Phenomenological study on healthcare worker's perceptions of employee engagement, servant leadership and emotional intelligence

Health care organizations are plagued by increasingly high levels of employee turnover particularly in their front line workers. Indeed, the lack of employee engagement is costing organizations from 35% to 50% of their payrolls and is a primary factor in their absorbent turnover rates (Gopal, 2006). To curb costly turnover in health care organizations, this study sought to gain a better understanding of the lived experiences and perceptions of front line health care employees who often leave health care organizations prematurely. Using face-to-face semi-structured interviews, the study explored employee engagement, servant leadership and emotional intelligence in twenty-four front line workers (primarily working in a clinical support capacity). Participants' responses were audio recorded, transcribed and organized using NVivo 10 RTM software to ensure accuracy. Responses were analyzed and bracketed into meaningful units using a seven-step, modified van Kaam phenomenological approach (Moustakas, 1994). The study identified six central themes: (a) concept of others; (b) concept of team; (c) environment; (d) leadership; (e) focus on employee; and (f) communication. The themes revealed that servant leadership positively influenced participants' environments and was an important factor in employee engagement. In addition, front line workers emphasized the value of servant leaders' ability to focus on and communicate with their employees and provide timely feedback in order to promote engagement and emotional intelligence. These findings support the potential value of servant leadership-based training programs for managers in health care organizations with high or growing turnover of front line workers.