Four Ways to Effectively Measure Employee Engagement

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Diverse Employees having a meeting

As an employer, you have likely heard of the importance of employee engagement and how it drives productivity, creativity, and commitment. However, do you know how to measure it? Without measuring employee engagement, it’s hard to improve it. Here are 4 ways to help you quantify how engaged your employees are. Establish Measurements. What does employee engagement mean to you? Some employers define employee engagement as productivity, while others define it as happiness. It is important to define the meaning of employee engagement for your company as you will use these factors as part of your employee engagement survey. Conduct Surveys. Send out employee surveys to gather qualitative and quantitative data to measure and analyze results. Whether you ask open-ended questions or those with a 1-5 scale, you can find areas upon which you can improve and determine where you are doing well. Your survey may be formal and sent out annually, or you may use an app where you ask 5-10 questions regularly. For example, GE developed an in-house app to gain regular insights from employees and managers to lead continuous improvement. Have one-on-one conversations using a coach-approach. Conversations with a select segment of employees, using a coach-approach can be a powerful way to supplement surveys, as you can follow-up for more detail. However, the only way for these conversations to be effective is to create a comfortable environment for employees to be honest. Ask open-ended questions like, “What do you like about working here and what recommendations do you have for improvement?” Management at companies such as Adobe and Patagonia have adopted regular “Check-ins” with their employees on top of surveys to speak about expectations and gather feedback. Create a plan. Gathering data over time is a great way to measure engagement and give you insight as to where to improve but it’s also important to create a plan of action to improve engagement once issues are identified. Whether you’re plan includes implementing employee feedback or establishing coaching programs, you can tailor an action plan that works for your company. Are ready to create real change in your workplace? As a leader of an organization, you have a great opportunity to build a thriving workplace by improving employee engagement at your company.  CoachDiversity Institute works with forward-thinking corporations, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and government entities who are ready to build a strong culture of engagement. Contact us today to learn more.