Abstract:

With the advances in globalization and growing diversity in the workforce, employee engagement is becoming enviable for any organization’s sustainability and success. However, most of the literature on engagement is based on large organizations despite the importance of SMEs in job creation and their economic contribution. Therefore, the paper aims to explore the current status of employee engagement in SMEs of India. It also examines the key issues related to employee engagement and the three categories of engagement; vigor, dedication and absorption. The study follows a descriptive approach. Data were collected through self administered questionnaire from a random sample of 139 employees working in SMEs. SPSS 22.0 was used to analyze the data. The mean, standard deviation and correlation were obtained for data analysis. Overall, the results depict an encouraging picture of employee engagement among SME employees. Moreover, vigor and dedication scales of engagement were highly correlated. With limited resources, most SMEs face a major challenge to engage employees. Both, theoretical and practical implications can be drawn from this study. Since, little is researched on SMEs, this paper contributes to the current literature of employee engagement and application in SME sector. The study provides an insight into the current status of employee engagement, which may help managers of SMEs to devise new ways which could help improve the engagement among the workforce.