Engagement focuses on current team members (sort of a bird in hand philosophy) and allows the owner/manager to assess the alignment within her organization. Employee engagement can be defined as one’s passion and commitment – the willingness to expend one’s discretionary effort on the employer’s success (see my previous post on a Perfect Storm). So where does your organization stand?
The statistics on employee engagement are not stellar. Even with an improving economy, the level of employee engagement is not improving. A full 17 % of Canadian employees are highly disengaged while the equal amount is highly engaged. The middle group is, at best, moderately engaged or worse. So, what are we looking for when we are assessing the level of engagement that is being demonstrated within our organizations or work teams? Engaged employees …
- Understand the business/organization and their role in its success
- Trust leadership and believe they are making decisions with the best interest of the business and the people in mind
- Work towards making a difference in their jobs each and every day
- Feel valued and appreciated
For many of you, discussion on engagement will be very new. A starting point for you could be a discussion with your team members (best done one-on-one) to gauge just how effective you are in capturing their hearts and minds. Some things to look for…Are they:
- Motivated
- Connected
- Understood
- Valued
- Developed
- Confident
- Energized and enjoying their work
Perhaps this seems like a lot of effort to you. You are already in fifth gear and barely able to keep up (if you are keeping up) with the demands on your organization and recruiting the people that you minimally need to keep treading water. Well, good news! Highly engaged work groups are :
44 % higher in retention
56% higher in customer loyalty
50 % more productive
33 % more profitable
Clearly, enhancing the level of engagement within your team will have an immediate and significant impact on your organization. Towers and Perrin report that a key piece of engagement is senior leadership interest in employee well-being. I caution you to ensure that you determine whether what your organization is experiencing is employee satisfaction rather employee engagement. Perhaps this is a little confusing (you are saying, I thought I wanted satisfied employees?), you will soon understand why satisfaction is the enemy of engagement.
Satisfaction versus Engagement
When we are considering employee satisfaction, what we are really looking at is the level of sufficiency that they are currently experiencing. Is there enough pay? Are the benefits enough? Are they being treated fairly? Is there enough flexibility in my life balance as it relates to work? The satisfied employee will likely describe their work experience as ‘okay’ or ‘likely better than they might find elsewhere’. Is this what we are really looking for?
Engagement is an indication of how well employees are aligned with their organizations. It is measured by assessing a worker’s commitment, pride, advocacy and satisfaction both in regard to their current job and to the organization itself. Engagement reflects a sense of passion and commitment by the employee. This kind of staffer sees each day bringing new challenges that they desire and when asked will describe their days as ‘speeding by’. This attractive group understands their business and completely understand the functions that they are responsible. They are very enthusiastic about their work and their workplace and this enthusiasm has a tendency to positively impact their co-workers. For this kind of employee it is not about the salary, the benefits or flexibility in work parameters. These individuals are rewarded by the nature of the work they do, the energy within the workplace, engaged colleagues and the opportunity to demonstrate their passion.
The first step is to measure the level of engagement in your organization. There are a number of tools available to organizations including:
- Gallup Organization’s Q 12
- Employee Engagement Survey Program by ITS
I utilize the Workforce Analysis Profile. This comprehensive survey provides a measure of employee engagement and their overall workplace experience. An added piece is the segmentation that is also included in the survey results. This component provides detailed information on the kinds of employees that you have in your organization and specific traits and characteristics. This is valuable information for a key decision maker to have at their disposal.
If you are interested in more information on Engagement, check out Tamara J. Erickson, co-author of Workforce Crisis, as she discusses the issue.
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