It’s official – In the UK we have an employee engagement deficit with around ONLY one third of UK workers saying they are fully engaged at work – The Human Capital Institute lists some interesting financial consequences of both employee engagement and disengagement:
• Fully engaged employees return 120% of their salary in value
• Engaged employees return 100% of their salary in value
• Somewhat disengaged employees return 80% of their salary in value
• Disengaged employees return 60% of their salary in value
The cost of disengagement in the UK is £26 billion (Engage for Success 2012). In addition, UK productivity was 20% lower than the rest of the G7 in 2011 (ONS 2012).
However it seems that many organisations just don’t know, even when perhaps half of their salary bills, (often their biggest costs) are going on people either not contributing (non-engaged) or worse still, those who are actually pushing in the wrong direction. In other words, actively disengaged. Despite countless studies showing the value of engagement, many leaders and managers still seem to have thoughts that block them from taking positive action, such as:
• “We don’t need people to feel engaged, we just want them to do their jobs”
• “We don’t have time for employee engagement”
• “I’m not good at that touchy-feely stuff”
Yet the data is repeatedly showing us that employee engagement has a measurable impact on a business’ bottom line. Leaders should not regard it as a checklist or a one off quick fix. It needs to become an integral part of a company’s values and operating processes.
“So, where does engagement sit on your business agenda? How often do you think about it? “How much does it matter to you whether your employees are engaged with your business – it’s brand and values?”
Engagement is often about attitude – is it about time you paid it some attention?
3 Quick wins to improve engagement
• Unplug the tech and start talking to your teams – less email and more real face time
• Everyone needs feedback – take one member of your team to lunch each week and ask for feedback on how you can be more effective. Open the door to more feedback on your team beginning with you.
• Listen to what you hear – Employees can tell if you truly value their opinions and car about their professional development.
Would you like a employee engagement health check?
Space2BE have a unique tool called ENGAGE which cleverly assesses employees engagement for teams and businesses and gives you an indication of how connected they are to your brand and leadership message.
