9 Ways to Measure & Increase Employee Engagement at Work

By Kati Ryan

In an alarming statistic, Gallup analytics reveal that only 33% of U.S. workers (and 15% of global employees) are engaged at work. This means that, as strategic leaders of our organizations, it’s important we continue what is working engagement-wise and that we listen, learn, and upgrade what’s in our power to increase employee engagement.

Below are 9 ways to measure and increase overall employee engagement in your organization:

• Start New Employees Off on the Right Foot — Your new hire onboarding program should set a stage for employee engagement by letting them know from Day One how the business will invest in their success. Inject your core values and enable them to understand why they made the right decision in joining your team. On the heels of the new hire training, send a survey that aligns with your overall learning objectives and measures their time in the training class. A few free or cheap tools to help you measure engagement post-new hire training include Google Form, Wufoo and Survey Monkey.
• Invest In Your Leaders — Are your people leaders seen as competent individuals, marching with their departments to the vision of the overall business? Investing in a Leadership Program to upskill your managers and ensure they are all following best practices that align with your business is key. Consider conducting an annual Manager Bootcamp to continue to finetune and develop leadership skills within your company.
• Set Individual Performance Goals and Hold Employees Accountable — Directly aligned to investing in your leaders, ensure they know how to cascade organizational goals to their departments and down to the individual. We have an intrinsic need to understand where we fit and the impact we are making, and that is especially true when we are working hard for an organization. According to Gallup, employees whose managers excel at performance management activities are more engaged than employees whose managers struggle with these same tasks.

• Build Future Leaders — Grant your High Potential (HiPo) Employees access to leaders within your business. Consider starting a mentorship program, where aspiring leaders can learn from current leaders. Creating a structure within your organization that allows future leaders to build and flex those skills before those positions become available, can be incredibly motivating. Pushing them by assigning stretch opportunities on the team will keep these employees engaged and challenged while the organization may not have a manager role for them yet… it’s a win-win both for the individual and the company.

For the other 5 tips, read here.