From Canoeing to Careers: An Evaluation of Employee Engagement Characterized by After-Work Activities

Abstract

The growing importance of employee engagement and its relationship with the success of a company is becoming more apparent to firms worldwide. Yet with only 13% of employees worldwide claiming to be engaged during the workday, firms are looking to fix this issue and finds ways to identify the most engaged employees (Gallup, 2013). Though research exists on the performance and engagement of employees during the workday, little research has focused on the relationship between engagement and activities outside of the workplace. This thesis looks at employee behavior in after-work activities to understand whether there is a relationship between these activities and employee engagement during the workday. Though no conclusive results were found regarding engagement and after-work activities, other patterns such as a relationship between number of hours per week worked and engagement during the workday emerged.