The term ‘Employee Engagement’ refers to the relationship between an organization and its employees. Wikipedia defines an engaged employee as one who is “fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization’s reputation and interests”. It’s important to note that the relationship is with the “organization”. In a small business like an auto repair shop this can be one person (the owner/manager) or more than one person if certain levels of authority are delegated. As the following statements from business leaders show the importance of this factor cannot be overstated.
There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow … Jack Welch
Jack Welsh (former CEO of General Electric) provides a simplified statement of how to gauge business performance. Even in an organization as big as General Electric he considers employee engagement to be one of the three most important key performance indicators.
Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability … Anne Mulcahy
It’s all too easy to become so focused on the work at hand that we lose sight of the fact that people are doing it. Displaying genuine interest in employees will result in positive influences throughout the organization. Ann Mulcahy (former CEO of Xerox) draws the correlation between satisfied employees, satisfied customers and profitability thus stating that positive employee relationships are the foundation for success.
To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace … Doug Conant
This very simple concise statement by Doug Conant (former CEO of Campbell Soup) states that to be successful a business must have engaged employees with positive attitudes.
