Every year, many companies are at a loss on what to do to stem resignation notices.
Many try to understand why the employees left and put in place pro-employee measures to stem the loss of highly effective and productive staff .
According to a 2024 survey carried out by Gallup on the state of the global workplace, it estimates that low employee engagement costs the global economy nine per cent of the global GDP, and only 20 per cent of employees across Subsaharan Africa are engaged, with 15 per cent actively disengaged.
Globalisation, information accessibility and technological advancements are revolutionising the workplace.
Now more than ever, employees know their rights and have more options.
This means that the one resource that is highly sought is an engaged employee.
Employee engagement is a method designed to improve an employee’s level of enthusiasm and dedication to the company, their job duties, position within the company, colleagues and company culture.
Many organisations today are grappling with high turnover rates, which can be traced to employee disengagement, among other factors.
As noted, the single most sought-after resource is talent and by talent it is not just about experience, but about traits.
These include attitude, agility, creativity, growth orientation and team skills, among other traits.
Once great talent has been acquired, organisations then work towards building their capability and continuously aligning their expectations with employee expectations so as to maintain alignment.
Employees need to see the value and possible returns from their commitment.
Engagement stems naturally from a mindful cultivated environment.
Employers have the opportunity to give employees reasons to invest their time, energy and mind to the organisation mission and vision.
Thus engagement is an outcome and not an action in itself.
As a HR personnel I have noted that if expectations from either side are violated, trust issues creep in resulting in employee disengagement.
People are often very engaged at the beginning of employment or contract, which can be attributed to the frequent meetings that managers have with the new individual to ensure that they settle down and adapt with ease.
When frequent alignments cease to happen, people start filling in the void with their own expectations resulting in misalignment.
It’s therefore important to note that expectations alignment is a continuous process between an employee and their supervisor because they keep evolving from both parties.
J. Stacy Adams’ Equity theory suggests that employees gauge their output with that of their colleagues and compare the rewards they are getting as a result of their contributions against their colleagues.
If they perceive unfairness, they will seek to find balance between what they believe they are contributing, against what they perceive as the reward they are getting.
This would in turn affect the whole equation from level of commitment to their level of output, to how well they serve clients and soon enough their engagement levels change.
As a leader who is responsible for a team(s), aligning expectations right from recruitment from both the employee and organisational perspective is the basis of building an engaged team.
First, outline and communicate clearly what you expect from employees and when doing this, remember that employees are individuals with different backgrounds, desires, expectations, mindsets, emotions, needs, and that everyone wants to be recognised as unique and separate, albeit a part of a team (need for belonging).
The same should also happen from employees where they clearly state and align their expectations with the said role, their supervisor and the organisation in general.
As an employee, be clear what your expectations are before you join an organisation.
Secondly, as an employer, it is paramount to evaluate your organisation in terms of culture, leadership model, clarity of roles, growth opportunities, fairness, communication system, employee value propositions, and especially whether your staff understands how their work is contributing to the organisation mission and vision.
At the end of the day, the level of your team engagement will show through their output.
The quality of the service/output will tell your story.
PAULINE WANJOHI
HR professional
