To begin with, let me welcome you to hrlink, a great place to be. I am sure you would enjoy your stay here.

My take on Employee engagement :

Employee engagement is a wholesome term, which is measured in terms of various factors. Engagement of an employee to his firm is studied under three heads - fully engaged, partly engaged, fully dis-engaged.

To classify if an employee is engaged is not depends on a multitude of factors like his subordinates, peers, superiors, his emotional state, financial problems, family problems, recognition for work done, office environment, etc.

Some details about each of them:

Subordinates/Peers/Superiors : An employee's engagement levels depend not just on his work but also the work and attitude of his subordinates, peers and superiors. Unless there is a congenial work environment, bias free culture, employees are never engaged. Rather it gives rise to a state where some percentage of employees are partly engaged and some others are fully dis-engaged. There might be a very less percentage of employees who would be fully engaged.

Emotional/Financial/Family factors : External factors like the current emotional state of the employee would also determine the engagement levels of the employee. In case of an employee who has lost his motivation because of external factors, it would need identification and counseling, which often helps. In case of Financial & Family problems too, he would be fully-disengaged. In such cases too, counseling helps. This is purely personal in nature and might not impact the overall team/floor/organization, but unless it is addressed immediately, it might turn into an issue which would have a ripple effect on the team morale.

Recognition/Office environment : Employee engagement also depends to a large extent on the rewards & recognition policies of the organization. In fact, Gallup does this Employee Engagement surveys where an employee is asked twelve simple (patented) questions and the results are calculated on individual, team, group, organization levels to check for Employee Engagement levels. One of the questions is "Have you been recognized in the last seven days by your superior ?" This underlines the importance of recognition at the work place.

Cheers !!!

Thanks for the detailed information Harish . It was indeed very helpful. I was very curious to have a look at the remaining 11 questions coz it would actually help me analyze the engagement level of my employees at work and hence quickly managed to get the questions.

Here are the 12 questions to measure Employee Engagement:
• Do you know what is expected of you at work?
• Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?
• At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
• In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?
• Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?
• Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
• At work, do your opinions seem to count?
• Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?
• Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?
• Do you have a best friend at work?
• In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?
• In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

Thanks RK & Rinku.

Thanks Rinku for the questions. The questions are available as :


1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?

2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?

4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?

5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?

6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?

8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?

9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?

10. Do I have a best friend at work?

11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?

12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

The source is http://www.studergroup.com/newsletter/Vol1_Issue1/gallups12questions.htm

Having said this, let me state it that these are patented questions and their patent rights are with Gallup. I had the good fortune to be a part of this particular questionnaire and have seen it working effectively. In fact the results were amazingly objective, a dream for any performance evaluation team.

Thnx Harish by sharing your view...Its a great topic to discuss on the forum as its a concern for every employee in their workplace

Regards,
Bichi

Many thanks to the information shared by everyone on this topic.

I would like to add Employee engagement can be treated in holistic way with respect to all the points enunciated by each and everyone who have tried to contribute and participate in the posting.

The real point is today HR recognises the people centric approach coupled with business or technological thinking.