Employee Engagement: A Shared Responsibility or HR’s Burden?

Employee Engagement: A Shared Responsibility or HR’s Burden?

 

Is the HR department the ‘Guardian’ of engagement? They are responsible for designing reward systems, creating incentive programmes, organising staff welfare events, and conducting employee satisfaction surveys. In simple terms, the HR department is responsible for planning, organising, and implementing all employee engagement initiatives. True engagement is emotional—it’s about how employees feel about their work, their leaders, and the organisation’s values. HR alone cannot build this deeper connection; it requires collective nurturing (Hearn, 2020).

Organisations realise that engagement is not simply a "nice-to-have" but rather a critical factor in retention, performance, and creativity as the labor market grows more competitive and employee expectations continue to change. One crucial question remains: is HR the only one responsible for it? Or do managers, leaders, and employees all work together to promote employee engagement? (hrcloud, 2025).

'’Employee engagement is not just a buzzword; it's a holistic approach that requires coordinated efforts across all levels of the organization. From senior leaders to employees, everyone plays a critical role in shaping engagement, aligning efforts, and driving success (Russo, 2025).’’ Then why does everyone still point to HR when something goes wrong? 

 

The Role of Leadership

The leadership styles of many Sri Lankan organisations still have strong hierarchical impacts. However, today's employees, especially the younger generation, cherish open communication, inclusivity, and appreciation. It is sometimes difficult for leaders who are overly controlling or unpleasant to promote genuine engagement. Nevertheless, leaders who are open, compassionate, and purposeful have the ability to alter their organisations' cultures. When workers believe their leaders genuinely care about their growth and well-being, they are more likely to be loyal and dedicated in Sri Lankan businesses.

 

The Role of Managers

Middle managers serve as the bridge between staff and upper management. Employees seek advice, direction, encouragement, and criticism from their direct bosses. To maintain consistent engagement, managers should pay attention, respect values, and identify challenges of their team members and should maintain a trustworthy relationship. Regretfully, a lot of organizations ignore this aspect of leadership development.

‘Employees don’t leave organizations—they leave managers.’ This highlights how crucial it is for managers to have the capabilities to inspire trust, provide recognition, and create a sense of belonging within the team.

The Role of Employees

In the modern workplace, true engagement occurs when employees do more than just do their duties and responsibilities for pay. They start to take genuine ownership of their contribution when they really feel the sense of purpose, belongingness, and responsibility. At this point, engagement becomes genuine; employees are motivated to complete their responsibilities because they care about the results and the success of the company, not just because they "have to".

 The Role of HR

An HR leader’s role is to facilitate and enable employee engagement – not to carry the whole burden. Sri Lankan HR specialists are able to create systems that support diversity, justice, and fairness. They can develop learning opportunities that make people feel appreciated and offer data-driven insights to leadership. However, even the best HR initiatives will fail if managers, employees, and leaders do not support them.

A Shared Effort

Like anywhere else, employee involvement in Sri Lanka needs to be a shared responsibility. HR creates the structure, managers maintain the relationship, leaders mould the culture, and employees bring the passion. When these factors are aligning together, engagement becomes a part of the organisation’s identity. Finally, engagement cannot be forced or purchased. It must be built, lived, and shared.

 

Reference 

Russo, G. (Oct 7, 2025) Who is Responsible for Employee Engagement? A Comprehensive Guide sparkbay at https://sparkbay.com/en/culture-blog/whos-responsible-employee-engagement-65.[Accessed November 7, 2025].

Hearn, S. (11 March 2020) Employee engagement isn’t just HR’s responsibility Personnel Today [Online] at https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/responsibility-for-employee-engagement-hr/#:~:text=Senior%20leaders%20are%20responsible%20for,and%20boost%20their%20own%20engagement. [Accessed November 7, 2025].

 Hrcloud, 2025. [Online] What Is Employee Engagement? A Complete Guide for HR Professionals [in 2025] available at https://www.hrcloud.com/blog/what-is-employee-engagement-complete-guide#:~:text=Who%20Drives%20Engagement?,and%20contributing%20to%20team%20health. [Accessed November 7, 2025)

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