According to Gallup, employee engagement is crucial for successful business outcomes, especially those related to productivity, ongoing profitability and customer loyalty. However, despite it’s obvious importance, there are still a lot of people asking, “what is employee engagement?”
There’s no standard definition of employee engagement – in fact, many organizations will create their own definitions. To provide a clearer idea of what is involved with employee engagement, we’ve gathered definitions from three leaders in the academic and/or research field:
Gallup says…
“These employees willingly go the extra mile, work with passion, and feel a profound connection to their company. They are the people who will drive innovation and move your business forward.”
Kevin Kruse, professor at Princeton and author of Employee Engagement 2.0 says…
“Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.”
The Corporate Leadership Council says…
“[Employee engagement is] the extent to which employees commit to something or someone in their organization, how hard they work and how long they stay as a result of that commitment.”
And while we don’t recommend Wikipedia is an academic resource, for what it’s worth, they define it as…
“A property of the relationship between an organization and its employees. An ‘engaged employee’ is defined as one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization's reputation and interests.”
How do you define employee engagement?
