Employee Engagement Problem – How to Increase Engagement within an Organisation?

Do you know the employee engagement score for the last decade? According to statistics, the average engagement score is 63.27% worldwide. No matter how the scores are measured, they do not change.

Employee engagement is an essential factor as success comes from within the organisation, especially when transforming into the modern world. When you think about an efficient organisation, it is necessary to consider the level of engagement as a unique selling proposition. As we look at the numbers of employee engagement, it is evident that most organisations are struggling to attain that “perfect engagement” score within the organisation. Let us look at all the main employee engagement problems and how to tackle them ethically.

What Is Employee Engagement?

There is no fixed definition for employee engagement, but the core idea is the involvement and passion of an employee towards their work and organisation.

From an organisation’s point of view, employee engagement is a measuring factor for an employee’s stance towards the organisation’s culture and growth.

Types of Employees in an Organisation

According to Gallup, there are three types of employees:

• Engaged – Employees who are highly involved and motivated in their work and workplace. They are psychologically intense, have a high drive for performance, and can help the organisation move to greater heights.

• Not engaged – employees who are not motivated enough to fulfil their tasks, and are slightly untethered from their work and workplace. They do their job but make no effort to perfect it.
• Actively disengaged – Employees are completely unhappy about their work and the workplace. They are resentful about their needs not being met and can act out unprofessionally.

Challenges Involved in Employee Engagement

Even though the term “employee engagement” has been used for the past decade, it is still new to most organisations ranging from small to large conglomerates. There are various hindrances in adapting engagement within an organisation.

Job Insecurity

This is probably the most influencing factor in the whole list. There are two types of job insecurities; acute and chronic. Nowadays, organisations have started to hire seasonal employees, which means that employees work for a certain period of time a year.

Once the organisation’s needs are fulfilled, the contract usually ends, or the company may renew the contract if the need arises. This is the best scenario to explain acute and chronic job insecurity. If the employee suspects that they will be laid off in the coming weeks, they can experience acute job insecurities. In the same scenario, the employee performance was good, the organisation benefited from the employee’s work, but the employee is unsure if the situation will remain the same. If the organisation is prone to layoffs, the employee can experience chronic job insecurity.

Job insecurity is one of the main factors that directly affect the employee’s performance in an organisation. Psychological damage to employees also results in less engagement within the organisation and feeling less motivated toward their work and workplace.

Unfairness

Unfairness can be seen in some organisations. The term “unfairness” from a professional perspective is unethical to the work and the workplace. This unfairness arises when the upper hierarchy favours people not based on performance but on their background. This can make employees go stale and lose interest in their work, knowing that the work they do may not get recognised.

Decentralised Workspace

This is a common thing in all multinational companies. People work remotely from different countries with different backgrounds and cultures. There are advantages and disadvantages to this factor. As an organisation, collaboration is a significant factor. A decentralised workspace can make an employee disorganised on many levels, which affects the team’s overall performance in an organisation. This can affect the employees psychologically and make them lose interest in their work.

Highly Stressful Job

Working long hours without breaks can break any employee regardless of their skills. Too long hours can cause an employee to lose interest in the work and become an obstacle to innovating the work. This can result in heavy losses to employees and the whole organisation.

Age

Age plays a significant role in the employee engagement process. It is found that employees have a high level of engagement in their 20s and a low level of engagement in their 30s-50s. Young employees thrive on more changes, while middle-aged employees prefer comfort over making a difference in their workplace. Also, the length of employment is directly proportional to employee engagement. NOTE: This is independent of the age factor. The decline is the same, such as frustration, boredom, and favouritism.

Lack of Security

An unintentional accident can lead to a loss of morale in the organisation. Employees get psychologically affected in those scenarios. This unsafe feeling can make employees lose interest in the work and the workspace.

These are some of the main challenges involved in employee engagement. Let us see how to mitigate those challenges by ethically motivating the employees.

How to Tackle Employee Engagement Problems?

There are seven different factors that have a massive influence on improving employee engagement:

• Career growth opportunities – Having robust carrier growth can motivate the employees to achieve better results in their work. Employee training programs are a huge part of career growth. It will help employees to discover more skills and refine the existing skills which helps to innovate the work and achieve the business goals.
• Employee personal strength – Recognising an employee’s strength is a crucial part of running an organisation. It helps to identify the best person for the job. Research found that recognising employee strength can make them more comfortable and confident in their work and allows them to engage more with the organisation.
• Feedback discussion – It is essential to get feedback within the organisation. Feedback is a potent tool; it gives an employee a sense of what they are doing in the organisation and also allows the organisation to improve the employee’s work life.
• A quality relationship with peers and managers – A healthy, professional relationship with the peers and the upper hierarchy can give employees the ability to raise any concerns they need regarding the workspace to perform their work better.
• Trust and integrity – Attention from employers about the employee’s health helps build trust and can make the employee take pride in the organisation.
• Equal opportunities – Providing equal opportunities can make the employee actively engage with the organisation and achieve the employer’s goal in the long term. This can also help to identify skilled people who are fit for the task.
• Work-life management – Implementing healthy work-life management helps employees focus on their personal lives. It also gives them room for growth and innovation in their work.

Conclusion

Employee engagement is vital for any organisation, irrespective of the field. Providing a healthy workplace will likely increase the morale of the team. Engaged employees can meet the organisation’s goals and help to boost the organisation’s brand. This article hopes to give you in-depth insights on the hurdles of employee engagement and how to tackle those hurdles ethically.

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