Is Employee Engagement being overlooked in the gloomy economy?

The role of Workplace Surveys

Business Week recently published an article about Employee Engagement – “It’s Not the Economy, Stupid” by Krisztina Holly from the University of Southern California and Jim Clifton from Gallup.

The article’s theme was that rather than worrying about increased unemployment in a gloomy economy, management should be concentrating on maximising the motivation of those still in jobs. It quoted recent Gallup research that indicated that less than 30% of the corporate workforce was truly engaged and as many as 20% were “actively disengaged”. It also made the point that strong employee engagement leads to increased customer engagement which in turn leads to higher revenues, profits and job opportunities for others.

The article went on to say that because management may be too concerned about economy issues they could be overlooking some of their basic managerial responsibilities. In particular they may be neglecting to ensure that their employees fully know what is expected of them and not allowing them to fully use their talents in their work roles. It quoted the US electronics retail chain, Best Buy (now linked with the Carphone Warehouse in the UK) that has linked improved employee engagement to increased profits. It reckons that

“for every one-tenth-of-a-point increase in employee engagement each Best Buy store increased profits by $100K per year” !

Although attention to employee engagement should be basic management common sense, in today’s complex and often diverse corporate environment it is important that senior management establish the tools to measure employee engagement and quickly identify issues undermining performance. That is why a regular (at least bi-annual) workplace survey needs to be conducted to keep abreast of employee opinion and engagement.

One of the concerns with fast moving and geographically spread corporate environments is the range of management skills that can exist within an organisation. Even though senior management may have all the right skills and abilities, and the correct management processes in place, it only needs one or two rogue managers lower down the chain to undermine all that good work.

By formally touching base with employees through a well designed workplace survey, management can measure engagement levels and ensure that the voice of the employee is properly heard, analysed and acted upon.

John Kemp