The drivers of employee engagement

Employees are engaged when they are committed to the organisation and its leadership, as well as willing to go above and beyond to help the organisation achieve its vision and goals. Some of the factors that drive engagement include employee voice, personal development, recognition, team cohesion, employees’ ability to use their talents, and management practices.

An employee engagement survey will be able to determine whether employees feel like they have a voice within the organisation, whether their ideas count, and whether they understand their employer’s vision, strategy and goals. If an employee can link a company’s goals to their own professional and personal goals, it boosts their commitment to their work.

Not only do employees need feedback from their managers on their performance, but they also need recognition when they excel, and they need to know that they will be treated fairly. Sometimes, managers are quick to point out what people are doing wrong without paying enough attention to celebrate what they are doing right. If there are different divisions within a company, there must be consistency in how managers treat people across the business as well as consistency in how a manager treats the members of his or her team. Bias and unfairness are the enemies of employee engagement.

When employee engagement is regularly tracked via credible surveys and tools, companies can monitor their progress and measure the success of their interventions.

If you give your employees the opportunity to make their voices heard, make sure that you are doing something with that information in the form of interventions. As employee engagement improves, so will your customer service, financial performance and staff retention.