HOW TO GO FROM GOOD TO GREAT EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Employee engagement and employee satisfaction have two very different meanings, although the two words are often used interchangeably. According to Google:

“Employee engagement is the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work. Employee satisfaction only indicates how happy or content your employees are.”

Is your team satisfied? Meaning, are they showing up and going through the motions? Or, is your team engaged? Meaning, do they want to be involved, and are they fired up and ready to go on Monday morning?

There is a distinct difference between the two, and employee engagement is more important now than ever before. Engagement focuses on how people feel, and how people feel about their work and the world matters. Have you taken the time to ask your employees how they are truly feeling? I think some of their responses would surprise you.

As leaders, we must acknowledge that work is an emotional activity (just like everything is an emotional activity). Emotions change frequently, especially during stressful times. Organizations should be paying attention to employee engagement more frequently now to better understand how people are feeling. Once we address how our team is feeling we can provide support.

With millions of people required to work from home and with millions of kids being kept home from school, merging work and life is now even more complex. This new normal is creating unprecedented emotional stress on employees’ health and well-being.

According to a recent study from Gallup, when asked to consider the recent impact of COVID-19, less than half of employees (45%) strongly agree that their organization cares about their overall well-being.

*Related – Be The Best Decision Your Employees Ever Made

Working from home has its own share of issues, which combined with other extrinsic situations can demoralize your employees. It is where your role as a leader comes into play!

How do you assess your team’s engagement and well-being?

Emplify has created a free tool for managers that helps assess the well-being, remote readiness, and specific needs of their teams as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to unfold.

Your leadership matters now more than ever! As an employer or manager, you need to lead them out of their concerns and help them focus on what matters. Also, since most of your employees may now be working remotely, keeping up constant communication will boost their motivation and help them concentrate more on their work.

How is the Emplify Employee Well-being Tool used?

• The survey quickly gauges the collective emotional and mental well-being of your team
• The survey identifies specific needs that exist within your team while preserving individual anonymity
• The Emplify website provides access to resources that help managers navigate crisis situations

Here is the message The DiJulius Group (TDG) leadership sent to our team requesting all to take the survey: 

• It is short: it takes 2 minutes to complete
• It is safe: the assessment is conducted and controlled by a third party (Emplify) to ensure trust and 100% confidentiality – no single individual’s results will be available to anyone here (not even me), so please be honest and candid
• We will act: this is not just an exercise. We want to use the results collected to understand how we can support you and prioritize next steps effectively

How will your company act on the responses from the survey?

In March of 2020, PeopleMetrics conducted an independent study to find out how employees across the US perceive their employer’s response to COVID-19. People Metrics found that 55% of American workers are unhappy with their employer’s response to COVID-19, but that perceptions varied depending on employees’ working environment, generation, industry and more.

Daily Work-Life Impact

Each of us has been impacted by the new stay at home order, but every situation is different. Some have spouses that may have been laid off and are now home, some are juggling homeschooling multiple kids and working 40 hours, and some are adapting to a new makeshift home office. These are just a few ways daily work-life has changed. Recognizing and talking through solutions to these common challenges is very helpful.

If your team is experiencing some of the situations mentioned above, Emplify offers a guide to understanding results for the statements related to the Daily Work-Life Impact theme with recommendations for leadership on how you should be responding. Our leadership team at The DiJulius Group utilized this free tool and has implemented some of the recommendations from Emplify. Here are some solutions that we applied:

1. Sync as a team daily: TDG has implemented coffee Zoom sessions and Happy Hour Zoom sessions for a chance to connect.
2. Check-in with employees individually: Reach out to your team members and consistently ask what obstacles they are facing and how remote work is going, if applicable. 1:1 check-ins at TDG have always been part of the routine, but now we are more intentional with each other’s well-being.
3. Stay focused: TDG leadership sends a focus of the day which includes a motivational message to foster inspiration.

What will you gain/benefit from using the survey?

Emplify provides responses and best practice solutions for addressing common concerns.

According to Emplify, 2/3 of employees are worried about the effect of the economy on their organization. Frequent, transparent communication is the solution. This survey allows your team to give safe, anonymous feedback. People are more willing to tell a computer the truth, than a manager.

Your teams will remember how you treated them during this challenging time. This allows you to connect with teams personally in a humane way and come out even stronger when all of this is over. Improving the well-being of your team will increase employee engagement during these unprecedented times and beyond.