The link between employee engagement and business results is one of the most clearly proven, yet despite the evidence, we’re either doing nothing or not enough to engage our people – and post-pandemic hybrid working isn’t making it any easier.
Now, more than ever is the time to focus on how we treat people at work and how we create the conditions that allow them to do their work and to be the best version of themselves. It can be easy to confuse engagement with “being happy” and to think that as long as people are happy then everything is fine. But that is not the case and organisations can have “happy people” often with just good working conditions and low ambition. The best people who want to find meaning in what they do can often be seen to leave and of course, this has an impact on organisational performance.
Organisations with engaged employees show improved staff retention, increased productivity and better work quality as well as lower absenteeism. The link between customer satisfaction and improving customer retention is also clear. A study by Gallup suggests that having a highly engaged workforce can lead to 20% higher sales and 21% high profitability, showing there’s a lot to play for when it comes to creating a highly engaged and satisfied team.
On the other side, what’s the cost to a business of a disengaged workforce? When Gallup asked this question the data revealed employees who are disengaged have 18% less productivity, 37% higher absenteeism and that the organisation can have 15% lower profitability.
To put it very simply employee engagement is a way for us to measure both the health and effectiveness of what has to be an organisations’ most valuable asset – its people and for the leaders of a business, metrics can be key to helping them understand and respond to the ROI of employee engagement.
Remember that employee engagement is never done. It’s never perfect. It’s not a destination you aspire to arrive at. Rather it’s a journey and if you’re not sure where you are right now that’s OK too. Don’t get stuck in “where do I start” or worry that the overall task seems too big – there are many ways in which you can make changes, many of which are small and incremental. But if you are looking for a place to begin the conversation, or to understand where your organisation is at, then please reach out.
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What is your organisation doing to improve employee engagement? Where are you on the engagement journey?
