Employee Engagement - Your Secret Weapon for Improving Profits and Productivity
The US workforce is in a satisfaction slump. Employee engagement is falling for the first time in a decade, dropping to just 32% according to a 2022 Gallup poll.
Women, remote workers, and younger employees are the most disengaged. According to Gallup, these groups aren’t getting the support or encouragement they need in the workplace and are checking out as a result.
Disengagement can be devastating for an organization. Engaged employees aren’t just happy employees, they’re also productive employees who drive revenue growth, boost innovation, and help shape company culture.
What is employee engagement?
Before you can improve employee engagement and understand exactly how it contributes to your company's success, you first need to define the term.
Gartner defines it as an “individuals' alignment with the organization and their willingness to invest discretionary effort (go above and beyond the call of duty) to achieve organizational objectives” and points to five engagement categories:
- Current job understanding
- Relationship with direct supervisor
- Perception of senior leadership
- Opportunities for career growth and development
- Work conditions
There’s a strong and well-documented link between employee engagement and company success - organizations with high levels of employee engagement are 21% more profitable than those with poor engagement, according to one study. And, researchers from nonprofit think tank, The Conference Board, estimate that disengaged employees cost organizations around $450-550 billion each year.
How engaged employees contribute to your organization’s success
1. They help guide operational strategy
Employees who are sufficiently engaged at work take the long view. These workers don’t look at their job as a 9 to 5, they consider themselves part of your company and are therefore invested in its long-term success.
Engaged employees don’t just hit their deadline and tune out, they think of ways to improve processes for the future and are more innovative as a result. When you’re playing the long game, you’re more likely to take chances creatively.
These staff can help you build a sustainable and profitable company strategy. With their input, companies can plan for the future, and research shows that companies with a long-term view experience faster revenue growth.
2. They grow with your company
Learning is a huge part of employee engagement. Workers need to feel that their workplace isn’t all take with no give. Show your team that you care enough to nurture their skills and they’ll reward you with more commitment, motivation, and productivity.
Implementing this kind of strong learning culture makes companies 52% more productive, and 17% percent more profitable than their peers, according to Deloitte.
3. They’re a good fit
Nothing creates dissatisfaction faster than feeling like a cog in a machine. To build engagement, companies need to ensure employees feel like they’re a ‘good fit’ for their organization (i.e that their values align with the organization’s).
This is especially important for younger staff - 4 out of 5 Gen Z employees want to work for a company that shares their values, and company values are the second most important factor when they consider a position.
When you engage employees in this way - by showing that you’re working towards the same goals and have the same social priorities - they are less likely to explore other opportunities, boosting retention and decreasing staff turnover.
How Prodoscore can help
Employee productivity monitoring solution, Prodoscore, builds engagement among hybrid and remote teams by giving managers visibility into what employees and departments need to thrive. The easy-to-use software unobtrusively collects data around use of a company’s cloud-based tools to calculate individual, team and organization productivity scores.
These invaluable metrics help managers identify issues, obstacles, and opportunities for their staff’s development. Tracking data in real-time means leaders can spot and prevent burnout, know when their star performers need additional support, and identify skill gaps for targeted training.
