Employee engagement is the degree to which your staff invest, interacts and behaves with your business to provide positive organisational outcomes. Engaged employees are usually absorbed and enthusiastic about your business and their work. Employee engagement is based on trust and integrity, and if the right tools and culture are in place, it can bring great business success.
There are five critical factors to measuring employee engagement, stated by Qualtrics; these include:
- Intent to stay
- Work involvement
- Discretionary effort
- Pride in the organization
- Willingness to recommend their business
According to Employee Benefits, more than 11% of UK employees have low engagement levels. With this in mind, those employees are less likely to stay around, recommend your business or work hard on their daily tasks.
Employee engagement is essential to the overall productivity and profitability of your business. So getting it right is vital! We've outlined our top tips on improving your employee engagement strategy and the driving force behind making your employees more efficient.
How To Increase Employee Engagement
Highly engaged employees massively benefit your business from high productivity levels to improved customer experience. Engagement with most employees is a vital part of why they stay committed to your business. As an organisation, you need to be aware of when employee engagement levels may decrease and what you can do about it.
The first thing your organisation needs to do is go straight to the source. Find out what it is directly from your employees that may affect their engagement levels. An Employee Voice study indicates that two-way dialogue between employees and employers is critical for employee engagement. Using those five key factors we previously touched upon to identify what your business may be lacking and what you may need to implement to make your office space a better place to work and improve the employee's experience.
What Employee Engagement Can Be Confused With
Employers can often confuse employee engagement and its meaning for their business. Happiness and employee satisfaction are often misunderstood as being engaged employees.
Employee Happiness
Some leaders and managers are led by trying to make their employees happy and don't often get down to why they feel deflated, unsatisfied or tired. While employee happiness is important, it tells you nothing about how invested they are in your organization. Employee happiness is harder to measure; you may find by giving someone a bonus, they only have momentary pleasure and quickly become disengaged employees.
Employee Satisfaction
Satisfied employees are beneficial to your business; however, this is only surface level. While satisfied employees host a better workplace, they don't always go above and beyond for your organisation. You often find these employees will do the bare minimum for their daily tasks.
What Drives Employee Engagement
Feedback
Only 50% of the UK’s population is fully engaged in their current role. 59% of employees said they feel more engaged with their organisation when they have a feedback programme. Research shows that companies that actively turn their feedback into actions have a higher percentage of overall engaged employees.
Whether this is completed monthly or quarterly, it should be a key part of your business. In some cases, employees may also want to keep suggestions for employee engagement anonymous, so you should ensure they have a place to submit their suggestions.
Recognising and Rewarding
55% of workers agree when recognised for good work, it helps drive their employee engagement. When an employee has been recognised and rewarded for their hard work, it shows your organisation's commitment to them as a person.
Recognising and rewarding staff does not have to be an extravagant affair; you don't always have to shower your employees with gifts and bonuses. But showing staff that their hard work has paid off can be very rewarding. Be proud and be loud when recognizing their hard work. Sending out a department or company-wide newsletter with that month's achievements can resonate with your internal teams.
Training and Support
Employees are happier when they have been sufficiently trained and provided with ongoing support to learn and develop. Setting up your teams with the right tools and equipment can play a massive role in the success of your business. You must foster a company culture that hones in on providing ongoing support and continuous development. Helping your teams build on their skills adds excellent value to their professional development.
Invest In Your Employee's Wellbeing
Employee engagement and the well-being of staff are closely linked. Employees can quickly become burnt out and dissatisfied with their role when there is no interest in their well-being from the company they work for.
Taking the right steps to create a healthy workplace can impact staff's longevity in your organisation and their overall satisfaction with their role. When looking at staff well being, the first thing you want to do is look at the state of the office space or environment they are working in. Is it tidy, neat and clean? Having a clean and hygienic environment can drastically improve the productivity and efficiency of your teams. We highly recommend working with cleaning services in Milton Keynes. If you would like to know more about commercial cleaning in Northampton, then have a quick read of what is commercial cleaning and do I need it?
Work-life balance will play a role in your employees well being. We previously mentioned burnout; when staff are overworked, have too much on their plate, or stay in the office for hours on end, it can have a detrimental impact on their health and wellbeing. Everyone needs balance in life, and with well-rested staff, you are more likely to see your teams increase performance.
Meaningful Tasks
Don’t have staff completing tasks for the sake of it or tasks that may not be within their job description. Engaged employees often receive tasks that make them feel their contribution is making an impact. Placing employees in the right role is vital to how your staff feel, how productive they are and whether they see a career path in place.
Benefits of Employee Engagement
Employee Retention
Ensuring your employees are engaged in the workplace increases their length of service with your organisation. They know they will be recognised and rewarded for their contributions and see opportunities for professional development and career growth.
Customer Satisfaction
With happier team members come delighted customers. Engaged employees are more willing to fulfil the customer's journey and guarantee a higher level of service. Engaged employees are likely to sell 20% more than those that are not.
Less Sick Days Taken
When employees are willing to commit to your organisation, they are less likely to take days off work for things such as illness.
Better Employee Health
Engaged employees are more likely to be healthier, fitter and more involved in personal hobbies and family.
Build Positive Relationships
Good relationships drive engagement. Your teams are more open to communicating and working collectively.
Why Employee Engagement Is So Important?
Employers should know and understand how to measure and implement tools to help with employee engagement. Not only is it beneficial for their internal and external teams. But it can also hugely impact the success of their business.
You should use regular surveys or feedback forms to understand how your employees feel about their workplace. You can also organise one-to-one or regular face-to-face meetings; these can be more effective and motivate team members to be honest with you.
We hope this article has helped you understand a little more about employee engagement and why it's essential to the success of any business.
COMMENTS