Employee Engagement in HR

What is the Definition of Employee Engagement?

Generally speaking, employee engagement is a workplace method designed to improve an employee’s feelings and emotional attachment to the company, their job duties, position within the company, their fellow employees, and the company culture. HR departments can use employee engagement tactics to boost wellbeing and productivity across all company levels.

Through various measures, initiatives, and approaches, employee engagement encourages all members of a company to put their best foot forward, day in and day out. Employee engagement in HR also helps to ensure that each and every employee is fully committed to the company’s mission, goals, and values and that they remain encouraged and inspired to contribute the overall success of the business. At the foundation of all employee engagement tactics is the intent to enhance the well-being of each and every employee.

What is Employee Engagement in HR?

While all departments throughout the company can and should execute various employee engagement measures, HR departments are particularly vital for employee engagement approaches to be successful. The impact of employee engagement on employee retention, as well as wellbeing and productivity, is something which HR departments must keep at the forefront of their initiatives. There are five key roles that every HR department should fulfill when it comes to improving employee engagement.

1. Executive Leadership: As the employee engagement champions, the HR department should take an executive leadership role when it comes to identifying and investing in ways to improve engagement tactics. The HR department is also responsible for ensuring transparency and understanding in regards to the company expectations for each employee.
2. Employee Engagement: HR professionals within the company should be experts in what employee engagement is. They are the ones who understand the importance of employee engagement in HR, what methods best drive employee engagement, how these tactics can be measured, and what steps must be taken to continuously improve engagement approaches.
3. Training: HR is also responsible for training, guiding, and coaching department managers in how they can better engage their staff. As employee engagement consultants, HR needs must also lead by example when it comes to maintaining an open dialog, regularly addressing causes deterring the success of employee engagement approaches, pointing out and applauding progress, and looking past scores and metrics to focus on the betterment of the employee.
4. Activities: Though employee engagement is a serious element of business success in which HR plays an important role, it’s also their duty to fulfill the role of engagement humorist by bringing enthusiasm, excitement, and inspiration to the process. By introducing, implementing, and organizing employment engagement activities, HR can foster a stimulating workplace that values the individual contributions of each employee and recognizes productive collaboration.
5. Measurement Lastly, the HR department must play the role of gatekeeper for employment engagement. Regular surveys, department check-ins, and other means of measurement, help HR pros develop and implement specific action plans that can be frequently discussed and addressed with team managers. Instead of focusing solely on data, analytics, benchmark goals, and ranking numbers, the HR department must place strict emphasis on the specific dialog and methods that positively influence employee engagement.

All in all, employee engagement in HR helps to ensure that all employees feel engaged and empowered to put their best foot forward. Employees who feel engaged are proven to not only be more productive and content in their job role, but they are also more loyal to the company and more driven to contribute to overall business success.