According to a Towers Watson Study, employee engagement is the willingness to put additional discretionary effort into work (extra time, brainpower and energy), beyond what is considered ‘enough’. Engaged employees have the desire and commitment to do the best they can and make a measurable contribution to an organisation’s performance.
In other words your employees are performing at over 100%.
Some of the benefits of employee engagement:
- Decrease employee turnover rate
- Decrease recruitment costs
- Greater productivity
- Greater profitability
How is employee engagement increased?
After years of extensive research the Gallup Organisation distilled the triggers down to 12 key elements known as the Q12. Here is a snap shot of a few of the elements employees need to have to be engaged:
- clear expectations (code of conduct, KPIs, job description, staff manual, feedback)
- the material and equipment to do the job right (fit for purpose materials and equipment)
- the opportunity to do what they do best each day (get to use their strengths)
- weekly recognition and praise for doing good work (spot them doing things right and tell them)
- someone at work who encourages their development (gaining new skills, qualifications, knowledge, competence) read more about the Q12 elements in ‘First Break all the Rules’.
How can I measure employee engagement?
There are various surveys that measure employee engagement and pin point the key areas that need improving; for example locally in New Zealand there is the IBM Best Workplaces, and internationally there is the Gallup Q12.
Employees can complete the survey annually as a measure of engagement; this measure can then feed in to your People Plan. For example ‘clear expectations’ may come through as lacking; strategies can then be put in place to increase the clarity around employee expectations.
Increasing employee engagement is a great strategic tool for improving organisational performance. Your employees will love you for it.