Monday 4 April 2016

Employee Engagement more than just a ‘buzz word’

Who is an engaged employee? Author Tim Rutledge explains that an engaged employee is the one who is inspired by his work.  Engaged employees are willing to invest discretionary effort and exceed working hours to make sure that the organisation succeeds. But does the onus of working with commitment towards the greater goal rests only with the employee or does the organisation and the leadership have a role to play? It is the responsibility of the organisation to create an environment which is conducive to learning via training, mentoring etc as it is noticed that these things are directly proportional to the commitment or engagement quotient of the employees.

To ensure that employees work with the same rigour and robustness through the year,organisations can take the following steps-



Encourage Higher Education –
Most employees want to do new things with their jobs. Some even want to pursue higher education in top universities, but often hesitate because of financial challenges or work pressure. However, if the organisation encourages the employees to take up a course it sets an example that the organisation cares for them.

Conduct Training Sessions –
Case study led training modules with experts across the organisation  inspires the employees to strive for more. These sessions should be interactive, where the employee gets an opportunity to collaborate with the senior management. These sessions should be in collaboration with other functions of the organisation, which will help the employees to know their colleagues from other departments and will help them understand group goals beyond personal targets.

Have an open door policy –
To create leaders out of employees it’s important that they interact with the leaders without any hesitation. When empowered with the opportunity of being part of the decision making process of the organisation, employees take ownership of the problems. Having an open-door policy or style creates room for employees to drive innovative ideas.

Provide constructive feedback –

Employee engagement is not a onetime activity; it is in fact an activity that the leader should undertake on a regular basis. Most of the organisations have quarterly reviews and appraisals as a standard procedure to share feedback with the employee, if the leader provides positive and constructive feedback to them at regular intervals it provides great encouragement to the employees.

In conclusion, employee engagement ensures that the roadblocks towards the growth of the company and the employees are cleared and the true talent of the employees is unleashed.

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