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What Drives Employee Engagement?

posted by ewright

After completing the March issue of the Trendwatch report, I could not help but notice the countless facts, statistics, and articles on employee engagement. Employee engagement is a hot topic in the HR industry right now because engaged, motivated employees are critical to a company’s success especially during an economic downturn.

With all of the countless definitions of employee engagement floating around, it’s no wonder that many organizations have not fully grasped this concept. Many know what employee engagement is, but what are the fundamental elements that drive engagement?

According to an article in the March issue of T+D magazine, new research indicates that there are three vital elements-contributions, connections, and growth and advancement-that drive employee engagement and must be ingrained in an organization’s culture for employee engagement to flourish.

• Contributions: Engaged employees know that what they do at work contributes to their company’s success. Organizations can create that knowledge by imparting a clear mission and vision. Companies that fail to do so have higher turnover rates than companies that freely discuss and circulate organizational goals.

• Connections: Connections are the foundation of healthy working relationships and even friendships. The most important relationship at work is between employees and their immediate supervisors. Although employees won’t stay in an organization just because they have a good relationship with their managers, a poor relationship alone is more than enough to make employees leave.

• Growth and Advancement: Employees desire opportunities for growth and advancement in their organizations. This means that the learning opportunities offered at an organization have a direct effect on engagement.

This is one interesting perspective on what fuels engagement; however CPP has another. According to our new Work Engagement Profile, there are four intrinsic (psychological) rewards-meaningfulness, choice, competence, and progress-that truly drive employee engagement.  

You’re probably thinking this great, but makes this assessment so special? It’s special because

• It’s the only assessment on the market right now that measures intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic rewards and helps individuals understand the level of intrinsic rewards they are receiving from their work.

• It features a 20-page booklet that includes interpretive information on scores and offers actionable steps to increase engagement.

• It’s effective in one-on-one coaching, leadership development, and team building initiatives.

• It can be used alone or in combination with the MBTI^® and FIRO-B^® instruments.

If this sparks your interest, then click here to learn more about the new Work Engagement Profile.

Remember, engaged employees provide competitive advantages for companies - specifically, higher productivity, lower turnover, and sales growth. As a result, it’s critical to sustain optimum levels of employee engagement within any organization.