Studies show that organizations with engaged employees also have higher productivity levels and lower turnover rates than those who do not. Therefore, it is important that businesses regularly measure their levels of employee engagement. And many successful organizations do this through employee engagement assessments or surveys.
Before I discuss this topic, I will try and clarify what, to me, is meant by employee engagement:
- Employee engagement means that employees are positively engaged in their jobs, in their work. That is, it’s more than just a job to an engaged employee; the work also yields a sense of satisfaction, a challenge and a set of rewards. And, he or she emotionally relates to the job in a positive way.
- Engaged employees are inspired by a commitment to go above and beyond the call of duty. Because they care about their jobs, and they care about their employers, they are also willing to put in extra efforts to make sure the job gets done well. And in dealing with customers, or producing a product, the engaged employee works harder than what is minimally required.
Obviously, having employees like this is a big plus for an employer!
Even more obvious—especially given today’s economic pressures—employers want to gain maximum productivity from their employees; and, likewise, most employees want to feel valued in the workplace.
To find out if employees are engaged or not, there are some useful tools. Many employers find that employee engagement assessments can provide very valuable feedback.
As with any employee attitude or behavioral assessment tool, you will want to first understand what you are examining; and then you will want to use the tool properly. In doing that, here are a few points to consider:
- Understand that employee engagement is the outcome of a continuing series of interactions between the employee and the employer. That is, you can only find high levels of engagement in situations where the employer has organized work and its rewards in ways that the employees do experience and do develop engagement.
- Engagement is not something the employee brings with them like lunch. Engagement happens through continuing interaction between the employer and the employee. Granted, a survey can tell you whether or not employees feel engaged. Yet, if the answer is “no,” and they’re not engaged, the fault is not with the employees alone, but it also has to do with how the employer has been treating employees over time—and this treatment has resulted in a failure to engage.
So employers shouldn’t simply say, “Well, we’re going to go out and we’re going to fire these disengaged people. Then, we’re going out and getting a whole new set of employees who will be engaged.”
Instead, the employer has to figure out: Why is it that employees are not engaged? And a good survey tool will help them understand why.
The question then becomes, does the employer care enough to re-address the problems? If so, here are five ways that employers can leverage employee engagement assessment information:
- View the feedback as valuable information about management practices, especially about the nature of the work required.
- Evaluate what changes need to be made in order to increase the levels of employee engagement.
- Realize that these changes take time and such ghanges are a lengthy process. Employees do not change their views of employers and their jobs overnight.
- Commit to a consistent process in which employees are supported in their jobs and rewarded accordingly.
- Recognize that employees also need honest, valid feedback about their levels of performance.
The bottom line is, for months now, we see that thousands of people are losing their jobs. And we are still looking for signs of those numbers changing in a positive direction. So it’s clear that what we have are really catastrophic times, which need to be managed very carefully. Having a committed, engaged team of employees who work with you to solve your problems is the only way you and your organization are going to succeed.
In closing, I’ll end with some good news. As businesses today look to cut costs and increase levels of employee engagement and productivity, it costs very little or nothing at all to implement the five steps above and to show employees that you really care.