Employee engagement at Eskom Distribution Free State Operating Unit Head Office

[摘要] Employee engagement has the potential to influence employee performance andmanagement, yet it is not well understood by a number or organisations. Thecurrent challenge facing most organisations, however, is that employeeengagement levels are very low which impacts the performance of theorganisation negatively.The study centres on the Eskom Distribution Free State Operating Unit HeadOffice in order to evaluate the current level of employee engagement amongstemployees. The study also aims at determining the relationship betweenemployee engagement and certain biographical factors of employees.The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) questionnaire that measures threeaspects of engagement namely vigour, dedication and absorption was used in thestudy. The overall results indicated that the majority of the respondents areengaged. The study highlighted two profiles: a white male older than 50 years ofage working in the Maintenance and Operations department, who is highlyengaged versus a black female younger than 31 years of age with less than 5years experience working in the Customer Services department, being the leastengaged.Although the overall results indicated that respondents were engaged there wereareas of concern. The results for vigour indicated a work environment that is notvery supportive, meaning there is not a good work–life balance and employees areunwilling to go the extra mile for the organisation and easily get tired when doingtheir job. Respondents did not feel like going to work in the morning and did nothave high levels of energy and mental resilience. The results for dedication paint apicture of employees who do not find their jobs inspirational or challenging and thismay be because they cannot see the link between what they do and theorganisation's overall goals. The absorption results indicate non-commitment anda lack of involvement by employees in their jobs. They are not immersed in theirjobs at all �?it is only a means to an end. Continuous interventions are required from leadership to maintain and improveemployee engagement. This includes roadshows to share the business prioritiesand focus areas as well as to reinforce the part each employee plays in achievingsaid priorities. It is also recommended that special engagement sessions be heldwith Customer Services employees since they are the least engaged.Management should ensure that employees have adequate job resources, that itis a correct job fit and that there is leadership support to enable employees to dotheir jobs well.Conduct quarterly employee engagement surveys in the Free State Operating Unitto see if the interventions are having the desired effect.Lastly, further investigation is recommended on the use of the internationallybased and developed Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) in a South Africancontext since the findings highlighted engagement differences among ethnicgroups.

[发布机构] University of the Free State