Employee Engagement Has Multiple Benefits To An Organisation

Dailycsr.com – 16 June 2016 – Adam Woodhall writes that ‘employee engagement’ has been creating buzz in the corporate world for quite some times, while there are numerous ways to achieve the same.
 
Woodhall sets out to explore the theoretical as well as practical aspect of employee engagement “especially in relation to the social side of sustainability”. According to CIPD, the definition of the word “engagement” is:
“being positively present during the performance of work by willingly contributing intellectual effort, experiencing positive emotions and meaningful connections to other”. 
 
Daniel H Pink, the author of the book “Drive”, urges organisations to mainly focus on three “intrinsic motivators”:

 
In short, the benefits derived from employee engagements are “employee satisfaction, productivity, retention and recruitment, innovation and profitability”. As per Gallup’s finding, companies practicing “highly engaged workforces” were able to out-perform its peers by “147% in earnings per share”, while they also had:

 
In the competitive scenario, whereby people are hunting for talents, it is of utmost important to “offer a competitive salary”, besides making sure that the employees have enough room for growth in their given roles. However, “pay performance” does not necessarily bring “job satisfaction”.
 
In the words of Woodhall:
“There is now also increasing evidence that sustainability can help employee engagement.  The 2013 book, "Talent, Transformation and the Triple Bottom Line", found that initiatives created growth in overall employee engagement.  Interestingly, a 'halo' effect was generated as a strong programme raised engagement rates also for those who did not take part”.
 
On the other hand, the Taproot Foundation of the U.S. has taken the term "pro-bono" to its “broader field” by stretching it to any service given. The “MD of Advisory Services”, Lindsay Firestone Gruber told Woodhall:
"We work with our clients, both the corporates and non-profits who benefit from the skills share, to build the biggest impact possible. Taproot helps source and vet the organisations to ensure they are really ready.  It is very important to us to evaluate and better understand the impact we have on the NGO's and the communities they serve.”
“There is a recognition that experiential learning opportunities can be much more powerful than classroom-based simulated scenarios. The employees of our corporate clients get to use their existing expertise in an unusual setting with a new challenge and different people. This stretches them in a way that really helps to take their engagement to a new level, and is often explicitly incorporated into talent development programmes.  Whether the pro-bono project is one day for exec development or three months for high potentials, this all enables the employees to think intentionally."
 
While, Corporate Sustainability Manager, Michael McDermott added:
"People are always looking at ways for business to gain value beyond salary and live the values to match our strapline, 'From Our Family to Yours'."
 
Michael also informed that his company looks into ‘Family Matters’ as part of employee engagement. Rather than being passive observer, this way the family led business of Michael pro-actively engages themselves with “their communities”.
Moreover, the said endeavour of Michael’s company in the field of employee engagement has earned the recognition of “the Top 25 Best Companies”, whereby asserting the fact that employee engagement creates “a virtuous loop which will keep building benefits both for staff, society and the business”.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
References:
ethicalperformance.com