Employee engagement and satisfaction

Employee engagement is foundational to an organization’s success. Better engagement means employees will work to see it grow. This is the ideal situation for any company to be in. Here are five specific benefits of better employee engagement:

1. More loyalty. This means a willingness to work overtime at short notice. It also means finding a creative solution to a problem when not at work.
2. These effects will also extend to customers. A sales team or help center that loves its company will emit that enthusiasm to customers.
3. Higher productivity, and by extension better output.
4. Stronger company identity and cohesion.
5. Better retention rates. This means that as time passes, the quality of the workforce will steadily improve.

The opposite is an environment where employees are in siloes. They are more interested in their own success. Disengaged. Unenthusiastic. Happy to move to a company that pays even a little more. This is dangerous for the long-term success of a company. An organization in this situation is unable to keep the best employees. This means it cannot build up a workforce better than its competitors. Or one that can endure turbulence.

How to nurture employee engagement

Here are the most effective ways to create engagement among the workforce:

Communicate openly. In practice, this means ensuring that employees have security about their work. This could be compensation related, making sure they have the answers they need. Or it could relate to the future of the company. It is important to include employees in updates. This helps give a sense of ownership and relevance to events.

1. Make work meaningful. Go to lengths to explain the purpose of the individual’s work. Link it to the bigger picture and overarching strategy.

2. When employees do something particularly well, be sure to recognize it. It does not need to be in the form of financial compensation. By publicly celebrating the successes of one employee, you encourage others to do the same. This contributes to a positive work culture. Other forms of recognition could be by giving employees more responsibility, setting them up for future promotions.
3. Management and leadership. Managers can function as middle points between the employee and the company. They can bridge the gap, keeping the interests of both sides of the organization in alignment.

4. Respecting the work life balance. This varies by individual and organization. Certain jobs and organizations may have a culture that expects regular hours of overtime. Certain employees match this. However, other employees have other commitments outside of their work hours, being comparatively inflexible. It is important to understand the needs of the individual needs of the workforce. It is important to have an organizational culture that matches their goals.

5. Make the work environment positive. There are innumerable ways to achieve this. It could be as simple as paid lunches every Friday to boost morale. Or, paid social activities and company events. It could be as simple as creating a comfortable work area. This will reduce friction around work for employees and promote positivity towards the company.

Getting data on employee sentiment

Data is one of the most important tools for understanding the workforce. With good data, you can find what is and is not working for employees. You know where to focus your finite resources to achieve the maximum impact. It is often possible to solve common issues with comparatively little effort. It is initially finding them through data that presents the biggest issue.

For example, employees may not receive enough feedback on their work. This could eventually lead to stunted workforce growth, lower morale, or even better employees leaving the company if never resolved. Another example is if there are elevated expectations around overtime. This could lead to workforce friction. It is possible to solve these problems and avoid their outcomes easily. Here are the three most common methods for gathering data.

1. Questionnaires

This technique requires careful planning and preparation. The premise is that your employees are the most valuable source of data. Here are pointers on how to make your questionnaire a success:

• Stick with a short, concise questionnaire of no more than twenty questions.
• Consider a small reward for completion. This will motivate the workforce to take part.
• It should be easily accessible. Consider multiple options such as email, app, or a paper sheet.
• The questions should be simple, and in language that the employees would usually use (strictly no HR industry terms).
• Consider multiple question styles.
• Be wary that the framing of a question will lead to potentially biased results. This means unhelpful, low-quality data. Be neutral and open.
• Be wary of cultural frameworks. The workforce will approach certain topics in diverse ways. This will also be reflected in the perspectives used for the different questions.
• The questionnaire should not try to do too much. It must have a simple goal.
• Share results with the workforce. This will help foster engagement and give relevance to their participation.
• Consider anonymity whenever possible. This yields better data quality, as employees can be more open without fear of repercussions.
• Act on the information you receive. Getting data and not using it is a waste of energy and time.
• Finally, make sure that there is a clear purpose for asking each question. What actions will come out of their responses? Be specific.

2. Interviews and feedback

This method focuses more on individual analysis. As a result, it is important to talk to members from across the organization to stay representative.

• Keep the interviews informal and as relaxed as possible.
• Consider the environment and layout.
• And be respectful of their time.
• Also consider the person’s relationship to the organization. Exit interviews and onboarding interviews all play a helpful part in this process.

3. Surveys and data

This is one of the most reliable methods. While not specific to your organization, it gives priceless data on your entire industry. Use data sets when you would like to find insights to stay competitive. For example, employer sentiment may be low simply because pay is below market rates. Or it could be another issue relating to compensation. For example, such as healthcare benefits not being competitive enough.

Aside from these three methods there are others. Informal conversations with other professionals in networking events. Focus groups and performance reviews. Paying for consultants, and online data providers too. These are all diverse ways to get the data you need.

Once you have this data, act on it. Use it to improve the sentiment among your workforce towards your organization. Track any changes over time. This gives you a frame of reference to eventually build up a trajectory of where the company is moving.

The goal is to have the deepest understanding of workforce priorities as possible. With this knowledge, you can ensure that the organization’s needs, and the individual’s needs are in harmony. You can attract more of the right people to build up your workforce.