Employee Engagement: The what and why?

The higher level of engagement, involvement and dedication of employees is the primary requirement to successfully implement a change initiative taken by the management.

Change management initiatives are only successful if they are supported by employees. Quite possibly the biggest obstacle facing change ambassadors is the reluctance of a team unwilling to embarrass transformation. This is why employee engagement is so important. 

When we talk about employee engagement, we need to clarify what employee engagement is not. 

Employee engagement is not the happiness or job satisfaction of the employee. Just because an employee is happy or satisfied with their job and working environment does not guarantee that they are working diligently and effectively. Employee engagement refers to “the extra mile” an employee is willing to go for the organisation. Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has toward the organisation and its goals.

This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don’t just work for a pay cheque, or the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organisation’s goals. In other words, the employee is working WITH the organisation to achieve the goals set out and not working FOR the organisation for a monthly reward.

Why is employee engagement so important? 

Various independent and organisation based studies have revealed that employee engagement is the heart and soul of the change management process, and if transformation is going to be successful, employees must be engaged throughout the journey. It is believed that the more staff are engaged, the more likely they would go an extra mile to deliver the best performance and adopt various changes implemented in the organisation. Their dedication towards their work, eagerness to achieve more and overall job satisfaction, support business efforts that are related to bring about meaningful change. 

Employee engagement has been listed as a primary requirement for the success of change initiatives. Iit is vital for change management teams to seek out and develop strategies that increase and promote staff engagement, especially at a time where hybrid working models are becoming more popular, with people managers having less sight of workplace influences.

Contact us on info@harmonisingchange.co.za for more information on how we work with teams to build successful change management strategies.

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