If you ever needed to be convinced about the value of promoting employee engagement (or what I call spirit at work), the results of a two-year research project completed by the Kingston Employee Engagement Consortium Project, Kingston University, for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) will do just that.
Released in January 2010, “Creating an Engaged Workforce” offers strategies for engagement and insights into the outcomes of engagement – for both the public and private sector. Here is a summary of the outcomes which clearly reinforces the importance of employee engagement.
Definitions of employee engagement are multiple. For the purposes of this study, employee engagement was defined as “being positively present during the performance of work by willingly contributing intellectual effort, experiencing positive emotions and meaningful connections to others.”
This is what I call spirit at work which is about finding meaning and fulfillment through work. Spirit at work involves profound feelings of wellbeing, a belief that one’s work makes a contribution, a sense of connection to others and common purpose, and an awareness of a connection to something larger than self.
The study demonstrates what we already know: Employee engagement is good for the employee and employer.
For the organization,
- Engaged employees perform better
- Engaged employees are more innovative than others
- Engaged employees are more likely to want to stay with their employer
For the individual,
- Engaged employees enjoy greater levels of personal well-being
- Engaged employees perceive their workload to be more sustainable than others
With this kind of information, why wouldn’t we want to promote employee engagement and spirit at work for ourselves and our employees?
Want to learn more? Sign up for our monthly newsletter (to the right) where we will explore this topic in more detail. Read the book Rethinking Your Work (link below) and learn how to create spirit at work.
Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and professional speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at www.kaizensolutions.org. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at www.rethinkingyourwork.com.