Measure Employee Engagement to Make Sure Employees are Fulfilled and Motivated

Hey, hi, it’s us again. Here to honk on about employee engagement - as usual. Why? We know how important it is for your company - especially given the role you play in shaping your company culture. Some organizations managed to get through the “Great Resignation” relatively unscathed, with turnover rates remaining stable.

But how are you doing with the new state of “Quiet Quitting”?

You’ve probably heard this term buzzing around for a while now on your Tiktok and Twitter feeds (thanks, algorithm). It refers to the mindset of burn out employees who are reclaiming their power by doing the bare minimum required to keep their job – in short, they have become disengaged. While the term might be (fairly) new, it is quite real. Gallup found that quiet quitters make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce, and probably even more - that’s an awful lot of people who are not enjoying their jobs!

As a manager, you want employees on your team who are engaged and enthused, while taking care that employees aren’t working themselves too hard and burning out.  How can you tell where your company stands? Let’s get into it and discuss how to measure employee engagement, so you don’t end up “quietly firing” quality team members who are just in need of adjustments to the team culture.

Employee engagement is when employees are enthusiastic about and involved in their job, team or company. It means they have a very good, authentic reason for wanting to get out of bed and go to work.

Engaged employees like what they are doing, and think they are making a valuable contribution to their company. Their input is valued, they like their fellow team members, and willingly participate in company functions. It’s about feeling connected, having a shared vision, and wanting to succeed. Because high employee engagement levels are so important, organizations put a lot of effort into finding great employee engagement ideas to keep their employees flying with the flock.

Just how important is having a great employee engagement strategy? Pretty important, if you believe KPMG (and we do). Their research shows that organizations with highly engaged employees have retention rates that are 36% higher, and outperform their competition by 147%!

Having productive employees who give organizations that kind of competitive edge can be a strong enough reason for measuring employee engagement, but the real human reason for doing it is to visibly demonstrate to employees that you care about their quality of work life, and want to make every effort to ensure they’re happy. You’re actively admitting that you genuinely care about your employees' wellbeing, and are making a conscious effort to ensure they’re satisfied with your company and their job.

To improve employee engagement, here are some methods organizations use to measure where they stand with employees:

1. Turnover Rates: Although “quiet quitting” can be hard to measure, high employee turnover rates are a sure sign that something is wrong. Read the room! If employees are quick to flee your flock, you’ve got to find out what is going on. Perform in-depth exit interviews and ask them why they’re leaving, and certainly be prepared to do something about the answers you might get.
2. Employee Engagement Metrics: Beyond the feel-good measures of seeing how employees act and interact at work, there are some more quantitative metrics you can use to see how you’re doing. You can use employee engagement surveys to measure metrics like whether employees feel their opinions are valued, and whether there is room for professional growth in their job. Another important metric to watch is your absenteeism level. You can also use a rather simple metric, the employee Net Promoter Score (or eNPS). Similar to the benchmark used for customers, the eNPS searches for engaged employees by simply asking, “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this company’s products and services to others?” A high score of 9-10 means they’re a promoter, and a score of 7-8 means they’re passive, but a score of 0-6 could mean they’re a detractor.
3. Productivity: Organizations want employees who are productive, but they might each define that in different ways. Some might say that productivity is being able to meet the assigned goals, but others look at it as employees who are willing to put in extra effort outside of standard operating hours to help the company succeed. Productivity can also be seen in a willingness to collaborate within the team, or with other teams in the organization. Employees are willing to meet in ad hoc groups, or even outside the workplace, to discuss challenges and brainstorm solutions. A healthy network of teams that communicate and collaborate can be a good sign of increased engagement.
4. One-on-One Meetings: The most effective way for an individual manager to measure employee engagement is through one-on-one meetings with employees. Hold regular sessions, which are not the dreaded “formal review,” but where you just sit and have an informal chat with each member of your team. This is a great way to get a real sense of what’s going on, and collect feedback in a private, safe conversation.

If your measurement efforts find that employee engagement is a little low, we’ve got plenty of ideas to help organizations build an effective employee engagement strategy.

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