How to Measure Employee Engagement for A Better Workplace?

Recognizing and implementing an employee engagement program in the workplace is only half the battle – you must also ensure that the measures you’ve taken to boost engagement actually work. After all, it is only when you measure the impact of change can you truly determine whether the change itself was made for good.

Making sure that your employee engagement measures actually work entail three main steps. These are as follows:

Step 1: Understand the gaps you need to address

A lack of engagement in the workforce can stem from many different issues such as:

• A lack of knowledge about the product or brand (this is particularly pertinent when sales employees are taken into consideration)
• Little to no recognition from managers regarding work
• Fewer growth opportunities than what an employee would like
• A misalignment between skills and work

Identifying where the lack of engagement is coming from can help you implement employee engagement programs that actually make a difference. For instance, if sales personnel are disengaged at work due to a lack of knowledge about the product, a learning program as well as an incentive program could help boost the same. The learning program helps them connect with the product better (which impacts their sales pitch greatly), while the incentive program helps with rewarding their sales efforts.

Step 2: Implement a recognition program

Implementing a recognition program is one of the most important things that you can do with regards to boosting employee engagement. This is because every single employee, whether decades-old in the organization or still in their first week, yearns to be recognized for work. Create a program that celebrates even the smallest achievements of the employee, and this will help you boost engagement almost immediately. Just remember to make recognition a simple process (such as a manager sending out a ‘great job’ card from a template created for this purpose).

Step 3: Measure the success of your program

Once you implement any program, you must give it some time to become the norm. After a period of say 3 months, you must speak to your employees to understand whether they are more engaged. Look at their levels of productivity for starters to mark any increase in performance. That itself would be a huge indicator of where things are headed. Then, you must ask your employees to fill out a survey that measures key aspects of their work lives. These include their opinions on:

• Job security
• Working conditions
• Company management
• Professional training and development opportunities
• Effective communication
• Recognition
• Respect
• Leadership

Collecting data from your employees is the best way to measure employee engagement and the success of your programs. You’ll get all the information you need about the gaps you must address straight from the horses’ mouth.

Employee engagement is a crucial factor that every organization needs to consider during every phase of its growth. Doing so can help you ensure employee loyalty, higher productivity and a better work culture.