward. When you have a sense of accomplishment, you naturally become more involved in your work, and more motivated to continue and improve on your good work. By giving constructive feedback about opportunities for improvement, you create a challenge. But also regularly discuss whether the work is still challenging enough, and make sure that you are ready to think along about solutions if the challenge is missing for a while. 

To increase that sense of challenge and thus enthusiasm, it can be very effective to look at the possibilities within a person's position (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001; Tims, Bakker & Derks, 2013). We call this job crafting, which means that the employee himself tailors his work with small adjustments on his own initiative. The goal is to have the work optimally match the motivations, talents, skills, and preferences of the employee. This can be done by supplementing or disposing of tasks, but also by devising solutions so that the employee learns to better deal with a part of the work that is experienced as difficult. An example of job crafting is handing over administrative tasks to a colleague who does enjoy it.

The manager expresses sufficient appreciation to the employee

Everyone wants a pat on the back from time to time. Especially when he or she has delivered a performance that is 'just good'. Even if it is part of the 'normal work', and he or she is not the one who ultimately ensured the result. Any good performance should not go unnoticed. This appreciation and recognition ensure that the emphasis is placed on the qualities. This builds trust and people are more engaged when they are doing what they are good at, rather than when they are trying to improve on something they are not good at. Employees who feel genuinely valued by their supervisor, adhere better to agreements, are less often involved in conflicts, ensure increased productivity, but it also benefits customer satisfaction (White, 2014).

People work as autonomously as possible

Ensure that employees can perform optimally. Think of bureaucratic procedures and conflicting interests. Too little to decide for yourself. Optimal performance only occurs when the employees can put the (end) customer first. Then they see the benefit of their efforts and what they contribute to the well-being, happiness, and enjoyment of the customers. The bit of confidence in giving this autonomy and the responsibility that comes with it ensures that people can take real ownership and once again feel more involved in the end result. This is echoed by Robert Delivery, who has researched the similarities in the top 20 performing organizations. In his book "A Great Placet to Work: What Makes Some Employers So Good – And Most So Bad?" that he wrote, he summarized what he had discovered. It turns out that the way in which management and employees interacted with each other was the most distinguishing factor for good employers. The interviews revealed an extremely high level of trust between managers and employees. In contrast to the bad workplaces where there was little trust between people. In the book, Robert Delivery defined a Great Workplace, from an employee perspective, as: “An organization where employees trust the people they work for, take pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with. .” The interviews revealed an extremely high level of trust between managers and employees. In contrast to the bad workplaces where there was little trust between people. In the book, Robert Delivery defined a Great Workplace, from an employee perspective, as: “An organization where employees trust the people they work for, take pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with. .” The interviews revealed an extremely high level of trust between managers and employees. In contrast to the bad workplaces where there was little trust between people. In the book, Robert Delivery defined a Great Workplace, from an employee perspective, as: “An organization where employees trust the people they work for, take pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with. .” To get more information Visit rvdb