Employee engagement : the engagement of Lebanese female employees in humanitarian work

Abstract

Employee engagement (EE) is defined as a state where the employee is connecting with the organization, creating an emotional bond, giving and performing beyond the call of duty to achieve goals for the organization. In the constantly changing globalized world, the traditional employment relationship has been profoundly transformed into a more profound psychological relationship in which there is a higher need to understand how employees are encouraged to behave positively and engage in giving extra needed discretionary efforts. Inequality between genders and gender-based discrimination remain in the Arab region, where patriarchal gender structures are widespread. To get full engagement from employees of both genders it is important for women and men to perceive a sense of fairness with regards to how they are treated especially by their managers and in comparison to their counterparts. In many refugee hosting countries such as Lebanon, local women are a particularly crucial element in the workforce that helps in improving the lives of displaced people by working with humanitarian NGOs. I conducted open-ended, semi-structured face-to-face interviews with fifteen Lebanese female humanitarian aid workers to examine how they perceive and experience their roles in this work context considering the fact that perceptions impact their levels of engagement. The results showed that humanitarian NGOs invest substantially in leadership and communication policies and practices that foster engagement in their workforces. The study also provided organizations of all sizes and types guidelines for understanding EE and for designing and implementing effective engagement initiatives to reap the benefits of an engaged workforce.