All businesses are motivated by growth and financial success, but the way to these goals is rarely easy. There are plenty of variables to consider, hurdles to overcome, and requirements to meet before an organization can achieve its goals. In the current workplace, employee engagement plays a key role in creating the ideal conditions to accomplish them.
Employee engagement is not one item on a checklist. It’s a condition that every organization must strive to develop and maintain consistent efforts, but organizations are motivated by many factors to invest in this endeavor.
Read through the article to learn what these motivating factors are.
Increasing Productivity and Profitability
Every organization aims to increase productivity with tangible results in profitability. It’s a documented fact that engaged employees are more productive, willingly logging in more hours and offering their full skill set to contribute to the organization’s goals.
Organizations with highly engaged and productive members experience 2.5 times greater revenue growth than those with low engagement scores. Furthermore, companies with engagement high scores earned twice more in annual net profits than those with low scores did.
Building a Loyal Following
While customers may be attracted by good advertising, limited deals, and other gimmicks, they don’t stay for those reasons alone. Quality products; consistent quick, excellent service; and willingness to listen to customer needs do more in building a loyal following.
Engaged employees are greatly invested in what they offer to the organization. They are top performers who produce excellent and consistent results. Whether engaged employees directly interact with customers or not, customers will benefit from the outstanding work these employees put in.
Cultivating and Retaining Talent
“For all jobs earning less than $50,000 per year, or more than 40 percent of US jobs, the average cost of replacing an employee amounts to fully 20 percent of the person’s annual salary,” says HR expert Suzanne Lucas in a CBS report.
Engaged employees, who have a deep sense of commitment to their organizations, are inclined to stay in their organizations for the long term. But it’s not a one-sided commitment. Organizations must consistently give these employees reasons to stay, reasons beyond financial reward and material incentives.
Saving Resources and Expenses
Not engaged employees are satisfied by logging in the bare minimum, while actively disengaged employees perform at below satisfactory levels. Disengagement costs US companies about $550 billion every year. Low engagement scores spell higher costs in hiring and training new employees, loss of productivity, lowers work quality, loss of customers, and in other areas.
Conversely, organizations with top engagement scores save costs because of several reasons, as cited by Fast Company from Gallup’s Q-12 Meta-Analysis report:
- Decreased turnover rates by 25 percent
- Reduced cased of absenteeism by 37 percent
- Diminished instances of safety incidents by 48 percent
- Less-quality incidents by 41 percent
In other words, high engagement scores save organizations from high costs of replacing talented employees, decreased productivity, and healthcare.
Building a Positive Reputation
Employee and customer experience reflect the quality of the organization. Engaged employees can translate to loyal and satisfied customers, which, in turn, builds a positive image of the organization.
Organizations with a good reputation will have more talented people vying for a place in their ranks. They will also reap the benefits of returning customers, who will likely recommend their institution to family and friends.
Investing in Employee Engagement
Just like how engaged employees give more than what is required, organizations must also commit to taking care of their members. They must frequently measure workforce engagement, implement active strategies, and create and sustain services and programs to engage employees.
Organizations must show how they value and trust their employees in tangible ways. They must launch vigorous efforts to help employees stay in proper condition to be engaged. This includes investing in their physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being.
Employees have to Do their Fair Share
Organization engagement efforts won’t work when employees don’t meet them halfway. Employees should not be passive recipients throughout the process. They have to become part of the whole thing.
Employees must put in equal effort, stay at par with company standards, and ensure a spotless health record, subjecting themselves to health screenings like urine drug testing and going to doctors’ appointments to check for diseases that may disrupt their work.
Employee engagement is a reciprocal condition created by both the organization and its members.
