Why Current Programs Aren't Improving Employee Engagement
Nearly 85% of employees worldwide are still not engaged or are actively disengaged at work, despite more effort from companies.
The greatest cause of a workplace engagement program's failure is this: Employee engagement is widely considered "an HR thing."
It is not owned by leaders, expected of managers nor understood by front-line employees.
The result is that some organizations believe they have exhausted "engagement" as a performance lever before they truly explore its full potential to change their business.
These leaders consistently experience low engagement, or they plateau and eventually decline -- despite repeated attempts to boost scores. Other times, they have high engagement numbers, but their business results tell a different story.
At a loss for explanations, leaders may blame the tool, the measurement, the philosophy or environmental factors that they believe make their problems unique.
But, the apparent failure of employee engagement efforts is likely due to the way workplace employee engagement programs are executed. Some common mistakes:
Too complicated.
Leaders make engagement metrics far too complicated by focusing on predictors that often are outside of managers' control and typically don't relate to meeting employees' core psychological needs at work.
Incorrect engagement metrics.
They use a low-bar "percent favorable" metric that inflates scores and creates blind spots, resulting in the appearance of high engagement without strong business outcomes.
Overuse of surveys.
They overuse pulse surveys to get immediate feedback and rarely take action on the results.
In contrast, leaders who have integrated engagement into their corporate strategy using the framework we outline in the next section on this page see significant gains year after year.
The steps for improving engagement aren’t complex, they simply must be prioritized. Which means engagement must be a core function of the manager’s role.
All else then falls into place.
Step 1 – Put Everyone in the Right Role
Again, get the right people on the bus and make sure they are in the right roles. This means that all talent acquisition and retention strategies have to be aligned with meeting company goals.
Step 2 – Give Them the Training
No manager or leader can expect to build a culture of trust and accountability — and much less improve engagement — without setting the team up for success. This means providing the proper training and development while removing obstacles.
Step 3 – Task Meaningful Work
Engaged employees are doing meaningful work and have a clear understanding of how they contribute to the company’s mission, purpose and strategic objectives. Again, this is why they first have to be placed in the right role. I’ve made the mistake of hiring great talent just to get them in the door – but didn’t have a clear career path or role for them. If you don’t sort those details out quickly, they will leave.
Step 4 – Check in Often
The days of simply relying on mid-year reviews for providing feedback are long gone. Today’s workforce craves regular feedback — which of course leads to faster course correction and reduces waste. Use both formal and informal check-in strategies — and use them every week.
Step 5 – Frequently Discuss Engagement
Successful managers are transparent in their approach to improving engagement — they talk about it with their teams all the time. They hold “state of engagement” meetings and “engage” everyone in the discussion — and solutions.
Again, these principles are not complex, but must be prioritized. Companies that get this right will drive greater financial returns, surpass their competitors and easily climb to the top of “the best places to work” lists.
References:
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/285674/improve-employee-engagement-workplace.aspx#ite-357479