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Employee engagement Contents

 Learning & Development
 Human resources
o Talent acquisition
o Employee onboarding
o Talent management
o Employee engagement
o Knowledge management
o Competency model
 Employee training
 Employee performance
 Leadership
 Technologies
 Analytics

After reading this guide, you will be able to improve employee

engagement in your organization for both general and remote
workers.

Given the current situation with COVID-19, many workplaces are

turning to remote work, some for the first time.

With workers being away from direct supervision, employee

engagement becomes that much more important, as an engaged
employee is one who can be trusted to competently, consistently
perform their job, often going above and beyond their job description
to make sure that they are delivering high-quality results.
  What is employee engagement?
 Why is employee engagement important?
 Employee engagement strategy
 Employee engagement action plan
 Employee engagement ideas and best practices
 Employee engagement activities
 How to measure employee engagement
1. Employee engagement metrics
2. Employee engagement survey questions
 Employee engagement models
 Employee engagement books, articles, and publications

This guide will help you better understand employee engagement,

how to curate it in your organization, both for general and remote
work, and give you actionable tips and best practices for increasing
your employee engagement.

What is employee engagement?

Employee engagement is the level of mental and emotional
commitment an employee has towards their job, the organization, and
its goals.

An engaged employee is driven to help their organization succeed by

directing their best efforts towards their work. They believe in the
organization, and they will work to make sure that the organization
succeeds.

It is important to note that employee engagement is different from

employee satisfaction. A satisfied employee will not necessarily
commit extra time and effort into the organization’s success, rather
they will perform their job competently without expending extra effort.

Job satisfaction tends to be transactional, corresponding to salary and

benefits. Employee engagement is not transactional; an employee
with a higher salary will not necessarily be an engaged employee.

Why is employee engagement important?

Employee engagement can massively aid an organization, and
organizations with engaged employees consistently outperform their
competitors.

The benefits of employee engagement within an organization:

1. Better customer satisfaction

Engaged employees will go above and beyond to provide great

service to customers. They will take pride in performing their jobs to
the best of their ability.

This could mean that a salesperson takes extra time out of their day to
walk a potential customer through the product, a programmer works
overtime to rid bugs from a client’s new program, or a retail clerk helps
customers find the perfect fit of jeans, no matter how long it takes.

Customers who receive great service will both return and tell others
about their experience, increasing customer loyalty for your
organization.

2. Improved productivity and efficiency

An engaged employee wants their work to benefit the organization, so

they will find ways to produce great quality work quickly. While an
employee who is not engaged might simply want to come in and
collect a paycheck with the least amount of work, an engaged
employee will use discretionary effort to make sure that their work
yields the highest result.

3. Reduction of staff turnover

This is another example of how employee engagement and employee

satisfaction are different. An employee might be very satisfied with
their job but they will happily take another job if offered a nice raise.
Studies show that employee retention is a challenge, with 81% of
small businesses recognizing turnover as a costly problem. When an
employee leaves, it can disrupt services, costing the organization
money and upsetting clients, and replacing a lost employee can cost
up to 40% of a salary.

If an employee is truly engaged, they will not want to leave their role,
as they want to continue helping the organization reach its goals. They
won’t be tempted to look for other work, because they are mentally
and emotionally connected with the work that they are already doing.

Employee engagement leads directly to better staff retention,

especially of top performers, which has become increasingly
important, and difficult, with today’s hyper-mobile workforce.

4. Lowered absenteeism

Continuing from the above point, another benefit of employee

engagement is that engaged employees will want to come into work,
as they believe in what they are doing.

They are less likely to miss work, and will even make an effort to work
on their own time.

5. Enhanced company culture

Company culture is massively important to employees, and a bad

culture can break an organization.

When employees are properly engaged with the organization, they

understand their own importance in the company, as well as others,
and are far more likely to take time to help train, advise, and lead
those around them.

They are invested in the organization’s success, which is built by

employees, so they will make sure that other employees are able to
contribute to that success effectively.
7. Better business outcomes

Companies that have engaged workers report 21% higher

profitability and were scored 17% higher on productivity.

Engaged employees work harder, doing a better job, driving up

customer satisfaction and loyalty, and bringing a great deal of value
into the organization.

Engaged employees will increase profitability through their work, and

often lead innovation within their team, department, or organization.

8. Decrease number of safety incidents

Engaged employees pay attention to what they are doing, because

they care about doing their job right. Workers will be more mindful of
their surroundings and actions, and will go the extra mile to perform
their duties correctly.

Engagement also increases innovation, with workers offering solutions

to avoid safety incidents in the future, streamlining processes and
increasing productivity.

Employee engagement strategy

Developing employee engagement requires a concrete strategy.
Once you have given an employee engagement survey and identified
the areas in which your organization needs to improve, the next step
is to develop a strategy for doing so.

What actions you can take will depend on the size and budget of your
organization, but no matter the level, there are concrete actions that
your organization can undertake to improve employee engagement.

There are seven main areas that have the most impact on employee
engagement:

1. Work-life balance
2. Communication and goal setting
3. Organizational transparency
4. Autonomy and challenge
5. Rewards and recognition
6. Training and learning opportunities
7. Compensation and benefits

Depending on the results of your employee engagement survey, there

will be certain areas in which your organization will want to focus on.

Selecting two or three which are the most urgent is a good place to
start.

Employee engagement action plan

After your organization has chosen the areas in which you will focus, it
is time to develop an employee engagement action plan.

It is not enough to simply say that you want to improve rewards and
recognition, you must develop concrete, actionable steps to do so.
This is done by creating initiatives.

For example, if an organization wants to focus on training and learning

opportunities, here is how they could develop an action plan:

1. Organizational leadership decides which area they would like to

focus on. In this example, it is training and learning
opportunities.
2. Leadership would then decide who is responsible for leading the
action plan. This should be a team from different levels of the
organization, ideally made up of employees who show a high
level of engagement already. This is a good opportunity to
develop leadership skills in employees and to show that their
contributions are valuable.
3. Leadership should agree on a budget, timeline, and meeting
schedule for this team. Desired results should be clearly laid out,
so that the team has a clear mandate for what they should
achieve.
4. A team is gathered, instructed, and asked to develop a plan.
They present this plan to the leadership, with the steps that they
will take to achieve their results. For example, they might
develop an initiative for upskilling employees by pairing them
with senior members of their team. They could recommend
using a talent development platform, researching which
platforms would work for this purpose, showing a timeline,
expected costs, and projecting what the outcome of this initiative
would be.
 5. The leadership team will adopt this plan, or make adjustments to
it based on organizational needs and goals. The budget is
approved, and the timeline is set.
6. As the team proceeds with this process, there will be regular
presentations to the leadership to update on progress, make
necessary adjustments, and expand the program, if needed.

Laying out a clear path to how this initiative will be achieved is the
best way to ensure its success.

Employee engagement ideas and best

practices
These ideas and best practices will help you construct your employee
engagement action plan and effectively implement it in your
organization.

1. Think holistically

Given how much time is spent at work, it’s no surprise that employees
want their workplace to be a pleasant one.

This covers everything from the space in which they work to the small
perks like coffee and snacks.

 What are the features of the work environment that you can
control?
 Are there ways that you can make the working space a nicer
place to be?
Changing the environment to better suit your employees shows them
that you value their comfort.

2. Emphasize respect

This approach is all about the individual value that each person brings
to the organization.

You want your employees to feel that both their opinion and work is
respected.

An engaged employee is one who is willing to come to their leadership

team with their opinion, even if that opinion is negative, because they
know that they will be listened to.

This is the best way for organizations to quickly learn where issues
are, but will only happen if the employees know that there are no
negative repercussions for speaking out.

3. Recognize achievement often and loudly

If an employee feels that their work is not properly recognized, they

will quickly lose engagement. What is the point of working hard if no
one cares?

This doesn’t mean that each time a project is completed successfully

that your organization should be giving out cash prizes, even a simple
announcement at a weekly meeting can be enough to energize an
employee and make them feel valued.
Management teams should focus on recognizing individual
achievements regularly.

4. Increase transparency

It’s no good to work behind the scenes to increase engagement,

employees should be updated often about what their leadership is up
to.

Using strategies like all-organization meetings, weekly team updates

and newsletters, an organization can let employees know that they are
taking employee well-being seriously, and are working to make the
organization a better place.

Employees will become more engaged simply by knowing that their

leadership values them and is working to make the organization a
better place.

5. Show employees that you listen

If you want truly engaged employees, your organization has to make

the action a priority.

If there are complaints, there should also be solutions proposed and

acted upon by the organization.

If employees feel like their complaints, suggestions and thoughts on

improvement fall upon deaf ears, they will quickly stop trying to
engage.
6. Help your employees understand their role in the organization

A key part of an employee’s engagement is the feeling that their

actions help the organization achieve its goals.

To help employees better understand how they contribute, make sure

that they understand their role, and how that role is a key part of the
overall organization. No matter their specific job, each person
contributes to an organization’s success, and from day one,
employees should understand their contribution.

7. Empower your managers to coach

Your managers are on the front line of empowering and engaging their
teams.

Their role should be one of coaching, advising and nurturing their

employee’s growth, rather than simply managing. When you have
engaged managers, their employees will respond in the same way.

Employee engagement activities

There are plenty of ways that leadership teams can energize and
engage employees. These can range from in-office activities to group
expeditions, and, depending on your organization, different ones will
be effective.

1. Have your employees write their own job descriptions.

Ask them to define their role, and have them carve out some
areas in which they would like to take on responsibility. This will
 give you critical insight on how you can develop that employee,
and they get a feeling of ownership over their role.
2. Have the leadership team turn to employees for advice.
Upper management shouldn’t be too far removed from
employees, and the pride of being asked for help, and being
listened to, by upper management can give a real boost to
employees. Not only that, you might discover some hidden
talents or skills amongst employees that could help the
organization. It’s crucial that the advice given is advice followed
in this case, you want to demonstrate that employees are heard.
3. Make sure to create the space inside the office to celebrate work
achievements, birthdays, special occasions, and to give exiting
employees a proper send-off. Create an organizational culture that
celebrates individuals, makes time for fun, and holds people in
the spotlight to reward their contributions.
4. Use out of office activities to activate engagement.
Escape rooms have become a particularly popular one for
smaller teams, as they promote teamwork in a fun, dynamic
environment. Team-building activities can be done on a variety
of levels, from organizational camping trips to volunteer work,
and there are many opportunities to create out of office
opportunities for employee engagement.
5. Start a mentorship program.
Employees that receive training and skill development feel more
valued by their company and will be more engaged.
Encouraging upskilling and cross-training will benefit both the
company and the employees greatly.
6. Promote from within.
If an employee sees a clear path to career opportunities within
their organization, they will be much less likely to look elsewhere
for them. Show that your organization recognizes the value of its
own employees by promoting from within the company
whenever possible.
 7. Encourage health, wellness, and charitable actions.
A healthy business needs a healthy workforce and community.
Giving employees access to gyms, green space, even massage
therapists can dramatically improve engagement. Try organizing
company-wide charitable actions to improve teamwork and
community engagement.

How to measure employee engagement

How can you find out how engaged your employees are? It isn’t a
simple, quantifiable question you can ask employees, nor is it
something you can measure without your employees direct input.

Not only that, but different factors will engage employees in different
companies, so there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for measuring
employee engagement.

An employee engagement survey is one of the best tools available to

measure employee engagement metrics.

A well-designed survey will give you plenty of data about your

organization, as well as give you some insight into which areas need
work.

You will even be able to pinpoint if there are certain departments

under or overperforming, so you can further study those areas.

To measure employee engagement, an organization should design an

engagement survey.
This survey should be given to all employees and should be done on a
regular basis.

Some companies choose to perform an in-depth engagement survey

once a year, then use pulse surveys on a more frequent basis to
check in on employees. Other organizations choose to have
engagement surveys much more frequently.

It all depends on the needs of the organization and the situation inside
that particular industry, country, or the world.

Pulse surveys

Pulse surveys can be used to explore individual topics more closely or

look further into how specific teams or departments are feeling,
delivering real-time feedback from employees that can be used to
measure the efficacy of new policies to drive employee engagement,
but are less in-depth than an employee engagement survey.

If there has been an event inside the company, such as a change in

leadership, disruption in the industry, or some other large event (such
as COVID-19), then an engagement survey can be a great tool to help
leadership understand how the employees are feeling.

Engagement surveys

The engagement survey is an important starting point for measuring

employee engagement, but organizations can also use more
continuous strategies to get data more frequently.
Using engagement surveys, pulse surveys, and one-on-one
techniques can help an organization have a more complete
understanding of employee engagement.

The goal of the engagement survey is to better understand your

employees thoughts and feelings about the organization, find where
there are problem areas or areas of particular strength, understand
trends within the organization, and show your employees that you
care about their thoughts and want to improve the organization with
their help.

With a survey like this, it is important to design it from the end. It is

useless to give your employees a survey if you don’t know what to do
with the information you will receive from it.

Think about what you will do with the survey results.

1. Who will be in charge of following up on the results of the

survey?
2. Who will be leading the action based on the results?
3. How much action are you willing to take?
4. What will the action look like?

Smart organizations also direct their management teams to measure

engagement on a more individual basis, using one-on-one techniques
to better understand how members of each manager’s team are
feeling.
Employee engagement metrics

There are many metrics that can be used to measure employee

engagement, but keep in mind that every company is different and
these metrics will differ year to year, or even depending on the
season, especially if your organization has one time of year that is
busier or more stressful.

1. Employee turnover rate

Your organization should keep track of the employee turnover rate, as

it will give you valuable information about any problem areas within
your organization.

There is no one turnover rate that should be aimed for across the
board; it will be different for various industries, departments, and
levels within an organization.

Consistently high turnover rates within one team or department could

be an indication of an engagement issue.

Engaged employees stay with their company, as they are plugged into
the greater goals of the organization and want to work to help achieve
them.

2. Absenteeism

This metric is closely associated with the turnover rate.

As stated above, engaged employees show up to work, and want to
put in the effort so that the organization will succeed.

If there is a high percentage of absenteeism within your organization,

you should take that as a sign that your employees are not engaged.

3. Employee net promoter score

This is a simple, but effective, metric that simply consists of asking

employees if they would recommend working at your organization to
friends, colleagues, or family.

It is scored on a 0 to 10 scale, with 6 or less being classified as a

‘detractor’, 7 to 8 being considered ‘passive’ and 9 and 10 being
considered ‘promoters’.

Survey your employees on this question, subtract the detractors from

the promoters, and you will have your organization’s score.

A negative score will tell you that employees, on the whole, don’t
recommend your organization as a place to work, while a positive
score shows good employee engagement.

4. New employee engagement

Look at the rates of new employee 90-day failure, as well as employee

engagement with onboarding content.

If your employees are failing right out of the gate, this is a key
indicator that they are not being set up for success within your
organization. This can be traced back to a lot of factors, including a
bad onboarding process, lack of training, or bad company culture.

Employee engagement survey questions

We have mentioned that it is important to create a well-designed

survey, but what questions should be there?

Employee engagement survey questions should cover the following

areas, and should be rated on a scale from one to five:

1. Individual needs, feelings and beliefs

Good examples of this type of question:

 I feel like I am compensated fairly for the work that I do

 I am proud to work here
 I would recommend this organization to friends and colleagues
 I feel motivated by my role, team or workplace

2. Trust in team, management and leadership

These questions could include:

 I feel valued by my manager and team

 I trust my colleagues and management team
 I enjoy working with my team
 I feel that the goals of the company are aligned with my own
  I trust the leadership of this company

3. Teamwork focused questions

Some example questions are:

 I feel that my team is effective

 I trust my colleagues to do their jobs well
 My team helps me complete my work
 I know who I can turn to for help

4. Career development and support

Questions like:

 I am given the proper time and resources to do my job well

 I feel that I have been trained properly for my role
 I know what is expected of me
 I see myself working here in five years
 I am excited by my work

5. Value and recognition

Questions like:

 I am recognized for my work

 I feel like I am valued by my organization
 I think I am rewarded fairly for my effort

6. Confidence in the future

Questions like:

 I believe this company will be successful in reaching their goals

in the long term
 My leadership team is effective
 My organization’s long term goals match my own

All of the questions in these categories can be adjusted to better suit

your particular organization.

The purpose of the employee engagement survey is to get a deeper

understanding of your unique organization, and so there is no pre-
made survey that can achieve that. For example, if there has been a
recent shakeup of leadership, the survey might have more questions
about trust in leadership than one for an organization that has had the
same leadership team for decades. Consider what areas your
organization needs to focus on, and design the survey with that in
mind.

Employee engagement models

There are many employee engagement models available to help
organizations better understand the process of increasing employee
engagement.

IES model of engagement

The IES model, developed in 2003, emphasizes that employees must
feel valued and involved to be properly engaged with their employer.

The ten core concepts that lead to feel valued and involved are:

1. Job satisfaction
2. Family-friendliness
3. Cooperation and communication
4. Health and safety
5. Pay
6. Conditions and benefits
7. Equal opportunities and fair treatment
8. Performance and appraisal
9. Immediate management and training
10. Development and career

When those needs are fulfilled, then employees will be engaged.

Schmidt model of employee engagement

The Schmidt model, developed in 2004, places a great deal of

importance on the recruitment and retention of the right workers.

This model posits that once an organization has the right workforce in
terms of specific competencies and knowledge, then they can focus
on creating a positive and supportive workplace, which in turn
promotes a feeling of workplace well being, which will lead to
employee engagement.

Penna’s model of employee engagement

This model, developed in 2007, is a hierarchical model.

The pyramid-shaped model begins with basic working conditions. It

then moves to the next level, learning and development, followed by
promotion opportunities, which is followed by leadership, trust and
respect. At the top of the pyramid is meaning.

As the organization develops each of these levels, employee

engagement will increase. This model posits that an organization that
follows this model, delivering meaning within work to employees, will
increase their retention and attract better employees.

The Zinger model of employee engagement

David Zinger developed this model in 2009.

This model balances three inputs:

1. Organizational

Organizational input is the development of a culture where employee

engagement is valued, prioritized and shared amongst all employees.
Recognition and appreciation are key aspects of this. At the top levels
of management, support should be given, as well as investment in
organizational resources and education, to increase engagement.

2. Leadership

Leadership input is the development of leaders who are themselves

engaged.

Zinger’s model states that employees will not become engaged if their
leaders are not, so this is a key step.

Leaders must engage authentically with their employees, paying close

attention and working enthusiastically to develop their team’s
strengths and helping them overcome weaknesses.

3. Individual

Individual input is the employee’s own engagement contributions.

Employees should work to focus on the positive aspects of

engagement, channeling their energy in the correct direction while
making space to include fun in their work life. Ownership of one’s own
work and contributions to the organization are key factors here.

Zinger’s model posits that when those three inputs are developed,
employee engagement will increase.
The Zinger engaged model is arranged like a pyramid, with the bottom
four blocks representing the leveraging of employee strengths, making
meaning in work, leveraging employee energy, and employee well
being. The next level consists of three blocks that represent living in
the moment, fostering a strong workplace community, and proper
recognition of employee effort. The third level is two blocks,
representing the path of career development and excelling at a
performance. The final level, which is the culmination of all the levels
below it, is the achievement of results.

Employee engagement books, articles, and

publications
 Carrots and Sticks Don't Work: Build a Culture of Employee
Engagement with the Principles of RESPECT
 Understanding Employee Engagement (Applied Psychology
Series)
 The Employee Experience Advantage: How to Win the War for
Talent by Giving Employees the Workspaces They Want, the
Tools They Need, and a Culture They Can Celebrate
 ENGAGEMENT MAGIC: Five Keys for Engaging People,
Leaders, and Organizations
 The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering
Organizations by Encouraging People
 Employee Engagement Action planning toolkit
 William Kahn: The founding father of employee engagement
 Understanding employee engagement: Theory, research, and
practice