How to Measure Employee Engagement

Being able to accurately measure employee engagement is critical for sustaining a satisfied, focused, and fruitful workforce. Engagement is a significant metric for assessing the health of your business and staff. It helps you understand how well workers align with the company’s goals, which in turn affects productivity, morale, and retention.

Want to know how well your team members are performing? It's time to assess their engagement level within your organization.

What Is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement refers to how interested, committed, and passionate an employee is about their work. When people feel engaged, they become more invested in their roles. They care about what they do and are proud to be a part of the company.

Benefits of Measuring Staff Engagement

Businesses that want to stay competitive and retain top talent must make employee engagement a priority. Why is this so important for a strong and stable workforce?

Engaged employees are more productive, creative, and loyal. They work harder than their disengaged counterparts, are more willing to go above and beyond, and bring fresh ideas to the table. Simply put, employee satisfaction directly impacts productivity and retention rates.

Speaking of retention rates, engaged team members are less likely to seek work elsewhere so there's less turnover. Remember that turnover comes with hefty costs—so it pays to keep talent around!

Top 5 Metrics for Assessing Employee Engagement

There are several key metrics you can use to assess employee engagement:

Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is one of the most crucial drivers of employee engagement. It's a measure of how satisfied employees feel with their job and happy team members tend to be more engaged. Measuring this metric provides insight into how your employees feel and whether they're likely to stay for the long haul.

According to Gallup's research, "employees need more than a fleeting warm-fuzzy feeling and a good paycheck." People need to feel purpose and have meaningful relationships. Workers thrive with the support of a caring manager. These elements are integral for job satisfaction today.

Wellness

Wellness is the state of being free from disease—physically, mentally, and spiritually. But it entails more than the absence of illness; it's about feeling healthy and happy in all areas of our lives. When we focus on wellness, we can reach our full potential at work and at home. Happier and healthier employees produce quality work, enhance customer satisfaction, and help the business thrive.

Career Development

The ability to grow and develop skills is a fundamental component of employee engagement. Companies with a culture of growth tend to attract and retain high-performing employees who develop stronger relationships with the company.

This is especially true for younger employees. According to a LinkedIn study, 40% of young workers said they were willing to accept a 5% pay cut to work in a position that offered career growth opportunities. Additionally, 76% of Gen Zers want more opportunities to move up or increase responsibilities at work.

Employee development opportunities may include:

Career development conferences
Online classes or higher education
Taking on more responsibilities and challenges

These activities can:

Enhance an employee's performance in his or her current role
Spark curiosity or bring out a new talent
Present the opportunity to learn about other roles within the company's industry

Recognition

Recognition is another powerful motivator that can retain quality employees. Companies that recognize the hard work of their team members tend to have lower turnover rates and higher engagement levels than companies that don't offer recognition programs.

In fact, a study by the American Psychological Association found that 93% of employees “who reported feeling valued said that they are motivated to do their best at work.” Another study found that when employees believe their efforts will be recognized, they’re 2.7x more likely to be highly engaged in their work.

Relationships with Managers and Peers

The relationship that employees have with their managers and peers can show how engaged they are in the workplace. Even the most autonomous of us needs positive human connection from time to time.

What happens if your employees feel isolated, disconnected, or unable to share ideas freely? They'll likely feel removed from the workplace and could start preparing for their departure.

How to Measure Staff Engagement in 5 Ways

Now that we've covered some metrics for assessing employee engagement, let's dive into the five ways your company can measure it:

Host One-On-One Meetings

Hosting one-on-one meetings with your employees is a good place to start. These meetings are a valuable way to get to know your team members and ensure they're getting what they need from you as an employer.

During the one-on-one meetings, you can discuss:

- Performance issues
- Career development
- Your employee's personal goals and life outside of work

Conduct Stay & Exit Interviews

Ideally, we try to avoid having to conduct an exit interview. Exit interviews mean voluntary turnover, disruption, and money lost. In order to help prevent exit interviews, try conducting stay interviews instead.

Stay interviews are meetings that occur between manager and employee with the intention of gaining an understanding of why the employee continues to stay with the company. Typically, these meetings take place with high-performing employees, whose skill set is valuable to the company.

Use these interviews to ask valuable questions like:

What do you look forward to most coming to work each day?
Is there anything you dread about your job? If so, what?
When was the last time you thought about leaving the company?

Evaluate Your Employee Absenteeism Rate

You can use your employee absenteeism rate as an indicator of how well the business is doing. Divide the number of hours absent by the total number of hours worked to identify trends in employee engagement. An increase in absenteeism over time may hint at a disengagement problem.

Consider tracking your company's absenteeism rate by logging the data on a spreadsheet that lists each employee's name and how much time they've been absent from work. When you import this data into a graph or charting program, you'll see how often people miss work throughout different departments and teams within your organization.

Run Pulse Surveys

Pulse surveys are an excellent way to get feedback from employees and measure their engagement. They're quick and easy to use:

Choose an email list of employees you want to send the survey to
Create a link that directs employees to the survey
Ask questions related to your organization's culture, communication with management, productivity levels at work, and job satisfaction

Also, remember to make it abundantly clear to your employees that these surveys are anonymous. Because it's the only way to gather true feedback, anonymity is a must.

Measuring Engagement Can Bolster Team Performance

Staff engagement can say a lot about your workplace performance. Engaged employees are more motivated, committed, and productive. Contrarily, disengagement results in high turnover rates, low productivity levels, and increased absenteeism.

But before you can begin to improve your team's engagement, you must measure what you have. Doing so will allow you to identify areas of improvement and how much effort each change requires.

In the market for customized recognition programs for your business? Terryberry offers a bevy of solutions to keep your workforce happy, healthy, and engaged. We've helped more than 44,000 companies recognize their workers with milestone and service awards, performance and incentive rewards, and social recognition programs. Schedule a demo today to learn more about how you can recognize your team for the amazing work they do.

How to Measure Employee Engagement: Metrics & Tips to Help You Get Started