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Why Is Employee Engagement Important?

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Employee Engagement in Contemporary Organizations

Abstract

There is a strong business case for an engaged workforce; and a strong ‘people’ case for an engaged workforce. This is why a large majority of the world’s most admired companies believe that their efforts to engage employees can create a strategic advantage. Amongst the promised benefits of employee engagement are higher productivity, more discretionary effort, faster time to market, more rapid innovation, higher customer satisfaction and more resilience to change. Engaged employees feel a bond with their company, are proud to work there, and will take steps to improve the company’s prospects of achieving its goals. Engaged employees are more likely to stay with and act as advocates of the organisation. By being more committed, satisfied, and productive, it is posited that engaged employees can contribute to, inter alia, job performance, intentions to stay with the organisation, and organisational citizenship behaviour over time. They invest themselves fully in their roles and work in a way that maximises their own efficiency; which can have a positive effect on their health and well-being. Their overall impact is reflected in organisational agility, improved efficiency and ultimately profitability, shareholder or stakeholder value.

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Turner, P. (2020). Why Is Employee Engagement Important?. In: Employee Engagement in Contemporary Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36387-1_3

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