It’s a term that floats around the HR sphere a lot but what exactly is Employee Engagement. The UK’s Engage for Success Foundation defines it as a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their organization’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, and are able at the same time to enhance their own sense of well-being.
A recent poll conducted by Gallup found that approximately 70% of American workers do not engaged while at work, resulting in the nation losing 450-550 billion dollars of loss productivity each year. So, how can you increase engagement among your employees?
Take notice of employee review sites like, Glassdoor.com.
While recent study found that reviews of companies on Glassdoor.com are posted by a 1.6 percent of all employees, this small percentage of people is usually the most disgruntled. Take a careful read through it and see if any of what is being said makes sense and is something you can correct moving forward. For example, if former employees are complaining about a lack of communication from the top down, that can be easily fixed with regular all-hands meetings.
Communicate your company’s purpose and vision.
As a business owner, you had clear goals when you founded your company, but has your mission and vision been well-articulated to your employees? Experts have found that a crucial turning point in the engagement process occurs when employees have a purpose in their jobs that is connected to something larger. Studies have even show that MBA graduates will work for lower salaries if they believe in the work they are doing.
Ask your employees how they feel, and then plan to do something about it.
To get to the root causes of dissatisfaction among your employees, it is a good idea to send them a succinct survey asking about specific items, such as benefits, salary, and training. But it is not enough to simply conduct the survey; you must follow up and address the issues which arise from the survey. Failure to do so will result in decreasing employee engagement even further.