How to Measure Employee Engagement Effectively - Know the Key Drivers!
Employee Engagement – A small yet powerful phrase that holds the power to bring people together and drive organizational growth towards a common goal. While ‘engagement’ and ‘growth’ here are interrelated with each other, it nonetheless is an organizational “art of getting people to believe what you want them to believe”, as rightly said by Jim Whitehurts, CEO of Red Hat.
In this blog we discuss the core value of employee engagement along with its benefits. We also go a step ahead by bringing forth the different drivers of employee engagement in an organization, and how to measure it effectively.
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to leverage employee engagement, there are certain broad drivers. Let’s have a quick look at each of these drivers and how they impact employee engagement:
Driver #1: Alignment to a PURPOSE
A ‘purpose’ according to human psychology is at the centre of whatever actions we take. Similarly having a feeling of purpose at work is also highly essential as that inspires and drives an employee to align his/her personal goals to the goals of the Company. Help your employees understand why the business exists, the company mission, vision, and the core values – to unify and bring together the workforce for a common purpose. And do not just stop at engaging, INSPIRE. Because, inspired employees are the most productive.
Driver #2: CLARITY of Role and Responsibility
Helping your employees with clarity on what their organizational role entails, help them connect their tasks and responsibilities to the purpose of the business. It also helps them understand how their work impact their organization – giving them the focus, intention and drive to achieve Company goals.
Driver #3: AUTONOMY at Work
Nothing can be more empowering for an employee than allowing them to make their own decisions. Employees with autonomy at work are found to engage better and contribute effectively to the larger goal of the Company. They use their expertise to make decisions about how to do their jobs, and ultimately deliver better and more innovative output than those who have no or little autonomy.
Driver #4: Skill UTILIZATION and Alignment
Are you harnessing the skills of your employees to the full potential? Employees are the most productive and deliver the best result, when their tasks are aligned to their skill. Optimum utilization of skills allows people to do what they do best and helps generate the utmost value for the Company, and for themselves.
Driver #5: REWARDS & Scope for Professional Development
Rewards and appreciation have always been great drivers and morale booster, with the ability to propel your star-employees to repeat reward-worthy performance. Moreover, encouraging an employee’s professional development and offering them opportunities for growth can improve employee engagement and inspire them to stay with the organization and give their best.
Driver #6: Cultivate FRIENDS at Work
Workplaces need to be enjoyable for everyone and should be encouraged to be a playground for cultivating social relationships, devoid of the culture of groupism that divide and leave some people feeling left out. Setting an environment of good camaraderie at workplace can have an incredible impact on both productivity and revenue. Encourage a sociable work culture where friendships are built over referrals and onboarding processes.
Driver #7: ENVIRONMENT of Trust, Authenticity and Fairness
Trust and respect in a work environment are the 2 pillars upon which the foundation of employee engagement is built. Trust lets an employee not only feel comfortable to be in their own skin, but also helps them perform better at work. An organization’s leadership team can play an important role in building a trusting environment where employees can feel secure, a sense of fairness and honesty in how they are treated within the organization.
How to Measure Employee Engagement Aspects
Now that you know the key drivers for employee engagement, it’s time to also know the metrics that will help you measure employee engagement aspects:
Employee Engagement Survey
Surveys are undoubtedly the most common and time-tested way for an organization to get feedback and measure employee engagement quotient. You can seek feedback from your workforce on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis, based on your organizational need or process.
Azilen brings in strong domain & technology expertise when it comes to building robust survey platforms enabled with AI / ML based text analysis.
Exit Feedbacks
Organization should very well use ‘exit interviews’ as a strategic tool to measure the problems faced by employees when serving the Company. With the employee exiting the organization, chances are high for them to open up strongly about their likes and dislikes in the organization. This is when the HR team can make a note and consider them as scope of improvement areas.
Azilen’s solutions around churn prediction truly help measure some of the factors that have “often remained unknown”, and are only extracted during exit feedback. The analysis not only help in identifying the core reasons for employee exits, but also provide deep insights on the areas an organization should work to improve/enhance employee engagement.
Employee Sentiment analysis
Employee actions are more often found to be volatile in nature, but majority of it is predictive. It is important to get a pulse of what an employee feels in day to day work life. It is the sentiments he/she carries that drives the longevity & overall engagement in the organization.
Azilen brings in solutions for employee sentiment / emotion analysis via AI / ML that helps provide insights based on employee / manager’s feedbacks during surveys.
Synopsis
Employee engagement holds the key to improved performance and stimulate organizational growth, as engaged employees are found to care more about their work and the performance of the company. And this stems out of their belief and deep involvement in the organizational process – all thanks to the drivers that makes them feel that their efforts make a difference.