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#4 Reasons Why Employee Engagement is Essential As the idea of a 'job for life' has died away into times past, organisations can no longer repose faith upon the habitual loyalty of employees

By Shuporna Chakraborty

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There's a direct correlation between a stimulated workforce and healthy company bottom line.

Henry Ford put it most poignantly when he said, "A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business." The philosophy sums up this piece for companies viewing employee engagement as a necessity in including its workforce, its invaluable stakeholders, in its growth story.

Better Engagement Creates Improved Productivity

It is said that organisations where employees are engaged execute better than those whose employees are not by over 200%. When engaged at the professional domain the employees feel an association with the company. There develops a sense of belonging as the employees believe that the work they're doing is important and so they work with zeal and passion.

Belongingness, enjoyment, alignment, recognition and advancement are the five specific needs that managers could fulfil to fuel engagement. Happy and stimulated workforce and arrested attrition rates are outcomes of having well-engaged employees. Over time, this translates into superior company performance and healthy bottom line, as an overarching derivative.

Why Engagement is Important

Employees are the groundwork on which organisations are built. "Right people in the right position' holds the key to the successful operations of a business house. However, it is becoming increasingly complex to retain resources on board.

In the growing and hyper-connected world economy skilled employees easily find new opportunities. Today's human resources hardly remain with one company for a considerable length of time; mobile professional careers are fast becoming the new norm.

As the idea of a "job for life" has died away into times past, organisations can no longer repose faith upon the habitual loyalty of employees. Today if one decides that the grass is greener on the other side, he or she won't dither to explore it.

We uncover some facets of employee engagement, which organically reveal its necessity:

Accountability Towards Internal Publics

Studies have concluded that how engaged your internal stakeholders or your colleagues are, is determined by whether they feel they can express themselves openly, demonstration of significant impact made through their work, and finally, whether they have an encouraging leader.

The fact that employee engagement has got giants across industries to stand up and take notice, signifies the merit they see in building value-driven, employee-centric culture that infuses integrity into their organisational DNA. After all, what is transparent communications if not a "best practice' that sustains employee faith in your firm at all times and stays authentic in managing expectations across all levels?

Silos to Synergy

What appears to be blissfully oblivious "comfort zones" may indeed be a recipe for territorial "zoning" within organisations. This can never be conducive when working towards common business goals. Regular two-way communications help break cross-functional, and in various cases, regional or international walls, miring corporations.

Inclusive engagement effort is also very critical. Whether through regular town halls, or via the company workplace social platform, bringing diverse ideas, talents, and inherent potentials to the fore to leverage for synergies that benefit the organisation.

Beyond a Departmental Function

In the context of internal communications, it helps to have a mouthpiece that consolidates management speak and organisational developments for consistent, accurate, internal messaging. However, in a wider sense, employee engagement falls within the remit of every manager, who believes in the merits of collaborative, transparent machinery that is the workspace.

Managers as Critical Drivers of Employee Engagement

Through day-to-day exchanges, managers have the highest influence on engagement, which one may have assumed did not matter, thus far.

Shuporna Chakraborty

AVP (corporate communication) IndiaFirst Life Insurance

Shuporna Chakraborty is the AVP (corporate communication) of IndiaFirst Life Insurance.
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