The recent “What Workers Want” survey published by New Possible, shows that 40% of UK employees are likely to look for a new role in the next 12 months with Generation Z and millennials leading what has become known as the Great Resignation.
Despite this apparent desire to seek pastures new though, the same survey also found that the average job satisfaction rate across all industries in the UK is 72%. Therefore, it is important that employers tap into this relatively high level of satisfaction so that they can measure engagement in greater detail and actually discover what motivates their employees and generates commitment to their role and the company.
An employee attitude survey is a good starting point to provide you with some base level information to measure the engagement of your staff. It is vital though that you give due consideration to the questions you are going to include so that the answers and data you receive are measurable and provide you with information that allows you to take action as needed.
You may also consider using some of the established engagement measures and theories. The Utrecht Engagement Scale for example defines engagement at work as a state of mind in which, rather than being burnt out, employees show:
- Vigour (energy, resilience and effort)
- Dedication (enthusiasm, inspiration and pride)
- Absorption (concentration and being engrossed in one’s work)
You could therefore shape your questions around these areas and either provide sliding numerical scales in order to answer your questions which would provide you with quantitative data, or allow open comments in response to your questions which would give you qualitative data. Using exclusively one or the other has pros and cons and so it is advisable to include a mixture of different types of questions to produce a rich, valuable data set.
Measuring employee engagement though isn’t a one size fits all or a one-off exercise. In order to truly understand engagement within an organisation you need to be specific and by running the same survey on a relatively regular basis with largely the same group of people, save for starters and leavers, you are able to look for patterns and changes so that you can then also measure the impact of any interventions that have been put in place.
Surveys are by no means the only engagement measurement tool. Small group meetings, one to ones, exit interviews, stay interviews and other interaction opportunities with staff are great ways to gather information in structured and unstructured formats and should all be included in the mix of measuring engagement. In addition, if you have the capacity to measure metrics such as length of service, absence and turnover data they can also provide indicators on employee engagement.
However you decide to measure engagement it is also crucial that staff are aware of its purpose and value. If you ask questions, collect data but then don’t provide any feedback staff will quickly disengage and this is counterproductive. By providing at least a summary of the results and what action you will take as a result, staff are more likely to buy in as they will see that their voice has been heard and that the exercise is worthwhile.
All of the above takes time to plan, embed and come to fruition, but done correctly measuring employee engagement is powerful and should ultimately lead to increased profitability for your business.
Do you have questions about employee engagement?
Give us a call at CUBE HR on 01282 678321, we’ll be happy to advise you and we have policies and templates available to meet every HR need.
Why not check out our blog on a similar topic What Is Employee Engagement?
We also have a YouTube channel with loads of handy videos.
