The Value of Engagement

The Value of Engagement

The Engaged Employee

Who is the engaged employee, and how will you recognize her? What important contribution does the engaged employee make to the organization, and what does he expect in return? In this topic, find answers to these questions through the study of several perspectives on employee engagement. Learn why business leaders are keenly interested in building engagement in their organizations and how academics have deepened our understanding of the mechanisms of engagement by modeling it.

When you have completed this topic, you will be able to:

* Explain the distinction between engagement and satisfaction

* Describe two models of engagement

* List three different types of employee engagement

* Describe one aspect of operational performance that research indicates is linked to engagement

Employee engagement is an increasingly popular business concept and a hot topic for business leaders, many of whom link it to business success. Its relatively sudden rise in popularity is reflected in this graph of ProQuest® search results on the term "employee engagement" by year.

Most recently, a widespread lack of engagement has been cited as the root cause of a significant business problem in the U.S. This engagement gap (Bates, 2004; Johnson, 2004; Kowalski, 2003), where roughly half of all Americans in the workforce are either not fully engaged in their work or their organizations or are disengaged from them, is said to cost U.S. businesses $300 billion per year in lost productivity.

Have you identified employee engagement as a critical factor in your own organization's success? Have you observed an engagement gap at your organization? Have you defined engagement, tried to measure it, or tried to build it?