Discovering your Employee’s Level of Engagement
By Dawn Robson
Most leaders understand that the better the level of engagement amongst their staff, the easier it will be to grow and be successful in business. Unfortunately, current statistics indicate that many employees do not feel engaged, and employers are missing the mark with their engagement strategies.
Employee engagement is defined by Wikipedia as “a fundamental concept in the effort to understand and describe, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the nature of the relationship between an organization and its employees. An “engaged employee” is defined as one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization’s reputation and interests. An engaged employee has a positive attitude towards the organization and its values.”
While statistics like turnover, internal movement, tenure and demographics can play a role in helping you understand the level of engagement in your organization, getting specific feedback from your team is much more valuable and will enable you the opportunity to address the things that are most important and relevant.
The most direct way to do this is to ask each person. One-on-one conversations will help to provide a level of context about how they are feeling and if there is anything that they don’t understand or feel are missing within the organization. A one-on-one conversation also provides the opportunity to address any identified deficiencies or resolve potential conflicts in the workplace. Having these conversations and taking action will demonstrate that you value your employee’s input and care about them. And if you can’t take action – then it is an opportunity to help them understand a bigger picture perspective and why something cannot be done. The personal connection and respect between a manager and a staff member is a key component in supporting an environment of engagement.
It is important to note that it may take some time to create the relationship of trust where these conversations can occur. Employees may be hesitant to give feedback for fear of repercussions or being singled out. Employers must encourage and participate in this sharing and be respectful of the feedback received.
If there is a larger staff, with people working in multiple departments or geographic locations, you may want to gather information on your employee engagement levels in a format that is more statistical and will allow you to identify common themes so that you can prioritize your efforts. An employee survey is often done online, with a tool like Survey Monkey, and provides for anonymity. While there may be a few qualifying questions, like location or department, the employee should be able to provide honest feedback without fear of being identified and possible repercussions. The questions can be tailored to those areas where you need feedback, such as: leadership, communications, benefits, training or work environment. An HR Consulting firm, like Chemistry, may be able to help you with survey needs and can produce reports that can help you make sense of the data.
With the input and commitment from your leadership group, it is important to communicate the results to the rest of your team. You should also be in a position to discuss what the organization is willing to do to address some of the challenges raised. This level of transparency will help to foster trust in the organization, and when the survey is repeated – perhaps 2 years later – you will be able to see the progress (or lack thereof) that has been made on some of the factors identified.
There is a school of thought that all you really need is to get a benchmark on one question that you can compare on a regular basis. This question could be: “Would you recommend this company as a place to work to friends and family”. If this question is asked on a quarterly basis, the results and relative change will provide a strong indication on how things are going.
In the current competitive environment for talent and business, you need to ensure that everyone is “all hands on deck” and willing to commit to whatever it takes for your business to win.