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It’s proven that engaged employees are more productive, loyal and committed, which has a direct link to business productivity and success.
So what’s the truth about employee engagement? Is there an answer that works for everyone?
Here we look at what employee engagement means and what you need to think about as an employer to engage your people.
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This seems like an easy question but in reality many managers measure the wrong thing. Employee engagement isn’t just showing up consistently or even doing a job well. Those employees are good workers (don’t get us wrong, you want good workers) but are they truly engaged workers?
Employee engagement is how well an employee is actively engaged with their role on a daily basis. Fully engaged employees care about your company’s mission, future success, and have an interest in how they can contribute to this.
In a report from WorkBuzz, 31% of UK businesses with office-based and remote employees saw engagement decline last year. The assumption is that the pandemic has given workers the time to reflect on whether they are happy or not in their jobs, and many are recognising that they aren’t satisfied with their role, the opportunities open to them, how they’re looked after (or not) and their work-life balance.
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Disengagement is a key driver of people choosing to leave their jobs, and can be caused by a number of factors such as feeling they are working hard for little in return, poor relationships and lack of challenge, trust or freedom.
The link between low engagement and increased job moves is no coincidence, a January survey of 1000 UK workers found that almost a third (29%) are considering moving to a new job this year and a recent study by Qualtrics of 13,000 employees found that employee engagement in the UK is currently sitting at just 50%.
It’s no surprise then that 41% of employers have faced increased employee turnover or difficulty with retention over the last six months according to CIPD.
A focus on employee engagement is vital to make sure that you understand what drives or hinders it for your employees – this will be different for every organisation.
Employee burnout has been described as an epidemic of the past two years. In fact, burnout has sky-rocketed since the pandemic, with 75% of workers considering quitting their jobs for this reason.
Burnout is especially dangerous for managers and employers because it affects your most engaged, highest performing employees. You can’t burn out if you don’t care about your work in the first place.
This has been driven not only by the response to the pandemic and the stress it has placed on us all, but also because of the idea that we should not be ‘living to work’ but also taking time to be with family, friends and doing non-work related activities.
It’s important for managers to look at what they can do to reduce burnout and support and engage employees.
The relationships between line managers and employees changed during the pandemic, with businesses going through so much change, employees may have a tough time relating to their managers, and vice versa. Employees may not feel supported or appreciated, and as a result disengaged with the company, making them more likely to leave.
Relationships between colleagues have suffered too. Spending less time socialising may have had a negative effect on your team’s drive and work ethics, and engagement. Social interaction is strongly linked with engagement – a global Gallup survey of over 15 million employees indicated that those with a “best” work friend are more likely to be engaged in their jobs.
You therefore need to look at how you can rebuild these relationships, especially if your teams are split across different locations.
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It goes without saying that motivation and engagement go hand in hand. Engagement is a sense of purpose, belonging, and commitment to an organisation, whereas motivation is the willpower and drive to act on those feelings
Employees whose motivation is particularly low may show up as working at a slower pace, avoiding tasks or spending time on their phone. But most of all, they are unfocused and aren’t putting any energy into work. This can not only have an effect on company culture but also prevent your business from reaching its targets if employees aren’t productive.
A motivated employee, might accomplish tasks quickly or on time, take action and want to do a good job.
Communication is a good start and employees want to be communicated with openly, honestly and in a timely manner.
Engaged employees also understand the big picture and how they fit into it. A clearly communicated mission, vision and core values give employees something to focus on. If employees feel like a part of something bigger than themselves, they are much more likely to go above and beyond to contribute.
Sustainability is especially important today for a lot of employees and will effect their decision to leave, or join a company. Any goals and initiatives like this need to be fully communicated to your people.
You just can’t have strong employee engagement without reward and recognition. It’s one of the biggest boosters to motivation and satisfaction, and can change your company culture.
There are different ways to approach it, whether through frequent verbal recognition, or even a rewards programme. Whatever you choose, you can’t let good work go unnoticed – ensure your team has something waiting for them when they reach their goals.
Proper reward and recognition can further motivate them to achieve more and more for the organisation.
Employees who are engaged in their work show more loyalty towards the business.
Loyal employees not only work hard for their pay, but they are committed to the success of your company. More often than not, they prioritise the company’s interests and are always looking to develop in their role.
Good management is critical for building employee loyalty. According to research by Gallup, 70% of an employee’s motivation is influenced by their manager. Employees are likely to create a good relationship with a leader they trust, who genuinely cares about their development and wellbeing and takes time to listen.
The opportunity to develop new skills and knowledge is so important to ambitious employees. New projects and responsibilities to challenge your employees will keep them on their toes. Keep your employees engaged by finding out how they’d like to develop in the business and work with them to identify opportunities for growth in that direction.
Trust needs to be present between employee and manager in order for engagement to improve and one way to do this is by giving employees more autonomy. It’s your job to lead from the front, but it’s also important at times to give your team responsibility for a task or project. For employees to feel passionate about their work and strive for the best outcome, they need to know that the company values their skills and experience.
Everyone wants to be part of a winning team. People who perform well feel good about themselves and where they work. But like any team, they need managers who can provide honest feedback. Praising your employees is great, but you should also offer constructive feedback to improve performance
Likewise, managing employee performance needs to be a two way process – listening to what your staff say about you and the company is so important.
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Managers need to stop, think and reset. How can you engage employees who think in different ways?
According to a Harvard Business review article, the extent to which an employee is motivated might actually come down to their personality and the level of motivation they bring with them to the workplace (rather than how motivated their workplace makes them feel).
Insights Discovery is a personality profiling tool that can help with this. We all have a combination of four colour energies – fiery red, cool blue, sunshine yellow and earth green – but we each have a natural preference for some which influences our motivation and behaviours. Knowing your teams’ personality preferences can help you understand what motivates them, so that you can develop stronger, more respectful, productive and positive relationships, which will improve engagement in the long run.
If mental health and wellbeing are left unchecked, this can quickly lead to disengagement with an employee’s job role and the company as whole. Wellness needs to be a core aspect of your working culture to help drive engagement and wellbeing champions can support this.
In a survey of 84 Top Employers in the UK, 80% consistently have a wellbeing champion, which is someone responsible for driving wellbeing initiatives and supporting employees.
Wellbeing champions can take the pressure off you as a manager by identifying problems or areas where workplace wellbeing could be improved and feeding this back. They can also manage activities to improve wellbeing, such as team building events, or walking lunch breaks.
From an employee perspective too, wellbeing champions can prove to be a valuable source of support and encouragement, particularly for those who are disengaged with wellbeing initiatives or find it hard to confide in management. These people may not want to seek support from their line manager and feel more confident speaking to their peer.
It’s not always about the salary and job perks that keep people in a company, it’s their daily experience of working in an inclusive and supportive workplace.
As a line manager listening to what your staff say about you and your organisation is so important. Use your regular catch ups, 1:1’s and speak to your team in a monthly meeting to get a better idea of how they feel about you as a line manager. Employee focus groups or pulse surveys as well as the traditional engagement survey can be effective at getting this feedback.
Likewise, giving staff the opportunity to discuss ideas for improvements in the workplace can help them feel more involved in the business. If there is a situation that goes unnoticed or unaddressed by management, it sends a bad message to your staff and will affect engagement and motivation.
If an employee is feeling underappreciated, they may seem suddenly withdrawn, no longer enthusiastic about projects or they come to work and do the bare minimum. Reflect on how you have recognised and praised your team’s efforts during the pandemic – you may have increased this during the work from home period, but now it’s vital that you keep it going.
An absence of appreciation can be a recipe for staff turnover. As a manager, you need to build a culture of recognition, both formal and informal. A lot of people will just want reassurance they are doing a good job, whereas others may need further praise and rewards to keep them focused and motivated.
Many employees say opportunities to grow is a reason to stay at their job or go after another. To improve this, you want to give them time and resources to learn in areas that will expand their careers. The first step is to speak to employees and find out where they want to go, then choose training or coaching that will help them get there.
Investing in your people is crucial for employee retention. This might involve technical or job-based training but also psychometrics such as Insights Discovery, which helps people to understand themselves and each other.
When you spend time and money on employee development, it shows your staff you value them as an employee and are invested in their growth and progression within the business. This is likely to improve their engagement and job satisfaction and as a result they would be more inclined to stay in the business.
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