Companies often struggle with how to measure employee engagement. Employee surveys and online reviews are frequently recommended.
But do these tools provide the most accurate insight?
Why Engagement Matters
Companies pursue measuring—and subsequently improving—employee engagement in a quest to be the best, with the understanding that engagement drives organizational success.
Consider findings from the latest Gallup State of the American Workplace report: Only 33 percent of U.S. employees are engaged at work; however, at the world’s best organizations, the number is 70 percent.
The statistics make a compelling case for the link between employee engagement and company success.
Tricky Metric
Still, measuring engagement appears to be an inexact process.
Employee engagement survey questions often use the Likert scale, which includes five options: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree. Accuracy of answers may depend on a variety of factors, including employee honesty, attitude at the time of the survey, and interpretation of the questions.
Asking the right questions, which includes exploring the same issues using different approaches, increases the chances of meaningful results, as does conducting regular surveys.
Nevertheless, it’s important to recognize that surveys gauge how employees feel, and feelings don’t always translate to action or inaction in the workplace.
Online reviews have even more potential pitfalls. Are reviews for a given company representative of the company’s entire workforce, or merely the opinions of a few employees who were compelled to comment? Similarly, a specific workplace incident, positive or negative, that prompts an employee to submit a review may not provide accurate insight into the employment relationship.
Other Avenues
Because employee engagement is difficult to measure, some experts suggest another approach. A recent study from professional services firm Deloitte, for example, recommends focusing on passion rather engagement.
Yet, whether you focus on engagement or passion, what you’re really trying to do is find concrete ways to measure whether employees are enthusiastically contributing to the company.
Rather than take a big picture overview, why not use measures already in place, at the department level?
For example, a warehouse manager who has established standards for a pick-and-pack operation knows if an employee is engaged. Likewise, a purchasing director with cost-reduction targets knows if purchasing agents are negotiating with vendors for better deals. By the same token, a marketing manager knows when creativity flows and when it doesn’t.
When results are measured, engagement, or lack of, becomes obvious. When managers focus on results, they focus on engagement.
When recruiters or hiring managers review a job candidate’s work history and ask interview questions with attention to results, they gain insight into engagement—in action.
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Paula Santonocito, Contributing Editor for Recruiting Daily Advisor, is a business journalist specializing in employment issues. She is the author of more than 1,000 articles on a wide range of human resource and career topics, with an emphasis on recruiting and hiring. Her articles have been featured in many global and domestic publications and information outlets, referenced in academic and legal publications as well as books, and translated into several languages. |