3 Employee Engagement in India and China: A Comparative Study

In today's scenario when every economy is facing the war for talent, the two most emerging economies of the world i.e. India and China are also facing the brunt of this acute problem. However, in this perspective, employee engagement has been emerged as a strong strategic decision to solve the issue at a larger extent. Through various surveys and research, it has been established that engaged employee is one of the top priority for HR managers globally. Employee engagement has been defined and measured many times, yet there is a lack of knowledge regarding the background issues which affect the level of engagement. The present study, based on secondary data, aims to explore the ground level issues which affected the employee engagement level in India and China during 2011 and 2012. The study finds that in these two countries, employee engagement has been affected by organizational and economic issues both for short and long term. But simultaneously, culture of the country also plays a very important role in determining the engagement level. It also affects the employees' perception about the drivers which they consider as the priority issues, essential for keeping and motivating them to be engaged.