Employee Engagement Pays Dividends (Literally!)

When you’re a manager in the middle, and even when you’re the most senior executive, improving the performance of your organization can seem overwhelming. Yet there are simple things you can do every day that will draw outstanding performance from your team.

You can do the simple things it takes to create engagement. You don’t need complex project plans or big budgets. It’s as simple as building on the strengths of your organization: putting your staff to work doing the things they do best, ensuring they know what’s expected of them, and letting them know how they are making a difference.

There’s evidence that this is more than cosmetic. Creating a highly engaged workforce has a measurable impact on profitability. The Gallup Organization has run the numbers, comparing the results of organizations with top-quartile engagement to those in the bottom quartile in the same industry. In their most recent study, Gallup calculated that organizations with highly engaged employees produce 2.6 times the earnings per share (EPS) growth rate compared to organizations with lower engagement in their same industry.

What makes for engagement? Gallup’s research has identified 12 factors--factors that are highly consistent with the findings of the Corporate Leadership Council (see 2 Ways to Increase the Value of Your Human Capital Today). Here are three of the 12 factors that contribute to an employee feeling highly engaged—and acting highly productively:
• I know what is expected of me at work;
• At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day;
• In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.

Notice “in the last 7 days.” Not “at my annual review”, or “quarterly bonus update. “ In recent memory, in the last week. That’s a pretty tough standard, but the good news is, once you begin to focus on managing these factors, it can be habit-forming.

Ask yourself and your employees: do they really know what’s expected of them? Have you shaped their jobs so they’re able to play to their strengths? Have you recognized their contributions in the last 7 days? While we recommend Gallup’s Q-12 Survey, you don’t need to wait for a survey to get insight into these critical factors.

Because employee engagement is a leading indicator of strong business results, we believe you should measure it. Whether you purchase a survey from Gallup or another vendor, or create your own, measuring your employees’ engagement can make sure you get a realistic picture of their engagement today, learn what to do to enhance that engagement, and track your progress. Ultimately, you should be able to do the math yourself: follow the straight line between your employees’ engagement and your company’s earnings.