The Importance of Employee Engagement & JIVARO’s Approach

In today’s competitive market for talent, every company strives to attract and retain high-performing employees.

The problem?

A recent study by Gallup (2022) concluded that globally, 60% of employees are emotionally detached at work and 79% are actively disengaged.?

Employees are the most valuable asset of an organisation; without them, an organisation cannot adequately operate or meet the needs of its customers. For this reason, it is of utmost importance for organisations to regularly demonstrate appreciation and respect towards their employees, celebrating achievements and recognising their efforts. You may be wondering, how??

What is employee engagement?

Employee engagement represents the extent of involvement, dedication, and enthusiasm an individual feels towards their organisation. It’s intended to measure how motivated employees are to remain committed to an organisation, and their willingness to go above and beyond to fulfil their workplace duties.

Many organisations strive to achieve high levels of engagement, to create resilient organisations with great productivity, performance, and employee retention. Ultimately, the result of employee engagement is dependent on the actions of an organisation, reflecting the values and efforts of their senior management team.?

Why does employee engagement matter?

It has been proven that highly engaged employees create greater value and outcomes for an organisation. Simultaneously, high levels of engagement provide employees with an improved quality of life at work, where they feel supported, energised, and inspired to complete their work responsibilities.

The State of the Global Workplace Report (2022) by Gallup explores the strong nexus between engagement and performance outcomes, including retention, productivity, and profitability. Based on comprehensive analysis of 112,312 organisations in 96 countries, the following research and data was generated:?

Engaged workforces increase profitability by 21%

Findings have concluded that engaged employees acquire the motivation to complete their workplace tasks to the best of their abilities. In doing so, employees are more likely to exceed goals, targets, and objectives.

Engaged organisations have 41% lower absenteeism

Absent workers cost Australian businesses more than $35 billion each year, due to substantial losses in productivity (Source: Direct Health Solutions). Contrastingly, engaged employees are more inclined to show up to work, with the motivation and enthusiasm to perform above and beyond expectation.

80% of customers are retained by an engaged workforce

Employees reflect an organisation and its values. When employees thoroughly enjoy their work environment and tasks, it simultaneously fosters a positive customer experience. This ensures the needs and expectations of customers are exceeded, creating loyalty, and maintaining rapport.

Employee disengagement costs the Australian economy $2 billion every year

Employees that lack engagement and motivation at work are more likely to generate negative outcomes, due to reduced productivity, missed deadlines, performance errors, and poor customer service. In addition, the cost of replacing disengaged employees, with consideration for the hiring, onboarding, and training processes is also significantly costly.

JIVARO’s engagement survey

At JIVARO, we recently distributed an engagement survey amongst our employees, to measure and evaluate the extent to which our team feels engaged and motivated to perform their best. This survey provided valuable insight into the employee experience, enabling our team to anonymously reflect on their satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) at work and provide constructive feedback.

Our results indicate that 100% of our employees are proud to work at JIVARO, and 90% would recommend JIVARO as a great place to work.

77.3% of our employees believe that JIVARO managers are a great role model for employees, and 90.9% agree that JIVARO leaders communicate a vision that motivates them.

90.9% of our employees believe they know what is needed to be successful in their role and receive appropriate recognition when they do good work.

Overall, 90.8% of our employees agree that JIVARO provides great opportunities to make a positive contribution to their professional growth and development.

The data gathered from our engagement survey highly reflect JIVARO’s Great Place To Work certification. At JIVARO, we are committed to exploring opportunities for improvement, to continuously support our team and facilitate a culture of growth, development, and well-being.

To complement these amazing results, Chantelle James (CEO & Founder), has created an exceptional people-centric culture throughout the years, rewarding employees with quarterly awards, recognition, and team conference trips as an incentive to achieving organisational goals and embodying company values. Further, she has effectively adopted a leadership style based on mentorship and coaching, focused on continuous training and development. Chantelle is always seeking opportunities to enhance the team's learnings, improve efficiencies, and innovate processes.

How can your organisation improve employee engagement?

Let us know your thoughts!

SOURCES

• State of Global Workplaces Report, Gallup (2022)
• Absence Management & Well-Being Survey, Direct Health Solutions (2019)
• Employee Engagement Survey, JIVARO Recruitment (2022)