Employee engagement is crucial in any organisation, as it has a direct impact on employee productivity, retention, and satisfaction. Understanding how engaged and happy your employees are, and identifying any areas for improvement can be extremely beneficial for your business, and employee engagement surveys provide an efficient way to gather this feedback.
What is employee engagement?
Employee engagement is the emotional commitment employees have to their work, their team, and the organisation as a whole. Employees who are engaged with their work are more likely to be satisfied in their roles and with their workplace. This can lead to a more productive and efficient workplace, and reduce employee turnover.
Employee engagement goes beyond job satisfaction, as it is not just about being happy or content with one's job. It also involves employees being passionate, motivated, and fully invested in their work, as well as the company's success.
Why does employee engagement matter?
Employee engagement is important for any business as it can have a significant impact on the success or failure of your business. Engaged employees are more productive, more innovative, and more committed to the organisation's goals.
Employee engagement can lead to increased productivity and efficiency within the workplace, as engaged employees are typically more committed to their work and are more likely to put in extra effort to meet their goals.
Employee engagement can contribute to a positive company culture and a sense of shared purpose among team members, which can boost morale and create a more enjoyable work environment. Engaged employees are more likely to stay with the company long-term, reducing turnover and associated recruitment costs.
As well as increasing employee satisfaction, engaged employees can lead to improved customer satisfaction, as they are more likely to provide high-quality service and positively represent the company to clients and customers. This can increase customer loyalty and ultimately drive revenue growth.
Measuring employee engagement
Measuring employee engagement is vital to understanding where an organisation stands and where it needs to improve. While measuring employee engagement can seem like a complex process, one of the most common and efficient methods is with an employee engagement survey.
Employees may not always feel comfortable providing direct feedback face to face, but an online survey provides them with the opportunity to share their feedback. You can use employee satisfaction surveys to get feedback on various aspects of the business, from workplace culture to operational processes to workload.
Surveys can be kept anonymous, allowing employees to voice their opinions without fear that what they share will be held against them. This can give your employees more confidence to be honest, even if they’re providing negative feedback.
Employee engagement surveys are quick and easy to distribute, making them a good option for measuring the satisfaction of your employees, and getting feedback that can be actioned to make any necessary improvements within your business.
Questions to ask in an employee engagement survey
Creating an engaging workplace culture can be key to improving employee satisfaction, and using surveys is a simple step businesses can take towards creating a more engaging workplace culture. However, when creating a survey to measure employee satisfaction you need to carefully consider the questions you include.
How satisfied are you in your current role?
It may seem obvious, but asking employees directly about how satisfied they are is an important question to ask. You can ask this question with a scale rating, where your employees can provide a rating out of 10, and then you may want to include a comment box that allows them to elaborate on their answer and explain why they gave the rating they did.
Knowing the answer to this question can inform many other aspects of your business, because if your employees are not satisfied it can really mean trouble for your business.
What would make you more satisfied at work?
Understanding what your employees need to be happier or more engaged can help you determine the most effective changes you may be able to make. Ask this as a multiple choice, or provide a comment box for a more detailed response.
This question can provide valuable insight, especially if you have numerous employees who respond with the same thing, which could involve more flexibility or perhaps more opportunity for career development.
Do you feel your contributions are valued at work?
A big part of employee engagement involves if your employees feel valued at work. Everyone wants to feel like their contributions and efforts matter, and if they don’t then this can result in a lack of connection. Employees that don’t feel valued are less likely to put in extra effort and may be more likely to start looking for job opportunities elsewhere.
You can ask this as a simple yes/no question, or ask them to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how valued they feel. This could provide you with valuable insights about the satisfaction level of your employees.
Do you feel supported in the workplace?
Feelling supported, whether by fellow colleagues or management can have a big impact on employee satisfaction. Any workplace should have a supportive environment in which all employees feel comfortable, whether to ask for help or simply to have access to the resources they need to successfully do their jobs.
This could be asked as a yes/no question or you could provide a comment box for employees to provide additional feedback. Making sure your employees feel supported is crucial to creating a productive and positive working environment.
Improving employee satisfaction
Creating an engaging workplace culture is the key to improving employee satisfaction, and employee engagement surveys make this easier than ever.
A key element to keep in mind when using surveys to gauge employee satisfaction and engagement is that you need to be able to analyse the results so that you can make changes and improvements. If you ask your employees to provide feedback it’s important that you make a plan to address that feedback. Showing your employees that you care about their feedback, and will use it to make changes if another way you can boost satisfaction and the engagement of your employees.
By implementing these measures, organisations can increase employee engagement, reduce turnover rates, and ultimately drive business growth.
