Is your business not performing as well as it could? Or not growing as fast as you had planned?
Take a look around your office and consider this… According to Gallup, only 1/3 of Americans are engaged at work. Other surveys show that on average only 66% of people’s capability are utilized. In other words, for every dollar paid, only $0.66 worth of work is being produced. That’s a lot of waste!
Engagement Affects Most Aspects of Your Business
Employee engagement is the commitment your employees have to your company and its goals.
Positive job attitudes lead to better work outcomes. Raising your employees’ engagement levels produces positive ripple effects throughout every facet of your organization. Over 30 studies show that employee engagement correlates with:
- increased productivity
- more customer satisfaction
- higher profits
- reduced absenteeism
- lower turnover
- fewer mistakes
Levels of Employee Engagement
Employees are not either “engaged” or “disengaged.”
We like to measure 6 levels of employee engagement ranging from toxic disengagement to high engagement.
- Level 1: Ready to Quit
- Level 2: Conscious Disobedience
- Level 3: Willing Compliance
- Level 4: Cheerful Cooperation
- Level 5: Wholehearted Commitment
- Level 6: Creative Excitement
At Levels 1 and 2, actively disengaged employees are so unhappy that they dismiss or undermine the accomplishments of your engaged workers.
At Level 3, disengaged employees are mentally checked out. They put in time, but not energy.
If you’re like most businesses, most of your employees are probably working around Level 4, Cheerful Cooperation. They’re reasonably engaged, but not particularly excited by their work.
Finally, at Levels 5 and 6, engaged employees work passionately to drive innovation and deliver excellent results.
4 Myths About Employee Engagement
Four common myths about employee engagement include the ideas that:
- “Motivation is the only key to high productivity.” Motivational speeches can only do so much to boost productivity. It’s essential for leaders to invest in other aspects of the employee experience that will ultimately influence an employee’s productivity.
- “Empowerment can exist without flexibility.” Empowerment means giving employees flexibility – the ability to choose how to accomplish tasks and reach organizational goals. Flexibility with regard to time, location, and approach to work is important to workers today. In fact, 90% of millennials consider flexibility to be a top factor in what positions they will accept.
- “Perks and facilities can drive active engagement.” Adequate compensation still plays a big role in employee engagement. It’s important to remain competitive, especially during times of high inflation.
- “Actively engaged employees can inspired disengaged employees.” Actually, research shows that the disengaged employees tend to bring down the performance of engaged employees.
You Can Influence Engagement Levels
Your actions can influence your employees’ happiness, motivation, and job performance.
In a recent study, Jacob Morgan compared companies that invest heavily in employee experience to companies that didn’t. He found that “experiential” companies earned twice the revenue and four times more profit. They also outperformed most companies on the S&P 500.
Steps to Improve Employee Engagement
Are your employees excited to come into work each day?
This isn’t an impossible goal to achieve. Thousands of companies have realized substantial benefits from even incremental gains in employee engagement. If your employees tend toward “willing compliance” or “cheerful cooperation,” you still have room to grow.
We’ve created a free series of guides on enhancing employee engagement.
- Create a Positive Work Environment
- Enhance Company Communication
- Give Your Employees Purpose and Passion
- Develop Your Employees’ Skills and Strengths
Each guide is packed with actionable tips that you can implement today. We hope this series helps you on your journey to lead more effectively and achieve the highest levels of employee engagement in your organization.
Before you get started, you can take an inventory to determine how engaged your employees are today. To accomplish this, we’ve created a simple 10-question survey that you can share with your employees.
