Employee Engagement Confusion: Are Team-Building and Culture Activities Enough?

Hello Everyone, I am a bit confused at this point in time  Could someone please let me know if employee engagement activities include team-building activities and activities to build the culture of the organization, or if it's much more than that? Also, what kind of activities are included?

Thanks,
Priyanka

Engagement is not created by activities; employees decide to engage themselves in their work based on how they are treated by management. If they are treated with great respect by management, employees will choose to become engaged.

Management does this by listening to what they have to say often enough to satisfy their need to be heard. Then management responds to what was said to the satisfaction of the employee or better, and this satisfies their need to be respected. Management at all levels must do this all the time, not just once or twice.

Once employees realize that this will always be done, they realize that they can influence everything in the workplace. This ability to influence everything begets a sense of ownership, a sense that it is their workplace just as much as it is anyone's. In a similar manner, a sense of ownership begets commitment, and that gets you engagement.

A fully engaged workforce is emotionally driven to throw everything they have at their work because they have been treated so well. In this state, they apply 100% of their brainpower to their work, meaning all of their natural creativity, innovation, and productivity, thus making them at least 300% more productive than if partially disengaged.

I hope that helps you.

Regards, Ben

Leadership is a science, and so is engagement

Objective of Employee Engagement

The objective of employee engagement is:

• To maintain connectivity with employees.
• To make them feel that the management empathizes with them.
• To ensure they feel heard.
• To make them feel they are part of the organization.
• To enable them to contribute to the organization's goals.
• By conducting activities that instill the above feelings, to motivate employees to be productive.

Therefore, all the activities mentioned can be considered part of employee engagement. However, it is crucial to ensure these activities do not merely become social functions or picnics, where the impact fades once the event is over. The effects of engagement activities should have a lasting impact on employees. Hence, it is essential to choose activities thoughtfully.

Best regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai

Dear Priyanka, This is in addition to what the previous two members have said. Firstly, you may refer to my past replies to a similar query. The links are as below:

https://www.citehr.com/283432-employ...ml#post1278427

https://www.citehr.com/443869-employ...ml#post2003929

Employee Engagement Activities

Your "Employee Engagement" activities should be all-inclusive. For this, you need to treat all the departments equally. In many organizations, some departments are given undue importance. Due to this, personnel from other departments feel let down. If these people are disgruntled, how will they be motivated?

Culture of Justice

The second important point is that you should strive to create a "Culture of Justice." In many companies, employee grievances are frowned upon. Giving a chance to the lower rung of employees to vent their grievances is a perfectly democratic process. In many organizations, their voices are muzzled, and a "yes-man" culture is promoted. This is obviously counterproductive to the growth of the organization.

Ok...

Dinesh V Divekar

Regards

In addition to all that some professional friends have shared, I complement it with this:

Definition of Employee Engagement

One definition says: Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don't work just for a paycheck or just for the next promotion, or for ESOP, etc., but work on behalf of the organization's goals. When employers care—that's when the employees feel cared for and get engaged—they use discretionary effort.

Employee Engagement vs. Employee Happiness

Employee engagement does not mean employee happiness. Someone might be happy at work, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are working hard, productively on behalf of the organization. While some company facilities may be beneficial for other reasons—making employees happy is different from making them engaged.

Employee Engagement vs. Employee Satisfaction

Employee engagement doesn't mean employee satisfaction. Many companies have "employee satisfaction" surveys and executives talk about "employee satisfaction," but the bar is set too low. A satisfied employee might show up for her daily 9-to-5 without complaint. But that same "satisfied" employee might not go the extra effort on her own, and she'll probably take the headhunter's call luring her away with a 10% bump in pay. Satisfied isn't enough.

Benefits of Engaged Employees

Engaged employees lead to higher service, quality, and productivity, which leads to higher customer satisfaction, which leads to increased sales turnover, repeat business, and more referrals, which leads to higher levels of profit, which leads to higher returns (for all its constituent parties).

To win in the marketplace, we must first win by having an engaged workforce.

Regards,
TSK. Raman

This is a two-way process. Employee engagement means emotional involvement with the management, whereas the latter has to reciprocate it with transparency and concern for the workmen. This will also promote team building. For the rest, I endorse the views of my friends as above.

Regards,
S.K. Johri

The Foundation of Employee Engagement

To me, the first step to employee engagement starts at the top. Front-line leaders need to be engaged first. The old adage, “employees join great companies,” holds true. There is also an old saying in Indian traditions, “yadha raja thatha praja,” which means “like king, like people.” This is true even now, despite all advancements. Almost all research studies on leadership show that a key driver of employee engagement is the actions of senior leaders. Leaders must demonstrate support for an engaged company culture by personally living their company's values.

Hiring for Engagement

Next is to hire people with the right behaviors and traits and promote the company's vision, mission, and culture. Most companies place much emphasis on one's educational background and skills, which is indeed vital, but that's not all. People usually succeed or fail because of their behaviors and traits.

Communication as a Cornerstone

The cornerstone of any engagement, or any relationship moving forward, is constant communication. Focus on good communication using the power of a robust communication plan, one that is built on clarity, consistency, and transparency.

Create feedback mechanisms that give you the information needed to decide whether to carry on, alter, or amend, by asking employees what they think and feel. Be open to raw, unfiltered truths, and offer no defense if there is a fault.

Linking Engagement to Performance

Then link your engagement efforts to high performance. Employee engagement is not about employee satisfaction. The last thing you should want is a team of satisfied but underperforming employees.

Your philosophy should go beyond “treat people the way you want to be treated;” the new mantra is “treat people the way they want to be treated.” Customize your engagement. Create a motivational culture. Leaders cannot motivate employees long-term. Leaders must create motivational cultures with an engaged workforce where employees can flourish and motivate each other. Reinforce and reward the right behaviors. Employees are incredibly motivated by achievement, not money. Money can disengage if employees perceive unfairness.

Tracking and Celebrating Progress

Finally, track, communicate, and celebrate the progress being made. Employees are no different than leadership — everyone wants to work for a ‘winning’ organization. Leaders need to reinforce “line of sight” by telling their employees where they’re going, how they’re performing, and where they fit in. If the employee also recognizes the importance of any organization that does all these things to make them feel good and wanted, then employee engagement is assured.

Regards