Companies with an engaged workforce have 21% higher profitability - it’s an incredibly powerful stat!
You’ve likely invested a lot of time and resources into recruiting the very best talent. But here’s the truth: Skills and experience don’t guarantee incredible performance. Workplace culture and employee engagement are critical to sustaining high performance. If you aren’t pro-actively managing your culture and the engagement in your team, your organisation may not be fulfilling its full potential.
Employee engagement needs to go beyond shiny incentives. Flexible work hours or bringing your dog to work don't cut it anymore. Research shows that only 15% of employees are actively engaged in the workplace.
For engaged, high performing employees, it’s about getting the fundamentals right, before adding the glitter on top!
Engagement’s impact on performance
1.Incredible workplace
When you gather a company’s values and behaviours together, you capture the company culture. The stronger a company's culture, the better employees understand what is expected of them and what they're working towards. A research study showed that companies with strong, clear cultures saw a 4x increase in revenue growth.
An organisation’s culture is indicative of a few key factors:
- Which behaviours lead to promotions, raises, and recognition for employees
- Whether employees believe their time at the organisation is an integral part of achieving their goals
- Whether employees feel comfortable enough to pursue innovative projects and solutions
To have a positive company culture, give a microphone to different voices. Encourage innovative projects. Give employees the tools they need to succeed. By doing this employees are more likely to engage and you’ll see an impact on their performance as a result.
2.Boosted productivity
Engaged employees increase productivity by 17%. They are also healthier and happier, both inside and outside of the workplace. A key factor in productivity is motivation and it is vital for dependency and consistency.
Here’s the effect high engagement has on productivity:
- Improved culture - When employee engagement is boosted, employee satisfaction improves. This creates a positive workplace culture that drives organisational success.
- Satisfied team - When employees are satisfied with their job responsibilities, they put extra effort into what they are doing and improve their overall performance.
- Innovative work approach - When you focus on employee engagement the way of approaching their goals changes. Employees tend to use a more innovative approach when they are engaged and productive.
- Accuracy - When your team is focused they are more likely to be accurate in their work. They have the tools they need to succeed and are aware that they have the support from their leaders.
3.Reduced turnover
Disengagement costs the UK £340 billion every year. This is in lost training and recruitment costs, sick days and productivity. Employee turnover costs organisations a lot of time and money as well. Turnover also affects the productivity of the other people on your team. Other employees have to compensate for the missing employee by adding their tasks to their workload.
To increase engagement, you have to consider what makes your team want to leave:
- Lack of opportunities for upskilling and professional development?
- Unclear career progression plan?
- Poor relationship with manager that lacks trust, support, and open communication?
- Feeling overworked and underappreciated?
- Micromanagement from managers?
- Lack of psychological safety in the workplace?
- A toxic culture?
Want to know how much disengagement is costing your business? Check out our handy calculator that does the maths for you!
The benefit of a focus on employee engagement is its ability to address the factors that make employees want to leave. By addressing these factors, employers reduce their turnover rate and build stronger, more experienced, higher performing teams.
We’ve done some more research on why your team is thinking of resigning. To check out our blog on this, click here.
When employees feel like their organisation is investing in them, they match that investment. They do this by looking for ways to improve the organisation. This is a big reason why employee engagement is important. It creates a culture of continuous improvement.
Your organisation can only thrive if your employees are performing at their best. The key to ensuring that this happens is to strike the right balance between employee engagement and a positive workplace culture. You can’t have one without the other.
A great way to find out where your engagement is lacking is through honest & anonymous employee feedback. At Space HR we can help you understand engagement levels in your team and capture individual feedback that helps you strengthen your team, reduce attrition and prevent surprises! www.spacehr.co.uk
