16.02.2010

Are all your employees giving it their all?

Do they frequently exhibit passion and drive in what they do?

Do they believe in what they do?

If the answer to these questions is 'no' your company may need to think about employee engagement.

Engagement is a word that is being increasingly used in the workplace but few companies understand the true meaning of employee engagement. The Institute of Employment Studies (IES) defines engagement as:

"A positive attitude held by the employees towards the organisation and its values. An engaged employee is aware of the business context and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organisation. The organisation must work to develop and nurture engagement which requires a two way relationship between employer and employee".

It is no coincidence that in a recent Gallup poll 24 percent of the top employee engaged businesses had less staff turnover and significantly higher percentages of customer loyalty, profitability and revenue. Research indicates a strong link between employee engagement and productivity.

So what does that mean to us in our companies on a day-to-day basis?

Engaged employees demonstrate a positive attitude towards the company and a willingness to go beyond the requirements of the job. In fact, engagement can be broken down into 3 distinct area's: emotional, cognitive and physical. Employees can become emotionally involved with their work; can cognitively focus very hard whilst at work; and be physically engaged by going that extra mile.

Research also indicates that demographics of the workforce can significantly influence engagement levels. For example, engagement levels decline as employees get older until they reach the age of sixty plus when engagement levels suddenly rise and show that this age group is the most engaged. Minority ethnic groups have typically higher engagement levels than their colleagues.

Also, as you would expect, management and professionals tend to have higher engagement levels than their colleagues in support roles; however, levels decline as length of service increases.

Drivers of engagement can be broken down into 4 groups:

1. Involvement in decision making.

2. The extent to which the employee feels able to voice their ideas and that managers listen and value their contribution.

3. Opportunities for employees to develop their jobs.

4. The extent to which the company is concerned for employees health and well being.

Involvement in decision making can be addressed by introducing a communication group or focus group where issues can be presented to the group to address and resolve. This will also enable them to voice their opinions and feel listened to. Suggestion boxes and blog sites can be another way to help employees feel engaged.

In addition, development and training plans and appraisals can be an effective tool to provide employees with development opportunities.

For employers who wish to find out how engaged their employees are an employee engagement survey can be a simple but effective vehicle. Not only does this make the employee feel 'listened to' but results can be analysed and can provide a company with an employee engagement plan.

Furthermore, in the interests of building a relationship of honesty, integrity and trust with the company's employees, the results should be communicated and acted upon. Progress should also be tracked and communicated throughout implementation, both the successes and failures.

Prior to conducting a survey it is worth adopting the following practices:

 -  Communicate the fact that whilst responses are confidential the findings will be used to improve the workplace.

 -  Ensure that the questions asked are really relevant.

 -  Encourage all employees to participate to ensure that the results are representative of a large proportion of the workplace.

 -  Consider setting up focus groups from a cross section of the company to determine important questions and implement an action plan.

As an outcome of the survey, creating an employee engagement plan can be a simple and effective way to keep all employees engaged.

beststart HR can conduct an employee engagement survey in your workplace.

If you would like to receive beststart's HR Heads Up email, please email enquiries@beststartHR.com with the title 'HEADS UP'.