Many people keep asking themselves, what is employee engagement. At times this can be very confusing, to help clear that up here are a few things employee engagement is not.

Employee Engagement does not mean employee happiness.

Someone might be happy at work, but that does not necessarily mean they are working hard, productively on behalf of the organization. While some company game rooms, free massages and Friday keg parties are fun and beneficial, making employees happy is different from making them engaged.

Employee Engagement does not mean employee satisfaction.

Many companies have “employee satisfaction” surveys and executives talk about “employee satisfaction”, but the bar is set too low. Satisfied employees might show up for their 9-to-5 without complaint. But that same “satisfied” employee might not go the extra effort on their own, and would probably take the head hunter’s call luring them away with a 10% bump in pay. Satisfied is not enough.

So What is Employee Engagement? 

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 just work for a paycheck, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization’s goals. When employees care they use discretionary effort.

Engagement-Profit Chain:

Engaged Employees leads to…..

higher service, quality, and productivity, which leads to….

higher customer satisfaction, which leads to…..

increased sales, which leads to…..

higher levels of profit, which leads to…..

higher shareholder returns.

As former Campbell’s Soup CEO, Doug Conant, once said, “To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.”

Article synopsis based on “What is Employee Engagement” by Kevin Kruse Serial Entrepreneur and author of “Employee Engagement 2.0.”