Engagement is today one of the most discussed concepts of people management. Therefore, it has a variety of interpretations created either by individuals or whole organisations. Engaged employees are most often equated with happy and satisfied employees; however, engagement, happiness and satisfaction are three different things.
Employees may be happy at work – for example, due to benefits – but that does not automatically mean they will work hard and achieve productivity. They may be satisfied, which is often measured by questionnaires, but even that does not mean they will put extra effort into their work and not accept a competitor's offer of a higher salary.
Engagement is the emotional commitment of employees to the organisation and its goals. This means that employees do not work just for money or advancement but are really interested in their work and business. If needed, they will stay longer at work or help with something that is not directly in their job description without being asked. Only such engaged employees can bring better business results to their organisations.
In an article on the Forbes.com website, Kevin Kruse, American businessman, speaker and leading New York Times writer, described the so-called Engagement-Profit Chain. This is a diagram showing the ROI of employee engagement:
Engaged employees – better services, higher quality and productivity – higher customer satisfaction – higher sales volume (repeated sales, references) – higher profits – higher returns for shareholders.
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