What is engagement and why is it important?

There is no official definition of engagement. The CIPD defines it as a “combination of commitment to the organisation and its values plus a willingness to help out colleagues (organisational citizenship). It goes beyond job satisfaction and is not simply motivation. Engagement is something the employee has to offer: it cannot be ‘required’ as part of the employment contract”.

Research has repeatedly demonstrated that there is a strong link between the way people are managed, their attitudes and their company’s performance. Engaged employees can enhance key performance factors such as productivity, attendance, customer focus, employee satisfaction and employee retention.

It is no surprise therefore that employee engagement is increasingly being monitored and reported on by organisations. The subject is of such importance that recently the UK Business Secretary, John Hutton, announced a review to examine new ways to boost the performance of employees and improve British Business success.

Engaging employees is even more important during an economical downturn. Whether you have to downsize, re-structure or grow your organisation, you will need to make sure that your employees understand and are behind the new company strategy. Those people who are fully on board with the company’s vision – and how this is changing – are more likely to demonstrate the innovation and creativity that will be needed to forge ahead when the upturn comes.

So, if engagement equals higher business performance and lower attrition, and this is coupled with the benefits of getting people ready to lead the organisation out of the recession, improving engagement seems an obvious strategy to deploy.

If you have not carried out a survey in the last 12 months, now is the time to start. Click here to find out here, how you could get started, or contact us at info@getfeedback.net or calls us on 01491 845532.

Getfeedback can support you in areas including:

• Our approach to measuring engagement
• Why Choose Getfeedback?
• Which areas to focus on that will give us the greatest impact
• How to ensure that you survey your people in the most effective way
• Understanding what makes people tick
• How to sell an engagement survey to senior management
• What is engagement?