Employee Engagement Matters!
By Alisa

People talk a lot about employee engagement. What, exactly, is ’employee engagement’? One simple definition is “the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals” (Forbes, 2012). It’s different than employee satisfaction, or happiness- it’s the degree to which the employee feels connected to the business. And it matters to the bottom line.

An engaged employee thinks about how to make things better, every day. An engaged worker picks up the trash, even if no one’s looking. An engaged manager spends extra time on those performance reviews, so they’re really meaningful to her team. An engaged receptionist remembers your client’s names, and their spouses and kids, and how the clients likes their coffee.
Engagement, in short, leads to higher productivity, higher levels of service, and ultimately, to higher sales and higher profits. You know how fun it is when one of the Southwest Airlines people bursts into song, when doing those safety reminders? Or, how you remember when a sale clerk actually looks you in the eye and thanks you for your business? You notice, and you remember. And the next time you’re ready to buy something, those positive experiences play a role in your purchasing. This is what you want your own clients to be thinking, every time.
We’ll talk about how to engage employees in another blog.