The number 13 is typically an unlucky number. And in the case of employee engagement, only 13% of employees are engaged worldwide, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report. Quite astounding to think that 87% of the workforce is not engaged with their job.
What defines a disengaged versus and engaged employee? Let’s break it down:
Engaged: these employees are willing to learn and go the extra mile. They feel a strong sense of loyalty to their employer and are invested to help the company grow and drive the business forward.
Disengaged: these employees work to just get through the day. They don’t have the company’s best interests at heart, they aren’t concerned about customers, other employees or increasing profitability.
With numbers like these, every organization should be focused on increasing employee engagement. It shouldn’t just be a discussion once a year or so, it should be a strategic initiative over the course of the year. All managers and above should have employee engagement on the top of their minds because it benefits everyone involved: happy employees = happy managers = more productivity = more profitability. You see the pattern.
But how do you go about building an engaged workplace? There’s no cookie cutter recipe, but there are a few strategies to help build a culture (worldwide) where people enjoy coming to work each and every day to help grow the company.
- Leaders need to lead– A good leader is one that looks out for their people. They care about their personal and professional development, they value their contributions, they help them strive to become better at their profession and they set good examples.
- Listen to your employees – Collect employee feedback throughout the year and do something with the data. Also, make sure you communicate with your employees about the changes you’ll be making based on their feedback.
- Define your engagement goals – and let you employees know what they are. In order to follow through on improving engagement, you need goals to measure success against. Make employee engagement part of your DNA.
Employees are a company’s greatest asset so make sure you are incorporating this mantra into your everyday culture.
Want to learn more about collecting employee feedback? Download our free playbook, Retain or Drain: The A.R.T. of Engaging Employees.