“When you take the time to actually listen, with humility, to what people have to say, it’s amazing what you can learn.” – Greg Mortenson.
When you are trying to maximise employee engagement, you should focus on outcomes, not outputs. In other words, you should not be nearly as concerned with how many times an article appeared in the company newsletter or how many times the home page of the intranet was visited. What’s most important is the impact of your communication strategies on workplace behaviours and corporate performance. The same is true for employee engagement. Communication and employee engagement are closely aligned.
Many factors affect employee engagement, but communication is a key factor. That’s because everything an organisation does is communicating something to its employees. As communication expert David Grossman of The Grossman Group says, “You can’t not communicate. An organisation’s working conditions, employee benefits offerings, policies and procedures, OH & S and unwritten rules are all forms of communicating.”
Getting as many employees as you can to become as engaged as possible in your organisation’s success is a primary outcome of effective internal communication. So, how do you measure employee engagement?
First, you must define what employee engagement is. This has been a debated topic over the past few years but here’s the definition I think makes the most sense: Employee engagement exists when an employee feels intellectually and emotionally connected to his or her work in such a way that the employee brings enthusiasm, intense focus and deep commitment to the success of his or her job and the organisation. Or simply put, he or she delivers discretionary effort.
To determine the levels of employee engagement in your organisation, you should focus your efforts on these five key areas. The answers will give you a god indication on how engaged your employees are, and how effective your communication strategy is:
- Job satisfaction: How do employees rate their overall satisfaction? Engaged and motivated employees will have pride in their employer and their work, and are typically more satisfied with what they deliver compared with disengaged employees.
- Organisational favorability: Do they feel proud to work here? Engaged employees show a level of corporate pride that disengaged employees don’t. This can have a major impact on brand value and corporate performance through increased productivity and higher levels of customer service.
- Organisation values: Does my organisation live up to its core values? When employees see their employer is committed to living and breathing the corporate values, and recognises staff for doing so, it can have a positive impact on employee engagement.
- Intent to stay: If I had to do it over again, would I join this organisation? Staff retention is a key indicator in employee engagement, and companies with low levels of staff churn often have the highest levels of employee engagement.
- Recommendation: Would I recommend this organisation as a great place to work? Engaged employees will promote their employer, while disengaged employees will not, and the benefits of staff referrals can have a major financial impact with huge cost savings when you are seen as an employer of choice.
Making employees feel valued, appreciated and respected, recognising contribution and communicating the information is key to improving employee engagement, so think about how you do this today, and what you could do to improve it. In the end, with high levels of employee engagement everyone is a winner!
Brownie Points is an employee engagement platform with multiple communication channels, designed to recognise great employee contribution. We are helping our clients around the world to deliver, and communicate, employee recognition programs that are helping to improve employee engagement. To learn how we could help your business, or book your free demonstration call us today on 03 9909 7411 or email us at info@browniepoints.com.au
