A study carried out by researchers from the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom tested the idea that happier employees are more productive. The result? A happier, more engaged employees had a mean of 12 percent more productive.
On this post, we’ll explain the definition of employee engagement is, why it’s so important, and how you can improve the general employee engagement score.
Employee engagement: what exactly is it and why is it important?
The Society for Human Resource Management defines employee engagement as: “the degree of the employee’s dedication and commitment to the organisation.” What makes it vital? It is because a higher degree of employee engagement, which means happier employees, boosts retention among employees, and can help build customer loyalty , and ultimately increase the efficiency of an organization.
It is likely that, as you read this post, are an employee in an organisation. Take a moment and look at what you feel like, for example getting up early in the morning for work. Are you feeling motivated? Do you feel enthusiastic? Do you feel like the topics and projects set for discussion or discussed today cause anxiety for you and do you sense that you are supported by your team members to tackle any issues that could be raised? These are just a few concerns that are tied to your involvement with your company.
Ideally, you’ll be able to provide positive answers on these issues. This will be a good start for your total employee engagement score your department may be able to achieve. However, you’re only one individual in the overall world of things. While you might have an excellent review of your experiences with the company, what is the experience of your colleagues? Your supervisors? The interns? Who is employed by the business? This is all tied to employee engagement and if a majority of them aren’t happy then your company’s financial results won’t.
Let’s look at the reasons why increasing employee engagement is a worthwhile investment
- Employees who are engaged improve profits by 21%
- Employee separation costs around $2 billion each year
- Teams that are engaged have a 20% higher sales
- Eighty-six percent of companies that have higher levels of employee engagement agree that an active workforce is a major element in establishing loyal customers.
- Companies with high levels of engagement have reduced absenteeism by 41%.
- Employees who are not engaged are 49 percent more workplace accidents and commit 60% more mistakes and errors and
- Managers are responsible for 70 percent 70% employee engagement variance
- Communication that is effective internally inspire the majority of employees to be more active at work.
- 37 percent of employees feel the most energized through personal recognition
- 66 percent of employees will leave if they felt underappreciated 76% of millennials feel unappreciated.
- The majority of bosses believe it’s typical for employees to leave due to insufficient recognition.
Deloitte discovered a sense of belonging’ in the upper echelon in its Global Human Capital Trends survey with 93% of respondents believe that it is the primary driver of an organization’s performance.
Enhancing employee engagement is like creating an effortless domino effect. Happy employees lead to happier customers , which in turn leads into happier customer experiences, which translate to healthier and happier bottom line numbers. If employees aren’t engaged, businesses will be impacted; it’s simple.
What are five things that you can do to increase employee engagement?
In looking for suggestions to increase employee engagement in an organization It can be subjective. As an example, you might manage a company with a large number of shift workers, or positions that fly in-fly-out and it could be difficult to plan an office party every month when everyone can get together and get social. For an organization which has employees working in the office, 9-5, from Monday through Thursday, the process is just as easy as sending out a calendar invitation.
Here’s a list of our top five suggestions that are universally applicable within most companies to improve employee engagement.
- Create a routine employee engagement survey system
Make an investment in invest in an employee engagement tool that measures how engaged your employees are. This is easily accomplished using an online net Promoter Score (NPS) instrument. You are probably familiar with NPS for your customers , where it usually asks them one simple query: “How likely are you to recommend (insert your company’s name) to someone else or a coworker?”. Imagine this being sent out to employees. The same question will be asked, but the answer can be understood as “how likely are you to recommend us as a good place to work to a colleague or a former employee?”. Think about incorporating an eNPS in your organization’s engagement index. - Take a seat and sip coffee
Have your leaders to meet with their direct report, perhaps having a cup of coffee out of the typical workplace and then talk to their staff members about ways to enhance the employee experience. Are there any issues that are keeping them from enjoying their time at work? Perhaps give them a few minutes before the meeting to record important points and questions. For some employees, this could be a tactic that’s too aggressive, consider creating an anonymous tip line. This could be a container or email address that employees can submit questions or suggestions to without revealing their identity and discuss these issues during weekly meeting. The most important thing here is to demonstrate the employees that they are acknowledged. Discuss with them what action strategies are in place in the interest of fostering an employee-led workplace that is more engaging. - Re-evaluate internal communication methods
What do you use to inform your employees about important changes in the company? your employees? Are they up-to-date and engaged in the organization’s updates and announcements? You might consider introducing an employee newsletter, or post on social media sites like Facebook or Instagram which is sent out every week, fortnightly or even every month, depending on the volume of important information that comes from your partners and stakeholders. Are you aware of a new service or product that is being introduced? Send them a newsletter. Are there any openings in the company that employees can consider to develop their professional skills or promotions? Inform them via the newsletter. This will help them to be more aware of the activities of your business. - Create a hub for learning
It is essential to develop your employees’ skills and capabilities to meet the needs of your industry. With Industry 4.0 breathing into our necks, there’s no reason to hire employees who are one, unhappy and disengaged and not upskilling themselves to keep competitive.Does your company have a learning hub filled with courses that can enhance their abilities or the growth of their skills which could lead to advancement opportunities? What about investing in additional training that is aligned with their goals for career advancement? - Be flexible in your work
From remote work environments to hybrid models According to an Deloitte study more than 50percent of employees didn’t wish to go back to the office. 50% of employees didn’t want to return to the Post-pandemic, people prefer working at post-pandemic and prefer working from home. This is supported by research which show that it is only 9.9% of the global workforce is predicted to completely return to work as well as 53% major companies are looking to shrink the footprint of their offices.Think about the needs of your team. Are they really required to work in an office? Are they really interested to be in an office or would they be better off with in a hybrid or perhaps a full remote model?
How do you get your team to be engaged in the workplace
In addition to the main issues mentioned that have been mentioned, here are couple of smaller, more practical ideas to improve employee engagement:
- Create an employee of the month program.
- Host TGIF gatherings and potlucks
- Celebrate birthdays, anniversary celebrations and other personal milestones
- Have your teams join forces to join forces to help a worthy cause
- Use ‘nap time “meditation time”
- Participate in office trips
- If logistics are feasible and allergies allow, bring your pet to work’ on a day.
- Review onboarding procedures for new employees.
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