In today’s corporate world, the word ‘engagement’ has quickly earned a lot of buzzing. Around the globe, organizations are constantly trying to understand what is on employees’ minds so they can create highly engaging environments. The engagement survey would be a good way for an organization to better understand its relationship with its employees.
Employee engagement surveys, which measure employee satisfaction, involvement, and commitment. Although they are not a new idea, their popularity has increased in recent years.
According to numerous studies, a high level of employee engagement directly relates to an organization’s efficiency and profitability. So, what exactly are Employee Engagement Surveys? What are the benefits they can bring to an organization? Where does it come from, a concept so crucial to a company’s growth that its absence could affect overall productivity?
Definitions of Employee Engagement
There is no standard definition of employee engagement but William A. Kahn provided the first formal definition as “the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles. In engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances.”
Employee engagement is defined as the level of effort an employee gives to the organization’s interests. In other words, it is “the extent to which an employee feels passionate about his or her job, is committed to the organization, and puts extra effort into it.”
It does not necessarily mean the happiness or satisfaction of employees. It fails to address the employees’ involvement and emotional commitment towards the organization. So, we can define employee engagement as “the emotional commitment the employees have towards their organization and its goals.”
Importance of Employee Engagement
Now that we have somewhat become familiar with the concept of Employee Engagement. Let’s look at the benefits of it in today’s business context.
According to a study carried out by Gallup, engaged employees have an entirely different attitude toward work and the company than disengaged ones. The study found that engaged employees believe their work can help the company grow while disengaged employees believe their work has little meaning and doesn’t contribute to the growth of the company. This idea of disengaged employees creating a negative work environment affects not only their work but also the work of their colleagues. Therefore, the company’s productivity will suffer, ultimately harming both its employees and their performance.
Reasons to Conduct Employee Engagement Surveys
We have established that employee engagement is a key distinguishing factor for organization growth. Employer engagement surveys are vital to determining whether an organization has an engaged workforce.
Engagement surveys measure how much employees feel valued at their organizations. In this case, the engagement surveys are created so that they can measure how engaged the employees in a company are. There are many reasons why employers conduct employee engagement surveys, including finding out what drives employees to perform well.
Following are some of the key reasons why an organization should administer Employee Engagement Surveys.
Measure and Increase Employee Engagement:
This is probably the most fundamental reason an organization conducts employee engagement surveys. By conducting a survey, an organization can measure and assess the level of engagement of its employees. Measuring the key drivers of engagement allows the management to evaluate whether the employees are engaged or disengaged. These key drivers of engagement might include work/job role, performance management, rewards and recognition, pay and benefits, organization culture, training opportunities, etc.
After measuring the level of engagement, an organization can create an action plan, a feature that enables an increase in employee engagement. The insights from the survey can be useful to point out the strengths and the opportunities where the organization can enhance engagement. With the information provided by these surveys, organizations can establish a company-wide or workgroup specific action plan for improving engagement.
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Opportunity to Understand Working Conditions:
Even when a company’s management is doing everything they can to create a safe, friendly and ideal work environment for their employees, they won’t know their efforts will be worthwhile unless they receive actual feedback from them about their working conditions. An anonymous survey can be really helpful in such situations where the survey provider does not have to reveal his/her identity.
Discreet and Effective Means of Communication:
Employee engagement surveys also provide an opportunity to establish a two-way communication process. These surveys also give the employees an anonymous platform for open feedback. In the development process, this is extremely important as giving employees a voice makes them realize that their ideas are worth listening to and are part of the planning process of the organization.
Chances of Future Growth:
The process of administering an employee engagement survey provides an insight into a company’s current standing, which, in turn, might be useful for predicting the company’s future development.
Benchmark Comparison:
The employee engagement survey also provides the benchmark comparison. A company can compare certain information collected from a survey with the same industry-specific data to understand its performance with similar organizations. In other words, a midsized business with 500 employees can compare its performance with another midsized business with the same number or a different number of employees. Moreover, an organization can also compare its current year performance with the previous year.
Benchmark comparison also allows a company to identify whether any matter is specific to it or is it the same issue that all other companies are facing as well.
In the end, employees make organizations and not any revolutionary invention or the use of the latest gadgets and technologies. Employees are the heart and soul of an organization. So, the above-stated reasons combined are why an organization should invest in employee engagement surveys.
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