Employee Engagement Challenges

Many companies these days have on-site recreational facilities like gym, coffee-shops, massage and spa centers, you name it and one or the other company is providing these facilities to their employees. Is it really required? Well, everyone needs a job and companies need people to work for them, the equation is fairly simple then why so much of augmentation? Simply to keep the employees happy, satisfied and engaged.

          

But are they really happy, satisfied and engaged? Employee expectations and talent market is undergoing tremendous change. Gen Y and Women make a considerable part of the workforce that not only brings new perspective but also increases diversity. Employees, regardless of their age, are constantly looking for development opportunities, feedback, and individual and teamwork opportunities. Gone are the days when employees served an organization throughout their career. Employees are constantly seeking opportunities to grow and develop in career due to change in the talent market. Organizations are relying more and more on contract and temp jobs rather than full-time positions. Stats Canada reports 52% of all temp jobs were contract jobs in the year 2009; 25% of those were professionals. Not only do employees realize that staying at an organization for years together is detrimental to their career but even the organizations view such employees less marketable because they lack diversity in their experience.

            

Organizations are facing two main challenges today: One, how to engage employees and provide them more options as employees are interested in what can they take from the experience as much as they can get while they are there. The second challenge lies in the question whether should organizations invest in employee engagement, although the employee turnover is high?