11 Factors Affecting Employee Engagement

Posted in Employee Engagement

What is Employee Engagement?
Engaged employees are those who are totally absorbed in their work, working
longer and harder, taking on additional assignments and all focused on the
needs of the organisation.
What affects Employee Engagement?
A review of the research by Ruyle, Eichinger & De Meuse (2009) identified the
following 11 main factors affecting Employee Engagement.
1. Strategic Alignment employees work is in line with where the business is
going and how it is going to get there
2. Trust in Senior Leadership Employees believe in, trust and follow senior
leaders
3. Immediate Manager Working Relationship the quality of the
management team directly impacts the performance and retention of employees
4. Peer Culture effective peer relationships leads to highly engaged,
productive employees and drives organisation performance
5. Personal Influence employees feel that they can strive to seek better
ways of doing things, to innovate new ideas and that their efforts (be they
successful or not) will be recognised
6. Nature of my Career providing employees with meaningful career paths,
that will inspire and provide them with a variety of opportunities to grow and
develop and lead to their goals
7. Career Support providing employees with the opportunity to develop
through assignments or key jobs
8. Nature of the Job providing employees with jobs that are designed to
challenge them; that are a good fit with employees skills, qualifications,
experience
9. Development Opportunities providing employees not only with formal
learning programmes but also with the opportunity to practice their newly
acquired skills and knowledge on the job under the watchful eye and also the
opportunity to learn from others outside formal learning programmes.
10. Employee Recognition recognising in a sincere and timely manner
employee contributions and incremental improvements
11. Pay Fairness motivate employees by implementing equitable pay linked to
performance and also to the type of the company (e.g. industry leader or
follower)
What One Factor affects Employee Engagement the Most?
Research indicates that the single most important factor to drive employee
engagement and retention is the Immediate Manager Working Relationship.
Good management is critical to the success of retaining and engaging employees
and bad management is often cited as the reasons why employees leave their
job.
Good People Managers are competent in informing employees of what is required
and expected from them, providing feedback on their performance, providing
opportunities for their development, delegating appropriate levels of
responsibility and setting priorities. They are approachable, fair, good listeners
and establish and maintain good relationships with their direct reports and other
key colleagues.