Why employee engagement benefits companies

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?? Key take-aways

• Ignoring employee engagement costs the global economy $8.1 billion annually
• Employee engagement leads to 81% less absence
• Options to share ideas and feedback promote employee engagement
• Health screenings and trainings prevent illness
• Employee apps booster employee engagement through active and transparent communication
• Companies with long-term employee engagement have up to three times higher profit margins
• Profitability of companies with high employee engagement is 21% higher
• Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their company

?? Employee engagement in Europe: Still a work in progress

Let’s talk numbers. Even though employee engagement is playing an increasingly important role, it is often ignored by companies which costs the global economy $8.1 billion dollar annually. In Europe, employee engagement is rather low and only about half of all employees are satisfied with their work, a figure that can be improved. Office, sales and construction employees in particular have the lowest employee engagement at 12%. The topic of employee engagement is gaining in significance, yet only 16% of companies use technology to measure it. This is alarming! In this newsletter, we'd like to share tips on how to increase employee engagement and how this can pay off for companies.

?? Listen to your employees

Employees resign when they are not heard. That's why it's important to offer them a platform where they can submit ideas and feedback and also participate in surveys. This provides benefits for both, the employees and the company. Employees are heard and their day-to-day work can be streamlined. At the same time, the company gets impulses that they would not have thought of on their own and promotes employee retention. At Europart, a leading partner for commercial vehicle workshops and operators of truck and bus fleets in Europe, a tab in the employee app is used for this purpose. Employees can submit ideas and support them with photos and videos. The ideas are forwarded to a selected team, which evaluates and reviews them. The result? A simple and effective process that also rewards. Successfully implemented ideas and improvements are incentivized, thus rewarding the employee.

A side effect that companies will be pleased to see: Employee engagement leads to 81% less absence. Satisfied employees are less sick and the risk of burnout is reduced. This is in the interest of both parties: company and employee.

???? Training safeguards well-being

Healthy employees are essential and important for every company. Personal and professional development does not allow employees to stagnate and promotes motivation. In addition, training can help prevent risks and illness. Offers for cancer screening, flu vaccination and health management also support employees in their preventive care and prevent illness. The technology company Apple offers a wide range of training programs for this purpose. These include training on new products and the brand. This gives employees a better understanding of the products and makes it more fun to work with them. The parcel service provider GLS also offers its drivers a range of training videos that they can watch on the go in order to quickly internalize processes or if they are unclear. This also gives employees a sense of security and promotes trust.

?? Employee apps: Boost your employee engagement

Another tool to increase employee engagement are employee apps. Not only do they promote employee engagement, but they also enable employees to identify more closely with the company, reduce the effort required for communication and organization, enable personal and measurable content, and cut down on the flood of meetings and emails. In addition, all relevant information reaches all employees with just one click, posts can be translated into many different languages, and rosters and time sheets can also be easily shared or recorded. The German home improvement retailer toom reaches all 18,000 employees with its employee app on mobile as well as on desktop. If required, only certain target groups and locations can be reached, this is achieved via previously formed groups and group chats. The app enables transparent communication and the possibility to provide feedback within the company. Praise and rewards can also be expressed through the app and promote employee engagement.

?? Employee engagement = cost savings

All in all, companies with engaged employees perform better economically. Companies with high long-term employee engagement have up to three times higher profit margins than their low engagement counterparts. In addition, the profitability of companies with high employee engagement is 21% higher than that of companies with low engagement. Another positive effect is that engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their company. In general, a company with 1,000 employees and an average gross salary of €50,000 can save €6 million annually through employee engagement. Ignoring employee engagement costs the global economy $8.1 billion every year. This is an incredible amount that can be circumvented with a few steps and efficient solutions.

If you want to know how much money you could save through employee engagement and an employee app, try our Savings Calculator on our website.

Also, check out our blogposts to learn even more about employee engagement and how it will give value to your company.

Feel free to have a look on our recent LinkedIn posts and our other upcoming webinars (in German). Our internal communication experts are also open to talk with you about internal communication or related topics.

?? Sources:

Gallup, Inc. (2023). State of the Global Workplace Report - Gallup. In?Gallup.com .?https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx#ite-350777 .