What Is Employee Engagement?

At the most basic level, engagement refers to an individual’s commitment and willingness to do what it takes to get the job done. Highly engaged team members choose to apply their talents, energy, and care toward their work, and they exhibit the following behaviors:

• They exert high levels of discretionary effort—that is, they go above and beyond.
• They are willing (or even desire) to remain on their team through periods of change and adversity. Engaged employees are “hardy,” and they don’t get derailed when the going gets tough.
• They take initiative, and they are proactive, including taking responsibility for their own development.
• They hold themselves accountable for delivering on their promises.
• They work collaboratively and synergistically with other team members.

Given these qualities, it is not surprising that research has demonstrated the positive impact of employee engagement on an organization’s bottom line through increased profitability, productivity, efficiency, quality, creativity, safety, compliance, employee well-being, and retention.