Stimulating employee engagement is a real challenge for many companies. Indeed, it is no longer possible to differentiate yourself solely through products or services: surrounding yourself with competent and motivated people has become essential. So what is employee engagement? Why is it now essential for businesses, and how can it be improved? Here are all of our answers.
What is employee engagement?
Definition
Employee engagement is the degree of involvement and attachment that an employee has towards his company and the tasks assigned to him. An engaged worker feels more concerned with the goals of his company, and actively participates in their achievement.
If employee engagement has become a central issue within HR departments, it is becauseit ensures the smooth running of the company. We will come back to this in more detail.
The engagement pyramid
In 2017, a study conducted by Gallup showed that employee engagement was based on 4 fundamental pillars, operating in stages. This pyramid follows the same logic as Maslow's, which classifies human needs.
According to Gallup, the first pillar of employee engagement includes basic needs, namely the equipment made available to him, his workstation and everything related to his missions. The second pillar is the support and management, which includes recognition, working conditions and hierarchical relationships within its organization. Then we find the teamwork, which relates to the relationships that can be created and to the human aspect of the company. Finally, it's the progression which is at the top of the pyramid. These are opportunities for an employee to learn or grow.
You must have these 4 pillars in mind when you are interested in the engagement of your employees.
Why is employee engagement essential for you?
Employee engagement must be a central issue for the development of your company. Here are a few reasons why you should be more interested.
A profitable investment
Engaged employees tend to be more productive, more enterprising and better able to work in a team. As a result, the goals set are achieved more quickly. Improving engagement requires a number of financial and human investments, but the results are positive. In the vast majority of cases, it is a profitable operation.
A decisive factor for your employer brand
The commitment of your employees is part of your employer brand. Indeed, employees who feel good in their work environment naturally become very good ambassadors for your company.
In order to attract talent and retain your employees, it is essential to offer them a motivating work environment within caring teams. Well-being at work is becoming more and more important for people looking for work.
A decrease in turnover
The more committed an employee is to his organization, the more he wants to stay in it permanently and to evolve there. Retaining talent in your workforce makes it possible to reduce the negative impacts linked to turnover: financial cost, destabilization of teams, time to be allocated to recruiting, welcoming and training newcomers, etc.
Improving the engagement of your employees is therefore important to have productive and motivated teams, to develop your employer brand and to reduce your turnover.
3 steps to improve employee engagement
Evaluate the engagement rate
Before defining solutions to improve employee engagement, you can start by measuring employee engagement. This allows you to know the level of involvement of your employees and to put in place appropriate measures. It is also useful in order to assess the effectiveness of the actions you have taken.
Here are some indicators that need your attention:
- The Level of employee satisfaction, through an NPS (Net Promoter Score). This indicator provides a score of 1 to 10, answering the question: “How much would you recommend to a friend to come and work at your company? ”. High ratings show significant commitment.
- The percentage of participation in social events and internal communication tools.
- The turnover rate.
- Absenteeism. When it is too important in a company, it can be a sign of discomfort on the part of some employees.
You can add any other measure that assesses a sense of belonging.
Develop recognition
Developing recognition is important if you want people to invest in your organization.
It is indeed one of the fundamental pillars of employee commitment, but it is often neglected. Employee efforts should be recognized and encouraged. This can be through words from managers or HR, internal communications, or even awards.
Involving employees in innovation
Finally, everyone who works in a company, regardless of their hierarchical level, can contribute to its improvement. So take advantage of the diversity of profiles and their skills to createparticipatory innovation.
Indeed, employees feel more motivated by the projects they have proposed to implement or in which they have invested themselves. This is the case, for example, with the Teamstarter platform, which allows each employee to create and finance projects thanks to a budget allocated to each one by the company. Other types of actions can be encouraged, the important thing is that everyone can feel involved.
Employee engagement has become essential in business. Indeed, employees who are involved in their organization are more productive, less absent and are excellent ambassadors for you. By engaging them more in participatory innovation projects, you allow them to choose the actions they want to invest in, while developing their sense of belonging.
Teamstarter, a business engagement solution
With Teamstarter, engage your teams for the long term by allowing them to take concrete action.
Your employees are supported by our coaches in order to promote the frugality of their projects and to facilitate implementation. The projects are co-supported, thus strengthening cohesion. Your employees share their projects internally and externally: an asset for your employer brand!
For more information, go to our business area or contact us directly!
Sommaire
