Integrating Employee Engagement Practices with Corporate Social Responsibility: A Special Focus on Generation Z

An individual spends a big quantum of his life at the place he works. Organizations are like second home to many, hence the satisfaction that they derive at workplace becomes a critical determinant in the quality and longevity of work life. Engaging employees has become an important piece of the Employee Satisfaction Puzzle and is a key driver in the success of any organization. Disengaged employees can prove to be a liability and cast a detrimental effect on the future of our organization. Generation Z also called as ‘Zoomers’ are posing to be a big challenge for employers as they come in with tremendous energy and varied interests. Engaging Generation Z is extremely essential to ensure higher satisfaction and retention levels. One of the ways to engage them proactively would be to make them part of the CSR activities that an organization undertakes. The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility deals with the ways an organization can provide and create social value, what best it can do to bring a change in society and the world at large. Using Employees as Volunteers and flag bearers of CSR can help the organization in building a positive brand for itself on one hand and enhance employee satisfaction levels on the other hand. The article talks about bringing a sync and integration between the Corporate Social Responsibility of an organization and the concept of Employee Engagement. Engaging employees especially the Gen Z in a wide range of Socially and Environmentally relevant activities could prove to be a differentiator and a sustainable business practice. Engaging employees in socially relevant activities would bring in a sense of pride and satisfaction among the employees. This indirectly influences the employee opinion and perception towards the management and helps in creating a positive brand image in the market at large. Disengaged employees prove to be a barrier in the growth and advancement of an organization. Hence, CSR could be used as a potential tool to enhance employee engagement and employee commitment in the organization. This would indicate killing two birds with one arrow, the arrow being CSR and the birds being social commitment and employee satisfaction. Both of these would contribute in creating and sustaining a brand image and bring competitive advantage for the organization.