Employee engagement is a concept that has begun to grab the attention of the corporate world for past few years. When put simply higher levels of employee engagement mean higher profitability of the organisation.

Employee engagement is critical. Highly productive organisations have understood this fact a long ago where mediocre and low performing organisations have just started taking it seriously. It makes sense to engage employees and make them find a meaning in what they do.

Those employees who do not understand what they contribute towards the success of their organisation will not stick to it for long. They would rather consider leaving in a few months or years as and when they are offered a high-paying job.

Employee engagement is a long term process and goes through various phases describing the level of the engagement, involvement, attachment and belongingness between employee and employer. These phases of employee engagement make a continuous cycle that each organisation aiming to achieve increased profitability must undertake.

Phases of Employee Engagement

1. Attract

   The first phase of the employee engagement cycle is attracting the best talent from the industry. This phase involves creating a positive impression about the work culture and employee career as a potential employer. It is all about carefully creating an authentic, genuine and crafted image as an employer. This is although an indirect yet the first impression that attracts a big pool of candidates to apply for the job vacancies in an organisation. The first phase is the most important phase of the employee engagement cycle.

   Another aspect spreading the reputation of an organisation is its employees. They are not only the employees but also are regarded as internal customers. Their job and career satisfaction speaks about their workplace. Therefore, they should not be taken for granted. Besides attracting the talent from the outside, it is important to keep the existing employees attracted towards the organisation.

2. Acquire

   The acquire image involves more than one thing. It includes (1) the way the potential candidates are interacted while advertising a position; (2) keeping the promises that were made while hiring them and (3) providing the new joiners a right kind of work culture.

   When an organisation advertises a position, interested candidates apply. The way their applications are created, the reaction of the organisation and the manner in which they are approached speak a lot about the image and work culture of an organisation.

   Hiring the best talent not only serves the purpose. During their honeymoon or initial period with the organisation, the company must try to keep all the promises that were made during the selection process.

   Besides this, they should feel happy and satisfied when their expectations are tested against the reality. Providing the right kind of culture also plays an important role in keeping them engaged.

   The whole idea is to prepare them to perform their best by giving them challenging tasks right from the beginning. It’s like developing a habit or culture right from the time they decide to work with the organisation.

3. Advance

   Continuous moving the talent is the last but an unending phase. It not only involves promoting the employees to a higher designation along with salary increments but also growing them in other tangible and intangible ways. Job rotation can help them grow in experience, responsibility and belongingness but only when it is done right. Advancing the employees in every aspect, be it monetary or non-monetary, is the key to retain people and develop their overall personality.

These above are the main phases of an employee engagement cycle where preparation is done much before an employee joins the organisation. As mentioned earlier, it is not only about attracting, acquiring and retaining the best talent but also deals in advancing their experience and personality.