Employee engagement

Our challenge for the 21st century

Wilmar Schaufeli

KU Leuven Belgium

& Utrecht University The Netherlands

Topics

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1.  The context of employee engagement

2.  What is it and what is it not ?

3.  What is its prevalence?

4.  What do we know about it?

5.  How to increase it?

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The Janus-face of work

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Opus: Homo faber •  Creativity •  Productivity •  Challenge •  Development

Labor: Animal laborans •  Effort •  Strain •  Sacrifice •  Blood, sweat & tears

The positive view •  Energizing

•  Enriching

•  Exciting

•  Engaging

The traditional view •  Disease •  Disorder •  Damage •  Disability

It’s time for a change…..

Seligman (1999)

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“Positive Psychology is the scientific study of optimal

human functioning. It aims to discover and promote the

factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive”

From To

•  Stability •  Continuous change

•  Monoculture •  Diversity

•  Vertical hierarchy •  Horizontal networks

•  External supervision & control •  Self-control & empowerment

•  Dependence on organization •  Accountability & employability

•  Fixed schedules & work patterns •  Boundarylessness

•  Physical demands •  Mental and emotional demands

•  Individual work •  Team work

•  Detailed job descriptions •  Job crafting

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Changes in the world of work

The ‘Psychologization’ of work

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For modern organizations, mental capital is of increasing

importance. Therefore, they do not need a merely

‘healthy’ workforce but a motivated workforce that is

‘engaged’.

The emergence of engagement

•  First used in the 1990’s in the business context

•  Increase of importance of mental capital

•  From 2000 onwards also in academia

•  Emergence of positive psychology

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Publications 2000-2016

Source: Google Scholar

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0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

What is employee engagement?

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Definition

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“Employee engagement is a positive, affective-

motivational state of fulfillment that is characterized by

vigor, dedication, and absorption” Schaufeli et al. (2002; p. 74)

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Rapping flight attendent

Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES)

•  Vigor

•  “At my work I feel bursting with energy”

•  Dedication

•  “I am enthusiastic about my work”

•  Absorption

•  “I am immersed in my work”

Schaufeli et al. (2002, 2006, 2017)

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World leading questionnaire for academic research (> 90%) Available in 27 language versions from www.wilmarschaufeli.nl Since 2015 included in the EU-wide Working Conditions Survey

Work & Well-being Survey (UWES) ©

The following 9 statements are about how you feel at work. Please read each statement carefully and decide if you

ever feel this way about your job. If you have never had this feeling, cross the “0” (zero) in the space after the

statement. If you have had this feeling, indicate how often you feel it by crossing the number (from 1 to 6) that best

describes how frequently you feel that way.

Almost never Rarely Sometimes Often Very often Always 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Never A few times a Once a month A few times a Once a week A few times a Every day year or less or less month week

1. ________ At my work, I feel bursting with energy

2. ________ At my job, I feel strong and vigorous

3. ________ I am enthusiastic about my job

4. ________ My job inspires me

5. ________ When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work

6. ________ I feel happy when I am working intensely

7. ________ I am proud of the work that I do

8. ________ I am immersed in my work

9. ________ I get carried away when I’m working

© Schaufeli & Bakker (2003). The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale is free for use for non-commercial scientific research. Commercial

and/or non-scientific use is prohibited, unless previous written permission is granted by the authors

ACTIVATION

DEACTIVATION

PLEASURE DISPLEASURE

Adapted from Russell (2003)

happy ENGAGED

BURNED-OUT

WORK ADDICTED

SATISFIED

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Engagement goes beyond satisfaction

k N Satisfaction Engagement

In-role performance 5 1,175 .30 .39

Extra-role performance 4 1,139 .24 .43

Christian, Garza & Slaughter (2011)

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Correlation between engagement and job satisfaction: .53

(k=4, N=9,712)

Putting the typology to the test

Salanova et al. (2014)

The proof of the pudding ….

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Prevalence of engagement

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Engagement in Europe (1-5)

4,22

4,174,15

4,14 4,13

4,09

4,044,03 4,01 4,01 4,00

3,99 3,98 3,98 3,97

3,93 3,92 3,90 3,89 3,89

3,843,82 3,81 3,80 3,80

3,783,76 3,75

3,73

3,69

3,94

3,72

3,633,61

3,54

3,62

3,2

3,4

3,6

3,8

4

4,2

4,4

Netherlands

Ireland

Belgium

Lithuania

Denmark

Malta

Switzerland

Norway

Luxembourg

Austria

France

Bulgaria

Finland

Slovenia

Romania

UnitedKingdom

Sweden

Estonia

PolandSpain

Cyprus

CzechRepublic

Italy

Slovakia

Latvia

Greece

Germany

Hungary

CroaUa

Portugal

EU+

Albania

Montenegro

Turkey

Serbia

Non-EU+

Source: 6th EWCS - 2015

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Engaged Europe

Source: 6th EWCS 2015

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Albania

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Croa2a

CyprusCzech

Denemark

Estonia

Finland

France

GermanyGreece

Hungary

Ireland

ItalyLatvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta

Montenegro

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Serbia

Slovakia

Slovenia

SpainSweden

Switzerland

Turkey

UK

3,50

3,60

3,70

3,80

3,90

4,00

4,10

4,20

4,30

0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000

Wor

k en

gage

men

t

GDP

Engagement and economic activity

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What do we know?

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Causes and consequences

The Job Demands -Resources model

Schaufeli & Bakker (2004; 2009); Hakanen et.al. (2006, 2008); Korunka et al. (2009); Llorens et al. (2006); Salmela-Aro & Upadyaya (2013); Crawford et al. (2010)

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Job resources

Social •  Social support •  Team climate •  Role clarity •  Recognition

Work •  Job control •  Person-Job fit •  Task variety •  Use of skills •  Adequate tools •  Participation in decision-

making

Organization •  Communication •  Trust •  Alignment •  Value congruence •  Justice

Growth •  Performance feedback •  Career possibilities •  Possibilities for learning

& development

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Schaufeli & Taris (2014)

Personal resources

For reviews see: Simpson (2009), Schaufeli & Salanova (2008), Schaufeli & Taris (2014)

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•  Emotional stability

•  Extraversion

•  Conscientiousness

•  Optimism

•  Self-efficacy

•  Self-esteem

•  Achievement striving

•  Emotional intelligence

Autonomy

Relatedness

Growth

Meaning

Inspiring

-  Connects with mission and purpose of organization -  Enthuses for plans and ideas -  Emphasizes the meaning of the job

Strengthening

-  Delegates tasks and responsibilities -  Encourages using talents and strengths -  Challenges

Connecting

-  Encourages collaboration -  Promotes team spirit -  Manages conflits

Empowering

-  Recognizes ownership -  Stimulates freedom and responsibility -  Encourages voice

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Engaging leadership

Individual outcomes ‘healthy working’

Good physical health •  Stress-reactivity (Langelaan et al., 2006)

•  Autonomic cardiac activity (Seppälä et al., 2012)

•  Reduced risk of CVD (Ugucji et al., 2015)

Good mental health •  Depression, anxiety, burnout (Hakanen & Schaufeli, 2012)

•  Psychosomatic complaints (Schaufeli et al., 2008)

•  Quality of sleep (Kubota et al., 20l1)

Positive attitudes and behaviors •  Workability (Airila et al., 2012)

•  Personal initiative (Salanova & Schaufeli, 2008)

•  Recovery (Sonnentag et al., 2012)

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Organizational outcomes ‘successful working’

Low health and replacement costs •  Sickness absence (Schaufeli et al., 2009)

•  Occupational injuries and hazards (Nahrgang, 2011)

•  Turnover intention (Schaufeli et al., 2006)

Good performance •  Customer satisfaction (Salanova et al., 2005)

•  Job performance (Halbesleben & Wheeler, 2008)

•  Innovativeness (Hakanen et al., 2007)

•  Safety behavior (Nährgang et al., 2014)

Superior business outcomes •  Financial turnover (Xanthopoulou et al., 2008)

•  Productivity & profitability (Harter et al., 2006)

•  Net margin & ROA (Schneider et al., 2017)

Gallup’s business case for engagement 152 organizations; 32,394 business units; 955,905 employees

Harter, Schmidt & Hayes, 2002

-70 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10

0 10 20 30

Absenteeism Safety incidents Quality (defects)

Customer satisfaction Productivity Profitability

- 37%

- 49%

- 60%

+12% +18% +16%

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Schneider et al. (2017)

Engagement and Return on Asset (ROA) 102 publicly traded companies from Fortune Best Places to Work (N=4,199)

Return on Asset (RAO): Profitability of a company relative to its total assets

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Why do engaged workers perform better?

Because they…

• … are proactive; they take initiative

•  … set higher goals; they feel competent

• … are intrinsically motivated; for them work is fun

• … show pro-social behavior; they are kind and cooperative

• … experience positive emotions; they process information better

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How to increase engagement?

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Individual •  Gratefulness and kindness (Ouweneel, Le Blanc & Schaufeli, 2014)

•  E-coaching (Oweneel, Schaufeli & Le Blanc, 2013)

•  Mindfulness (Leroy, Anseel, Dimitrova & Sels, 2013)

•  Career management training (Vuori, Toppinen-Tanner & Mutanan, 2011)

•  Individual job crafting training (Van den Heuvel, Demerouti & Peeters, 2012)

Team •  Manager led group meetings (Allen & Rogeslberg, 2013)

•  Caring leadership (Bishop, 2013)

•  Team redesign (Cifre, Salanova & Rodriguez, 2010)

•  Team-level collaborative job crafting (McClelland, 2014)

Organization •  Performance management (Mone et al., 2011)

•  Quality improvement (White, Wells & Butterworth, 2014)

•  Leadership development (Biggs, Brough & Bardour, 2014)

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Interventions

E-coaching INTAKE

App support

Registration of activities

Peer-to-peer learning

Online coach

Short tests

Gaming elements, awards

Video, text, quiz

Tailored learning path (modules)

Survey

JD-R model

G R I P

•  50+ modules particularly aimed at increasing job and personal resources

•  50+ psychological tests

•  120+ short videos for inspiration

•  120+ exercises for practicing thoughts and behavioral patterns at work

•  80+ wiki’s, for up-to-date knowledge

GRIP – A comprehensive online platform

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10 things that can organizations do

1.  Establish an optimal ‘fit’ between abilities and needs of your employees and their jobs.

2.  Stimulate on open dialogue about how your employee’s experience their work.

3.  Invest in social, engaging leadership and not only in task oriented leadership.

4.  Use the talents, strengths, and passions of your employees.

5.  Stimulate a team climate where people support and respect each other.

6.  Provide regular feedback; also positive feedback.

7.  Provide meaningful jobs with task variety and job control.

8.  Create trust by being open, consistent, and fair.

9.  Use ‘feed forward’ conversations to keep jobs challenging.

10.  Monitor employee’s engagement levels regularly.

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Employee engagement…. •  ... is a specific type of employee well-being

•  … is related to various job- and personal resources

•  … has positive effects for individuals and organizations

•  … can be increased

Final conclusion

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Thank you very much for your attention

More information

Academic: www.wilmarschaufeli.nl

Consultancy: www.3ihc.nl GRIP: www.gripworks.eu

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