Does Employee Engagement Matter?
by Cynthia King, PhD, and Daniel King, MS
No longer is it enough to have satisfied employees who just want to “get by.” Instead, it is essential that hospitals and health systems cultivate a working environment that promotes and sustains highly engaged employees who are loyal to their organization.
Highly engaged individuals are not only working harder, they are working smarter. That means they are strategic in the way they’re planning; they are innovating. These employees are invested in the success of the organization, and that is demonstrated in interactions with external and internal customers, whether patients, doctors, or co-workers.
Recognizing the need for engaged employees, hospitals are seeking advice on how to increase engagement. The challenge lies in who or what to believe when it comes to engagement research and advice.
Doing a Google search for “employee engagement” returns 28,500,000 hits, many from questionable sources indicating the majority of employees are not engaged. These so-called experts use anecdotal evidence to elicit reactions of fear in managers and make them believe employees are actually working against their organizations.
Our organization, Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC) has found very different results about employee engagement within a hospital setting. In fact, our research shows that the majority of health care workers are at least somewhat engaged, with very few disengaged.