Positive Psychology at Work:

Introduction

In this chapter we shall look at positive engagement at work and explore the research to see what it has to say about what facilitates positive engagement. We shall also look at the impact on engagement of the rewards available to employees in a particular context. We shall look at the impact of the manager on engagement, particularly their skill (or otherwise) in setting goals and creating motivation. We shall also outline some strategies the research suggests individuals, organizations and leaders can employ to assist engagement. Along the way, we shall consider such questions as: What is an engaged employee and what makes one? Is it good for people to be positively engaged in their work? How much difference does it make to your business if your employees are engaged? What makes engagement at work more or less likely? How can we encourage engagement at work?

Employee engagement is rapidly becoming a key focus of human resource activity. There is a growing realization that the returns on ensuring that present employees are giving of their best might be greater than those accruing from the costly process of recruiting new, shinier employees. There is mounting evidence that the level of employee engagement makes a huge different to organizations' effectiveness, profitability and productivity. Stairs and Gilpin (2010) found evidence that employee engagement is positively related to wellbeing and attendance, employee retention, effort and performance, quality, sales performance, ...