There has been a lot of talk about employee engagement in recent years. Many organizations have a goal to increase their employee’s level of engagement. Others are discovering that increasing employee engagement can lead to increased productivity and profitability.
But measuring employee engagement the right way is not always easy. It requires more than asking employees if they feel engaged at work.
You need to understand what factors make people more or less effective at work — and identify ways to improve those factors for each person in your organization. Here are ways to do it.
How Engaged Are My Employees?
Employee engagement is the level of commitment an employee has to their company and work. It’s a key indicator of employee performance. The more engaged an employee is, the more likely they can perform at a high level and stay with your company for the long term.
To measure engagement, you can ask questions on the employee engagement survey about how satisfied employees are in different areas, such as their job or their manager. You can also look at turnover rates or absenteeism among your teams to determine how engaged they feel with what they do every day and if they want to stay with your company in general.
What Factors Influence Engagement?
When measuring employee engagement, many factors can influence the results. Some of these include:
- A positive culture. People want to feel like they belong and fit in at their workplace.
- Supportive supervisors who listen to concerns and provide feedback on how you can address or resolve those concerns.
Your Survey Should Align With Your Company’s Goals
It’s crucial to ensure that your employee engagement survey aligns with the company’s goals, culture, values, and mission.
The best way to do this is by conducting a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis helps you understand where your organization excels at meeting its goals and where it needs improvement before you create your survey. It also helps identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist within your workplace.
Once you complete this exercise and gain valuable insight into what’s working well, decide which are the most important areas of focus for improving employee engagement — you can use that as a starting point when designing questions for your survey.
Your Survey Will Be Most Successful if It Is Easy To Complete
Once you choose the right method for measuring employee engagement, it’s time to craft an effective survey. Here are some tips to ensure that your employee engagement survey is as effective as possible:
- Make it short. A long survey can deter employees who don’t have much time or interest in taking it.
- Make it easy to understand. Write your questions to be easy to answer without any confusion.
- Ensure there are no glitches with completion, return, analysis, and distribution options so everyone can complete the survey.
Engagement Means Different Things to Different Employees
Engagement is a nebulous concept that can mean different things depending on the company and the person. For example, one employee might think he’s engaged because his direct manager is supportive and empathetic, while another might see it as getting paid above average. In either case, engagement is defined by how employees feel about their work environment, not just whether you compensate them properly.
So how do you know if your employees are engaged? Ask them. This information can help you make informed decisions about improving retention rates and productivity levels.
Conclusion
You can identify and address the factors influencing your team’s happiness by measuring employee engagement the right way. This will help you create a more productive and engaged workforce.
