6 Effective Ways to Measure Employee Engagement [Plus Why It’s Important for Your Business]

Employee engagement is a critical metric for supporting the success of an organization and its staff, but it isn’t always intuitive or easy to measure. In this article from guest contributor Kelly Barcelos, you’ll learn why employee engagement is so important and how you can measure it in your organization.

Employee Engagement is a key concept in understanding employee satisfaction and talent retention. The challenge is that most employers are not sensitive to employee engagement despite the fact that it plays a key role in the success of their organization.

Why?

Because employee engagement is not a clearly defined phenomenon. And employers won’t be able to measure or improve employee engagement if they are not aware of how they can engage – or disengage – employees.

In this article, you’ll learn what employee engagement means, why it matters to your business and how to measure it effectively.

What is Employee Engagement and Why Does It Matter to Your Business?

To put it simply, employee engagement is the extent of emotional connection employees have with their workplace. The stronger the connection, the better their performance and, in turn, the higher the company’s profitability.

Good employee engagement defines your organization as a great place to work. Therefore, in the past decade, we have seen employee engagement emerge as a critical element in successful employer branding.

A thorough understanding of employee engagement can give you an insight into how your employees view your organization and what are the areas of improvement.

However, measuring employee engagement is easier said than done.

6 Ways to Measure Employee Engagement

Engagement is not a concrete value that can be quantified. It’s influenced by many factors.

Here’s a look at a few tried and true methods of measuring employee engagement in an organization.

1. One-on-One Meetings

Regular one-on-one meetings with your employees are a great way to measure employee engagement. The most important thing for the one-on-one meeting method to succeed is that the employees should feel comfortable to express their thoughts in a frank way. This exercise can give you a real sense of their satisfaction levels and engagement.

2. Employee Engagement Surveys

Short and frequent surveys comprising of 5 to 10 questions can give you a feel of the vibe in your workforce. Most organizations do this process through an anonymous online survey service like SurveyMonkey or SurveyMonkey alternatives. The key is regularity and simplicity.

If this sounds like a tactic you’d like to employ, check out Outback Team Building and Training’s Employee Engagement Survey Questions, Template, and Tips.

3. Rate of Offer Acceptances

This term refers to the number of offers accepted by candidates versus the number of offers made. If your offer acceptance rate is low, you need to ask yourself why that might be so? Are you able to gauge employee expectations in terms of job role, remuneration, and opportunity? This is an important aspect of employee engagement which can help you understand the candidate’s view of the workplace culture.

4. Exit Interviews

In an exit interview, employees are ready to be candid about their experience of working in the company. However, this is a reactive tactic and cannot be the focus of your engagement efforts. You can use the same type of questions you saw in Outback’s Employee Engagement Survey Questions, Template, and Tips to guide this conversation.

5. Stay Interviews

This is a rare method of measuring employee engagement but is considered extremely effective. Conduct one on one meetings with your employees and talk to them about what is making them stay with your company. You can also ask for aspects that your employees think need improvement.

6. Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

Adapted from a method used to measure customer satisfaction, the employee net promoter score or eNPS is a simple measurement of employee engagement.

Ask your employees the question, “how likely are you to recommend working at our organization to a friend or ex-colleague?” Generally, this question is asked on a scale of 0 to 10, with responses from 0 to 6 being considered detractors, 7 and 8 passive, and 9 and 10 are considered promoters.

Subtracting your percentage of promoters from the percentage of detractors gives you the eNPS. A negative eNPS shows that most of your employees are not likely to recommend your organization as a great place to work. A positive eNPS shows good employee engagement and the likelihood of most employees to recommend your organization.

Measuring employee engagement should be followed by prompt action. Efforts should be made to improve the employee engagement aspects discovered.

This could be done by designing effective employee engagement strategies or improving upon existing strategies. Measuring employee engagement is an on-going process, which needs consistent monitoring and repeated efforts to improve employee engagement in the long term.

Though it is a subtle approach that takes time, it is the best way to build a highly engaged and motivated workforce.

Learn More About How You Can Boost Employee Engagement in Your Organization Using In-Person and Virtual Team Building, Training, and Coaching Solutions.

For more information about how you can boost employee engagement in your organization, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants today.

Author Bio:

Kelly Barcelos — Content Marketing Manager

Kelly Barcelos is a content marketing manager for Jobsoid and specializes in HR. When Kelly is not building marketing campaigns, she is busy creating content to help people hire better. She shares tips, industry insights, innovations and several other topics that helps a wide variety of audience in their hiring efforts. As a working mom of three, she knows the importance of time management and counts on her multitasking ability to get her through her to-do lists.