Are Satisfied Employees Always Engaged?

The terms “employee engagement” and “employee satisfaction” are often used interchangeably. However, they actually describe two inherently different concepts.

Every organization should strive to create a satisfied, multi-generational workforce. An engaged workforce, on the other hand, takes the organization to a new level of stability, creative output, and potential innovation.

Satisfaction Does Not Always Equal Engagement

What is the difference between a satisfied employee and an engaged employee?

A satisfied employee is one who feels content in his or her position, who appreciates his or her compensation, and feels comfortable in a given work environment.

By contrast, engaged employees feel passionate about their jobs, feel committed to the company, and use discretion when making decisions and carrying out tasks at work.

Satisfaction has inherently positive connotations, but it is not as deep or profound as engagement.

For instance, satisfied employees likely arrive to work on time, resist the urge to take long lunches, meet their quotas, and socialize with their colleagues. By contrast, engaged employees look for new ways to help the organization grow, volunteer for overtime to finish a project by its deadline, and take leadership roles within the company, regardless of their job descriptions.

Those are significant differences.

Businesses Need a Tactical Strategy to Engage Employees

At hubEngage, we use our CoIL Engagement Framework to help engage employees more fully in our clients’ workplaces. We believe that an employee engagement app should offer useful analytics, continuous feedback, personalized user experiences, multiple communication options, and content that is relevant for the organization.

That all might sound complicated, but it is easy to accomplish when you use an employee engagement app. Instead of deploying dozens of different apps for your employees to use, you can consolidate them all under one virtual umbrella.

Use employee engagement apps to train employees, engage socially with workers, track employees’ progress, provide rewards, and more.

It is true that employee satisfaction matters, but satisfaction alone is not enough. A satisfied employee typically works for the paycheck that lands in his or her bank account on payday. An engaged employee works because he or she feels driven to help the organization reach its goals.

Companies Do Not Directly Benefit From Satisfied Employees

As mentioned above, you want to fill your office with satisfied employees. It is desirable to know that your workers feel comfortable in their roles and that they are satisfied with their compensation, duties, and other aspects of their jobs.

However, the organization does not directly benefit from those qualities. Engaged employees offer far more value because they feel comfortable voicing their opinions and ideas, they are willing to help their colleagues when they are needed, and they look forward to coming to work every day.

If that sounds like a culture you would like to cultivate, you need an employee engagement app. It can help you build a strong workforce populated by people who do not just care about themselves, but about the entire company.

Try the HubEngage app for free. You might be surprised by the level of engagement that follows — and the direct impact on your bottom line.