I’ve recently been involved in an discussion about employee engagement on one of the LinkedIn groups I follow. The discussion started with the observation that “…many employees are engaged with their jobs, their profession/craft, their colleagues, and even their immediate managers – but not necessarily with their organisation and senior management.” That posed an interesting question: “If employees enjoy their work and feel positive about their team, does it matter if they are not interested or engaged with the wider organisation?” Here are the thoughts I shared:
Our own research supports the starting observation. Employees do tend to be more engaged with their jobs than with their organisation. (For that reason, when we measure engagement we find it useful to separate it into two broad dimensions: fulfilment with the job and commitment to the organisation.)
There are exceptions of course. Businesses like Amazon, Apple and Google often do very well at winning their people’s commitment to the business, as do some charities and other not for profit organisations. Whether it’s because they are high profile, innovative trailblazers or because of the good works they do, people feel proud to be a part.
For many other businesses not involved in such industry changing or socially useful activities the engagement challenge can be much greater. One challenge is holding on to people with clearly defined and highly developed skill sets. They often have a value and a marketability not shared by others and this can impact their sense of commitment to their employer. Finance, IT people and healthcare professionals often fall into this category. In these cases the commitment to the calling is typically more pronounced than the commitment to a particular employer.
Another challenge is Generation Y, today’s 20 to 30 somethings (who make up a significant proportion of the workforce in many businesses). According to recent research they see the business’s economic or social purpose and being able to feel of proud in its work as just as important as job fulfilment and more important than pay. However, many businesses are failing to recognise that, and as a result are failing to engage their Generation Y people. As a result, the majority (it’s claimed) are already planning their exit – a ticking time bomb of cost and disruption.
So, in answer to the question – yes it does matter that people are engaged with the wider organisation.
