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Employee engagement is a huge challenge for organisations, as it has been for several years now. It is such a big challenge that seven in 10 (71%) of participants in a survey called Benefits Research 2019 (https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/benefits-research-2019/), say improving employee engagement is the number one issue driving their benefits strategy.

How are they trying to improve employee engagement? A significant number (83%) say that their organisation provides benefits to boost employee health and wellbeing, with 59% saying their organisation provides mental health first aid and champions training and 50% saying their organisation offers flexible working initiatives for all employees on a core basis.

Many of the survey respondents (86%) say budget constraints prevent them from implementing new benefits.

However, a new study by the workforce communications platform SocialChorus, found that a lot of companies (75% of survey respondents) are spending more on employee engagement than they were two years ago. Its 2019 Internal Communicator Index shows that employee engagement and alignment is a top strategic priority. 

The US analytics and advisory organisation Gallup has a lot to say about employee engagement – what current levels of engagement are globally and the impact of low engagement on organisational performance and productivity. It conducts regular research into the engagement levels of employees around the world and the results are pretty mind-boggling. Take this stat for example: only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work (https://www.gallup.com/workplace/231581/five-ways-improve-employee-engagement.aspx). To think that only a little over 10% of your workforce is engaged is pretty shocking, particularly if you think of the implications of 77% of your workforce not being engaged.

Gallup categorises employees into three areas: engaged, not engaged and actively disengaged. It says that engaged employees ‘work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive innovation and move the organisation forward’. Not-engaged employees ‘are essentially “checked out”. They’re sleepwalking through their workday, putting time – but not energy or passion – into their work’. And actively disengaged employees? They ‘aren’t just unhappy at work: they’re busy acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish’.

That’s why Gallup says increasing employee engagement has to be a strategic priority for organisations. 

What employers and HR and L&D want is employees who are engaged, who are passionate about their work and seek to do the best they can on a daily basis. They put in what is called discretionary effort – more than the minimum effort that is required to get a job done. Imagine if 77% of your workforce are putting in discretionary effort, rather than only 13%. Imagine the impact on overall engagement levels, on performance, productivity, innovation and reputation.

Although employee engagement has been one of the top priorities for many businesses the last 10-15 years, there is still no clear route to success. There are a whole range of factors that lead to improved employee engagement: job satisfaction, a good workplace culture and working practices and policies, clearly defined job roles and career paths, remuneration, flexible working and so on.

There’s an interesting collection of thought leadership pieces on the issue of employee engagement, as collated by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and Engage for Success. Called The Future of Engagement Thought Piece Collection(https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/the-future-of-engagement_2014-thought-piece-collection_tcm18-10758.pdf), it covers topics such as ‘The future of employees surveys’ and ‘Is it right to expect employees to be permanently engaged?’

David Smith, chair at the IES, opens the collection with a piece titled The route to employee engagement is a worthwhile slog. He talks about the importance of fostering the right culture and understanding that employee engagement is a long term commitment, not a short term win. As part of his piece, he says: “Many commentators are saying that increasing employee engagement is easy. This, in my view, is complete rubbish. Certainly the concepts are relatively simple….The sheer slog of doing the right things with your people every day, when you have a million things taking you away from all of this (all of which will be very urgent and important), presents the real challenge to engagement.” 

Improving employee engagement may not be easy or an overnight win, but the rewards are high. The CIPD does a lot of work on employee engagement, including research and factsheets. To find out more visit: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/engagement