Benefits of Employee Engagement & Employee Engagement plan
Employee Engagement plan
The benefits of employee engagement are surprisingly broad, ranging from workplace safety to share prices. Many of these factors are interconnected, making employee engagement a powerful predictor of an organization’s success.
Employee engagement benefits include the following.
1. Lower Turnover
Employees who aren’t engaged with their work are likely to look elsewhere. And since it costs one-half to twice an employee’s annual salary to replace them not to mention the less tangible impacts on staff morale and productivity focusing on employee engagement can produce major cost savings for organizations.
2. Reduced Employee Stress
Less engaged employees are likely to feel more stressed, and stress decreases engagement, creating a vicious spiral that can be hard to break. So reducing stress and increasing engagement pays dividends, showcasing another reason why employee engagement is important.
3. Decreased Burnout
Low engagement and unchecked stress can lead to burnout, a state characterized in part by a lack of motivation and inability to connect with one’s work. According to McKinsey & Company, a startling 49% of workers reported at least some level of burnout in April 2021. Improving employee engagement can help keep employees from reaching that state, from which it can be difficult to recover.
4. Increased Productivity
It’s no surprise that employees who feel engaged with their work put in more effort, and their companies reap the rewards. Engaged workforces are 17% more productive, according to Gallup, which has major implications for both the profitability and longevity of the organization.
5. Greater Employee Commitment
In addition to increased output, engaged employees are in general more committed to the future of their organization. That means they are more likely to put time and energy into tasks that aren’t as easy to measure but that have a big impact. These may include training new employees and developing more efficient processes.
6. Better Customer Service
Engaged employees are more aligned with the company’s mission and goals, meaning their customer interactions are more on-brand. Plus, customers are likely to see their positivity about the organization. Engagement is directly linked to improved customer experiences and can also increase customer loyalty over time.
7. Improved Collaboration
Employees who feel connected to their company and their teammates are more likely to feel a sense of camaraderie and to collaborate effectively with their colleagues. This, in turn, promotes engagement among their peers, creating a positive cycle.
8. Lower Absenteeism
Absenteeism can seriously strain a company’s ability to perform its mission. According to Gallup, companies with high engagement have 81% lower absenteeism than companies with low engagement. This is a difference with a clear impact on productivity and outcomes.
9. Safer Workplaces
Workplace accidents can have tragic consequences and pose a huge reputational and financial risk for organizations. Since engaged employees tend to pay closer attention to their work and feel more empowered to speak up about concerns, they are less likely to take risks that can lead to injury.
10. Fewer Mistakes
On a similar note, disengaged employees are also more likely to make costly mistakes in their work. If your staff doesn’t feel committed to the organization and their roles, they aren’t as likely to go the extra mile to ensure their work is perfect.
(jordan.friedman, 2022)
(The Benefits of Employee Engagement, 2019)
Developing an Employee Engagement Plan
An employee engagement plan is a mechanism that organizations develop to define and prioritize their actions for improving employee engagement. It enables recognizing the key factors that influence employee engagement, identifying the employees’ pain points, and creating customized initiatives to address them. These can be fast and easy employee engagement improvements, as well as long-term programs.
Employee engagement plan helps convey to employees that the company is committed to responding to any sort of employee engagement feedback.
Thus, an employee engagement plan is an ideal tool to get started with if your company is willing to make a significant difference in how your organization approaches employee engagement.
1. Determine the reason for your company’s existence
An organization must express and define its values before implementing an employee engagement plan. Employees who feel connected to the organization’s mission, ideals, and priorities are more involved in their jobs.
2. Examine the findings of the employee engagement survey
To build an action plan, you must first find out what works and what doesn’t for engaging your employees. It entails delving into the survey results to determine your company’s strengths and weaknesses and areas for growth. You need to determine what drives employee engagement to understand the underlying factors and, most importantly, what is working and what isn’t.
You need to consider the following factors because of their high effect on employee engagement:
- Learning and growth opportunities
- Promotion procedures,
- Parental leave policy
- Health insurance
- Communication norms
- Frequency and type of employee rewards and recognition
- Meaningful work
- Hands-on management
- Supportive work atmosphere
3. Choose what you want to change
You must determine where you want to concentrate your efforts. Review the data and make a list of main priority areas to study further. Begin with two to three focus points. These focus points can serve as a springboard for creating actionable takeaways.
Consider:
- Which points from the survey have the biggest effect on employee engagement?
- What were the places where we scored the lowest?
- Which outcomes would we be able to improve with a few minor tweaks?
For example, your employee engagement survey results might show that your employees don’t feel appreciated and recognized. That’s why they are not motivated to provide stellar customer service. You want to change this and start showing your employees more appreciation and recognition for their hard work.
4. Brainstorm solutions
Recognize potential obstacles to resolving the problems you’ve identified and come up with solutions. Bringing the team together to discuss what’s going on will help you better focus your efforts. Build focus groups for each of the focus areas you’ve developed.
Find ways to encourage an innovative and open dialogue, maybe through applying design thinking concepts. It allows teams to question assumptions, consider different points of view, and reframe challenges as opportunities. Review your notes from the meeting, review the focus group meetings, and begin brainstorming ways to enhance each focus area. Make a list of as many ideas as you can, then talk about which ones the group prefers.
5. Time to act and be accountable
Now that you’ve established your top options, it’s time to bring your employee engagement plan into action. It is a vital move to have a long-term effect on engagement and keep team members accountable. Most people lose interest or become distracted by other goals during the year if they do not make a consistent commitment, take ownership, and hold themselves responsible.
The team should know who is responsible for the specific acts, the timelines for monitoring progress, the success metrics, and the deadlines.
You will avoid the strategy falling through the cracks by clearly outlining the action steps and responsible for the outcomes.
Setting SMART goals for your employee engagement plan and what it ultimately aims to do helps you track progress and results.
What could a SMART goal look like in this scenario?
- Specific – To improve customer service
- Measurable – A 10% increase of Customer Satisfaction Ratings in the following 6 months.
- Achievable – By using an employee recognition system.
- Relevant – Recognizing team members will boost productivity and morale, increase the number of completed tasks, and decrease customer complaints.
- Timely – In 6 months.
6. Improve the core element of employee engagement – communication
Once you’ve put your employee engagement plan into action, communicate it to your workforce in a concise way. In our example of an employee recognition program, explain to your employees how to use it, what its value and benefits are, and let the senior managers promote and encourage the employees to utilize it daily.
7. Evaluate the outcomes of the initiatives regularly
You must be vigilant as staff adapts to any changes once you’ve put the engagement plan into effect. Communicate with the employees regularly to gather feedback and make any required changes quickly and efficiently. It is essential to measure the engagement action plan’s effectiveness against defined performance metrics regularly (once a month or every six months, for example).
(Pathak, 2021)
Conclusion
Overall, employee engagement can provide a range of benefits to a company, including increased productivity, customer satisfaction, employee retention, innovation, workplace culture, profitability and employer branding.
Employee engagement refers to the extent to which employees are committed to their work and the organization they work for.
References
Thoughtful post on Benefits of Employee Engagement and Employee Engagement Plan. Other than the points you have mentioned I would like to add that, it is also important to identify the challenges on Employee Engagement of your organization before initiating the plan. Whether the barriers are due to the Leadership Traits or Style, Communication, Work-Life mis balance in the organizational culture or Excessive rules and procedures etc...
ReplyDeleteHi Ridma! Your article on the benefits of employee engagement presents a good overview of the topic. I felt, you should have given more significance to the importance of involving workers in the plan's development in order to ensure their participation and engagement.
ReplyDeleteThis article provided a great overview of employee engagement and the importance of an effective engagement plan. It was very helpful in understanding the different elements that should be included in such a plan and the importance of measuring the outcomes and making changes as needed. Informative and practical article!
ReplyDeleteThis blog article effectively highlights the benefits of employee engagement for both employees and organizations. The author does a good job of explaining the concept of employee engagement, its importance, and the factors that contribute to it. The article also offers practical tips for promoting employee engagement and measuring its impact. Overall, the article is informative and useful for HR professionals and leaders looking to improve employee engagement and retention. However, the article could benefit from more specific examples to illustrate its points and more original research to support its claims.
ReplyDelete