Abstract

There is extensive literature on employee engagement; its antecedents; linkages to positive business outcomes; and its positive impact on retention. Top performing organisations have even found that aligning the engagement strategies to the business goals drive performance outcomes. There is no universal definition of employee engagement and drivers, therefore, a general approach without due cognisance of worker demographics may result in the application of inappropriate engagement strategies. In this study, the focus is on knowledge workers within the banking sector of Botswana. Knowledge workers make up almost two thirds of organisations and are said to be unique and complex in their nature. Work to a knowledge worker is more mental than physical, hence, the need to use interventions aimed at the behaviour to increase their performance. The needs of a knowledge worker and that of the business ought to be integrated. An organisation that is able to identify those factors that would influence their engagement is promised high levels of productivity that would translate into profits and high retention. The main research problem for this study was to determine the strategies that should be used to engage knowledge workers within the banking sector in Botswana. A literature study was conducted to identify characteristics of knowledge workers, meaning of employee engagement and approaches to measuring employee engagement. Eleven organisational factors that have an influence on employee engagement and some of the engagement strategies were identified from literature. The eleven factors identified were: growth and development; rewards and recognition; trust in leadership; work/life balance; two way communication; mission, vision and values; quality of manager; relationship with colleagues; fairness of HR policies; job design; and accountability. An empirical study was also conducted to investigate which of the eleven organisational factors had an influence in the engagement of knowledge workers. The current engagement level of knowledge workers within the banking sector was measured using the Gallup Q12 measuring tool. The main findings from this research are that a significant number of knowledge workers are engaged. The findings of this study also coincide with the theoretical overview that there are organisational factors that have an influence on the engagement of employees. A significant finding was that, although knowledge workers differ in their perception of the organisational factors, they generally indicate that work/life balance initiatives are lacking in their workplace