Employee Engagement: Five things you need to know
In October last year, Gallup published the 10th Employee Engagement Meta-Analysis, the world’s largest study linking business performance outcomes to measures of employee engagement. The study revealed the same results consistent with previous iterations - Teams, or business units, scoring above average (in the top 50% of the database) more than double their odds of success compared to teams scoring below average on engagement. More specifically, highly engaged teams outperformed their poorly engaged teams by 10% customer loyalty, 23% profitability, 18% productivity and a staggering 81% absenteeism. After reliably replicating this finding over a 20+ year period, there is no denying the importance, and significance of ensuring the engagement of your team/business sits at the apex of your business's strategic objectives.
The truth is, engagement still features as a formality for many organisations, a tick-the-box exercise to demonstrate that they ‘care’ and want to ‘listen’ to their employees and provide them with a ‘voice’. While there are some organisations out there doing a great job, I’m still astonished at the number of organisations that stuff this up….and by organisations, I mean the people that work in them (you know who you are!).
The reason why employee engagement catapulted Gallup to success back in the ’90s is that they were the first organisation to demonstrate the consistent link between how employees felt, and how organisations performed. It seems like a no-brainer, the happier your people are, the more productive and profitable they will be. Like most powerful ideas, the research merely confirms a timeless truth that we all intuitively know. The real challenge is to take action, now that there is no denying the truth.
Recently, I was reminded of how poorly most organisations apply the knowledge that engaged employees lead to better business outcomes. A client of mine shared that they received the results from a recent employee engagement survey and the results weren’t good. Rather than take this as an opportunity to learn, understand and deepen the opportunity for change, the executive director gave them all a lashing for ‘being so selfish’ and not appreciating how ‘good’ they have it. My client shared that the message was received loud and clear “you’d better give better scores next time otherwise, things won’t go well for you around here”. This was further tainted by some speculation that their executive director needed good engagement scores to achieve an annual bonus.
This is a familiar, and horrible example of how NOT to use employee engagement surveys. Furthermore, it reinforces the importance of measuring employee engagement for the right reasons. To help you establish if you are on the right path, consider the following list:
1) If you don’t want the truth don’t ask I.e. you aren’t willing to accept any feedback from the team, no matter how harsh or confronting…don’t bother asking them at all. You’ll do more damage asking for their perspective and not actioning the results than you will if you don’t ask them at all.
2) Don’t make engagement scores key Performance Indicators. If you must tie them into KPIs, make sure you keep them at the senior executive level and ensure that the focus is on change or improvement in engagement coupled with a measure of taking action or belief that action will be taken.
3) Don’t shield your team or organisation from the truth. If engagement is low, and the data supports this, people already know. They did provide the feedback after all. I know it’s tempting to ‘protect’ people to avoid panic but in reality, people aren’t stupid. The talented people are already looking for other jobs so by facing up to the truth, you are far more likely to engage your best in turning things around.
4) Stop making engagement an ‘HR’ thing. Yes, HR should be involved, but they shouldn’t ‘own’ the result or the follow-up. In many cases, HR holds on to engagement too firmly so this is also something to be aware of. Engagement is measured at the individual level and reported at the group or team level. Anything to enhance engagement needs to start at the individual level and be discussed at the team level.
5) Recognise that engagement as a construct existed long before Gallup or any other organisation reverse engineered questions to measure it. You don’t need a survey to identify if people are feeling a bit ordinary about things. Open your ears, walk the floors, talk to people. The process of listening changes how people feel, as long as it’s done genuinely. If the survey has become a routined tick-the-box exercise, it’s time to find another way to identify the truth.
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A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME
I’m fascinated with people, always have been and always will be. From a very early age, I keenly observed people, I was curious about what motivated them, what made them successful and why they made certain choices. This curiosity led me to study Psychology. After graduating with my Master of Organisational Psychology, I worked for Gallup, a global leader in engagement and strengths-based development. I became a strengths-based coach, engagement expert and worked with senior leaders all over the world.
If you’re curious about how I can help you personally or with the leadership of your team/organisation get in touch via my email: joe@joehart.com.au | website: joehart.com.au | Phone: +61425 224 825