Page 25 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

12B RE-ENGAGE

current team, the workload has become tremendous and has placed
a lot of stress on the remaining team members.”

So, Where Does Engagement Come From—the Employee or the
Employer?
The short answer is that it comes from both. Although the majority of
our focus will be on the elements that leaders can address to create a
great workplace, we have also included an important chapter on self-
engagement. The ideas and practices offered there can help all readers
increase their levels of engagement, regardless of (or perhaps in spite
of) the quality of management they experience.
Still, the question is an interesting one that business leaders, aca-
demicians who study employee motivation, and HR practitioners have
thoroughly examined and discussed for decades. Either way, how we
answer the question has consequences. If the individual employee is
the party most responsible for his or her own engagement, then em-
ployers need to focus on finding, recruiting, and selecting engaged
employees. If the employer is the party most responsible for employee
engagement, then it must put the focus on training, managing, and
coaching for optimum engagement. Fortunately, it is not an either-or
choice we have to make; smart employers will focus on “both-and.”

Why Not Just Hire Employees Who Are Already Engaged?
An executive called recently and asked the following question:

I’ve been reading a lot about employee engagement and how impor-
tant it is to the success of a company. We’ve had a lot of employee
turnover, and it’s having a negative impact on our customer service.
Our senior leadership team is now on board with this engagement
thing; engaged employees are definitely what we want. So can you
help us develop a preemployment selection assessment process that
will help us know the level of engagement of prospective employ-
ees? [Our emphasis.] We want to hire only engaged people.