LEVELS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT


Some organizations are more successful than others when it comes to the ability to engage with employees. Considering a successful middle eastern airline with hundreds of operations worldwide, it is noticeable that most of its employees are either completely disengaged or moderately engaged. While these employees may seem unappreciative of the organization's efforts, the truth is that they just aren't fully committed and interested in what the company has to offer. A skillset update or a pay raise can significantly impact employee engagement. Organizations fail to create more strategies due to multiple levels of engagement existing within the organization, concentrating on engagement ranging from highly engaged or highly disengaged when they should think of deeper levels of employee participation. It is important to consider strategies to be employee-oriented rather than entity oriented to improve engagement. According to Frye and Breaugh (2005), an organization needs to address employee issues related to conflicts with managing multiple roles as this can change performance levels and hinder the positive mindset of the employee.

 

Figure 1- The Hierarchy of Engagement

(Source: Steele, 2017)

 


Highly Engaged Employees

At this end of the spectrum, engaged employees thrive and work with full passion and are emotionally attached to the organization; they are innovative and provide new ideas to move the organization forward, motivate and inspire other employees including the less engaged employees (Rheem, 2017). Such employees are optimistic and spread positivity among co-workers. They personalize the goals and objectives and always work for the betterment of the organization (Al Maamari and Matriano, 2020).

 

Actively Engaged Employees

This set of employees falls in the middle ground and is neither fully engaged nor highly disengaged.  Such employees do not leave their comfort zone showing no extra effort from their end when it comes to their job. They turn up for work, perform their tasks and go home at the end of the day. There will not be shows of active participation and neither get overly invested in its success. They might participate in brainstorming sessions or offer suggestions, but nothing more.  Efforts from superiors and inspiration from other highly engaged employees can inspire them to become more confident and reflect more engagement at the workplace (Daqar and Smoudy, 2019).

 

Actively Disengaged

At the far end of the spectrum are the highly disengaged employees. Highly disengaged employees are resentful, disconnected, and uninterested in their jobs. They may show up for work, perform tasks without complaint and go home at the end of the day without even communicating with their fellow employees. Such employees perceive and often convince fellow employees to do the same and leave their jobs to move up the professional ladder in the company. It is difficult to make efforts to convince such employees to make more engagement efforts whether it be through their feedback or even by showing appreciation for their contributions. According to the co-author of First, Break All the Rules and Fol­low This Path, (Coffman, 2002) “Actively disengaged employees -- 17% of U.S. employees -- are consistently against virtually everything that happens. Interestingly, they may actually like or thrive on the confusion that comes from change because confusion meets their emotional needs. They love to have a reason to get together to say, "See, we were right all along. This place is really screwed up." They will "clot" together during times of stress, and they can become a very powerful negative force in an organization if a manager can't mobilize the engaged employees to neutralize their effect on the employees who are not engaged." (Hindustan Times, 2003)

 

REFERENCES

Abu Daqar, M. and Smoudy, A. (2019). Employee Engagement Level: The Transform from Employee to Partner. Employee Engagement Level: The Transform from Employee to Partner, [online] 13(7), p.117. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334137900_Employee_Engagement_Level_The_Transform_from_Employee_to_Partner [Accessed on 22 Nov.2022]

 

Al-Maamari, H.M. and Matriano, M. (2020). A Critical Investigation on the Impact of Employee’s Engagement on Employee’s Productivity at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry-Oman. Journal of Student Research. Available at https://www.jsr.org/index.php/path/article/view/873. [Accessed on 22 Nov. 2022]

 

Breaugh, J.A. and Frye, N.K. (2008). Work–Family Conflict: The Importance of Family-Friendly Employment Practices and Family-Supportive Supervisors. Journal of Business and Psychology, 22(4), pp.345–353. Available at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10869-008-9081-1 [ Accessed on 22 Nov. 2022]

 

.

Rheem, D. (2018). The Four Levels of Employee Engagement. [online] Forbes Books. Available at: https://books.forbes.com/author-articles/four-levels-employee-engagement/

 [Accessed 23 Nov. 2022].

 

Coffman, C (2022). Employee Management: Motivating Employees When the Pressure’s On.[Online] Hindustan Times. Available at https://www.hindustantimes.com/business/employee-management-motivating-employees-when-the-pressure-s-on/story-IVmU5zFpG5SurwlDCSdJqL.html [Accessed 25 Nov.2022]

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. Rahman9 December 2022 at 08:51

    A good read for understanding levels of engagement. A good way of improving engagement could be through learning and development.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tarishma Goundar11 December 2022 at 22:02

      Thank you Rahman. There are some practices done
      by human resource are recruitment, selection, preparation, employee performance improvement, planning strategy, and evaluation (Tessema & Soeters, 2006). Therefore, effective training and career development information must be provided for these unique assets to maximize professional commitment.

      Delete
    2. Rahman14 December 2022 at 07:11

      A good read for understanding levels of engagement. A good way of improving engagement could be through learning and development. (Kolb, D.A., 2014)

      Delete
  2. Afzal Farook10 December 2022 at 02:09

    A good blog article Tarishma. In order to build a culture of engagement at the organisations, Phillips et al. (2016), recommend the development of employee engagement programmes and initiatives at the organisational or business unit level. Therefore, this approach is bound to bring better results in terms of encouraging employee engagement.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tarishma Goundar11 December 2022 at 22:08

      Thank you Afzal. Tonkham (2013)
      suggested that leaders become more creative and apply creativity within the workplace. Communication business leaders must understand the need for autonomy, intrinsic rewards, and influence to achieve employee engagement (Bolman & Deal, 2014).

      Delete
    2. Tarishma Goundar11 December 2022 at 22:08

      Thank you Afzal. Tonkham (2013)
      suggested that leaders become more creative and apply creativity within the workplace. Communication business leaders must understand the need for autonomy, intrinsic rewards, and influence to achieve employee engagement (Bolman & Deal, 2014).

      Delete
  3. Nelushan Gunewardena10 December 2022 at 08:12

    A well written post Tarishma. Further, according to Chandani, et al., (2016), engagement is also found to have three different facets - Intellectual engagement that refers to dedication towards performing better at one’s job, affective engagement or feeling positive after performing one’s job and lastly social engagement which is involved in discussions with others about enhancing work related improvements.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tarishma Goundar11 December 2022 at 22:44

    an be concluded that “engagement is a two-way process”, and organization needs to endeavor more to ensure that all the employees feel to voluntarily & willingly contribute their discretionary effort to achieve organizational goals up keeping the organizational values. Further the engaged employees are able to enhance “their own sense of well being”, (Gupta & Sharma, 2016).

    ReplyDelete

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