Managing with heart: What does employee engagement feel like?
At organizations with cultures of high employee engagement, visitors can feel the energy and passion. The sense of caring about coworkers and customers is palpable. Employees collaborate. Staff and customers feel appreciated and valued. By contrast, a culture of disengagement is also easily to spot. Employees fly out the door at 4:59 p.m. They pass the time playing games on their phones, isolate themselves in their cubicles, or exhibit a lack of creativity and initiative. At Energage, to measure employee engagement, we look at: 1. Motivation: Are employees motivated to give their best? Or do they give minimal effort required to get things done? 2. Retention: Are employees committed to staying? Turnover is a critical indicator of employee engagement. Employees who believe in the organization and where it is headed are more likely to stay. 3. Referral: Will employees tell their friends that this organization is a great place to work? The best workplaces hire half of their new employees from personal references provided by staff.
Unlocking untapped potential
Our data shows that in the general population, the level of employee engagement holds steady at a national average of 31 percent. That means nearly 70 percent of the workforce represents untapped potential! They lack desire to be at work. They’d rather be somewhere else. Consequently, they fail to perform at their best. And so does the organization. At “culture-aware” companies, organizations that focus on culture even if they haven’t quite cracked the code yet, an average of 46 percent of employees are engaged. And then there are Top Workplaces. These standout organizations with employee engagement levels close to 60 percent. At the best-of-the-best — the top decile of Top Workplaces — employee engagement averages an impressive 86 percent. These are the organizations that have truly unlocked potential and are driving outstanding business results. Doug Claffey is CEO of Energage, a Philadelphiabased research and consulting firm that surveyed more than 2.5 million employees at more than 6,000 organizations in 2017. Energage is The Denver Post’s research partner for Top Workplaces.