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Employee engagement emerged as a management trend in the late 1990’s and has since gained a firm foothold in the people strategies and management practices of companies all over the world. There is a large body of research that correlates higher levels of employee engagement with higher productivity, profitability, customer satisfaction and staff retention. How engaged are your employees and what benefits could you realise by increasing levels of engagement?

What percentage of people are fully engaged in their work?

There are many models of employee engagement, defining what drives engagement and categorising employees into categories of engagement. Most commonly, we see people grouped in one of 3 categories – engaged, not engaged, and actively disengaged.

According to Gallup’s Global State of the Workplace survey (https: //www.gallup.com/workplace/238079/state-global-workplace-2017.aspx):
15% of employees are fully engaged at work – they are enthusiastic and involved and are the people who contribute to organisational success
67% are not engaged – these people come to work and “do their time”.
18% are actively disengaged – these are dissatisfied employees who could potentially undermine your company’s morale and success.

If your business were a bus, there would be more people smoking at the back of the bus and writing on the seats than people actively driving toward the destination. Two thirds of the people on the bus would be passive passengers, waiting to disembark as soon as they can. While this split seems ok for a bus, it doesn’t bode well for innovative, collaborative, successful companies.

What’s different about engaged employees?

• Engaged employees are people who are enthusiastic about coming to work. They’re not just there to put in the time and get paid.
• They are the people who are interested and inspired by the work that they do. They find purpose and satisfaction in a job well done.
• Engaged employees are willing to go the extra mile – they put in extra effort, contribute ideas more frequently and are more focused on achieving company objectives.
• Engaged employees respect and admire their team members and are more collaborative and more likely to share knowledge and assist co-workers.
• It’s more likely that you will retain engaged employees – engagement, commitment and loyalty are built when people feel that they can grow and develop within your organisation.

How will higher employee engagement benefit my business?

The more engaged your employees are, the more productive, profitable and customer friendly your business will be.

• According to a study by the Hay Group, engaged employees are up to 43% more productive
• It costs about 40% of an employee’s annual salary to replace them – engaging and retaining employees will save your company recruitment and training cost.
• Innovation and creativity are higher in companies that focus on engaging their employees
• Your customers will notice whether your employees are engaged – companies with engaged frontline workers provide more engaging customer service
• Companies with engaged employees are more profitable with 26% higher measurable revenue per employee.

• According to a study by the Hay Group, engaged employees are up to 43% more productive
• It costs about 40% of an employee’s annual salary to replace them – engaging and retaining employees will save your company recruitment and training cost.
• Innovation and creativity are higher in companies that focus on engaging their employees
• Your customers will notice whether your employees are engaged – companies with engaged frontline workers provide more engaging customer service
• Companies with engaged employees are more profitable with 26% higher measurable revenue per employee.

No matter how you look at it – engaging your employees pays off. Whether you want to boost profit or productivity or form closer relationships with your customers, the more engaged your employees are, the more likely your company will be to succeed.

An employee engagement survey is a good way to objectively measure your company’s engagement levels. They provide insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your employee value proposition and focus effort and spend on organisational interventions to where they will have the biggest positive impact. Speak to Pure Survey today to find out how to measure levels of employee engagement in your business.