Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals (Kruse, 2012). This does not necessarily imply that employee engagement is related to employee happiness or employee satisfaction. An employee can be happy and satisfied, but that does not necessarily mean they are engaged. Organizational benefits and compensation may keep an employee happy and satisfied, but that does not mean they will not jump at the opportunity to work for the next employer that offers better benefits or an increase in pay. This is why it is so important for employers to focus on engagement.

It is imperative that employers encourage and support their workers in working for the organization’s goals as opposed to just working for the next promotion or pay cheque. When employees are engaged, they put forth discretionary effort. This means they are willing to go above and beyond to contribute to their duties, their responsibilities and the organization’s objectives. For example, this could go as far as an employee working overtime without being asked or it could be as simple as an employee picking up the trash on the floor or cleaning up without their boss watching. Employee engagement leads to better business outcomes and higher net profit margins (Kruse, 2012). It leads to benefits for the organization and the employee by fostering the development of both.

Employee Motivation

Employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, and creativity an organization’s workers bring to their jobs (Inc.com, 2020). Employee motivation is all about how dedicated employees are towards achieving the organization’s goals and how empowered they feel. Many different theories are used to describe and define motivation, and we will discuss these in the last subsection of this chapter. Essentially, motivation can be categorized into two types:

• intrinsic motivation
• extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation means people are are motivated from within. They have the desire to perform well at the workplace because the results are in accordance with their own belief system (QuestionPro, 2020).

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation means an individual’s motivation is stimulated by external factors- rewards and recognition. Some people may never be internally motivated, and only external motivation will drive them to get tasks done (QuestionPro, 2020).

Employee Engagement vs Employee Motivation

Now that we know a little about each concept, we still have to answer our question: What is the difference between employee engagement and employee motivation? Let’s circle back to the definitions:

Employee engagement: Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals

Employee motivation: Employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, and creativity an organization’s workers bring to their jobs.

Engagement is an active agreement to do something for someone, while motivation is the will to do something. Both are critical to creating high performing teams, but employee motivation and engagement are two different factors (Skinner, 2020). As an employer, you want your workforce to be both engaged and motivated. As for employees, we all know that on some days it is hard to find motivation at work and your level of engagement can vary from day to day. That is why it is important to recognize the intangible things that make you want to come to work every day and give it your all. While organizations can not always make employees feel engaged, they can provide an inspiring workplace that encourages where people to bring their whole self to work.