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Top HR employee engagement metrics to measure

Posted on June 1, 2022 by

What engagement metrics measure

Employee engagement metrics are a Human Resources concept where the aim is to measure an employee’s emotional attachment to the company. They measure how engaged a company’s employees are, and are indicative of their level of dedication and commitment to an organization.

How to measure employee engagement

The paper “Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement” by the psychologist William Kahn says there are three principal dimensions of employee engagement: physical, cognitive, and emotional.

Physical engagement describes how much an employee is willing to invest, mentally and physically, in their job — how much personal attention they put forward for the organization. Cognitive engagement indicates a higher degree of engagement: to engage, the employee should be well aware of the employer’s goals and the organization’s strategies, and put forward the desired work. Emotional engagement is the extent of an employee’s emotional relationship with the organization — to what degree they are engaged with its mission and values. In a nutshell, it’s the sense of belonging and confidence the employee has in the company and among its members to put forward their best performance.

Top ways to measure HR employee engagement

The metrics below are the ones HR teams most commonly track to understand engagement.

Employee resilience

Resilience is the ability to bounce back under stress. An employee’s resilience corresponds to how likely they are to stay or last in a company — employees with long-term goals tend to show more resilience. Like many other metrics, resilience is measured through tracking polls and surveys. To gauge it, you can run surveys centred on the employee’s interests, their commitment to taking leadership roles, how much their personality aligns with the work rhythm of the organization, and the extent to which they attain work-life balance.

Employee NPS

eNPS, or Employee Net Promoter Score, helps measure the level of loyalty and engagement an employee puts forward. It is based on one important question: how likely are you to recommend your employer to others as a place of work? It is answered on a scale of 0–10, where 9–10 are promoters, 7–8 are passives, and 0–6 are detractors. Promoters intend to stay because of their positive experiences, and their energy should be harnessed for the company’s growth; passives might stay longer if their issues are addressed; detractors are planning to leave or are the discontented bunch. eNPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. It is subjective and varies by industry, but as a rough benchmark, an eNPS above 30 is considered good.

Absenteeism

Absenteeism is a regular pattern of taking spontaneous or unapproved leave without a proper formal heads-up, disrupting the work pattern of the organization. This does not refer to genuine personal emergencies but to a habit of spontaneous, unapproved leave. Anything that disrupts the organization’s pattern of working and balance is considered a red flag. The percentage of absenteeism is the number of unapproved absences over the total time period, multiplied by 100. It is entirely subjective and cannot be confined to fixed right/wrong percentages; tracking it works to improve the company’s efficiency by highlighting where to improve.

Employee turnover rate

Employee turnover rate (ETR) refers to the number of people leaving the company in a definite span of time, including both voluntary and forced departures. Keeping track of ETR is necessary since it is a direct indication of the company’s health — paradoxically, it can indicate both growth and downfall, and a very low ETR isn’t always preferable. The percentage ETR is the number of employees who left over the average number of employees, multiplied by 100. There is no universal alarming rate, but as a rough idea, 10–30 is often considered suitable for a company’s wellbeing.

Relationships in the workplace

Positive engagement indicates that your employees share healthy relationships with peers and management, with effective communication, collaboration, and synchronization as they work toward company goals. To find out if your employees enjoy fruitful professional relationships, conduct surveys with questions such as: Do you feel comfortable sharing problems with management? Do you feel your company culture promotes healthy relationships? On a scale from 1 to 5, how effective is management in responding to the queries you bring to them?

Workplace wellbeing

Many companies prioritise employee wellbeing to forge a personal connection with their bottom line. Beyond promoting healthy professional relationships, it is vital to ensure employees’ wellbeing in and outside the workplace — for example, through wellness programs or fitness-focused seminars. Considering how common a sedentary lifestyle is in the present-day work environment, companies should go above and beyond to ensure a fit and active workforce, whether through wellness gifts, marathons, or other fitness drives. Useful survey questions include: Do you feel you can appropriately attend to your health and wellness at the company? Are you able to maintain a healthy work-life balance? Would you participate in fitness activities if the company organized them?

Recognition

Recognition is what keeps people thriving — much like a good paycheck, being recognized for the work you put in keeps people going. Being able to see the impact of your work, and how it fuels the success of the organization, is itself a drive for the employee. Workplace recognition is one of the most critical metrics: without proper recognition, the quality of work tends to go downhill, since it gives the impression that the work doesn’t make a difference. Recognition such as Employee of the Month or rewards for accomplishing milestones gives credit to employees.

Autonomy

Autonomy over one’s work is a psychological way of improving employee performance, since it gives complete control of the project to the employee, which in turn provides a sense of responsibility, resulting in high performance and improved results. Engagement metrics like this help analyze the factors standing in the way of the organization’s growth and progress, so they can be addressed at the root.

Compensation and perks

Compensation is undeniably one of the critical factors that tie employees to a job, alongside the quality of work, work-life balance, and company culture. There should be clarity regarding compensation packages at different levels, and employees should know they will be rewarded with salary hikes and promotions if they give their best. In addition, organizations can motivate employees with lucrative perks and benefits — gym memberships, corporate discounts, health plans, and the like. Keeping tabs on your employees’ satisfaction levels goes a long way in gauging their commitment to the company; implement employee engagement strategies and monitor the metrics above to ensure your efforts bear fruit.

Top 10 employee retention best practices

Posted on September 1, 2021 by

Why retention is a management goal

Effective employee retention requires a set of holistic techniques that add to the overall growth and productivity of a company. The benefits of employee retention are numerous, and companies are increasingly seeking to inculcate retention practices. Employee retention is more than just keeping employees; it needs to instil a sense of loyalty and commitment as well.

Experts in the field of Human Resources have come up with various theories to understand the phenomenon of employee retention. These are based on the idea that both the employer and the employee must work together to make the work experience smoother. Once that is achieved, customer relations and experience gain exceptional progress, and the company harnesses multi-dimensional gains.

It is no surprise, then, that one of the key management goals is to achieve employee retention successfully. Companies employ various practices suited to their needs and goals, and may follow different techniques at different stages. Stagnation in employees’ personal growth can end up bearing heavy costs, both material and quality-wise, so it is essential to create an environment in which employees feel connected to the work they are doing. Listed below are the top 10 best practices for employee retention, aimed at increasing engagement and satisfaction — an inclusive set of practices that lead to increased productivity and growth in customer satisfaction as well.

1. Hire the right candidates

A study from the recruiting platform Jobvite shows that around 30% of freshly acquired employees leave within the first 90 days — a huge loss for the company in both money and time. This happens mostly due to misplaced hiring or a lack of company initiative to make employees feel confident about their job prospects.

To ensure the right candidates are hired, examine whether applicants will be a good fit for the cultural ethos of the company. Skills and expertise can be acquired, but candidates must understand the company’s values and targets. Reflect this in the hiring process by asking questions that are more reflective of one’s work ethics and practices, so employees have a clear idea of their work environment and professional expectations from the very beginning.

2. Provide a great onboarding process

Employees are generally excited to start a new job, and management should ensure that excitement is maintained. An impressionable starting day, a feedback loop, and an exciting calendar are some ways to keep new employees engaged. Communication should be constant, with no grey silence that can make recruits anxious, and employees should feel confident about seeking out opportunities and office relationships from the very beginning. If employees face challenges during this crucial process, their enthusiasm takes a hit that can take forever to resurface, so a comprehensive onboarding program with enough time for feedback is crucial.

3. Help your employees grow and develop

Employees who feel underwhelmed about their job opportunities are quicker to leave. Instead of trying to acquire more skilful employees, companies should focus on creating a skilful environment within the company — primarily by creating a training program supplemented by workshops, incentives, and the like. According to the online course provider Udemy, 42 percent of employees agree that learning and development is the most important benefit when deciding where to work. A proactive approach to employee growth and development reduces turnover and drives more productivity.

4. Provide ample employee recognition

One of the key reasons employees leave is a lack of recognition. Even though HR policies do include techniques to acknowledge efforts, they are often mechanical without any real value. A structured employee recognition program is therefore essential for proper retention. Recognition means the whole company has strong interpersonal communication and management is kept in the loop, enabling them to recognize how different employees are contributing. The ideal scenario is a recognition culture where individual employees and company management can freely recognize one another.

5. Practice a feedback culture

Effective communication requires open and honest give-and-take and is an essential part of company culture. A cyclic, rather than a linear, pattern of feedback is essential — show your employees what they are lacking and how to improve, and be open to suggestions based on what employees feel and need. Given the difficult situation the pandemic has created, it is even more crucial to keep a check on employees; one can ask non-probing personal questions to make employees feel safe about their career choices.

6. Maintain work-life balance

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance for your employees is not only important for their health and relationships, but can also improve their productivity and performance. If your employees don’t view their work as a burden, they make fewer mistakes, work harder, and are more likely to become promoters of your brand. It is unwise to excessively push employees for short-term goals — that makes them feel overwhelmed and results in half-baked work. Instead, offer flexible work schedules that teams can manage on their own. Work-life balance is a primary deciding factor for employees, especially those with families.

7. Provide competitive compensation

Everyone wants to feel they are being compensated adequately for the amount of work they put in. Apart from covering their cost of living, fair pay ensures their time is worth their effort, so a competitive salary gives talented employees minimal reasons to leave or to not utilize their full potential. Management should take time to research current wages and apply them as they see fit — when employees see they are being paid as much as, or more than, their contemporaries, they become more dedicated to the company.

8. Encourage open communication

Perhaps one of the hardest goals to achieve in company culture is open communication. Employees often feel a sense of distance from their employers, which can be harmful to the company’s growth. Bosses who are easy to approach and open to suggestions often end up retaining a strong set of dedicated and hardworking employees. Open communication means employees are not afraid to put forward their ideas and concerns, and that these are received with attention — resulting in better outcomes and easier delegation of responsibilities.

9. Bond with your employees

According to data from Virgin Pulse, a good relationship between employees and their employer is one of the major factors determining retention. In the survey of 1,000 employees, 60 percent stated that their relationship with employers impacted their productivity as well as their stress levels at work. While it is not advisable to be overly involved in employees’ lives, a certain amount of interest in their personal and professional life is beneficial — noting an update on their housing situation or celebrating personal achievements are small ways managers can bond with their teams. It is also healthy to promote team-building activities like group lunches, game nights, and treks, which enrich relationships and make employees more connected to peers and superiors.

10. Emphasise a diverse and inclusive workplace culture

As the world gradually becomes more accepting of differences, the workplace must adapt too. There has been rapid development in ensuring the workplace is not hostile to any community, especially minorities, with provisions to remove barriers of gender, sexual orientation, and educational background being adopted globally. This makes sure employees feel safe expressing themselves and can bring fresher outlooks. A company that makes its employees feel appreciated will surely harness unbounded gains.

Conclusion

The practices explained above are some of the ways companies can retain their most skilled employees most efficiently. Policies and practices that are flexible, inclusive, and based on a cycle of feedback are ideal. The corporate world is ever-changing, and one must keep an eye out to stay on top of it — corporations must be wise enough to revise and re-adapt these practices with changing times and needs.

The importance of employee recognition and how to do it properly

Posted on November 1, 2020 by

What employee recognition really is

Ever wondered what employee recognition is? It’s much more than giving the thumbs up, and it can mean the difference between a thriving business and a sinking one. This article highlights why employee recognition matters and how using it effectively can increase your business’s bottom line.

Here’s why showing your employees recognition matters

Only 1 in 3 workers in the United States reported having received recognition for hard work they had done in the last 7 days — a significant figure, given how much of the country’s workforce is employed by businesses. Showing your employees recognition when they are performing well is a low-cost, high-return investment. If two-thirds of Americans aren’t feeling their work is being recognized by their employers, then making this a priority within your workforce will raise you above the competition.

Employee retention is oftentimes overlooked as a critical issue facing businesses. Particularly during a tight economy, losing a valued worker can cost as much as 2x their original salary in flow-on effects — finding new staff, decreased productivity, training costs, and subtle negative changes to company culture can all strain your business. Showing employees the recognition they deserve routinely throughout their career increases the chances of retention massively. Studies also show that ensuring your employees’ happiness can have up to a 13% positive impact on productivity, so being proactive in showing gratitude to your workforce is key to driving success.

Ask yourself: do you recognize your employees’ efforts?

Being honest with yourself, sit down with a senior member of staff and record the ways you feel you and management display recognition in the workplace. Chances are you don’t do it enough. It’s understandable — running a business is time-consuming and other things take precedence. Moving forward, think of ways to include methods of employee recognition in your schedule, and brainstorm with staff about what makes them feel seen and appreciated. To get the ideas flowing, here are eight ways to recognize the value of your employees without breaking the bank — or your back.

1. Highlight milestones — work-related and non-work-related

If an employee has been working hard day in and day out, do not miss your opportunity to let them know you appreciate their efforts; like any relationship, nothing sours the union faster than one party never being recognized. Where appropriate, take the time to congratulate employees on non-work milestones such as getting married, having kids, or succeeding in a sporting or musical event. Although some may deem it minor, commenting on an employee’s achievements outside of work shows you have a vested interest in their livelihood.

2. Invest in them

Sometimes actions speak louder than words. Investing in your employees shows you recognize their work and are willing to invest financially in their wellbeing. This doesn’t have to be expensive dinners or events — simple gestures such as buying the lunchroom a new coffee machine, or investing in new couches and pods for breaks, state loud and clear that you want them to enjoy being at work. If a team has been asking you to invest in new technologies or software to improve their workflow, now is the time to do it.

3. Get to know employees’ passions outside of work

Learning about your employees is pivotal if you want to authentically connect with them — this is, after all, the crux of recognition: being heard, connected with, and valued. Actively listening and taking time out of a busy workday to talk about their passions and hobbies will reap dividends. Knowing more about your workforce also helps you recognize them more authentically. For example, if a marketing employee, Adam, is coming up on 10 years of service and you know he loves painting but doesn’t care much for sports, tickets to an art gallery for him and his partner will carry far greater meaning than tickets to an NBA game.

4. Utilize gamification and new technologies

Studies show only about 30% of employees have been engaged at work over the past two decades. Could this be the same one-third of the workforce receiving recognition for their work? Although not directly correlated, a link between recognition and engagement is not too outlandish. The good news is you have the power to change this. Gamifying certain aspects of your business — such as sales or customer support — makes employees’ progress and hard work more visible to you and their peers, making it easier to publicly recognize them.

5. Create a culture that encourages peer-to-peer recognition

Employee recognition doesn’t always have to come from the top. Fostering an environment that encourages peer-to-peer recognition is highly beneficial. Subtly incorporating a peer-recognition program within the workweek gives teams the ability to give each other positive feedback — you can make this more natural by enlisting a respected leader to host a casual briefing over coffee and snacks at the end of the week. This is powerful for morale, as recognition from fellow team members can sometimes be even more meaningful than from your boss.

6. Offer extra perks

Perks and bonuses are a tangible way for employees to feel their hard work has paid off. Providing access to non-purchasable items, such as more convenient office parking or larger discounts on your company’s products and services, feels like a unique acquisition rather than a paid bonus. This creates greater drive if employees know that higher performance equals better perks. Those who routinely show they can work autonomously toward company goals may also be granted a more flexible working schedule — allowing occasional work from home or a later start is a powerful way of saying you trust them.

7. Motivate with financial incentives and bonuses

Intrinsic motivation is the drive to perform for the love of the process or task at hand; extrinsic motivators are anything outside of this. Intrinsic motivation is far more effective for achieving difficult, long-term goals. That said, financial incentives and bonuses are an obvious way to show employees you recognize their performance — as long as they are used fairly and sparingly. With COVID causing financial hardship and uncertainty, monetary bonuses will be well received, and effective compensation management with clear guidelines guarantees this style of recognition is used to its fullest potential.

8. Loosen the reins and give autonomy

Taking a step back and allowing high-performing employees some autonomy is a strong, subliminal indicator that you trust their ability to work without your input. For some people this is one of the strongest forms of recognition there is — and knowing your employees on a more personal level helps you decide whether their personality would appreciate this gesture. Let them know privately that you are very happy with their work and that they will have more room to be innovative and lead future projects; this extension of freedom and trust goes a long way.

Be authentic in your recognition

The low-cost investment of employee recognition could be what drives your business to succeed. Authentically recognizing your staff’s efforts will be a catalyst for productivity. Applying all or some of these tactics will drive positive change — and remember, recognition doesn’t have to come in the form of costly bonuses and big promotions. It can carry just as much value when you have a deeper understanding of what drives and impassions your employees.

How to re-engage your employees post-COVID

Posted on September 1, 2020 by

Heading back to the office

Slowly but surely we are heading back into the office. The world is reopening and we’re ready to embrace it with open arms. After months of lockdown, you might assume that employees are keen to get back to work — unfortunately, that is not the case. In this article you will learn how to re-engage your employees post-COVID to help you get your business up and running again.

Employee engagement is key to rebuilding a business; however, research shows that on average only around 29% of employees in a company are actively engaged. They are loyal, committed, more productive, and easier to retain, which is why they are vital to business regrowth. Just over half of your team are likely not engaged — they can be productive but are not psychologically connected to the company, and they are the ones who miss workdays and are more likely to leave. A fifth of your employees are actively disengaged: physically present but unhappy and psychologically absent, and they share their unhappiness with others, which can influence the rest.

As a business owner, employee engagement might not be at the forefront of your mind given the current situation — with businesses starting back up you are probably more concerned with customer relations and closing deals. But if you don’t actively work toward re-engaging your employees, that might not be possible. After almost five months working from home, employees have realised benefits such as saving time and money by not commuting, and they are asking for flexible working patterns, the ability to work remotely, and an openness to new working styles. This shift in attitudes will have a ripple effect when offices reopen: although individuals have missed the social aspect of the office, they have made it clear that they want a change.

How do you re-engage employees?

Trying to re-engage your employees, and keep them engaged, was hard before the global pandemic. Now, with a looming recession, job losses, months of working from home, and a virus still in circulation, it is even harder. Nevertheless, the traditional methods that employers have used for years are still effective and shouldn’t be ignored. Reopening your office takes some getting used to after lockdown, and keeping on top of the basic pillars of engagement — recognition, growth, and fun — goes a long way toward keeping employees happy and motivated.

Re-engage and recognise

Employees are more engaged when they feel their contribution has been recognised. Although remuneration, benefits, and rewards are common ways to show employees you value their input, you might not be financially stable enough to give those kinds of rewards post-COVID. Fortunately, over 80% of employees value recognition above any rewards or gifts — as long as employees feel you appreciate the work they are doing, they will be more actively engaged.

The type of recognition matters too. Over two-thirds of people believe recognition as an individual is more motivating than recognition as a team; almost 90% find praise from their managers very or extremely motivating, and three-quarters say the same about praise from peers. Recognizing and praising employees for their contributions doesn’t cost you any time or money — look at everything that has been achieved while everyone worked from home and be ready to offer individual praise when your doors reopen.

Growth

Employees are more engaged if they feel there is potential to grow and develop their career within your organisation — in fact, the majority of people list opportunities for growth as a more motivating reason to stay than a pay rise. This is why engagement tends to be better in a growing company, as staff understand the correlation between business growth and new job opportunities. The problem is that a post-pandemic recession is likely to halt growth.

Whether you are open with your employees or not, there will be tell-tale signs of whether your business is growing or taking a hit, and if staff feel the business is struggling financially they disengage quickly. Although growth and career progression might not be on the cards right now, job security is increasingly important as we enter a global recession. Where possible, make every member of staff feel their job is safe; if you have made redundancies, others will feel insecure, so continue offering praise and recognition so they feel confident in their role.

Fun

Without a doubt, the easiest and most effective way to keep your team motivated and engaged is to provide a fun working environment — nine out of ten employees list a fun working environment as very or extremely motivating. This doesn’t mean you need to turn your office into a trendy agency or Google HQ overnight. Simply building strong relationships and encouraging out-of-work hobbies can go a long way; most people are just looking for a healthy work environment.

Expecting to re-engage unengaged employees

One of the problems business owners face is the shift in attitudes that has left previously engaged employees feeling unmotivated and disengaged. With all the changes 2020 brought, employees are looking for a sense of normality, and returning to a new, socially-distanced environment after months away takes its toll.

It is understandable when you look at the three pillars of engagement above. For months, each team member worked from home without colleagues around them — that segregation led to a decrease in praise and recognition from management and peers alike. They are also likely to have lost confidence in their job security, with media headlines focusing on the looming recession and job losses. Finally, any element of fun in the work environment has been stripped bare by distancing requirements, plastic screens, and the lingering smell of hand sanitiser, while employees got used to working from home with more free time for family and new hobbies. The measures above will help you overcome these difficulties — letting engagement slip is understandable amid a pandemic, but doing so causes more damage to your business.

How do you motivate a disengaged team?

It is much harder to motivate an individual who has recently become disengaged. We can make assumptions as to why, but you can never be completely sure, so there is no quick fix. Once an individual becomes disengaged it is really hard to get them back on course — they aren’t satisfied with the job, don’t find it exciting, and spend the day clock-watching. Under normal circumstances they would be searching for a new job; in the current situation they may feel trapped by the decreasing job pool, which can lead to further problems as they vocalise their issues and their negative attitude rubs off on others. Cutting staff could lead to further disengagement, and it is far more cost-effective to actively re-engage a current member of staff than to recruit new people.

Career development

You might not be in the best situation to start promoting employees and dishing out pay raises and bonuses — but you can still let your staff know their position is safe. Asking your staff to take part in training exercises that enable them to develop new skills makes them feel appreciated and shows you intend to have them working for you in the future, giving them a sense of job security.

Be open

Share all the company news, good and bad, with your employees. In doing so you tell everyone they are a valuable member of the team, and you help them engage with the business, company goals, and your mission and values. You may also find a handful of hidden talents among your team: disengaged employees pass the day doing the bare minimum, while engaged employees go above and beyond. By being open about the current situation, your team becomes more actively engaged and could even provide solutions to company problems.

Lay out your expectations

Your business goals will have to be adjusted to face the crisis — your product offering, distribution methods, or marketing strategy may have to change. If you are open with your employees, they will already understand their roles may change slightly. Make this transition easier by sitting down with each employee to discuss their new role and set clear expectations, goals, and objectives. In doing so, you reiterate the importance of every member of staff, and they feel more secure with clear targets to work toward.

Re-engage employees post-COVID: a summary

Believe it or not, your employees want to re-engage at work — nobody wants to sit at a desk clock-watching for a third of their life. Engaging your team will not only boost your business but make your office a better place to work. Your employees will find it much easier to stay motivated and engaged if you provide the right atmosphere for them to do so, and you can do this by following the tips above.

The 7 Pillars of HR Leadership — Part 7: Employee Experience

Posted on September 1, 2020 by

What is employee experience?

Employee experience is mostly a misunderstood term, as it is still in its infancy. Broadly, employee experience refers to everything an employee experiences at work — for example, their interactions with their managers, the tools available for them to complete their work, and the teams they work with. It’s a holistic view of an employee’s experiences as they work at an organization.

A positive employee experience is motivating and leads to increased productivity. With COVID-19 forcing many employees and managers to adapt to how they work, organizations need to revisit the employee experience so that employees continue to feel motivated and supported during these uncertain times.

How the HR role will change post-COVID-19

When thinking about the employee experience, HR professionals should keep the following considerations in mind.

Happy employees bring more value to the company

A positive employee experience makes employees happy and engaged, and happy employees are more productive. No wonder that in a recent study by Deloitte, almost 80% of executives worldwide rated employee experience as important or very important.

Great employee experiences need to be holistic; the experience starts during an individual’s candidacy for employment (i.e. “candidate experience”). Valuable insight can be obtained at this step about how the organization can provide a positive experience to all its employees.

Use the right technology and processes

The right technology will collect and leverage feedback from every employee experience to take the right actions to impact engagement. It empowers your organization to take actions that put your people first.

Listen

Whether in the office, on job sites, or remote, hear every voice in your organization with a listening engine that makes sure you can take action when and where it matters most. From relational census and pulse to multi-rater and always-on feedback, you’ll have the listening tools to understand and design the unique employee experiences your diverse workforce requires.