Companies looking to discover the secret ingredient for unlocking employee potential and maximizing performance should be relieved to know that the answer isn’t so secret anymore. 

Gallup’s meta-analysis of hundreds of organizations and millions of employees over the last two decades reveals definitively that “employee engagement consistently affects key performance outcomes, regardless of the organization's industry or company.” 

This reality is echoed across the board, with 71% of executives reporting that employee engagement is critical to their company’s success. It makes perfect sense when you consider that companies are 21% more profitable when employees are engaged.

But what does it mean for employees to be engaged? How do you make high engagement levels a reality? And how do you know when you’ve been successful?

What does it mean for an employee to be engaged?

Engaged employees are psychologically invested in their company’s success and committed to achieving its goals.

And according to Gallup, in 2020, there are more engaged employees than ever before. 

They are most likely to be found in organizations that have deliberately worked to create high-development cultures. Gallup’s meta-analysis shows that organizations with drastic improvements in employee engagement over time have work environments in which people can see the direct impact of their contributions on business outcomes and are given opportunities for career growth within the organization. 

We’ve all had jobs where we didn’t feel engaged. So, most of us know intuitively that when your efforts aren’t recognized, you don’t feel invested in what you’re doing, or you’re not challenged to grow, you likely aren’t going to care too much about the company’s performance. On the flip side, teams with engaged employees reap a host of benefits for their organizations, including better business outcomes, stronger customer service, higher employee retention rates, higher productivity and lower absenteeism. And all of that ladders up to increased profitability. 

What drives high engagement levels?

As it turns out, there isn’t one secret ingredient but, instead, four key factors that are driving high engagement levels in organizations:

1. Leaders live the philosophy of engagement. They ensure that everyone in the organization knows the concrete value of engagement in strengthening the brand. They consistently connect engagement to real business issues.
2. Managers are empowered to solve problems at the local level. They are coaches who identify and build on the strengths of their team. Training and development programs are connected to engagement and tailored to what individual teams need.
3. They practice company-wide communication. Companies with high engagement have engagement champions who share knowledge and best practices to support managers in developing employees.
4. Managers are expected to prioritize engagement and recognition. Employee recognition is a way to encourage growth, advance individual and team performance and reinforce company values. There are consequences for managers with ongoing patterns of team disengagement.

When companies change the way they develop people, it lays the groundwork for a cultural shift that improves overall engagement and satisfaction.

How do you measure employee satisfaction?

Since you can’t improve what you don’t measure, evaluating employee satisfaction (ESAT) is key to understanding whether your efforts to create an engaging culture are working. 

The most effective way to measure and monitor ESAT is to implement a technology that lets you complete a holistic analysis of engagement levels. Your measurement process should include these elements:

• Survey: Send anonymous surveys to team members to get a pulse on their true feelings. Keeping it anonymous ensures they won’t fear reprimand for sharing candid feedback.
• Communicate: Sharing the results of staff feedback allows you to be transparent about the current environment. Delivering the findings in a face-to-face meeting is a great way to ensure lines of communication stay open.
• Act: Once you’ve surveyed your people and circled back with them for additional feedback, you can create action plans to address key issues with input from staff.
• Close the loop: Once the action plans have been executed, ensure that staff have an outlet to provide ongoing feedback on the effectiveness of the solution.

This approach to understanding how your employees are feeling about their workplace not only ensures they are heard and shows your commitment to their satisfaction; it also allows you to identify and mitigate issues that may be interfering with productivity and profitability.

When employees have a reason to invest, not just their time, but also their passion and energy into their work, it pays dividends for both customer experience and performance.

As J.W. Marriott astutely put it, "Take care of associates and they'll take care of your customers.”

Need help setting up an effective employee feedback toolset? Contact ibex CX today to see how our solution can help.