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O P I N I O N
E mployee engagement is a powerful determinant of an organization’s success. Employee engagement is also central to the No. 1 issue facing AEC firms today – employee recruitment and retention. By understanding the basics of performance-boosting behaviors, we can design a better approach to attract, develop, and retain top talent. Employee engagement (Part 1)
❚ ❚ Designing effective engagement. The research is in and the results are clear. Employee engagement is good for business and good for all. Well-designed and effective employee engagement results in great- er productivity and profitability, lower turnover and absenteeism, and a better work environment. These results are outcomes based on a series of inputs, activities, and outputs done well and devel- oped over time. How these are all connected can best be illustrated with logic models. In the target model, the work (the activity) is de- signed to provide meaning and purpose with the express goal to engage the employees (the input). The employee engagement and the value provided from the work (the outputs) compounds and reinforces organizational growth and profits and the development of a thriving work culture (the out- comes). ❚ ❚ Work with meaning and purpose. The key to em-
Unfortunately, most leaders and organizations take the wrong approach to employee engagement. Most organizations treat engagement as a “thing” – a program or an initiative. But employee engagement is not a thing for employees. As a result, there is a fundamental disconnect between engagement in the eyes of organizations and those of its employees. Employee engagement is not about an organization or its leaders. It’s not about satisfaction, wellness, or happiness. Employee engagement is not even about the work and the work environment. Employee engagement is about how all of these work together to produce commitment and performance-boosting behaviors. For organizations to have employee engagement, they need leaders to create the conditions for engagement and managers to help make it happen. Employees also have a role.
Peter Atherton GUEST SPEAKER
See PETER ATHERTON, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER February 25, 2019, ISSUE 1285
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