Who is responsible for employee engagement? Knee-jerk reaction – HR. But what happens when the HR person responsible for engagement is no longer engaged? In this sad post, Venting HR Guy says:
This is an important question to understand if you intend to influence employee engagement in your company at any level. I believe the company (management, leadership, HR, everyone) is responsible for creating an environment in which employees want to engage – one in which employees know what is expected of them, understand how those expectations help the company succeed, and are encouraged to recognize and appreciate achievement of their peers and subordinates in delivering those expectations.
That’s certainly an environment in which I’m engaged to give of my best. How about you?
Making engagement equal parts employees responsibility as well as the leaderships responsibility is fine. I would suggest that this only really comes about from having a open and mutually supportive culture first, which requires leadership figures to behave in a way that makes others comfortable to engage on different levels. Positive reinforcement is key - sending the message of mutual responsibility without leaders first demonstrating it fosters cynicism and is negative reinforcement.
