Improve Employee Engagement Through Better Communication
Employee engagement is more than just employee satisfaction. It's about passion, effectiveness, commitment and results.
When President John F. Kennedy toured NASA, he saw a janitor carrying a broom. He interrupted his tour, walked over and introduced himself, and asked, "What are you doing?" The janitor replied, "Well, Mr. President, I'm helping put a man on the moon." That's employee engagement.
You work hard to hire great employees with talent to help the organization achieve its goals. Like most new adventures, it's an exciting time for both you during the onboarding process. New team members are anxious to succeed and contribute. Managers want to get them up to speed quickly and comfortably integrated into the team. Coworkers are interested in developing a relationship with the new hires for friendship, collaboration and support.
Employee engagement is an ongoing process and two-way - employers must do what they promise to do. Engagement is a consistent effort to inspire and connect with your team in meaningful ways, to listen and understand employee needs, to plan and implement solutions, and to monitor the effectiveness of those activities.
67%
of US workers are not engaged or actively disengaged
34%
actively disengaged workers cost US businesses 34% of their annual salary
According to Gallup, more than half of American workers engage in "quiet quitting," which is another term for disengagement.
Why does employee engagement matter?
Watch this 3-minute video to learn what employee engagement is and why it matters to your business. Then calculate the annual cost of disengagement to your organization below.
What To Look For
Engaged employees are passionate, love their jobs, and try to make things better everyday
Not engaged employees are checked out, sleepwalking through the day, and put in hours vs. energy
Actively disengaged employees are miserable people who sabotage projects and undermine coworkers.
202%
Companies with engaged employees outperform those without by up to 202%
(Dale Carnegie Institute)
2x
Customer loyalty doubles in companies in the top 1/4 for employee engagement
(Gallup, Inc.)
What is employee disengagement costing you?
According to the latest findings from Gallup, Inc., actively disengaged employees, aka "quiet quitters," cost organizations 34% of their annual salary. Use this formula to determine the cost to your business.
Total # of Employees
X
Average Salary
X
.34
=
Annual Cost of Disengagement
People are your most expensive resources. When you invest in understanding people's needs at work and understanding them better, the benefits far outweigh the costs. Accepting and valuing people for who they are and learning what they need to help them be their very best ultimately improves your bottom line.
The business case for investing in improving communication is clear. When you improve communication, you realize stronger employee engagement, which improves profits, increases customer satisfaction, and reduces expenses.
What Gets in the Way of Employee Engagement?
When people don't feel heard, appreciated or understood, engagement can suffer.
You may see:
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Communication breakdowns and misunderstandings
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Employees working in silos
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Conflict that goes unresolved
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Low participation in meetings
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Frustration between managers and employees
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Employees who feel disconnected from the team
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Difficulty getting people aligned around priorities
These issues aren't always about motivation. Often, they're about how people work and communicate with one another.
Build Engagement by Understanding How People Work
Everything DiSC helps employees understand their own behavioral tendencies and recognize the different needs and priorities of their colleagues.
Participants learn to:
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Recognize their communication strengths
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Understand why others may approach work differently
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Adapt their communication when needed
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Reduce misunderstandings
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Build stronger working relationships
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Identify practical actions they can take immediately
Create a Culture Where People Want to Contribute
Employee engagement isn't created by a single team-building event. It develops through everyday interactions.
Our workshops help teams establish a common language for communication and create practical strategies they can continue using after the session.
Customized Employee Engagement Workshops
We customize the experience around your organization, your people and your goals.
Workshops can be delivered virtually or in person and incorporated into staff meetings, leadership retreats, professional development programs or dedicated team-building events.
How do you know if your team is really engaged?
How often do you ask your employees for actionable, meaningful feedback? One-on-one sessions, team meetings and anonymous employee feedback surveys are all effective tools that you can use to expose the gaps and opportunities to help your team and your business thrive.
Best Practices to Survey Your Workforce
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Survey questions should be actionable. If you intend to ask questions about current engagement programs, separate satisfaction and importance independently and balance the results against one another.
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Survey everyone in your organization. Do not collect role or department questions unless there are at least 15 people in each department or function to ensure anonymity.
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Survey electronically, preferably through a 3rd party administrator. You will receive more honest feedback when employees know a neutral party is collecting the information.
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Survey consistently, at least once per year or more often. The more often you survey, the more often you can measure progress. Consistent surveying yields better results.
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DON'T survey your team unless you commit to taking action as a result of the feedback. It is far worse to survey and take no action than not to survey at all.
The Hive Q12 Engagement Survey by John Ryder
The Hive Q12 engagement survey was developed free for unrestricted use by John Ryder and based on Gallup's Employee Engagement survey. Two-thirds of the survey questions are dependent on communication and work relationships.
Employees answer the following 12 questions using a 5-Point Scale: Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree
1. My performance is measured against outcomes and metrics that are clearly explained.
2. I have access to everything that I need to perform well at my job.
3. My strengths are recognized here and I put them into practice every day in my job.
4. I regularly receive meaningful recognition for doing my job well.
5. How happy are you with the relationship between you and your manager?
6. My manager supports me to get even better at the skills I’m valued for here.
7. My opinions are taken into account and considered here.
8. The purpose or mission of the organization is clearly defined and fulfillment of my job counts toward achieving it.
9. My coworkers are accountable for doing quality work.
10. At work, I consider at least one of my co-workers to be a true friend.
11. My personal progress and development is important around here.
12. In my role, there are ongoing opportunities to learn and grow.
Everything DiSC supports employee engagement initiatives by strengthening relationships and fostering a culture of open communication and trust.
Ready to Strengthen Employee Engagement?
Five Steps for Improvement
If you want to begin the process to improve employee engagement, follow these five steps:
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Define what success looks like when employees are engaged.
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Ask for actionable, meaningful feedback from employees
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Report on the findings of the feedback to everyone at all levels of the organization.
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Begin the action planning process and include employees to improve engagement.
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Implement the plans, communicating intentionally along the way.
Repeat these steps regularly to measure progress and continue working on improvements to achieve success.
Engaging your team improves performance! Let us show you how.