Employee engagement is the emotional and professional connection employees feel toward their organization, colleagues and work. High engagement leads to increased job satisfaction, performance, employee retention and is a reflection of a positive overall employee experience.
The meaningfulness of an employee's work is a key factor in engagement, as are their relationships with colleagues and managers, and the support, recognition and development opportunities their organization offers. Truly engaged employees reflect a company's respect for its workforce, which makes it more attractive to prospective hires and can lead to increased profitability and return on investments.
Organizations with high levels of employee engagement are more profitable and have higher customer satisfaction ratings than ones with low engagement levels, according to Gallup and other researchers. This research also shows that successful engagement efforts lead to less absenteeism and turnover. In a competitive hiring market, engaged staff members who feel they have good work-life balance and high levels of employee satisfaction are also less likely to look elsewhere for employment.
On the flip side, disengaged employees can create a negative atmosphere that can damage a company's reputation, profitability and bottom line. It is critical for organizations to keep employee engagement at a high, positive level.
The recent shift to remote work has made fostering employee engagement even more important. Remote workers can feel isolated and disconnected from colleagues. They also often struggle to maintain a constructive work structure. According to the United States Census Bureau, the number of remote workers tripled between 2019 and 2021. This increase forced organizations to find creative ways to keep remote workers feeling like they're part of a productive, supportive community.
Employee engagement programs provide a range of benefits:
Many activities and initiatives foster employee engagement, such as the following:
Technology is vital for both fostering and measuring employee engagement. There are several employee engagement tools:
Measuring employee engagement is crucial to maintaining and improving it, especially with large numbers of remote workers. There are several ways to measure employee engagement, including the following:
Employee engagement surveys are a quick way to gather information about what employees are thinking. Different surveys are used to collect different kinds of information. Long-form comprehensive employee surveys are used to get data on a range of topics or take an in-depth look at one topic. Pulse surveys are shorter polls, often related to topical workplace concerns such as transitions. Employee lifecycle surveys are ones done during onboarding and then periodically after and finally when an employee leaves the company. Surveys should be conducted across entire organizations, as well as across groups, teams and individuals. Organizations work with organizational psychologists and data scientists to craft the right questions.
Measurement strategies should identify who is responsible for deciding what areas surveys will target, as well as who takes the lead analyzing the survey results, developing action plans and acting upon these results.
Key performance indicators, or KPIs, are a key part of measuring employee engagement and identifying what needs to be addressed. KPIs include the following metrics:
Focus groups bring employees together to discuss specific topics. They provide in-depth, real-time feedback.
Informal feedback from regular meetings between managers and employees provides insights into employee engagement and satisfaction.
The following questions can be helpful in assessing employee engagement:
The best way to improve employee engagement is to act upon employee feedback and make changes that address sources of discontent and stress. One way to do this is to identify key drivers of employee engagement and solicit employee feedback on them. Once specific issues are identified, companies should address them. Following up with employees and including them in decision-making is important.
Another approach is fostering an inclusive company culture with good communication. This includes developing and training managers to inspire and engage their employees, and to be emotionally intelligent. Managers should provide meaningful work, recognize employees for hard work and show how that work contributes to the organization's larger goals. Organizations should also offer incentives and programs that show employees the company cares about them, their work-life balance and their health.
Employee engagement strategies change over time as the nature of work and workplaces change and new generations of employees join the workforce. For instance, diversity, equity and inclusion concerns are increasingly important to Millennials and Gen-Z employees and company workplaces should strive to reflect that.
Good strategies for implementing and maintaining employment engagement include the following:
Employee engagement is critical to fostering strong employee experience and having satisfied employees. Discover the link between employee experience and customer experience.
21 Mar 2023