Employee Socialisation: A Platform for Employee Engagement

This research paper critically explores the concepts of employee engagement and the induction process. More specifically it explores the induction and socialisation of an employee into a bakery organisation and what affect this can have in relation to employee engagements, barriers and enablers. Furthermore, this research investigates the levels of employee engagement in the initial stages of employee careers in relation to key employee engagement theories. It also evaluates induction and socialisation processes and considers their effectiveness through the two differing levels of employment: permanent employees and temporary employees. The research critically explores the current employee engagement and induction literature in an attempt to view any theoretical links. The origin of employee engagement has also been explored in order to elucidate current management practice. This research gathered data through a triangulation of methods in order to gain an holistic perspective of the potential employee engagement-induction link; it also took an inductive approach in order to allow the findings to shape theory and not limit the potential findings. Finally, this research paper aims to make a positive contribution to the current employee engagement literature through evidence that the induction process can have a positive influence on employee engagement, bearing in mind that this is highly dependent on certain variables that an organisation must attempt to control.