Te subject of employee engagement has been a fruitful source of academic research and practice insight. Models and hypotheses have been put forward over a period of thirty years with many attributed outcomes
arising from each iteration. A narrative that has emerged is that if an
individual is engaged at work, then that person will be more motivated
and have a higher level of well-being; in turn, this will have a positive
rollover efect on personal, team and departmental business or service
performance. Once extrapolated to the whole workforce, employee
engagement assumes strategic importance with signifcant potential benefts including higher shareholder returns, operating income, revenue growth, proft margins, creativity and innovation and customer or client
satisfaction; higher levels of well-being; lower workforce turnover; and lower levels of absence. It follows that employers want engaged employees because they can deliver improved business performance; employees want the conditions of engagement because of the impact on their overall state of mind, their performance at work and their career prospects. Given the strength of belief in the power of employee engagement, the
subject continues to be compelling to those who lead, manage and work
for organisations; and the academics who study organisational behaviour.
Employee engagement transcends any one point of view (such as
from a psychological, sociological or economic perspective) and therefore benefts from a holistic approach; with sense making about the attributional factors, how these relate to the individual and the organisation and the possible links between the two. In this assumption, not only are clarity of organisational goals and company vision or mission
important, but also the extent to which employees were able to identify with these. Not only is the quality of leadership and management understanding important, but also efective two-way communication,
transparency, honesty and constant feedback for employees (e.g. regular performance reviews).