What is employee engagement?

Employee engagement is the process of looking at your staff to see whether they understand the company’s vision, whether they feel invested in the business, and how they understand their individual role in the organization. Employee engagement is not the same as employee satisfaction.

The Importance of Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is critical to the success of today's modern business. Technology has changed the workforce. Remote professionals and the tendency to change careers is much more common than ever. As a result, most companies are challenged to find and retain top talent that is engaged and invested in the business’ vision and goals.

Engaged employees make smarter decisions, which leads to better overall performance by the company. Organizations that can develop a high level of employee engagement typically have a higher earning per share and can pull out of difficult financial times quickly. Engaged employees are also more motivated to contribute to a company's growth and innovation, which often means propelling the organization beyond its competition.

Employee engagement also assumes a high level of trust between employee and employer, a significant level of commitment, and transparent, honest communication. For employees, a high level of engagement means they are excited about going to work in the morning and understand that they contribute to a larger goal within their company. For employers, positive employee engagement means that team members are proud to be working for their business and loyal to the organization. They are willing to go the extra mile to further the company’s objectives.

What’s the Cost of Employee Disengagement?

Before we talk about employee disengagement, it's important to understand the categorizations. As we've discussed, engaged employees are those who are involved in and committed to their employer and work.

When we talk about actively disengaged employees, we’re talking about staff members who have terrible work experiences and are extremely unhappy. According to a Gallup poll, the number of actively disengaged employees is on the decline. However, more than half of the workers in the world place themselves in a “not engaged” category. This typically means that they are feeling mediocre about their work, and they are simply performing tasks to obtain a paycheck. They are not invested or connected to their employer and are most likely to leave when a better job offer comes along.

Employee disengagement can cost a company a significant amount of money. According to a Gallup poll, employees that are not engaged have a 37% higher rates of absences, 18% lower productivity, and 15% lower profitability.

In addition, those employees who are disengaged or not engaged contribute to businesses’ turnover rates. Recruiting, hiring, and training new employees at a high rate can cost a company significant money as well. Retaining top talent is a key advantage of employee engagement.

How to Increase Employee Engagement

According to a Gallup poll, only 15 percent of employees around the globe are engaged in their jobs. As a result, increasing employee engagement has the potential to make a significant difference in a company's bottom line.

One thing that a company can do to increase employee engagement is ensure that all team members are in correct roles with proper training so they can perform their jobs successfully. It's also important for management to speak regularly with their team and review progress, feedback, complaints, as well as the topic of engagement itself.

Another important factor to improving employee engagement is to ensure that employees are doing thoughtful and meaningful work that contributes to the business’ overall vision. Technology can go a long way in helping improve the quality of work. For example, various automation and artificial intelligence tools can handle a great deal of mundane, repetitive tasks. This then frees employees up to learn higher-level skills and pursue more rewarding career paths.

Other steps a company can take to increase employee engagement have to do with helping team members feel valued as human beings. For instance, a company can encourage flexibility by providing more freedom in work schedules and location. In addition, a company can support a community or charitable organization, as well as encourage paid volunteer days where employees can work together for a good cause.

Finally, be sure to measure employee engagement regularly. One thing to remember is that when you conduct employee engagement surveys, you want to discuss topics and situations that can be improved and changed. Don't make the mistake of collecting irrelevant data or discussing topics that are impossible to improve. Employees want to be heard, and part of improving engagement is to see that management listens and takes action.