The Irony of Employee Engagement:

Five Facts Every Leader Needs to Know

In the six years The Focus Group has been helping our clients increase their levels of employee engagement we have yet to meet any manager who did not:

- relate to the concept

- agree that engaged employees are essential to achieving enhanced productivity, quality, customer satisfaction & profits

The irony is that only 30% of U.S. employees are engaged - with the remaining 70%:

- not performing to their capabilities

- or worse yet, spreading their unhappiness & undermining the performance of their engaged co-workers  

This irony may be due to some leaders not being aware of five facts.

#1 Extensive employee engagement research has been conducted - by such well-known consulting firms as Gallup, Towers Watson, Hay Group, DDI, The Conference Board, HR Solutions, WorldatWork, BlessingWhite & AonHewitt. And the economic benefits of having engaged employees have been substantiated.

For example, Gallup found that engaged employees generate:

- 12% higher profitability

- 12% higher customer satisfaction

- 18% greater productivity

- 27% less absenteeism

- 51% less employee turnover

- 62% fewer accidents

The other consulting firms have found similar results. I don't know of any other way an organization could improve its performance to this degree - except possibly through the introduction of costly technology. While enhancing employee engagement is virtually free.

#2 Many of the most well-managed service & manufacturing companies have been benefiting from enhanced employee engagement - it is doable: Ritz-Carlton, Chick-fil-A, GE, Campbell Soup, Baptist Hospital, Bayer, Caterpillar, Nestle, Honeywell, etc.

#3 Employee Engagement is necessary for strategy execution - every company expends significant resources developing strategic & business plans. But those plans by themselves are of little value - they require engaged employees who want to execute those plans. Far more business plans fail due to a lack of execution than due to a poor plan.

#4 Employees' engagement needs are reasonable - during management training workshops when we introduce the engagement needs managers make comments like: "I knew that", "those are reasonable", "I thought they would be more involved" & "I can improve in those areas."

The employee engagement needs most closely correlated with positive economic outcomes are as straightforward as employees:

- having a clear understanding of what is expected of them

- having the materials & equipment they need to perform their jobs effectively

- periodically receiving recognition & praise when they have done a good job

- feeling that their manager wants to help them improve their performance & be successful in their jobs

#5 Supervisors & managers are the key to engaged employees & improved organizational performance. There are, of course, a number of workplace elements that impact whether an employee is engaged. But the factors that have the greatest impact are:

- the employee's relationship with his/her immediate manager

- and whether that manager is meeting the employee's core engagement needs

If only 30% of the employees in the U.S. are engaged, then 70% of the managers in America have opportunities for improvement. And with a little training any manager - who is willing - can learn to utilize practical engagement coaching techniques.

Disney & other well-managed organizations:

- communicate to their managers the engagement coaching practices expected of them

- train their managers in applying those practices

- measure their managers' performance through employee engagement surveys

- hold their managers accountable through performance appraisals, merit increases & promotional opportunities

How many times per day does each manager in your organization interact with one of his/her direct reports? Each of those employee TouchPoints can be viewed by your managers as an interruption - or an opportunity to:

- strengthen the relationship

- listen, learn & coach

- increase the employee's level of engagement & performance

Effective managers function as catalysts - while poor managers can come across as dead batteries.

We are confident that as more leaders become aware of these five facts, they will feel that by initiating a disciplined program to enhance employee engagement they will not be 'leaving money on the table.'

Please let us at The Focus Group know if you'd like to arrange an Employee Engagement Consultation with your leadership team - at no charge.