Engage your Employees

In my recent Leadership Impact Linkedin Audio event, I discussed Gallup's engagement survey and its insights on what keeps employees connected and productive. With data from over 100,000 teams, Gallup identified 12 key factors influencing engagement. When managers focus on these elements, they see incredible results: up to 46% fewer safety incidents, 41% lower absenteeism, and 12% higher profitability.

Engagement isn't just about feeling good—it's a powerful driver of performance, retention, and safety.?

If you missed the event, you can listen to the recording here:

The following is a transcript of the event:

Good afternoon, and welcome to leadership impact.?

My name is Matthew Devine, and today I want to talk about employee engagement and the impact you can make on your team's well being having an engaged team is something I think all of us can get behind you. Care about your people.?

You want them to do well, and you know when they do well, you can get your work program accomplished and all the other important things done and meet your metrics, obviously, but what exactly makes for an engaged team??

Gallup set out to find the answer to that question.?

Now, Gallup is a polling and serving company specializing in data analysis, especially when it comes to employee sentiments. They studied over 100,000 teams all around the world, which amounted to about 3.53 point 3 million workers. This is a huge sample size, it gave them very nuanced data about what employees think and feel about the work that they do, how they're treated by their manager, and how supported they feel.?

At the end of the study, Gallup identified 12 factors that are critical to developing engaged teams using this information, they built an engagement survey to help organizations identify how engaged their teams were or not, and then also provide advice on how to engage your teams better. It's a very simple survey.?

Each of the 12 factors was reframed as a yes or no question, making it really easy for companies to get their employees to complete the survey and also for Gallup to analyze the results. The results provided to the company were basically a numeric score that could be analyzed as broadly as a whole organization or down to the department level, or even down to the individual team level.?

That last one depended upon the size of the team that needs to be large enough so that individual employees answers couldn't be guessed at. So you want to keep the results anonymous, and from there, leaders could clearly see where their teams were having the most issues and where they could focus their attention in the upcoming period, in the upcoming quarter, in the upcoming year.?

It also allowed, it also allowed companies to compare themselves to similar companies in the same industry, in the same market. Basically help them get a better benchmark on how they're doing to their competitors.?

Gallup went back and conducted the surveys a year later (typically, these are done on an annual basis), the organizations that made an effort to address the issues that were identified in the previous survey discovered some amazing results.?

Let's get into some of these. When leaders really leaned in and really worked to improve their engagements on their teams, they saw safety incidents reduce by upward of 46% absentee rates and sick time dropped by almost 41% turnover rates reduced by 30% I just got to pause here, because reducing your turnover is a huge, huge factor. A it means that more people are willing to stay on your team. But from a cost perspective, replacing an employee can cost an organization upward of 1.5 times the annual salary of the employee being replaced, and that includes the loss of productivity. It includes recruitment costs, it includes the lower productivity of the new hire coming on. And so if you can reduce your turnover, that has huge impacts on your labor dollars. Shrinkage rates were down by 12% so this is how much employees may be pulling off the organization, productivity was up by 14% product quality could be up as high as 28% customer satisfaction scores up by 8% and profitability up by 12% so I ask you, if you could improve your profitability simply by making your team feel good. Is that worth an additional 12% on the bottom line??

Let's get into it.?

Here are the 12 questions Gallup use in their engagement survey.?

I should point out at this moment there's a lot to consider when conducting a proper engagement survey or employee survey, and in this episode, I won't be getting into the mechanics of how best to do that. Know that there are steps that you want to take to ensure that you have good return rates and that you're creating surveys that will actually. Bring in the information that you need and that you can use productively to improve the organization. And Gallup runs their surveys with organizations, and they have a whole program to help make that successful.?

Today the goal of this session is to help you know what are the elements that affect how engaged your team is and when you work on these, even if it's just you as the leader, knowing what these are, and you set out to try to improve these aspects on your team, the Gallup study has shown that this, working on these items will improve engagement, which will in turn improve many other the business metrics that you want to achieve, and your boss wants to achieve, and the leaders of the organization want you to achieve.?

So here we go, Gallup's engagement survey, and here are the 12 questions to assess your employee's level of engagement.?

Question 1

I know what is expected of me at work.?

This is a yes or no question, and employees would answer yes or no to it, so I know what is expected of me at work, understanding what is expected is the fundamental need of every employee. According to Gallup's number, a surprising only half of employees knew what was expected of them. Half this means that half employees, half of your employees, are working on the wrong things. They could be making mistakes and feeling confused and frustrated. What can you do as a manager? It's not enough to tell them what to do. You first need to understand what do they think their job is, and to figure out where there might be in a misalignment. Then not only do you need to explain what is required, but take the extra step to help paint a picture of what success looks like. This gives them something to strive toward.?

Question 2

I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.?

Gallup found that whether employee has the right materials or equipment to do the job is the strongest indicator of job stress. It is hard and frustrating to realize you cannot achieve your goals on the job simply because your manager or the company cannot provide you with the right tools. I'll give you a couple examples. I have a colleague who's a manager, and she manages a team of data analysts. She has to specifically request from the company to provide her employees with additional memory on their computers, because the standard computer isn't powerful enough to crunch all the numbers that they need to handle on a daily basis, and they risk grinding to a halt if they don't have this extra capability. So this manager needs to actively go out and request this additional feature on their computers. I have another colleague who works with field construction workers, and the challenge they have is the women on the team. Some of the safety equipment doesn't fit them, because the equipment was designed for men, and they're not women sizes, so getting safety equipment that properly fits them is a real challenge.

Managers also need to understand that it's more than simply providing physical tools to the their employees. They need the right information, the right direction, the right instruction, and then empowered to do the right thing. Ask your employees what they need to make their job easier, better and more effective, and then get them what they need and advocate for the tools that are not already provided. You may need to take extra steps with your boss to make sure that they allocate funds, budget resources to ensure that your team have the resources and tools they need, and if the tools cannot be provided, listen to their suggestions on how the work might be done differently to work within those constraints.?

Question 3

At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.

When employees get to do what the work that they are good at and is aligned with what they like, companies get a boost in attracting new talent, having great engagement, and they're able to retain their best employees. The best thing you can do as a manager is to get to know your employees, learn what they like and what they are truly good at, then make efforts to align their work assignments with those things you. Not only will you help your individual employees feel like they're doing work they like, but the company benefits from that energy?

Question 4

In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.?

You know how difficult it is to find top performance, and it is really critical to make sure these employees feel valued for their work and their contributions. Employees who do not feel adequately recognized are twice as likely to indicate they plan to quit within the year, and this goes even higher when you're looking at your top top performers, recognizing good work not only helps employees feel appreciated, it also helps communicate and reinforce what success looks like. The best managers learn how their individual employees like to be recognized, something like public recognition, being, you know, given praise in front of the team. Others might prefer material rewards, bonuses, other perks, or for that matter, some may just simply want preferential assignments. Most importantly, the recognition. Recognition needs to be timely and specific and describe why their performance matters.?

Question 5

My supervisor or someone at work seems to care about me as a person.

Employees need to feel like they matter to you, their manager and the company. They don't want to feel taken for granted or just an employee number. They need to feel someone cares for them as a person and then as an employee. Second, when they feel seen and cared about. They're more likely to feel safe, to experiment, to share ideas and to support each other, because at work, both at work and outside of work, there's no one there is no one single action you as a manager can take to make an employee feel cared about, but by taking the time to get to know your employees, acknowledge their achievements, help them develop and respect their contributions, will help create an environment where an employee feels safe and in time, trust will develop and they will feel like they are being cared for.?

Question 6

There is someone at work who encourages my development.?

That someone is you, fellow manager. When employers hired being developed is part of an unwritten social contract they have with the employer. This development can take many forms, including training opportunities, exposure to new experiences, challenging work assignments, visibility to others in the company, protection from negative aspects of the job, as well as sponsorship and coaching, to be clear, development is not the same as promotion. Promotion is a one time event. Development is a process. It involves getting to know each of your employees, individual strengths and where they might be in opportunities. Then it is up to you, the manager, to coach your employees, to challenge them to go beyond what they think they can do, connect them with the right resources and the mentors that can help them, and then hold them accountable for their performance.?

Question 7

At work, my opinions seem to count.?

As a manager, it's impossible for you to have all the answers, whether we consider technological change like the effect AI has on the workplace, industry changes and changing demographics, there is no way any one person can have all the answers, we need to rely on our colleagues. We need to rely on our teams. When employees feel like they can make a meaningful contribution that is highly engaging the best managers promote open dialog with their teams. Provide feedback on employee ideas, most importantly, supporting good ideas and addressing unfeasible ideas done right this can create a positive loop with managers building on and implementing their employees ideas, and employees feeling like their ideas matter, and thus being willing to share more and engage more you.?

Question 8

The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.?

This is strictly an emotional need. Many employees find it difficult to get up and do their work if they don't see a point to it, being able to see how the work they do fits into the larger purpose or mission of the company. Can help them feel like their work matters. They want their work to have meaning. I'll give you an example from NASA. This was back in the 1960s janitor was asked about his job, and he famously exclaimed that he loved his work because he was helping put a man on the moon. This kind of engagement means that it didn't matter what people in NASA were doing. They were committed to the idea of putting a man on the moon, and everyone got to be a part of that exercise. This is more than simply posting the mission statement on the corporate wall. The best managers will talk about the company's mission purpose and connect the dots to the work in their department, help them see their part in the larger story. Now, if your company has a boring mission statement that looks like it was written by a robot or comprised to death by committee, then it may be a bit difficult to tie your employees work to that statement. Instead, in those instances, try tying it to a company value or maybe a story about a customer who has benefited from the work that is being done.?

Question 9

My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.?

People need to feel like they are not alone. If they feel like they are the only one doing good work, it will tank in their engagement and their performance. Gallup found that in a six to one margin, employees are more upset with a slacker, someone who has the ability to do good work but just doesn't, than an employee who genuinely tries hard, even if they don't have the ability six to one preference, managers need to create an environment where employees feel like there's a mutual trust and respect for each other's work and their results. This starts with a clear understanding of the work standards and the employee expectations, but you also need to make sure quality does not deteriorate. On one hand, you need to be recognizing and sharing examples of excellent work, and you also need to be getting the slackers to improve or getting them off your team altogether.?

Question 10

I have a best friend at work.?

This is a question on the Gallup survey that is most controversial. Many companies and leaders are not able to see the relevance of this question, some go as far to believe that their work is not a place for friendship whatsoever. But the numbers don't lie. Gallup's studies clearly indicate in top performing teams, when employees have a deep sense of affiliation with their colleagues, they take positive steps to the benefit of the business, actions they would not otherwise consider doing. In other words, if people genuinely like and connect with their colleagues, they will do more to help each other out.

To be clear, you cannot manufacture friendships or force people to get along. Instead, what you can do as their manager is create an environment where people are allowed to get to know each other, bring people together for events, encourage people to share stories and find time to socialize at work as all things you can do to help or all things that you can do to help foster a friendly environment.?

Question 11

In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my performance.?

In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress. Gallup has found that regardless of the type of performance appraisal being used, balanced scorecards, 360 degree feedback, self evaluations, etc, the best connection between perceptions of evaluations and actual performance simply boils down to whether someone has talked to them about their. Performance. It doesn't even have to be an official review. What is important for the employee is knowing the following three things. One, how are they doing? Two, how is their work being perceived? Three, what does the future hold? Formal evaluations are fine, but do not under amiss, but do not underestimate the value of simply talking to your employee about how they're doing. Also, when managers check in with their employees about their progress, they're more likely to believe they are being paid fairly more likely to stay with the company and more than twice as likely to recommend their company as a good place to work the best. Managers will regularly meet with their employees to talk about how they're doing. I recommend meeting at least quarterly for formal performance meetings, but freely, but feel free to meet informally to discuss their progress. This comes into also your one on one meetings, which I recommend doing about twice a month. This is where you can be a coach to your employees, guiding them to be even better and better and achieve better levels of performance.?

Final question, thank you for sticking with me to the end.

Question 12

This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.?

When people feel they are in a place they can learn and grow, they work harder and more efficiently and surprisingly, if employees feel they can learn and grow, then the company is likely in a place where it can grow as well. Gallup has found that only one in three employees strongly agree they have opportunities to learn and grow, but the best managers will challenge their employees. They will create opportunities for them to learn and to frequently ask their employees what they are learning. And it's not just about training. This would include finding better ways to do the job or being given different or challenging work assignments. As a manager, talk to your employees about their short and long term goals, try to better understand the gaps and then provide opportunities for them to close those learning gaps.?

That covers the 12 questions from Gallup's engagement survey, when looked completely, when looking at all these 12 elements, they found that leaders and managers, if they start working with their employees in these areas, were able to see notable increases in performance, but also the, I was about to say, engagement, but certainly The well being and the happiness of their team.?

And when you have teams that are getting along with each other, they feel like they're respected, they feel like they're being seen, they feel connected. They believe in the work. They're going to work harder. They're going to support each other. They're going to solve problems more effectively, and when the going gets tough, they're going to commit and stick with you.?

My question for you this week is, how do you engage your employees and how do you assess that? Let me know, and until next time, my name is Matthew Devine. I support leaders who are seeking to rediscover their voice and their confidence so they can lead with authority and impact and until next week, let's get back to work.

If you wish to carry on the discussion or have your own questions, send me a DM or click this link to book a call with me . ?