What is Employee Engagement?

Engaged employees have pride in their organization and its mission, and are deeply committed to its success. As a result, engaged employees provide “discretionary effort,” going above basic job requirements to help the organization achieve its mission. Engaged employees find their work meaningful and rewarding and, as a result, they deliver for the organization, its leaders, their colleagues and the public.

Why Does it Matter?

Decades of research have proven that employee engagement drives government performance and outcomes including achieving strategic goals, providing responsive customer service, retaining talent, developing innovative solutions and fostering collaboration.

When public sector employees are engaged and perform well, government also performs well, and the public has greater confidence in – and support for – government.

COVID-19 has resulted in enormous changes to the workplace. Now, more than ever, public sector organizations need to create the conditions and environment for employees to be highly engaged.

As an independent government agency that has delivered HR services to the public sector for more than 30 years, CPS HR Consulting understands the complexities and unique challenges of managing in government. We also know that many public sector organizations are seeking tools and resources to understand and improve engagement, including in the current workplace environment.

For government, the stakes are too high to ignore the potential of a more engaged and committed workforce. To address this need, CPS HR created the Institute for Public Sector Employee Engagement™ to hep public sector organizations improve engagement, conduct research to advance our knowledge of engagement, and share successful practices.

Our Approach to Employee Engagement

We believe employee engagement should be measured and improved. Government organizations should survey their employees to measure engagement levels and also understand what influences, or drives, the engagement of their workforces.

Surveying employees is only the start, however. The real reward is identifying and taking action to improve engagement. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to improving engagement, the CPS HR Institute leverages decades of research, experience and insights to guide government organizations on a well-established path to improve engagement, by applying the below model.