Companies are struggling to increase employee engagement. According to the Bureau of National Affairs, companies are losing an estimated 11 billion dollars a year on unengaged employees. With a staggering figure like that companies are still not taking the appropriate steps to engage their employees. Failed perk programs, lack of trust from employee to employer, and no real roadmap to increased engagement is creating a lazy and uninterested workforce.
Companies with engaged employees outperform those without by up to 202% according to Gallup. Enter engagement surveys. Engagement surveys give companies a chance to get real, unfiltered opinions and suggestions on how to boost engagement in their workplace. Taking them seriously and putting the results into action will give you firsthand knowledge about what will help engage your employees.
After administering an engagement survey it’s important to create an action plan generated by the responses of your survey. In doing so it’s important to follow these few guidelines after all is said and done.
Take employee feedback seriously. There is absolutely no point in administering a survey if you don’t take the responses seriously. Each employee will give you an unbiased opinion of how to increase the engagement in the workplace if these tests are administered correctly.
Implement changes based on feedback. Now that you’ve administered your engagement survey it’s important to act. There is no reason to think about these surveys if you aren’t going to take the feedback and act appropriately with the information you’ve been given. This feedback is golden and the key as senior leadership and HR managers to do something about your workplace engagement issues.
Be transparent with your objectives. Whatever you decide to do with the results, be transparent about it. Not every suggestion given will be feasible and not every suggestion will be beneficial to the larger population of your employees. Make sure when you implement changes you tell your employees the changes are based on results from the surveys and if there is something big that can’t be implement, let them know why and how to compromise.
Be analytical in your approach. When engagement are conducted and results collected, make sure you look at the trend in performance with your employees. If desired results aren’t being met keep trying different approaches till you’re able to show senior leadership the benefits of implementing different programs in your workplace.
Think of employee engagement as the key to a successful business. When employees are happy and engaged they’ll be more interested in helping your business achieve the results you, as HR & senior leadership want to achieve. This might be better products, better services, or a stronger brand.
Have you conducted employment surveys in your workplace? What results have you seen? Good or bad.
When asked 67% of Americans say vacation is the most preferred activity they want in their budget. Tied for 2nd were dinner out every 2 weeks, maximizing contributions to 401K plan.
Ipsos Public Affairs, March 2013
It is possible to engage employees with a vacation benefit.