Organizations are always looking for ways to improve employee productivity, and they can learn from high-performing companies. Companies like Google, Apple and Netflix are 40% more productive than the average company by using a mix of employee performance management strategies that focus on organizational structure and trust-building.
David Mizne from 15five Blog stated that according to research by Bain & Company, the way companies construct their teams has a significant impact on productivity. Apple and Google for example, dedicate 95% of their top talent to key business functions, as opposed to spreading top talent across many areas.
Without talented and dedicated people, a business is little more than a great idea. While this seems obvious, companies didn’t always focus on employee performance management to stimulate growth and satisfaction as they do now. Developments in this area over the last few years have brought this truism home like never before.
What Is Work Performance?
Work performance is an evaluation of employees based on how well they are executing their expected work. It includes an individual’s performance with respect to documented responsibilities, goals, and reasonable expectations with other associates of the company. Work performance of an employee is directly influenced by his work engagement.
So, How Do We Define Work Engagement?
It’s a positive, fulfilling work-related state of mind which is categorised by vigor, dedication and absorption. It is very recent that scholar across the globe has shifted from negative aspects of working life to the positive aspects. The well-being of an individual is not a responsibility of their employers but also of that individual himself. A mentally, emotionally and physically heathy employee can not only increase his productivity but also his own performance. Work performance is optimal when an employee is in a healthy- motivational state of mind.
Is Work Engagement And Work Performance Related?
Yes, the more the employees are engaged with their work the more is their productivity. Demerouti & Cropanzano (2010) explains that work engagement is beneficial for both employees and organization because an employee with high level of energy and enthusiasm, fully concerned and happily engrossed in his work can easily increase his work performance. This person exudes positive emotions such as happiness, joy and enthusiasm and helps building a positive work culture around him.
There is a direct and positive correlation between happiness and performance. Happiness can be measured through work satisfaction and well-being. Examiz TEAMS evaluates what teams actually think, what concerns them and what holds them back to become high-performance teams. Job satisfaction is considered as an evaluation of the experienced job and motivational; whereas, well-being is considered as a motivational state of mind. A combination of both, well-being and satisfaction, is a measure of work engagement.
Further, as per the well-established Broaden and Build Theory by Fredrickson (2001), “Positive emotions share the capacity to broaden people’s momentary thought- actions repertoires and build their personal resource”. Personal resources are the physical, intellectual, social and psychological resources that widen the array of thought and actions of an individual. Action repertoires are the behavioural repertoire that builds skills and resources. Personal resources and simultaneous action help an individual to cultivate positive emotions.
How Does Work Engagement Impacts Work Performance?
If the manager of the company has high anxiety level, this could easily pervade in the work culture, which leads to fight or flight response. However, if a manager is determined, enthusiastic and focuses on his well-being and that of other employees, the work environment is healthy one to work in. Engaged workers are more likely to fulfill their jobs and also accomplish the diverse range of work tasks and responsibilities, that they are required to fulfill.
What A Company Should Do To Ensure Work Engagement?
CEO of Campbell’s Soups rightly states, “To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace”.
The company’s top priority other than to earn high returns is to keep people engaged with them happy. A company should endeavor to focus more on work engagement rather than just getting the work done. They should find ways to motivate the employees and enhance their well-being. Only when an employee is happily engrossed in his work, is enthusiastic and resilient towards his work he can perform the task in hand in the best possible way. Employees around the globe feel happy when the companies pay them fairly, provide them with safe working conditions and good benefits. In addition, developing a positive work culture in an organization where the employees feel recognized and appreciated, helps maximize an individual’s personal capabilities and ensures the overall growth of the company and the individual himself. With such benefits that an employee earns, he will not only complete the task in hand in stipulated time but will also be willing to share responsibilities with others and help this around him to become better.
People Analytics tools like Examiz TEAMS helps organizations to map the personality-driven DNA for their high-performance teams and enables organizations to form their teams be be the best-performing in the respective industry or market.