Employee Engagement is Good for People AND for Business

​Do you know how engaged your employees are?
 
If your organization’s employee engagement mirrors results from the Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workplace report, it’s just 33%.
 
That leaves a whopping 67% who are not engaged – including 16% who are actively disengaged. In fact, these employees may actually be working against your organization’s interests!

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How do you think that affects your bottom line? Should it concern you enough to do something about it?
 
A number of business leaders in the Phoenix, Arizona area recently said, “Yes!”
 
These leaders joined me and my fellow executive panelists for AZ Biz Link’s June 25 Workforce Event, “Getting Real About Employee Engagement.” Our lively discussion illuminated several helpful insights from both the panel and attendees.
 
Below you’ll find some of our moderator’s questions and the key points I shared with the group that can help you improve employee engagement at your organization, resulting in a healthier and more profitable workplace! 

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What exactly is employee engagement?

​There are dozens of definitions in academia and practice. The definition I use pulls from a few of these, primarily Kahn & Shuck:

Employee engagement is a psychological state related to the elements of your work as they are experienced collectively (i.e., the company, the leaders, and your job). This state shows up as three different energies:

1. Cognitive
2. Emotional
3. Physical/Behavioral 

In practice, many organizations define employee engagement based on employee discretionary effort, intent to stay, or survey scores. One way you can “see” engagement is through an employee’s attachment, and how that attachment transforms into commitment toward all things work-related.

What are the key drivers of employee engagement?

Employee engagement is driven by:
 

• Leaders, including traits like tone, behavior, and style.
• Culture, which includes values in action, as demonstrated by policies, procedures, and practices.
  
• Job & job resources, including tasks and level of autonomy.
  
• Employee traits, such as emotional intelligence (EQ) & Big 5 personality traits.

How can you tell if employees are engaged?

While I love the rich information I get from employee survey results, I’ve learned that two observable behaviors will provide me with initial insight into an organization’s level of employee engagement:

• Employees use the terms “we/us” instead of “they/them” when talking about their company

• Employees go out of their way to please the customer, often without having to ask a manager

What are the top three reasons most organizations fail to address their employees’ engagement?

1. They don’t recognize the cost ($450 - $550 billion in lost productivity) of low engagement, or benefits (increased customer satisfaction and profitability, a healthier workforce, lower turnover, higher quality, and more innovation) of high engagement.
2. They think it’s just about doing a survey. Wrong! That’s simply a point-in-time metric. Actual engagement starts with what executives and leaders do, every day, to improve organizational health – the culture, leadership behaviors, and the way employees experience the workplace.  From there, it’s about selecting the right people for the right jobs and getting out of their way!
3. They fail to balance the “time” ledger, thinking it takes “too much time” to engage employees. Yes, it takes time for leaders to connect with employees, which involves listening, observing, and providing feedback. But it takes more time to process someone’s exit, recruit for a replacement, and train that replacement – especially if it occurs with some frequency.

How do you influence senior leaders to make employee engagement a priority?

You connect it to results that are important to them. Executives pay attention to data linking actions to outcomes.

​For example, you could demonstrate links between smaller spans of control, the amount of time leaders spend with employees, and improvements in key organizational health metrics like attrition, absenteeism, and customer satisfaction.  Some companies have even demonstrated a direct link between employees’ self-reported levels of engagement and their organizations’ operating revenues. Those are results any CEO would heed!

Executives pay attention to data
​linking actions to outcomes.

- Lisa Barrington

Is it possible to recruit and select for higher engagement?

A number of studies suggest that selection is key to engagement. In several of these studies, employees with higher EQ made for more highly engaged staff. Those who scored highest on “conscientiousness” on the Big 5 personality scale tended to aim for high achievement, while those who scored high on “open to experiences” tended to aspire to self-actualization.

But before you start selecting for engagement, you need to have a clear sense of your organizational culture and values. Only then can you begin to ask questions that help you – and your candidates – determine if there’s a mutual fit for high engagement.  

What are three best practices you would recommend to leaders who want to start improving employee engagement today?

1. Start with yourself

You don't have to be a senior leader or begin a major initiative to improve your team's engagement. See the shaded box for ideas! ​​

2. Focus on improving relationships at work, and the work itself 

​The results of a 2010 meta-analysis conducted by Harter, Schmidt, Asplund, Killham, and Agrawal showed that when an employee has adequate tools to do their job, can contribute skillfully to the work at hand, feels acknowledged for that work, and feels otherwise cared for by their colleagues and supervisor, they will report higher levels of engagement. 

3. Collect data and do something about it 

​Doing something about it is key here! There’s nothing that kills engagement faster than spending time, money, and effort asking employees for their feedback, then not sharing the results and never following up with improvements. So be prepared to act, be transparent with the results, and communicate what you’re doing now and plan to do in the future. 

Leaders with the best engagement do these things:

• Set transparent and achievable expectations that are tied to the organization’s vision, giving the employee a clear sense of purpose
• Provide the tools and resources employees need to do their jobs
• Build authentic, caring relationships with their employees; learn about their needs; and customize solutions to meet those needs
• Provide opportunities for employees to learn and grow in the role and beyond
• Enable employees to leverage their strengths to do their best work, every day, with as much autonomy as possible
• Acknowledge each employee for their work and recognize and reward effort and success

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This article was adapted from Lisa’s key points as part of a “Getting Real About Employee Engagement” executive panel for AZ Biz Link’s Workforce Event on June 25, 2019, in Phoenix.
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Image credits: Lindsay Moellenberndt