The What, Where and How of Employee Engagement

What exactly is Employee Engagement

The debate continues amongst both academics and practitioners in coming up with a definitive

definition for what employee engagement means.

While this deliberation endures author Simon Albrechti states that common to many of the definitions

offered by researchers and practitioners alike is the idea that engagement is a positive work-related

psychological state – reflected in words like enthusiasm, energy, passion and vigor. He also states many

of these definitions relate to a motivational state reflected in a genuine willingness on the part of an

employee to invest focused effort in realizing organizational goals and success.

Therefore for the purpose of this article we might say that employee engagement is:

“A high level of energy and strong identification with one’s work”ii

Is Employee Engagement an old lady dressed up in new clothes?

The Blessing White research report of 2011iii states that genuine engagement isn’t merely about an

employee’s job satisfaction. This report goes on to explain that employee engagement also reflects

talent alignment with organizational priorities and discretional effort, not merely satisfaction and

emotional connection.

However, Albrecht recognizes some overlaps between engagement and other organizational constructs

such as organizational commitment, job involvement and job satisfaction. This is due to the fact that

each of these constructs refers to positive work-related psychological states and therefore must, to

some degree, be related. The main difference between employee engagement and these other

constructs are the way in which they are measured.

Where are we now: some statistics

The results of a 2008 Tower Perrin workforce study of 5000 employees in Canada, entitled Closing the

Engagement Gap: A Roadmap for Driving Superior Business Performanceiv , highlighted the following:

23% of the respondents declared themselves engaged

o Engaged employees work with passion, feels connected to the organization, thinks

innovatively and moves the organization towards its goals and success

69% of employees declared themselves unengaged (enrolled and disenchanted).

o Unengaged employees simply put in their required time and have no passion for their

work or the goals and success of the organization.

7% of people were actively disengaged – these are the people who want to drag others into that

category with them, too.

Furthermore according to the Mercer Report of 2011v employee loyalty is dropping around the world.

In Canada where more than 2,000 Canadian employees took Mercer's latest What's Working™ survey

the key takeaway was this: Compared to past surveys, employees today feel less committed and less

satisfied. More than one in three is seriously looking to leave. Among younger workers, it's four in 10. Of

equal concern is indifference: The 22% who didn't commit to staying or leaving are less satisfied and

engaged.

The Mercer Report also noted global similarities and differences with respect to what was essential to

employee engagement.

The global top five non-financial factors needed for employee engagement were (see figure below):

1. Respect

2. Work/life balance

3. Type of work

4. Quality of co-workers

5. Quality of leadership

Additionally, in North and South America alike, employees ranked the provision of good services to

others as highly important.

Base pay ranks were the most influential financial factor (see figure below).

How to begin to reverse this trend

In 2010 Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company conducted a studyvi co-sponsored by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine, Queen’s University School of Business, and the Queen’s Centre for Business Venturing entitled Best Employers in Canada 2010. This study marks the 11th time the study had been conducted.

This national study measures employee engagement, in which employees decide which organizations make the list of the 50 Best Employers in Canada.

According to the study, employee engagement is a measure of how positively employees feel about their employer, how likely they are to stay, and how committed they are to doing their utmost to achieve business objectives.

Neil Crawford, a principal at Hewitt Associates is quotedvii as saying “While leadership is always important, it plays an even more critical role during difficult or tumultuous times.”

Additionally, Ted Emond, a senior consultant in Hewitt’s Toronto office is quoted as saying that the report brought to light the importance of “open, transparent, complete, and timely two-way communication” in engaging employees.

Examples of how to engage employees from three of the top 50 Canadian organizationsviii

According to the Evolved Employer website PCL Constructors Inc., EllisDon Corporation and Cisco

Canada topped the charts in the Hewitt Associates 2010 survey.

Let’s look at the focus of these three employers and how they topped the employee engagement

survey.

PLC Constructors Inc.

PLC Constructors Inc. is a group of independent construction companies throughout Canada, which

endeavors to create a culture where cash compensation isn’t the main determinant of employee

satisfaction.

They offer:

1. Flexible employment practices

2. Rewarding and challenging work

3. Professional and career development opportunities and recognition

The organization also heartily supports mentorships between supervisors and employees with the view

that these supervisors pass along their skills and techniques as builders.

Newly hired individuals are also promised immediate responsibility and challenge along with personal

and professional development.

EllisDon Corporation

Located in London Ontario the EllisDon Corporation is an internationally known, leading Canadian

building contractor, which purports to exist for its employees rather than its shareholders. According to

its President and CEO, Geoff Smith EllisDon “strives to attract and develop the very best people and then

sets those people free to excel in their careers and to serve their clients.”

EllisDon focuses on five core cultural values:

1. Trust

2. Entrepreneurial enthusiasm

3. Individual initiative

4. Complete openness

5. Mutual accountability

It works towards creating a “culture of trust and openness, where our employees are able to rely on

one another to be capable and accountable, to serve clients according to their very unique needs, to

watch out for one another, and to conscientiously build success for each other.”

Like PLC Constructors Inc. it has mentoring programs, as well as on-the-job-training and access to

educational resources.

Cisco Canada

Cisco Canada is a Toronto-based leading supplier of Internet networking equipment and

management. According to HR Director David Clarkson employee engagement begins with “looking

for candidates with enthusiasm— they need to be passionate about something in their lives. We find

that same passion often carries over into their work.”

Willa Black, Cisco Canada’s VP of Corporate Affairs, stresses the importance of effective

communication from “the top down—as well as from the bottom up and the middle out.”

Cisco believes that how you retain the best and brightest is to promote:

1. Flexibility and trust 2. Open employee communications 3. Employee development and advancement 4. Inclusion and diversity 5. Balancing life/promoting wellness

Cisco Canada also encourages their employees to consider their next career move after being on the

job two to four years by providing opportunities, which allow employees to grow into new roles –

sixty to seventy percent of Cisco Canada new positions are internally filled.

These best practice organizations demonstrate some of the ways to create cultures where employees

are meaningfully engaged in ways that assist both the employee and the employer attaining their goals

and being highly successful.

Ruth Garrett MSc, PhD

Inspiring individuals and organizations to ignite their passion, find authentic purpose and make that purpose a reality!

The author of five books, a facilitator of change and inspirational speaker, Ruth draws on a wide range of

hands-on experience and expertise in personal and organizational change and transformation.

Her background in self-leadership, emotional intelligence, resilience, conflict resolution and positive

psychology enables people to passionately and enthusiastically engage in creating authentic, purposeful

goals. Then make those goals a reality.

She is the CEO of two organizations: Integral Coaching & Mediation and Manifesting Your Abundance.

How to connect: integralcoaching@sympatico.ca OR ruth@manifestingyourabundance.com

Cell: 705-441-6581

Bibliography

i Albrecht, S. (2010), Handbook of Employee Engagement Perspectives, Issues, Research and Practice http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kHMXV_ITqLgC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=employee+engagement+canada+2010&ots=MtrIR6tBsa&sig=S8IHnwXxggpD-qmchNDaK4ikI7I#v=onepage&q&f=false ii Bakker, Arnold B., Schaufeli, Wilmar B., Leiter, Michael P. and Taris, Toon W.,(2008), 'Work engagement: An

emerging concept in occupational health psychology', Work & Stress,22:3,187 — 200, (p.189) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02678370802393649

iii Blessing White 2011 Engagement Report: Beyond the numbers, A practical approach for individuals, managers,

and executives http://www.bs-muc.de/aktdoku/report.pdf (accessed April 2012)

iv Tower Perrin is a professional services firm that helps organizations improve performance through effective

people, risk and financial management. This report can be viewed at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:GZm8uYrcuvEJ:www.towersperrin.com/tp/getwebcachedoc?webc%3DHRS/USA/2008/200803/GWS_Global_Report20072008_31208.pdf+Tower+perrin+2008+global+workforce+study+canada&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESg0TUolKeZaBRP_bs_jhMxb3wKb2RAT8QyOY18jWKEEE_n0M2Lc-O3DkjPq3toxqjzrkrGkmK740RmsCDgI5JMgqPD-gIRXJsXos4LgRiY_Op7WCGa5OEPT4J8jWG7ymRBTNO0D&sig=AHIEtbQIqWTDJsMQo1AIwYWPcbm75YiLKw (accessed April 2012) v Employee loyalty is dropping around the world, according to new global analysis of Mercer’s What’s Working™

survey. The research, conducted among nearly 30,000 employees in 17 geographic markets between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the second quarter of 2011, shows that the percentage of workers seriously considering leaving their organization has risen since the last time the survey was conducted in each market (between 2003 and 2006 prior to the economic downturn). http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/1430455 vi Best Employers in Canada 2010 Survey Highlights & Fact Sheet http://was2.hewitt.com/bestemployers/canada/pdfs/Hewitt_BE_2010_Fact_Sheet.pdf (accessed April 2012) vii

Evolved Employer article: Keys to Employee Engagement from Canada’s Best http://www.evolvedemployer.com/2010/02/02/keys-to-employee-engagement-from-canadas-best/ (accessed April 2012) viii

Same as above