Employee Engagement and Corporate Culture for Psychological Health

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Employee Engagement and Corporate Culture for
Psychological Health

• Alan M. Saks
• University of Toronto
• Psychologically Healthy Workplace Conference
• May 4, 2007

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Employee Engagement

• What we know, think we know, and dont know about
  employee engagement.
• What is it?
• Why does it matter?
• What drives it?

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What We Think We Know

• We know a great deal about employee engagement?
  True/False
• Search the web
• Results 1 - 10 of about 1,400,000 for employee
  engagement. (0.23 seconds). 
• Search the academic journals
• A handful of studies (most in the last couple of
  years).

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What is Employee Engagement?

• Lack of consistency and agreement on how to
  define and measure it.
• Common definition
• An emotional and intellectual commitment to the
  organization.
• Whats wrong with this definition?

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What is Organizational Commitment?

• The extent to which employees are emotionally and
  intellectually engaged in their organization.
• Old wine in a new bottle?

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So What is Employee Engagement?

• The extent or depth to which one brings their
  true self into the performance of their work
  roles.
• When engaged, people employ and express
  themselves, physically, cognitively, and
  emotionally during role performances.
• (Kahn, 1990)

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Psychological Presence at Work

• Attention
• Absorption
• Vigor
• Intensity
• Focus
• Concentration
• Connected
• Involved

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The Importance of Employee Engagement

• The quality of people and their engagement will
  be critical factors in corporate vitality and
  survival.
• (The Conference Board of Canada, Hot HR Issues
  for the Next Two Years, 2004).

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The Importance of Employee Engagement (continued)

• The top employers in Canada have employees who
  are significantly more engaged than those at
  other organizations.
• (Report on Business Magazine, 50 Best Employers
  in Canada, 2007).

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The Importance of Employee Engagement (continued)

• High levels of employee engagement are associated
  with better business results
• Retention
• Customer service
• Higher productivity
• Lower absenteeism
• Sales growth
• Profit
• Shareholder return

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What About the Employee?

• Is employee engagement good for employees?
• A fulfilling, positive work-related experience
  and state of mind.
• It is related to good health and positive work
  affect.
• The opposite of burnout.
• Engagement has been linked to proactive behaviour
  (taking initiative and the pursuit of learning
  goals).

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Engagement and Burnout

• Burnout A state of emotional exhaustion,
  depersonalization, and cynicism.
• Engagement a positive, fulfilling, work-related
  state of mind.
• Engagement and burnout are negatively related.

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Engagement versus Burnout

• Burnout Engagement
• Emotional exhaustion Vigor
• Cynicism Dedication
• Absorption

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What Drives Employee Engagement?

• If you read enough articles on engagement the
  answer is easy Everything!

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The Engagement Drivers Shopping List

• Job fit
• Culture of company
• Leadership communication
• Immediate supervisor
• Job design
• Social relationships
• Rewards
• Opportunities for growth
• Work-life balance
• Quality of life in the workplace

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The Burnout Model

• Six areas of work-life predict burnout
• Workload
• Control
• Reward and recognition
• Community
• Fairness
• Values

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Job-Demand-Resource (JD-R) Model

• The characteristics of the work environment can
  be divided into two categories
• Job demands (work overload, work-life conflict,
  job insecurity).
• Job resources (job control, autonomy, feedback,
  supervisor social support).

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Job-Demand-Resource (JD-R) Model (continued)

• High job demands can result in burnout,
  disengagement, and health problems.
• Job resources can prevent burnout and lead to
  engagement and positive work outcomes.
• Job resources are more strongly related to
  engagement than job demands.

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Kahns Model of Engagement

• The psychological conditions of engagement
• Psychological meaningfulness
• Psychological safety
• Psychological availability

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Employee Engagement Questions

• 1. How meaningful is it for me to bring myself
  into this performance?
• 2. How safe is it for me to do so?
• 3. How available am I to do so?

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Psychological Meaningfulness

• People experience meaningfulness when they feel
  worthwhile, useful, and valuable and when they
  feel they make a difference and are not taken for
  granted.
• Nature of the work and connection to the
  organization.
• Recognition and rewards.

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Psychological Safety

• People are more likely to be engaged when they
  feel safe and do not fear negative consequences
  to their self-image, status, or career.
• Work environments that are non-threatening, open,
  trusting, caring, and supportive enhance a sense
  of safety.

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Psychological Availability

• Employees are engaged when they have the
  resources they need to perform their work roles.
• Physical, emotional, and cognitive capacities
  required to engage oneself in work roles.

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The Engagement Culture

• Jobs and organization membership are meaningful
  and rewarding experiences.
• Employees feel respected and valued.
• The work environment is safe people are not
  afraid to be themselves trusting relationships
  honesty and fairness are valued.
• Employees have the resources and means to engage
  themselves.

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Engagement and Psychological Health

• Being engaged is a positive, fulfilling, and
  desirable state.
• Employees want to be engaged and they will
  increasingly expect it.
• Organizations and managers need to focus on how
  to engage their employees.
• Focus on the benefits to employees including
  employee health and well-being, not just business
  results and the bottom-line.

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Positive Psychology and Employee Engagement

• Engagement reflects the trend towards positive
  psychology where the concern is employee
  well-being and health.
• Thats why employee engagement is important.
• Thank You