Employee Engagement
It’s rare to find an executive today who says employee engagement is not a priority. Yet despite more than a decade of work, most studies show that the average level of employee engagement in recent years is essentially unchanged. The business case for continuing the pursuit of employee engagement, however, has only become stronger, with credible data emerging to demonstrate the superior performance and earnings of organizations who achieve significant employee engagement gains.
According to Dale Carnegie Training’s study, the U.S. loses $11 billion a year due to employee turnover. The cost of hiring is said to be about 1.5 times an annual salary. Disengaged employees are 2.5 times more likely to change jobs than engaged employees, even if they earn only 5% more per year. While pragmatic rewards such as raises, bonuses, and flexible work hours were thought to be the means to engage employees, it became clear that emotional relationships were the most important factor. 90% of organizations say that engagement levels have an impact on business success, but 75% of organizations are not taking any action. 62% of engaged employees say their immediate supervisor is a good role model. For disengaged employees, only 25% say they were good role models. Highly engaged organizations perform 40% - 200% better than their peers.
Proven Factors Driving Employee Engagement
While there are many studies that show the percentage of engaged and disengaged employees, few studies have identified the actual factors that increase employee engagement. Dale Carnegie Training, along with MSW Research, examined the operational and emotional factors that influence employee engagement. After surveying a sample of 1500 employees across the US, we found the following three main factors influence employee engagement.
- Relationship with immediate supervisor
- Trust in senior leadership
- Pride in the organization they work for
Making Engagement a Daily Priority for Leaders
Supervisors who say they think about, plan for and work on engaging their employees every day, were more than 3.5 times more likely than all others to say their employees are always willing to do what it takes to get work done, even if it means going above and beyond. In order to see noticeable financial benefits for the company, all organizations and leaders must make employee engagement a top priority in their everyday work.
