Employee engagement is paramount to the success of any organisation and is something that every business should be placing particular attention on. Employee engagement levels can have a significant impact on how much output an employee will achieve, and if their contribution to the business will be long-term.
Employees are your organisation’s critical asset and by looking after your workforce and ensuring they are motivated, ambitious, and genuinely enjoy logging on for work each day, they are more likely to invest in the work they do which leads to a higher quality of work being produced.
For this reason, organisations with engaged employees tend to perform better and will see additional benefits like enhanced productivity, better retention rates, less absenteeism, and enhanced loyalty. Employee engagement is crucial for enhancing business performance, particularly in times of global uncertainty because it can help drive future growth.
After 2 years of living and working through lockdowns and the pandemic, we are finally coming out the other side and seeing a sense of normality resume to everyday work life and working conditions.
So it’s a great time to ask yourself the question, are your employees engaged?
What is employee engagement?
Likened to terms such as “employee experience” and “employee satisfaction,” employee engagement is a concept used to understand the nature of the relationship between an organisation and its employees.
An engaged employee is enthusiastic about their work which creates better productivity and an overall better bottom line. They have a positive attitude towards the organization, and share its values. A disengaged employee however, can range from someone coasting throughout the work day, up to an employee who is actively damaging the company and reputation.
An organization with “high” employee engagement is therefore generally considered to outperform those with “low” employee engagement.
But how can you find out if you have low employee engagement?
Employee Happiness
A great first step for identifying if you have disengaged employees in your workforce is to conduct a happiness survey. Ask your employees how happy they are and for some feedback about their answer!
Happy employees are engaged employees so by measuring the level of happiness that your employees are feeling at work you are given some valuable insight into your employee engagement levels.
Our friends at Employment Hero have a great happiness survey tool that allows you to measure, action, and close the loop on any issues your employees may have which are affecting their engagement level. It’s all done anonymously which helps employees feel safe and confident to share honest, meaningful feedback.
Employee Engagement Survey
A more comprehensive, in depth version of the happiness survey, an employee engagement survey digs a little deeper to really determine key themes, trends, and issues which could be affecting engagement levels. Simply put, an employee engagement survey is a set of questions you ask your workforce and are a great way to gain valuable insight into engagement levels and the overall experience that employees are receiving whilst working for the business.
Employee surveys are designed to measure your employees thoughts, opinions and feelings about the workplace. Perhaps most importantly, a survey such as this will allow you to identify not only if there is disengagement amongst your workforce, but it will provide you with feedback and insight around why employees are disengaged.
It can be easy to assume that your workforce is content and performing to the best of their abilities, but this is not always the case. Measuring engagement levels frequently and collecting feedback from employees through tools such as surveys will allow you to be on the front foot of any developing disengagement issues, and be given the chance to implement meaningful changes to avoid some of the long-term consequences of a disengaged workforce.
Other articles that may interest you
About Employment Innovations
Employment Innovations is one of Australia’s leading providers of employment services designed to increase productivity and ensure compliance. Its services and solutions include all the tools that every Australian small to medium sized employer needs – including workplace advice, legal services, payroll solutions, migration, human resource management and HR software.
Disclaimer
The information provided in these blog articles is general in nature and is not intended to substitute for professional advice. If you are unsure about how this information applies to your specific situation we recommend you contact Employment Innovations for advice.