Do your people leap out of bed pumped for work or hit snooze dreading the office? We’re here to show you the importance of employee engagement, and how it’s likely the reason for your staff being in either of these positions.
Engagement is the new obsession for good reason. Engaged employees care. They smash targets for customers and go the extra mile for their team. Engaged employees work with passion.
The disengaged? Checked out. Just there for the paycheck. Doing the bare minimum with one foot out the door. Not exactly a recipe for success.
Why should you care as a leader?
How about some stats that show the importance of employee engagement?
- Engaged employees are super productive. They crack on with pace and purpose. According to Gallup’s 2022 report, highly engaged teams show 23% greater profitability.
- Engaged teams deliver 5-star service. Their passion shows and customers feel the love. Forbes found engaged employees have 10% higher customer satisfaction scores.
- Engaged sales pros sell more. Their excitement is infectious! Kerching. How infectious you ask? Gallup revealed engaged salespeople drive 23% more profitability.
- Engaged workplaces have less staff turnover. Who leaves a party early? If you’ve got an engaged team, you’re looking at an reduction of 56% in your turnover.
- Engaged workers innovate more. Ideas flow fast and free. The Harvard Business Review found engaged staff generate more new ideas and solutions. Could you do with changing things up a bit?
- Safety improves when people engage. Following the rules just happens. HBR also showed engaged employees have 48% fewer safety incidents.
- Even health costs are lower, with fewer sick days for engaged staff. Back to gallup for this one who found that disengaged employees report nearly double the amount of unhealthy/sick days per month.
There’s a lot of figures here, and depending where you look, they’re going to vary. The only thing we can guarantee is that the figures will always show positive impacts to your business. Engaged companies do better than their disengaged counterparts, that’s just a fact!
Take an honest look at your engagement levels right now. How can you crank up the passion? What would make people crave to be part of your crew?
Here are some key ways to improve engagement:
- Foster work relationships. Build in social connections instead of isolating teams. Show people they matter beyond work tasks. Invest in personal development and connections, not just business results.
- Communicate openly. Share company news, values, and strategy. Be transparent on direction. Listen to employee voices with engagement surveys, feedback sessions, and an open door policy.
- Recognise achievements. Call out great work frequently. Celebrate wins. Show individual and team appreciation in meaningful ways, not just token rewards. Share peer praise stories.
- Enable growth. Challenge people and provide learning opportunities. Stretch assignments, training, and mentorships demonstrate growth commitment. Support career paths, don’t dead-end talent.
- Empower teams. Give autonomy to own projects. Respect expertise. Trust staff to solve problems. Delegate decisions instead of commanding control. Seek input and co-create solutions.
- Promote wellbeing. Support mental health, work-life balance, ergonomics, and stress relief. Show employees you care about them as people, not just performance. Flexibility demonstrates respect and care.
- Get a tool to show you where your problems might lie. If you’re not sure where you have engagement problems, it’s going to be quite tricky to improve.
Does your company do these things consistently? Where could you improve? How will you know progress is happening? Defining an engagement strategy with tangible goals is key.
If you take anything away from this blog, it should be the importance of employee engagement. Engagement can no longer be an afterthought. It must be an ongoing priority woven into company culture and leadership practices. When people feel valued, respected, supported, and heard – engagement thrives.
Time to take engagement from boring buzzword to business breakthrough. Your people and profits will thank you. Are you ready to unlock the power of an engaged workforce? Maybe we can help.
