<p><br></p><p>Every company seems to have its own ideas about measuring employee engagement. They also seem to disagree about what exactly employee engagement means. But one thing almost everyone does agree on is that the best way to measure employee engagement is by using employee engagement surveys. To find out why surveys are the best way to measure engagement within your workforce, as well as best practices for the surveys and sample questions, read on.</p><h3>Defining Employee Engagement</h3><p>Honing in on one comprehensive definition of employee engagement is a tricky task. It also might not be the best way to approach the subject. Just like every business is different, so, too, should every <a href="http://www.workforce.com/articles/employee-engagement-define-it-measure-it-and-put-it-to-work-in-your-organization" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">business’s definition of employee engagement</a>.</p><p>A business should define employee engagement based on its expectations for its employees. When asked to define employee engagement in APQC’s 2009 and 2010 collaborative benchmarking study, “<a href="https://www.apqc.org/knowledge-base/documents/rewarding-engaging-and-retaining-key-talent-best-practices-report" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rewarding, Engaging, and Retaining Key Talent</a>,” companies came up different responses. One said it means “commitment, work ethic, and loyalty.” Another defined it as “an individual sense of purpose and focused energy, evident to others in their display of personal initiative, effort and persistence, that is directed toward organizational goals.”</p><p>Although differing in exact wording, these definitions—as well as most others—share a common backbone that boils down to <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/06/22/employee-engagement-what-and-why/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this</a>: Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to the organization and its goals. Emotional commitment refers to the employee caring about their work and their company; they view their job as more than just a way to pay the bills. They work hard because they believe in the work.</p><h3>Why Employee Engagement Matters</h3><p>An engaged employee is a happy—and <a href="http://www.engageforsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/file52215.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">productive</a>—employee. In 2006, <a href="http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/27799/investors-take-note-engagement-boosts-earnings.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gallup</a> examined 23,910 businesses and compared how their financial success correlated with their employee engagement scores. They found that companies with engagement scores in the top quartile averaged 12% higher customer advocacy, 18% higher productivity, and 12% higher profitability than companies with scores in the bottom quartile.</p><p>In 2004, the <a href="http://www.ddiworld.com/DDI/media/monographs/employeeengagement_mg_ddi.pdf?ext=.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Corporate Executive Board</a> in Washington, D.C. surveyed 50,000 employees in 59 organizations worldwide and found that employees with lower engagement are four times more likely to leave their jobs than those who are highly engaged. They also found that moving from low to high engagement can result in a 21% increase in performance.</p><p>In response to Gallup’s results, Jim Harter, Gallup's chief scientist for workplace engagement and wellbeing, said, "These aggregated patterns show that engaged employees are more likely to stay with their organizations, are less likely to steal or experience accidents on the job, and are more likely to please customers and be highly productive. It all adds up to higher profitability, which over time, influences earnings per share."</p><p>Proof of this is seen in the story of <a href="http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/24874/a-caterpillar-dealer-unearths-employee-engagement.aspx#1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fabick CAT</a>. In 2002, Fabick CAT, a company that sells, rents, and repairs Caterpillar construction equipment, began measuring employee engagement. At the time, it was only at 16%. They started making culture changes based on the results, “putting the right people in the right jobs” and investing in developing the talents and strengths of its managers.</p><p>They also paid Gallup $500,000 to conduct an analysis to determine how the new initiatives influenced performance outcomes. After working with Gallup and using the results gathered to implement more changes to engage employees, by 2006 employee engagement rates were at 48%. Not only that, but Fabick CAT’s profits increased by $3 million from 2005 to 2006, a “600% return on investment” that company owner Doug Fabick credits to the higher employee engagement.</p><p>With such benefits at stake, every business should want to know where its employees fall on the engagement scale in order to have the best-performing workforce possible.</p><h4>How to Measure Employee Engagement</h4><p>The most common and efficient way to measure employee engagement is through surveys. While you could have one-on-one, in-person conversations with employees in order to see how they’re feeling and ask them for feedback, this is a time-consuming and, often, uncomfortable approach. Putting people on the spot might make them feel too nervous to voice their real opinions, especially about management.</p><p>Surveys, on the other hand, provide an anonymous, thorough platform through which employees can honestly express themselves. Not only that, but engagement surveys are an opportunity for management to <a href="http://www.explorance.com/5-key-reasons-to-conduct-employee-engagement-surveys-2/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">establish two-way communication</a> with employees and involve them in the development process by giving them a direct voice to the management team. This involvement makes employees realize that they have a stake in the company and that their opinions are valued.</p><p>Employee engagement surveys also benefit companies by providing clear sets of data to use for comparison purposes. By asking the right questions, businesses can compare results with industry-specific data to gain an understanding of their business ranks next to similar organizations. Not only that, but benchmarking also allows businesses to measure growth over the years by comparing data from one year to the next.</p><h3>What to Ask in Employee Engagement Surveys</h3><p>To get the best possible results, it’s important to know what questions to ask. While there are no standard drivers of engagement, some commonly assessed factors are:</p><ul><li>Recognition and feedback</li><li>Pay and benefits</li><li>Respect and fairness</li><li>Training and advancement opportunities</li><li>Leadership</li><li>Work environment</li><li>Mission and purpose</li></ul><p>Here are <a href="http://www.custominsight.com/employee-engagement-survey/sample-survey-items.asp" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the exact sample questions that companies like CustomInsight</a> consider for each of these categories (to be answered in a 0-5 scale, ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree):</p><ol><li>Recognition and feedback</li><li>a. At work, my opinions seem to count.</li><li>b. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.</li><li>c. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.</li><li>d. I receive useful and constructive feedback from my manager.</li><li>e. When I do a good job, I receive the praise and recognition I deserve.</li><li>f. Employee performance evaluations are fair and appropriate.</li><li>Pay and benefits</li><li>a. I am paid fairly for the work I do.</li><li>b. My salary is competitive with similar jobs I might find elsewhere.</li><li>c. My benefits are comparable to those offered by similar organizations.</li><li>d. I understand my benefit plan.</li><li>e. I am satisfied with my benefit package.</li><li>f. I understand the guidelines for receiving bonuses and raises.</li><li>Respect and fairness</li><li>a. My manager always treats me with respect.</li><li>b. The organization’s policies or promotion and advancement are always fair.</li><li>c. Favoritism is not an issue in any way.</li><li>d. My coworkers always treat me with respect.</li><li>e. This organization respects its employees.</li><li>f. My manager values my talents and the contributions I make to the company.</li><li>Training and advancement opportunities</li><li>a. I have adequate opportunities for professional growth in this organization.</li><li>b. I receive the training I need to do my job well.</li><li>c. My manager is actively interested in my professional development and advancement.</li><li>d. My manager encourages and supports my development.</li><li>e. I am encouraged to learn from my mistakes.</li><li>f. My work is challenging, stimulating, and rewarding.</li><li>Leadership</li><li>a. I am very satisfied with my manager.</li><li>b. I respect the senior leaders of this organization.</li><li>c. Senior management leads by example.</li><li>d. Senior management communicates well with the rest of the organization.</li><li>e. Employee job satisfaction is a top priority of senior management.</li><li>f. Senior management is held accountable for achieving results.</li><li>Work environment</li><li>a. My workplace is safe.</li><li>b. I have the resources I need to do my job well.</li><li>c. My workplace is a physically comfortable place to work.</li><li>d. I am comfortable sharing my opinions at work.</li><li>e. My ideas and opinions count at work.</li><li>f. I can disagree with my manager without fear of getting in trouble.</li><li>Mission and purpose</li><li>a. I have a good understanding of the mission and the goals of this organization.</li><li>b. I understand how my work directly contributes to the overall success of the organization.</li><li>c. My job is important in accomplishing the mission of the organization.</li><li>d. My supervisor provides me regular information about the mission and the goals of this organization</li><li>e. Doing my job well gives me a sense of personal satisfaction.</li><li>f. I agree with the mission and goals of this organization.</li></ol><h3>Next Steps</h3><p>The myriad benefits of higher employee engagement and proof of success with employee engagement surveys are outstanding. Other ways to boost workplace morale and participation in addition to using employee engagement surveys include: putting <a href="/resources/employee-engagement/5-ways-to-motivate-employees/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">these five proven ways to motivate employees</a> into practice, implementing <a href="/resources/workplace-culture/when-favoritism-in-the-workplace-is-a-good-thing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">healthy favoritism in the workplace</a>, and effectively <a href="/resources/leadership-and-management/managing-change-in-workplace" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">managing change in the workplace</a>.</p>

Measuring Employee Engagement with Employee Engagement Surveys

<p><br></p><p>The importance of employee engagement is no secret. Motivated employees put more effort into their work, which leads to better business outcomes. In fact, businesses with highly engaged employees <a href="http://www.engageforsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/The-Evidence.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">achieve twice the annual net income</a> of those who lag behind in engagement.</p><p>However, coming up with new and interesting ways to motivate employees is challenging. That's because we're trying to influence and sometimes even change the behavior of our entire staff. Recruitment is exhausting enough. Add scalable behavioral modification to the mix and our jobs can seem impossible!</p><p>Thankfully implementing an employee engagement strategy doesn't require an organizational overhaul. Rather, we can take baby steps and avoid catastrophic cultural or operational changes by looking at how other businesses motivate employees. Below we've outlined five employee engagement ideas that worked for other companies, and actions you can take right now to implement the engagement technique to your organization.</p><h3>Motivating Employees Idea 1: Gamification</h3><p>The use of games in the workplace to increase employee engagement is growing. In fact, the gamification market is expected to be worth $2.8 billion by 2016, according to <a href="http://gamingbusinessreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Gamification-in-2012-M2R3.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">M2 Research</a>. But what is it?</p><p><a href="http://blogs.gartner.com/brian_burke/2014/04/04/gartner-redefines-gamification/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gamification</a> uses game mechanics and design techniques in a non-gaming context to drive business performance. Much more than social networks, leaderboards, and badges, gamification is a unifying technique that helps employees of all levels connect with one another. It provides a system for recognizing and remembering things like employee cooperation, (friendly) competition, advancement, and success.</p><p>For example, utilities company EDF used gamification to crowdsource ideas for how their organization might innovate, <a href="http://www.uk.capgemini.com/energising-edf-energy-through-gamification" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">generating</a> five times as many ideas from employees than previous attempts. Pretty impressive.</p><p>Employees <a href="https://hbr.org/2011/02/making-sure-your-employees-suc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">are more likely to succeed</a> if they know their companies' goals, and gamification is a way of tangibly quantifying their contributions toward business objectives. Also, gamification lends itself to analytics, which can provide interesting insights into the impact of our motivational techniques.</p><h4>How to implement gamification</h4><p>The good news is we can start small. By thinking about our employees’ motivations and clearly identifying our business objectives, we can integrate game elements into existing processes.</p><p>“Something as simple as a scoring system can motivate employees to change their behavior,” says Elena Bertozzi, a professor of digital game design at Quinnipiac University, when talking to <a href="http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-topic/gaming-in-the-workplace" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Institute</a>.</p><p>For example, at the University of California Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, nurses were given points for logging in their daily tasks as part of an effort to prevent hospital-acquired infections.</p><p>“It’s difficult to teach motivation,” says Bertozzi. “That’s what games can do. Game developers look at a situation and figure out how to persuade people to engage in a specific activity by turning the situation into a more competitive one.”</p><p>And competition in the workplace can be a <a href="https://hbr.org/2012/05/the-darwinian-workplace" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">good thing</a>, as it boosts productivity when managed carefully. Keep things simple and entertaining to make sure employees buy in (low barriers of entry make games easily accessible to everyone), and offer real-time rewards and feedback. For more implementation ideas, check out this <a href="http://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Gamifying-Business-to-Drive-Employee-Engagement-and-Performance.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">paper</a> about getting started with a gamification process.</p><h3>Motivating Employees Idea 2: Peer-to-Peer Bonus Programs</h3><p>Rewards shouldn’t always come from the top. After all, those who are around us on a daily basis really notice when we’re putting in the extra effort.</p><p>Zappo’s <a href="http://www.zapposinsights.com/blog/item/four-peertopeer-ways-zappos-employees-reward-each-other" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recognizes this</a>, and uses a peer-to-peer employee rewards program that allows its staff to acknowledge those who are an excellent example of company culture and who’ve been doing a fantastic job.</p><p>Peer-to-peer rewards not only improve engagement, but they also foster a positive team spirit. They’re a great way of showing employees that the things they do make a big difference, and they’re not going unappreciated.</p><h4>How to implement a peer-to-peer rewards program</h4><p>Set up a process whereby employees submit nominations with brief explanations to a designated team or individual. Make it so that each employee can nominate one person a month, then pick winners on a qualitative or quantitative basis.</p><p>Rewards don’t have to be expensive. One of Zappo’s core values is “do more with less” and this means it works hard to keep its reward program affordable and scalable. For example, give awesome parking spots, free lunch for a week, or small cash prizes. To give peer-to-peer rewards an extra boost, monitor them over time and hold an awards ceremony at the end of the year to recognize the employee who earned the most.</p><h3>Motivating Employees Idea 3: Funded Social Events</h3><p>Beyond salary, psychological and social fulfilment can determine whether employees are motivated to stay, perform, and contribute to an organization, says Sylvia Vorhauser Smith for <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/sylviavorhausersmith/2013/08/14/how-the-best-places-to-work-are-nailing-employee-engagement/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Forbes</em></a>. In other words, employees who have their <a href="http://smallbusiness.chron.com/motivating-employees-maslows-hierarchy-needs-11828.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">basic human needs</a> met by their employer are more likely to be engaged.</p><p>UK-based Peninsula Business Services came third in the Sunday Times' <em>"Best Companies to Work For"</em> <a href="http://www.b.co.uk/Company/Profile/305891" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">list in 2014</a>, partly because it funds monthly socials for its employees. While this is just one of its many methods of boosting employee engagement (for example, its 759 staff receive a free breakfast every Monday morning to make the start of the week more palatable), hosting social events is something that even the smallest business can do.</p><h4>How to implement funded social events</h4><p>From Friday afternoon beer o’clock to a holiday meal, funded socials are one of the easiest ways to improve employee engagement. Or try <a href="http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/maintain/reward-accomplishments/awards-ceremonies/main" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reward ceremonies, which</a> are a great way to kill two birds with one stone — publicly recognize the efforts of high achievers and gather all employees in one place to bond. Just make sure that social events don't exclude certain employees — the last thing we want to do is to turn an employee engagement activity into an <a href="/resources/employment-law/ways-employers-encourage-discrimination-in-the-workplace" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">unintentional workplace discrimination</a> suit waiting to happen!</p><p>Worried about actually funding social events? Compared to the cost of high staff turnover and poor engagement (disengaged employees are estimated to cost the U.S. economy $450 billion to $550 billion annually, according to a <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/165269/worldwide-employees-engaged-work.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">survey</a> by Gallup), a monthly, or even quarterly social event isn’t a huge expenditure in the scheme of things. Review the books for discretionary budget and stick to small-scale events to keep costs down.</p><h3>Motivating Employees Idea 4: Anniversary Celebrations</h3><p>We know that employees who feel appreciated often go above and beyond what is expected of them, are more productive, and are less likely to leave a company. Well, celebrating employees’ workplace anniversaries is another way of letting them know that their commitment and loyalty haven’t gone unnoticed.</p><p>It’s another two birds, one stone situation. On the one hand, it improves the confidence and happiness of an individual employee. On the other, seeing another employee's achievements celebrated boosts morale across the whole office, because other employees know that their milestones will be met with similar rewards.</p><h4>How to implement anniversary celebrations</h4><p>This is another employee engagement technique that is extremely simple to set up. It only requires active management of a calendar to document employee start dates and some day-of preparations.</p><p>What's more, it doesn’t have to be organized from the top down. Setting up a celebration committee is a great way of sharing the work and fun; and it can improve the engagement of committee members since they'll have ownership of something that increases their peers' happiness.</p><p>What employees receive on their anniversary is limited only by our imagination. For example, employees celebrating their 20th anniversary with OhioHealth are <a href="http://fortune.com/best-companies/ohiohealth-35/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rewarded</a> with a shopping spree at an upscale mall before receiving a red carpet lunch with the CEO, while those reaching 10 years at Info-Tech Research Group get to join an exclusive veteran’s club and are <a href="http://www.greatplacetowork.ca/storage/documents/Publications_Documents/2013_Best_Workplaces_in_Canada.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">given</a> a $2,000 Air Canada gift certificate. From extra vacation days to simply an anniversary balloon, the options are endless.</p><h3>Motivating Employees Idea 5: Offer Flextime</h3><p>Flextime is a valuable tool for increasing employee satisfaction and engagement; considering it helps reduce absenteeism and staff turnover, improves the health of workers, and increases their productivity, according to a U.S. government <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/100331-cea-economics-workplace-flexibility.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">study</a>.</p><p>In fact, workers value flexibility <a href="http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&amp;articleId=1528226" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">over almost anything else</a> — 66% of American millennials said they felt that an organization that adopts a flexible, mobile, and remote work model has a competitive edge over one that requires employees to be in the office from 9 am to 5 pm every weekday.</p><h4>How to implement flextime</h4><p>Allowing more personal days, flexible working hours, remote working options, compressed hours (where employees work longer hours over a shorter period of time), and half-day Fridays can all contribute to a more engaged workforce. It makes sense — employees <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/159440" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">love</a> when employers are willing to contribute to a healthier work/life balance, and they work harder to ensure they can keep this optimal arrangement.</p><p>Adopt a formalized flextime policy rather than allowing an ad-hoc approach (which could get out of hand), and make sure all employees are aware of it. Some businesses do this by enforcing core hours, which means that regardless of start and finish time, all employees must be at their desks between, say, 10 am and 3 pm.</p><p>If it’s not realistic to implement this as standard, then why not take a leaf out of the Palo Alto-based law firm, Cooley’s, book? When its employees do a great job, they’re rewarded with “Snooze or Cruise” certificates, which allow them to come in two hours late or leave two hours early on a day of their choosing. The law firm's flexible initiative was <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/01/16/10-top-perks-from-fortunes-best-companies-to-work-for-2014/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">featured</a> in Fortune Magazine’s “10 Top Perks from Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For” and is an affordable way to motivate and reward employees.</p><h3>Takeaway</h3><p>Motivating employees isn't just about providing perks. Employees want to work for organizations that support and reward excellence, encourage honesty, and operate fairly. It’s our responsibility to provide them with this type of work environment as best we can; and in return we'll be rewarded with engaged employees.</p><p>Remember, we don’t have to make monumental organizational changes all at once. We can reduce risk by looking at the results achieved by other employers and adapting their initiatives to suit our own company objectives. We can also reduce the likelihood of internal resistance by starting small, measuring the impact of our employee engagement strategies, and collecting feedback before rolling things out on a larger scale.</p>

Measuring Employee Engagement with Employee Engagement Surveys

Employee Engagement Ideas: 5 Proven Ways to Motivate Employees