You’re looking to measure employee engagement. What are the most effective ways to do it?

Engagement talks to feeling of alignment shared purpose, and belonging. The simplest form of engagement survey is your staff turnover. If people are voting with their feet? Houston you have a problem. If turnover is stable and modest, then you can focus on what makes your organisation stand out from others - be the best among equals. If your people are truly engaged with your business, they’ll tell you where the organisation is going wrong, because they care and you have a culture of trust and respect.

This interpretation is partial. Engagement is "the simultaneous employment and expression of a person's "preferred self" in task behaviors that promote connections to work and to others, personal presence (physical, cognitive, and emotional) & active, full role performances." States that relate to engagement are effort, involvement, flow, mindfulness & intrinsic motivation. People who are engaged display their preferred identity, thoughts, and feelings at work via creativity, the use of personal voice, emotional expression, authenticity, nondefensive communication, playfulness & ethical behavior. When we focus on terms like motivated, productive and committed, we miss the point. They are probable outcomes of these psychosocial phenomena.

It is important to distinguish between employee engagement and employee experience. As they are often seen as one which they are not. Engagement is the result of experience. To understand both you need different data. Engagement data is clearly explained above , experience data tells you the satisfaction of your employees every time they interact with you company, when asked to perform a task or solve an issue. The approach of gathering data and analyzing is substantial different.

Let's tell what engagement is NOT: 1. Employee engagement is not simply a score! 2. It is not a competition between departments. 3. It is not something you are awarded or punished for. Engagement is not about receiving rewards or facing consequences. 4. It's not solely the responsibility of HR. It's a collective effort involving all levels of management and employees themselves. 5. It's not just about perks or benefits. 6. It's not a one-time event or initiative. 7. It's not synonymous with satisfaction. 8. It's not solely measured by employee surveys. While these are important tools, engagement is reflected in everyday interactions, productivity, and overall morale.

I have seen a lot of attempts to measure employee engagement. Some focusing on surveys, qualitative and quantative analysis. Very complex consultancy projects and analysis. However I have found that on a lot of occasions the one thing that is missing is actually asking the employees directly and simply. People will argue that in certain cultures this would be ineffective however I would like to see the evidence to support that. Creating a trustful and engaging organisational culture where people feel valued and respected will inevitibely lead to higher engagement scores. Keeping to simple and ensuring that peoples voices are valued is the foundation to build this from.

People perform best when they feel BELONGING with a combination of TRUST, FREEDOM and SAFETY to deliver, develop and explore. There are lots of components that go into inspiring those FEELINGS and LIVED EXPERIENCE. Without measuring appropriately these facets of employee engagement, leadership is missing out on critical insight on what is and isn't working, and accordingly what needs to be continued, stopped or started. This is what ultimately drives sustained and superior business performance in any business that relies on its talent for success.

I would agree to evaluate Employee engagement as it is directly proportional to business success. Measuring employee engagement is critical for business success because it correlates with higher productivity, lower turnover rates, improved customer satisfaction, and increased profitability. Engaged employees are more committed, motivated, and aligned with organizational goals, leading to a more productive and successful business overall.

Measure employee engagement through the lenses of Productivity, Retention, and Brand Ambassadorship for a thriving workplace ecosystem. Productivity reveals the genuine effort employees invest, Retention exposes organizational loyalty, while Brand Ambassadorship showcases a workforce proudly spreading positive vibes beyond office walls. It's not just about numbers; it's about cultivating a culture where employees are not only committed but inspired to go above and beyond, fostering a vibrant, loyal, and outwardly positive community within and beyond the workplace.

Measuring employee engagement (or employee experience as it's now been termed) isn't just a nice-to-have—it's a must-have. People that feel heard, valued and trusted will make sure that their work speaks for itself. Not measuring employee engagement is like driving without headlights. You'll probably get to your destination but will also create chaos along the way. Having a finger on the pulse of what keeps employees engaged ends up actually driving key business decisions, both in terms of talent and revenue. So, the question probably isn't 'why measure employee engagement?', it is better to ask, 'what's the best way to go about it?"

Ask them if they feel valued and then dig deeper. What makes them feel valued or undervalued? Who does or doesn't do this? Is it fellow team members? Their manager, head of dept, director? Then use this information to celebrate or change behaviours or processes. Employee engagement is not about how employees feel/think about the organisation but their opinions, perceptions and beliefs about how Directors/Board feel/think about them. It's a brave step to take, the answers may surprise or cause concern. Don't make award ceremonies, employee of the month or a ￡50 bonus at Christmas a replacement for genuinely engaging with employees.

Data is key to understand employee engagement. Surveys are a one time event in a year. It takes a picture of how employees feel about the overall company of that two specific weeks’ feelings- to me is not healthy. The key is technology. Companies must have proper tech that connects, integrates all company processes and their data about employees and customers. When everything is connected than you have the data about everything Company decisions should not be linked to a two week survey. Plus these surveys are provided in fixed formats for any organization. It takes weeks to get the results, weeks to communicate, weeks to understand, weeks to articulate, weeks to put together actions, weeks to execute. Engagement becomes a unpleasant EX.

Measuring employee engagement is a very important part to measure the potential of success of an organisation. When your people are engaged, they own the results their work produces and that makes them take personal responsibility towards it. How do you measure the rate of your employee engagement? Yes, surveys are a good tool however, they fail to capture the various nuances which are present in the culture of an organisation. I have been using a combination of workshops, surveys, 360 to measure the rate of engagement. The significant thing to note here is to look for the gaps which are not spoken but felt.

The engagement survey tool is the key. Have you considered Peakin? It's real time data gathering, doesn't take weeks to get and publish results... it takes minutes. It measure the stuff that matters and the managers lead the communication activities within the tool. It's not just a survey tool, it gives short mini trainings for manager self service and business enablement... also measuring internal fill rates can be an interesting data point for engagement. Are your existing employees excited about new opportunities? Have your talent development programs worked to get people ready for that next opportunity? Measuring the health of your talent management programs is a great way to assess engagement.

Consider interviews and focus groups, in addition to surveys. Think about how you will define engagement and how you will operationalize it (e.g. investment, leadership). The survey should be designed and administered in a way that employees would not perceive retaliation, should they indicate they feel disengaged. Lastly, as data is analyzed, disaggregate by race/ethnicity, gender, and position which may reveal where interventions can, and should, begin. Communication is key, and forecasting the intended outcomes and benefits would be advantageous.

Implementing regular surveys and questionnaires is crucial for gauging: -Employee satisfaction -Job fulfillment. Aspects like role satisfaction, team collaboration, and communication effectiveness provides valuable insights. Gather feedback on goal clarity, resource availability, and professional development support. Use a mix of quantitative and qualitative data, including metrics like attendance and turnover rates, for comprehensive engagement measurement. One-on-one meeting give an understanding of individual needs. Periodically reassess and adjust measurement methods to align with evolving workplace dynamics.

To get the right answers, you HAVE to ask the right questions. Ditch the ambiguity, and get honest about what you want to know. Design your questions with your objectives and goals in mind - will your results be insightful & actionable, or vague and unproductive? Something that also plays a big role in the feedback you'll receive is safety/anonymity. Do you employees feel safe giving honest, transparent feedback? If there are fears of retribution for providing potentially negative feedback, you likely won't get much authenticity. TLDR; Ask the right questions to get the right answers, build question categories, and ensure non-retaliation/anonymity for your people.

Just like a human whose lifeline is by the heart beat, which if paused or stops, that becomes the end of a life. Likewise employee experience survey, or Engagement Satisfaction, or Happiness Metre Check, whatever title may be given to the practise, is a fundamental tool that measures the heart beat and the health status of the company. The company is the Vessel(body) the employees are the engine that pumps the heart to pump 24/7. Keep them motivated and valued, listening to their concerns, and you will reap the reward of a healthy and happy working culture with direct and indirect benefit to company, stakeholders and Customers. The employees are the company and the company is the reflection of the employees.

The reason to use a survey is to get quantifiable information from all your staff, including the ones that dont normally speak up. Engagement surveys are a conversation between the organisation and the employee. There are plenty of resources and tools, and even examples of good engagement surveys. But there are two core considerations before sending out a survey. 1. Is the team large enough that the responses you receive will be anonymous. 2. Is the organisation prepared to respond to negative feedback. If not, DONT ask the question. You are essentially saying to your employees, your opinion does not matter to us - we were just faking it with a survey.

Prepare a list of questions to ask about employee engagement perception within the organization. The questions shall not be more then 5 questions. Train all leaders on the purpose of each questions and how to ask the questions to employees. Each leader will conduct an employee engagement session with chosen employees through a small group discussion and feedback session. Depending on the number of employees in the organization, the leaders may conduct between 1 to 3 engagement sessions. This action makes the survey more human and personal. By doing this, we are also making sure more employee engagement sessions within the organization.

Make questions clear. I have heard too many times: 'Which level is this questions about?' 'Does this mean my immediate team, the wider function team or the company as a team?'. Anonymity is crucial, employees should be able to answer without personal repercussions.

Two tips for acting on your employee engagement data: 1. Get as granular as possible. In a typical organization that scores at around the mid-point as a whole, you will find departments and teams that score in the 90th percentile and those that score in the 30th percentile. It might average out to a medium score but there are wide variances happening within the organization that need to be discovered. Why are some departments performing so much better within the same organizational construct? (Spoiler alert! It's the leader creating a positive or negative subculture.) 2. Measure over time. It's helpful to see how you are able to move scores up or down over time once a baseline is set.

If you are using a clear good-bad indicator such as employee happiness then for most management situations descriptive statistics are enough. Are teams happy or not? Are they getting more or less happy? Managers are busy - give them a simple sign post. When looking at the drivers then you can do some fancy stats if you know how to. Regressions are best, but correlations ok. Beware non-linearities and that the assumption that scales are continuous variables is probably flawed. So step-wise analysis often better to use.

A couple of practical tips from my experience- 1. While it is critical to analyze the data, make comparisons, do a root cause analysis, follow up with qualitative data etc., it is possible that we spend too much time on analyzing and too little on taking action. Often it is possible to identify patterns and trends and address key themes that impact engagement, fairly early on in the process. 2. There will always be a number of ideas to enhance engagement. Some will be quick fixes and others will be much larger company wide initiatives. It’s important for each group to focus on what they can do at their level and within their scope of influence rather than pushing responsibility to top leadership.

Anyone can ask for engagement data - it's what you do with it afterwards! I have facilitated Manager Action Plan meetings. All the managers of an area get together - we discuss/react/digest the engagement results and then we answer the questions: What can we do that will have a positive impact on the engagement of our staff? Right now? In 3 months? In 6 months? In 1 year? You let the managers own the engagement - alongside the HR gang that usually manages the engagement survey process. It's a great way to empower / teach / listen to your managers.

1.Analyse team-level data to uncover variations between teams, which can offer insights different from country-level data. 2. Benchmark within your industry to gain additional context, avoiding the assumption that pursuing the lowest scores is always the best strategy. 3. Supplement survey data with comments and discussions to gain clarity and determine if issues are localised or systemic. 4. Integrate employee feedback with other business and customer performance metrics to gain a holistic understanding. 5. Focus on prioritising 1 or 2 key actions to ensure tangible results, rather than creating a large plan that may not get implemented.

Communication and sharing the results are very important part of the process. It helps close the loop and build.more trust in the system. Ideally communication should be done by the leadership team by addressing bottoms up communication, encouraging feedbacks for improvement. Many organizations do it function wise or across organization. What's important is the action planning by the manager with his team to identify the enablers and blockers and work towards action planning. HR merely facilitates and creates climate for two way feedback and dialogue.

Share the findings with all employees and engage them in the action planning process. This creates ownership and buy in. Being transparent about the results, even if they weren't what you hoped for fosters trust with employees and shows that their feedback is valued and will be acted on.

Ideally, your survey or post-survey communication should elicit suggestions from employees. It may be as simple as "fix the microwave that is broken in the lunchroom" or more complex issues that will take time to address. Too often, committees run ahead with what they think needs to be done which doesn't actually impact employees directly. Leadership needs to own the results - not HR or another department. Leaders need to speak to their own results and commit to actions within their own teams to gain credibility. However, leaders can sometimes be defensive or try to explain away the results. They struggle to create a psychologically safe environment so preparing your leaders for this process is vital.

Similar to measuring customer sentiment you can also include NPS style questions: how likely are you to recommend us a place to work? Also consider the timing of your activity. If there’s a significant change management initiative about to happen or in progress, tracking engagement before, during and after can be invaluable to the success of a programme.

Think how you can automate distribution of results if possible, so it doesn't turn into a chore. When it gets difficult to carve up and distribute results, often organisations put such tasks off, thus diminishing the value of asking for feedback in the first place. We must be prepared to acknowledge weaker areas for the organisation, rather than just celebrate 'success' - as often bigger gains can be made from focusing on where we're less strong, than the marginal impact of doing what we already do well, even better.

When measuring employee engagement, additional considerations need to be given specifically in relation to Indigenous employees, it's essential to consider cultural sensitivities and unique factors that may influence their engagement. Some additional considerations include: 1. Cultural inclusivity 2. Indigenous-specific metrics 3. Indigenous representation 4. Cultural competency training 5. Relationship-building 6. Flexible work arrangements 7. Indigenous-specific support programs By taking these factors into account and actively engaging with Indigenous employees, organisations can create a more inclusive and supportive work environment that fosters the engagement and well-being of all employees.

In measuring employee engagement, it’s critical to be able to segment the results. You want to achieve different types of engagement for different classification of employee. At the very least, ensure measurement can be broken down by performance scores so that you can see what is the risk of losing people you want to keep and keeping people you want to lose. Blanket engagement measurement and scoring masks the reality and insight of what’s really happening and what and where you need to take action. There’s little value in being brilliant at engaging poorer performers with little chance of transformation, while being poor at engaging your best performers and/or those who have the best chance of positive transformation.

Leaders should be at the front of any employee listening activity. Begin with sharing your vision regarding the work experience and how you see the survey results serving the broader objectives of the organization. When people can ‘see’ the big picture, they are more likely to participate and feel more connected to an initiative. Lastly, be transparent about findings and get others engaged in co-creating solutions, this is a pathway to an impactful and sustainable engagement strategy.

Measuring employee engagement is critical, I get that. We do it with all our clients. However, most leaders or owners don't understand how to create engagement and go deep with it so every single person has a personal connection to the public sense of purpose of the organisation. Employee engagement is more than bean bags and fuseball tables and do people hang around for friday drinks?

Listening strategies often fail because: (a) they're poorly positioned and structured, (b) they're not asking the right questions [at times intentionally], (c) action plans are poorly formed, (d) leaders sidestep ownership, and (e) people don't trust that meaningful action or change will follow. It's important to create consistent, predictable and regular cycles of listening, engagement and action as a process of constant improvement and response to ever-evolving circumstances. Action plans must be focused on the top 2-3 things that will delver the greatest impact in each cycle [i.e. 'do less better']. Senior leaders must own and drive company-level action plans, and team plans must be co-developed and fully owned within the team.