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Employees’ Work Engagement Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Analysis

Received: 24 January 2023     Accepted: 20 February 2023     Published: 28 February 2023
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Abstract

Work engagement is a vital force in the success of every organization. Having collectively involved and committed employees in the discharge of their functions improve organizational performance, enhances creativity, and strengthens relationships, consequently ensuring client satisfaction. This descriptive research aimed to determine and compare the employees’ work engagement levels before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It sought to understand if this health crisis has changed their work engagement practices. It also explored if the employees’ levels of engagement varied when grouped according to the nature of their jobs. Data were collected through a survey with the entire population of employees of a private maritime institution in the Philippines for the academic years 2019-2020 and 2021-2022. The statistical analysis using the Mean, Standard Deviation, and t-Test of Independent Means revealed that, as a whole, the employees were very strongly engaged at work before and during the pandemic, and their levels of work engagement between these periods did not significantly differ. Administrative interventions in the form of technical, physical, moral, emotional, and financial support and well-managed employee engagement activities that could boost their mental and emotional wellness were recommended to mitigate the effect of a pandemic or crisis on employees’ engagement. The study recommends a follow-up investigation on employees’ engagement at work, considering other variables such as age, sex, tenure, and generational groupings. It also recommends a more objective assessment of employee work engagement with the list of criteria in harmony with the three pillars of the institution: instruction, research, and extension.

Published in Journal of Human Resource Management (Volume 11, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.jhrm.20231101.13
Page(s) 13-22
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Employees’ Work Engagement, Administrative Support, COVID-19 Pandemic

References
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  • APA Style

    Emeliza Torrento Estimo, Michelle Jean Cadase Villanueva. (2023). Employees’ Work Engagement Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Analysis. Journal of Human Resource Management, 11(1), 13-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20231101.13

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    ACS Style

    Emeliza Torrento Estimo; Michelle Jean Cadase Villanueva. Employees’ Work Engagement Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Analysis. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 2023, 11(1), 13-22. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20231101.13

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    AMA Style

    Emeliza Torrento Estimo, Michelle Jean Cadase Villanueva. Employees’ Work Engagement Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Analysis. J Hum Resour Manag. 2023;11(1):13-22. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20231101.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jhrm.20231101.13,
      author = {Emeliza Torrento Estimo and Michelle Jean Cadase Villanueva},
      title = {Employees’ Work Engagement Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Analysis},
      journal = {Journal of Human Resource Management},
      volume = {11},
      number = {1},
      pages = {13-22},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jhrm.20231101.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20231101.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jhrm.20231101.13},
      abstract = {Work engagement is a vital force in the success of every organization. Having collectively involved and committed employees in the discharge of their functions improve organizational performance, enhances creativity, and strengthens relationships, consequently ensuring client satisfaction. This descriptive research aimed to determine and compare the employees’ work engagement levels before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It sought to understand if this health crisis has changed their work engagement practices. It also explored if the employees’ levels of engagement varied when grouped according to the nature of their jobs. Data were collected through a survey with the entire population of employees of a private maritime institution in the Philippines for the academic years 2019-2020 and 2021-2022. The statistical analysis using the Mean, Standard Deviation, and t-Test of Independent Means revealed that, as a whole, the employees were very strongly engaged at work before and during the pandemic, and their levels of work engagement between these periods did not significantly differ. Administrative interventions in the form of technical, physical, moral, emotional, and financial support and well-managed employee engagement activities that could boost their mental and emotional wellness were recommended to mitigate the effect of a pandemic or crisis on employees’ engagement. The study recommends a follow-up investigation on employees’ engagement at work, considering other variables such as age, sex, tenure, and generational groupings. It also recommends a more objective assessment of employee work engagement with the list of criteria in harmony with the three pillars of the institution: instruction, research, and extension.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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    AU  - Emeliza Torrento Estimo
    AU  - Michelle Jean Cadase Villanueva
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.jhrm.20231101.13
    T2  - Journal of Human Resource Management
    JF  - Journal of Human Resource Management
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20231101.13
    AB  - Work engagement is a vital force in the success of every organization. Having collectively involved and committed employees in the discharge of their functions improve organizational performance, enhances creativity, and strengthens relationships, consequently ensuring client satisfaction. This descriptive research aimed to determine and compare the employees’ work engagement levels before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It sought to understand if this health crisis has changed their work engagement practices. It also explored if the employees’ levels of engagement varied when grouped according to the nature of their jobs. Data were collected through a survey with the entire population of employees of a private maritime institution in the Philippines for the academic years 2019-2020 and 2021-2022. The statistical analysis using the Mean, Standard Deviation, and t-Test of Independent Means revealed that, as a whole, the employees were very strongly engaged at work before and during the pandemic, and their levels of work engagement between these periods did not significantly differ. Administrative interventions in the form of technical, physical, moral, emotional, and financial support and well-managed employee engagement activities that could boost their mental and emotional wellness were recommended to mitigate the effect of a pandemic or crisis on employees’ engagement. The study recommends a follow-up investigation on employees’ engagement at work, considering other variables such as age, sex, tenure, and generational groupings. It also recommends a more objective assessment of employee work engagement with the list of criteria in harmony with the three pillars of the institution: instruction, research, and extension.
    VL  - 11
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Research and Development Center, John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation, Bacolod City, Philippines

  • Human Resource Department, John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation, Bacolod City, Philippines

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