It Takes a Village: Employee Engagement; Is it Important?

Poor HR, employee engagement is their responsibility, yet it is definitely one of those things that cannot be done alone. Employee Engagement is one of those things that companies really struggle with when it comes to prioritizing, surveying, implementing and monitoring effectiveness; why? Well it is overwhelming. When we think about engaging our employees and our teams we want to be sure that we have all of the pieces together, we want it to be successful and repeatable and there are a lot of employees.

Let's start with the survey, you must have a benchmark to judge from right? There are incredible companies out there that manage this process so if you have a serious problem in service, attendance, sales, operations, etc... you may want to engage someone. If you are going to attempt to build this on your own reach out to your networks, don't try to reinvent the wheel. Your survey should ask questions like:

People in my work group/team work resolve conflict as soon as it arises
I feel that I am recognized for the work that I do
I feel personal satisfaction from the work that I do
Team meetings are informative and efficient

So you have this series of questions (and please ensure that your process allows for complete confidentiality) but what are you measuring for? Well before you implement anything let's look at what you are trying to impact:

What is your current turnover rate? Can you break this out by sector?
What is your absenteeism? By sector?
What are your sales numbers? What is the % to sales goal?
What do your customer satisfaction surveys look like?
What is your quality error number?

Alright, we are starting to get some where. We need to really move towards what to do with the survey. Employee engagement is when an employee feels that they are valued and appreciated, believe in what they do/who they do it for, is intellectually committed to their work and has a sense of satisfaction from their work.

Do you, as an employer care if your employees are engaged (satisfied, feel valued, appreciated, etc...) Don't answer that, let's ask it another way:

Do you as an employer care if your employees close more deals, increase your customer satisfaction, grow the business, show up so you can run a line, decrease rework and quality errors?

Then the answer is plain and simple: YES, you as an employer feel that employee engagement is powerful, important and a priority in your organization. Why? Not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it impacts your bottom line.

There are studies out there, DDI did a great one, that show that the difference in an employee engaged workforce vs unengaged had the following stats:

14.5% vs 4.1% turnover (Fortune 100 manufacturing company)
8% vs 4.8% absenteeism
91% vs 99% of their sales goals
5,678 vs 52 quality errors (Fortune 100 manufacturing company)

Employee engagement starts with hiring the right people

managers who are innovative, empowering and motivating
employees who have the innate characteristics you are looking for to be engaged in the work you do and the culture you offer
putting the right people in the right jobs
getting rid of dead weight
removing an unsuccessful manager to another position for the betterment of the entire team

Employee engagement is one of those banks that you have to make deposits in to in order to see the rewards being withdrawn. When you provide and create a high performing organization with supportive leadership that motivates you will reap the rewards of increased customer satisfaction, profitability and a decrease in turnover. It may sound like a great deal of work, but the more people that are on board and assisting with the process the more seamless the process will be and your return on investment will be that much greater.