The Benefits of an Engaged Employee

An engaged employee believes that they can contribute and improve upon not only their own career and professional development, but also to the growth of the organization that they work for.

46% of HR pros say retention is their greatest concern, followed by employee engagement at 36%.

Leaders in your organization must appreciate the cost of a disengaged workforce, and devote attention to initiatives that will increase and sustain employee engagement. Employees are free to leave their jobs to find what they feel is more rewarding work or an improved work environment. However, building an engaged workforce is the responsibility of a leader: from the top-down. The reason is that while there are known factors that can drive or disrupt engagement, regular employees are generally not in control of company policies and practices. Consequently, engagement begins at the top.

Companies are finally starting to understand that to keep customers happy, they need to have a happy and engaged workforce. There are many benefits to an organization when their workforce is engaged and actively contributing to the success of the business.

1. Productivity
   Workers in the top 1% in terms of productivity add about $5,000 to profit per year, while a toxic worker costs about $12,000 per year.Engaged employees are often top performers. They work faster, harder, and stronger because they like what they do. They expect to put the effort into their jobs to drive the results their employers expect. As an employee becomes more engaged, their absenteeism decreases, and motivation increases, leading to increased productivity. As productivity increases, so will their efficiency in completing their daily tasks, meaning a higher ROI in your workforce investments.

2. Higher Retention & Lower Turnover
   50% of US workers are constantly looking for the next job opportunity.Recruiting and hiring employees is a time consuming and expensive process. So, retaining your current top employees is an important piece to the success of every business. With the cost of replacing a retail employee easily reaching 1/5 of their annual salary, turnover can get expensive quickly. An engaged employee is more invested into the success of the company. If an employee is more satisfied and engaged, then they are more likely to stay with an organization.In addition, companies with an engaged workforce are more likely to attract great talent. A happy workforce is seen by customers and directly translates into the success of your employer brand.

3. Employee Satisfaction
   74% of all workers are satisfied with their jobs; 66% of those are still open to new employmentEmployee satisfaction describes whether an employee is happy and fulfilling their needs at work. It is directly linked to employee motivation, the achievement of their goals, and employee morale in the workplace. When employees are engaged at work and feel satisfied with their position, they feel a greater connection to the company and are therefore more likely to produce quality work, which benefits the company as well as the customer. Satisfied employees are leading promoters or ambassadors for your workplace and brand.

Measuring Employee Engagement

Employee engagement isn’t measured by asking whether they are satisfied with certain rewards, benefits and performing daily tasks. It’s measured by being proactive and asking employees what needs to be done to keep them. There are hundreds of ways that customer data is measured. Employee data should be analyzed with equal light. The use of internal surveys, committees, focus groups and plain anecdotal feedback will provide you with the information required to start making decisions and improving your workforce.

This process can be started from the very first interview you have with a potential employee. By asking your candidates open-ended questions such as; “What will make you successful in this role?”, “What motivates you?”, and “Where do you see your career in 5 years?”, you are gaining valuable insight into what motivates that individual and can begin to draw parallels between your current business and what it will take to retain them. If the two pieces align, then that employee is much more likely to remain engaged while working for your organization.

Just like anything worth doing you need to build a strategy and a plan to get from point “A” to point “B.” If you are going to move the needle on engagement it has to start from the top down, remain consistent, and become a priority for your organization.

About Mindfield

Mindfield is a Recruitment Outsourcing solutions provider that partners with companies to create powerful hourly workforces. Our solutions combine a recruitment team, simple to use technology and a data-driven hiring strategy that promises to improve the quality of your hourly workforce. This approach focuses on tying business outcomes such as sales performance, tenure, and engagement to the selection, hiring and measurement of quality candidates.