The level of commitment or engagement that an individual feels toward their employing organisation is a central characteristic of any working relationship and has a direct impact upon important organisational outcomes.
Engaged employees are involved in, enthusiastic about and satisfied with their work. Research shows that engaged employees work harder, better, more reliably, and are safer than employees who are not. For an organisation, this means increased employee performance, lower turnover, and absenteeism.
Defining commitment
Organisational commitment refers to an employee’s loyalty and intention to stay with an organisation. This can often be observed through a demonstration of positive and pro-social behaviour within, or with reference to, the organisation (e.g., staying back to finish an important job).
The overarching construct of organisational commitment is comprised of three commitment sub-types including, normative commitment, continuance commitment, and affective commitment.
Normative Commitment refers to a sense of obligation to the organisation. In organisations with high levels of normative commitment, employees believe that it’s normal to stay at the organisation for a long time, and feel some pressure to stay. High normative commitment often reflects a high commitment culture.
Continuance Commitment refers to being committed because leaving is considered too hard. When levels of continuance commitment are high, it can indicate that employees are only staying with the organisation because there are no other options and/or leaving is too difficult.
This is the type of commitment employers may be concerned about in the current economy. Given the job shortage, employees may be tempted to stay with an organisation – not necessarily because they are committed to the organisation but because of job security and ease. If something ‘better’ does come along, these people are more likely to take it compared to someone who is more committed to the organisation. Without detection, those organisations with significantly high levels of continuance commitment could end up with higher rates of turnover in the long term, when the economy bounces back and job opportunities become more abundant.
Affective Commitment is the strongest and most desirable type of commitment. It refers to an emotional attachment to the organisation. When affective commitment is high, it indicates that employees feel an emotional bond towards their organisation and consider their employment with the organisation to be part of their own identity. Employees with affective commitment often take the highs and lows of the company as their own highs and lows. These people are less likely to leave the organisation for a ‘better’ opportunity should it arise.
Measuring commitment – helping you identify the level of true commitment amongst your people
So how can you tell if your people are really committed?
Organisations need to be able to determine the level of each of these types of commitment amongst their staff in order to understand if people are really committed or only there because there is nothing better.
Staff engagement surveys are an effective way to assess key factors that can be addressed to enhance employee commitment, engagement and satisfaction and reveal the levels of normative, continuance and affective commitment within an organisation.
What should you look for in an engagement survey?
An effective employee engagement program should measure a range of factors that influence a persons time at work. Generally, most engagement surveys will cover factors such as engagement in work tasks, commitment to the organisation, demonstrating extra effort, and morale levels. In order to get the whole picture though, you should look to assess other factors – outside of the usual realm such as safety, resources provision, role clarity, organisational justice, health at work and sick leave.
By ensuring a wide range of factors are assessed, you will be presented with a clear picture of the factors influencing employee engagement. The results can be used to inform organisational strategies designed to improve key outcomes such as turnover, absenteeism, productivity, change readiness and health and safety.
By administering engagement surveys multiple times, across different divisions or departments, organisations can track changes and improvements in engagement levels over time. It is also important to remember that feedback provided to the organisation should be anonymous – to enhance response rates and honesty of information provided.
As businesses continue to bear the brunt of the changing economy, there is increased pressure to cut head count across all areas of the business – meaning everyone needs to be able to do more with fewer resources. Now more than ever before, we need to ensure that our team are in it for the long haul and are committed to the organisation as well as the job.