The Search for HR’s Holy Grail: Increasing Employee Engagement and Improving Performance
By HappyOrNot
2 MIN READ
It’s been the No. 1 topic in talent management for years, and the “Holy Grail” of Human Resources professionals, but it’s also the one thing that many organizations struggle with the most.
It’s this: How to build a high-performing workforce through better employee engagement.
As Johanna Felipe, HR Business Line Director for HappyOrNot, noted in a recent webinar:
[clickToTweet tweet=”Keeping employees engaged should be an ongoing practice across the organization.” quote=”Keeping employees engaged should be an ongoing practice across the organization.”]
Watch the full webinar:
4 Benefits You Get from Engaged Employees
For example, a recent study by the Tempkin Group detailed how better engagement can drive your company culture and organizational goals, and it touched on these important benefits that organizations get when they better engage their employees:
- They’re more likely to recommend their organization as a great place to work.
- They work longer and harder and do whatever is needed to get the job done.
- They are more likely to do what is good for the company, and they really keep in mind the company’s mission and vision.
- They’re more likely to make recommendations for internal improvements because they add “mission critical” details that help make both the job AND the company better.
This is why engaged employees are an organization’s most valuable asset, as the study found, because engaged employees are committed to the company’s goals and values, show higher motivation to contribute to the organization’s overall success, and, ultimately, want to give their very best every day.
A Key to Engagement: Getting Timely and Regular Employee Feedback
This raises an important question: How do you know if employees are truly engaged?
According to HR.com’s The State of Employee Engagement in 2018, you do it by talking to your employees – but less than half of the survey respondents said that their company does that. And even the companies that DO conduct an engagement survey don’t do it very frequently, with more than half indicating that they do it annually or as infrequently as every 2-3 years.
That’s really not regular enough to take the temperature of your workforce, and the research shows that the organizations that succeed in developing more highly engaged employees also make sure they talk to their workers a lot more frequently. Measuring employee engagement, and making actionable changes to improve employee feedback responses is key.
Johanna Felipe said:
[clickToTweet tweet=”You can never ask your employees how they’re doing too much, it is never going to get old to check in on your employees.” quote=”You can never ask your employees how they’re doing too much, it is never going to get old to check in on your employees.”]
Listening to employee feedback is critical if you want to build a team of highly engaged employees, and a recent webcast — Data Into Action: Increasing Engagement and Improving Performance — discussed the important need for timely and regular feedback, as well as a great many other issues around what organizations should be doing to grow a more highly engaged workforce.
A Goal Well Worth Reaching for
Building a workforce of highly engaged employees who are willing to give their all to the company has long been a goal of HR professionals everywhere. This search for the “Holy Grail” of better engagement has not been easy, and, although engagement figures haven’t really improved overall, the goal remains the same.
That’s because there are huge benefits to organizations when they are successful at developing a highly engaged workforce. Just like the Holy Grail, the end result makes this a goal that is well worth reaching for – even if it DOES take a lot of hard work and serious effort.
Watch the webcast of Data Into Action: Increasing Engagement and Improving Performance, or check out the Slide Deck below to learn more.
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