Discussion
Employee engagement can be defined as an employee’s physical, cognitive, and emotional expression during their work performance. It describes their attitude towards the organization, beliefs about the organization’s values, and the physical energy they are investing in accomplishing tasks that are part of their job role. An employee engagement survey is conducted to examine these factors. It asses the engagement as well as the motivation among employees towards performing at their work. The aim of this paper is to discuss the employee engagement survey conducted for healthcare organizations. The paper will identify best practices for employee engagement activities that healthcare organizations can include in their employee engagement strategy that can help in gaining employee trust and improve their engagement or satisfaction. In addition, questions are framed for the employee engagement survey.
The purpose of conducting an employee engagement survey is to get feedback from employees that can be further utilized for framing strategizes that can improve engagement. The survey helps in setting priorities, determining resources, and creating an implementation schedule for the engagement plan. Along with that, it also identifies overall trends that influence engagement. The survey can help in establishing open communication between employees and the leaders of the organization. It assists in determining the positives and negatives of the organization from the point of view of the employees. According to the deliberation of Gable et al.,(2010), data from an employee engagement survey can be used to design a communication plan for strengthening engagement. In addition, the author suggests that in the communication within an organization integrating the topic of engagement can display that engagement is an ongoing priority as well as a core component required for the growth of the organization. This can be achieved by conducting an engagement survey in the organization as it also benefits employees by allowing them to reflect on and analyze their individual engagement in the organization. Along with organizational development, an employee engagement survey can influence client experience. Employee engagement such as their attitude towards the job or their behavior has an impact on client behavior and customer loyalty (Cava & Fernandez, 2017). Organizations can utilize this, to identify and encourage employee behavior that helps in driving more profit and client satisfaction.
According to Convey (2008), trust in an organization ensures credibility which further leads to empowerment of the organization as well as human relationship. The author also states that individuals working in an environment with high trust display more productivity and efficiency. The high productivity of physicians or healthcare providers can improve the patient experience as well as patient satisfaction (Boffeli et al.,2008). Apart from that, high trust behaviour can impact employee satisfaction too. Employee satisfaction is highly dependent on a positive work environment that can be maintained by participation, and mutual trust (Sageer, Rafat, & Agarwal, 2012). Healthcare Organizations must add practices that focus on employee satisfaction in their employee engagement as it has an influence on patient or client satisfaction. In the paper by Ramli, (2016). it is stated that employee happiness and satisfaction have a strong link with patient loyalty to the organization.
Employee Engagement Best Practices
To ensure high trust through employee engagement following practices can be included in the organization’s employee engagement strategy:
Transparency in an organization means the communication of information about the working and operations inside the organization with the employee. Open and transparent communication can also instill trust among employees. In the review by Rawlins (2008), it is stated that the concept of transparency and trust in the organization is positively related. The author concludes that an increase in transparency in the organization can increase trust in the hospital. Clarity and authenticity from the organization give employees confidence and positive expectation which can further help in maintaining a good employee and employer relationship. According to Schnackenberg & Tomlinson (2016), transparency in organizational leadership influences the level of trust among the team members and it can also help in measuring the effectiveness of the leadership. The quality and authenticity of leadership can also influence job satisfaction among the employees of the organization. Those in leadership positions can establish transparent communication that improves employee and organization relationships (Men, & Stacks, 2014). Ensuring employee satisfaction through transparency is a step towards patient satisfaction as well. In health care organizations, motivation, and satisfaction among health workers can retain them and ensure effectively delivering of health services. According to the study by Peters et al. (2010), To maintain motivation and satisfaction among health care workers, factors like good leadership and a good working environment should be sustained through components like transparency at work.
Clarifying expectation implies setting clear goals for individuals by discussing and validating them. Unclear expectations may result in one party not meeting the desired goal or having disagreements. Issues like such can create distrust among both parties. Hence, it is important that expectations about the job role, any service, or responsibility are clearly discussed. Setting clear objectives and unambiguous communication can lead to employee satisfaction and further influence the organization’s performance (Abdullah & Hui, 2014). Clear communication in an organization also involves communication satisfaction which means personal satisfaction is achieved by both parties after communicating or being communicated successfully. This also improves the quality of communication in the organization. It is essential since quality communication plays a major role in the attitude of employees towards the job and satisfaction with the job (Hopper, 2009). Leadership style can be a crucial factor for attaining clear expectations and communication. Team members or employees in an organization look up to their supervisor to set goals for the team and communicate them clearly. Competent communication from the leader is one of the major factors when predicting employee job satisfaction as well as communication satisfaction (Madlock, 2008). An essential part of communication satisfaction is listening to the employees. It is important that those in leadership positions allow the team members to communicate their views before reaching a conclusion. A leader should avoid making assumptions and must focus on gathering knowledge through listening. It can also benefit decision-making. Being heard and included in decision-making can make the trust of employees in the organization stronger.
Maintain Transparency
Those in leadership positions must take accountability for their action to instill trust in the employees of the organizations. The employees should be assured that their supervisor or other leaders in the organization are reliable and responsible. According to Bello (2012), trust and personal accountability are linked together and it can further lay a foundation for constructive conflict and goal commitment. The actions of leaders along with their authority and accountability define the trustworthiness of the organization among employees. The relationship between employee and their manager can influence the perception of the organization in the eyes of the employee (Gillespie & Dietz, 2009). Apart from that, it is also the responsibility of employees as well as leaders to give credit where it’s due. Recognition and accountability should be balanced . Taking accountability also means accepting the wrongs and working towards correcting them. The organizational leader must accept when some damage is done. This can also help in restoring the trust of employees in the organization (Gillespie & Dietz, 2009). It will also ensure a positive work environment for employees which is essential for employee satisfaction.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that an employee engagement survey can help in understanding the employee perception of the organization. These perceptions can impact their performance as well as play a major role in achieving job satisfaction among employees. In healthcare organizations, job satisfaction among employees or healthcare providers can influence patient experience and satisfaction in them. Apart from that, trust in the organization can improve the productivity and efficiency of healthcare workers. Improved service from the employees can ensure a better patient experience. To instil trust and improve organizational experience certain employee engagement practices need to be included in the employee engagement plan of the healthcare organization. These practices include maintaining transparency, clarifying organizational expectations, setting clear communication, and taking accountability and responsibility for the action. These practices can be implemented through leadership style in an organization.
References
Abdullah, Z., & Hui, J. (2014). The relationship between communication satisfaction and teachers’ job satisfaction in the Malaysian primary school. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (AJHSS), 2(2), 58-71.
Boffeli, T. J., Thongvanh, K. L., Evans, S. J. H., & Ahrens, C. R. (2012). Patient experience and physician productivity: debunking the mythical divide at HealthPartners clinics. The Permanente Journal, 16(4), 19.
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Gillespie, N., & Dietz, G. (2009). Trust repair after an organization-level failure. Academy of management review, 34(1), 127-145.
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Peters, D. H., Chakraborty, S., Mahapatra, P., & Steinhardt, L. (2010). Job satisfaction and motivation of health workers in public and private sectors: cross-sectional analysis from two Indian states. Human resources for health, 8(1), 1-11.
Ramli, A. H. (2016). Patient service and satisfaction Systems. Business and Entrepreneurial Review, 15(2), 189-200.
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Sageer, A., Rafat, S., & Agarwal, P. (2012). Identification of variables affecting employee satisfaction and their impact on the organization. IOSR Journal of business and management, 5(1), 32-39.
Schnackenberg, A. K., & Tomlinson, E. C. (2016). Organizational transparency: A new perspective on managing trust in organization-stakeholder relationships. Journal of management, 42(7), 1784-1810.
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