All-4-HR Blog Spot: Employee Engagement IS What They Say It Is!

Employee engagement is on the rise! Maybe not as quickly as some would like, but on the rise nonetheless. You have to realize the concept of "employee engagement" was developed in 2002. One of the reasons the take-off for employee engagement has been slow is it is only recently in the last few years been recognized as a tangible concept by HR practitioners and HR professionals.

Business Consultant former Geico Jack Welch Jack Welch @jack_welch cites employee engagement is the most crucial measure of a company's health, more important than customer satisfaction and cash flow. Who said that? I am in total agree with Mr. Jack Welch.

Employee engagement is defined in Human Resource Development as the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral energy an employee directs toward positive organizational outcomes. Let me tell you that employee engagement operates in three energies (all positive): intellectual energies (education, knowledge and expertise), emotional energies (renewable, expressive, vigorous) and behavioral energies (actions, thoughts, mannerisms. Simply put concepts associated with employee engagement are work-life balance, high productivity/performance, employee commitment, job satisfaction, better ideas and innovations, again all positive. I believe the list goes on!

Although there are several definitions for employee engagement, including the definition given above, in all of the many definitions, common elements are:

Feeling satisfaction with their work.
Taking pride in their organization.
Enjoying and believe in their work.
Understanding the link between their job and he organization's mission.
Feeling valued by their employer.
Fully committed to their employer and their role.
Exerting extra effort to contribute to business success.

Although there is still research to be done on employee engagement, it is definitely worth reviewing and perhaps adopting this concept into your organization.

You see, employee engagement plays a significant role in productivity and increased performance in an organization. It is simply because with committed employee engagement, you are putting your employees FIRST -- yes FIRST! You see fully engaged employees bring increased interest to their work each day that will be directly tied to both unified workplace culture in the extra efforts, best ideas and innovations that make an organization successful.

Reaping Business Results at Caterpillar

Construction-equipment maker Caterpillar has garnered impressive results from its employee engagement and commitment initiatives, including:

$8.8 million annual savings from decreased attrition, absenteeism and overtime (European plant)
a 70% increase in output in less than four months (Asia Pacific plant)
a decrease in the break-even point by almost 50% in units/day, and a decrease in grievances by 80% (unionized plant)
a $2 million increase in profit and a 34% increase in highly satisfied customers (start-up plant)

I will Say It Again -- When an organization focuses on increasing employee engagement first, customer satisfaction and increased bottom line is sure to follow! LinkedIn is Buzzzzzzzzing about the greatness Employee Engagement!

Again this month is "Employee Engagement" month at All-4-HR & Business Solutions. Join us next Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at for a 30-minute Google Hangout and discuss Employee Engagement. We'd like to know do you have an employee engagement process or program in place, if so what is it and how is it works for you?

We will also host an 1-hour Webinar "8 Strategies to Engage Employees!" I Can't Wait. Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.

All-4-HR & Business Solutions