EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT VERSUS EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY. 7 Characteristics of Disengaged Employees.

July 26, 2010 by smsadmin
Filed under: Human Resources

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT VERSUS SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY
My concern with the concept of the service-profit chain is that employee loyalty and satisfaction does not necessarily mean that employees are engaged and offer discretionary effort.
Take, for example, the garage where I took my car for service. I know from a consulting perspective that in this dealership franchise levels of employee loyalty, in the sense of how long they have been with the organization, are very high. The majority of employees had worked for the organization for over 15 years. However, as my experience of their service shows, staying loyal to an organization and being entirely satisfied at work does not necessarily mean that employees will strive to ‘wow’ the customer or give a great service.

In fact if anything, my experience of this particular organization is that it is set in its ways, procedure bound and averse to change. It lacks innovation, energy and drive. As a consequence, it is losing market share to its more aggressive competitors. A high proportion of employees were either cynical in their views towards the organization or exhibited ‘victim’ behaviour. This manifests itself in inertia and a widespread believe that ‘the grass is greener on the other side’ – people in other organizations are better off than those in this particular business, but the employees lack the energy to do anything about it.
So my issue with just measuring and focusing on satisfaction and what might be perceived as loyalty is that although the majority of employees may like their work, they may not necessarily be motivated to give discretionary effort. Research by organizations such as Gallup shows that on average no matter how long employees stay with an organization or how satisfied they are with their job, only 29 per cent are typically fully engaged with the company and willing to give discretionary effort. Another 49 per cent will be indifferent and 22 per cent actively disengaged.

Companies with disengaged staff can be spotted by:
?   high staff turnover;
?   high absenteeism;
?   high stress levels;
?   the difficulty they have reaching decisions;
?   lack of effective communication;
?   political in-fighting;
?   badly communicated company values.

Some employees can be loyal to an organization and satisfied with their job; therefore they may not demonstrate pride, passion and energy to deliver more on behalf of their organization. An example of this is in the public health sector. My observation is that many employees here are self-motivated and dedicated professionals who get satisfaction from their job but do not feel particularly engaged with the organization that employs them. They may relate well to their patients and their needs and take a professional pride in their job, but they disassociate themselves from their employer. Some do not agree with the decisions that are taken by the management of the organization. They may not believe that their voices are heard.
So to clarify, employee engagement is about the ‘oomph’ factor that employees bring to their jobs. To encourage them to do this means developing and implementing strategies to satisfy, engage and retain employees. Walt Disney World Management, for example, recognize that engaged employees lead to higher levels of engaged customers.

Their philosophy towards employees is:
?   Make them feel special.
?   Treat them as individuals.
?   Respect them.
?   Make them knowledgeable.