Senior leadership intrinsically knows and understands that employee engagement is important, but what they need to recognise is how to make sense of the information that an employee programme delivers. It's not just about presenting the data; it's about articulating what it means and formulating a coherent action plan. This plan should be intricately linked to critical business outcomes or broader strategic objectives, aligning employee engagement efforts with the organisational vision.
Each step you take towards a more engaged workforce creates a compounding effect, generating continuous, incremental enhancements. This involves targeted employee sentiment analysis and proactive implementation of necessary changes, to steadily drive progress. However, the journey towards an engaged workforce is a marathon rather than a sprint. The task involves demonstrating how each recognised outcome of an employee engagement programme impacts the overall performance of the business.
Here are 6 outcomes from a comprehensive employee engagement strategy:
Increased retention
Increased retention within an organisation creates several advantages, particularly in alleviating recruitment-related expenses. The expenses linked to sourcing and onboarding new talent are significant, from agency fees, resources required to manage the recruitment process to the loss of valuable experience and expertise that departing employees take with them. Plus, the investment of time and energy required to ramp up new hires in their roles. The skills shortage further complicates the recruitment process, making it both challenging and costly to secure the right candidates for open positions.
Reduced absenteeism
Reduced absenteeism not only guarantees a consistent level of performance but also empowers teams to function at full capacity, safeguarding against any work slowdowns caused by absent team members. Given that each day of absence directly impacts productivity, minimising absenteeism is vital to maintain seamless operations and sustained productivity within your organisation.
Boosted productivity
Boosted productivity is a direct outcome of employee engagement. When employees are engaged, they tend to be more productive, resulting in a work environment where collaboration and communication flow more effortlessly. Productive and engaged employees not only perform better individually but also contribute to a more cooperative workspace. This improved productivity fosters smoother collaboration and communication, reducing friction among team members and facilitating a more fluid workflow.
Improved safety
Improved workplace safety stems directly from engaged employees demonstrating heightened care and consideration. Their increased attentiveness fosters a safer environment, reducing the occurrence of work-related injuries and lowering the rate of layoffs due to incidents. Happier, more engaged employees nurture a positive safer culture, cultivating an overall sense of wellbeing. This positivity reduces administrative tasks and eases the workload for teams responsible for safety issues.
Increased customer satisfaction
Increased customer satisfaction directly impacts the bottom line. Satisfied customers tend to be more loyal, stay with a business for longer and contribute more to its revenue streams. Retaining existing customers is also more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Plus, happy customers often become brand advocates, sharing their positive experiences with friends and family, thereby expanding your customer base through word-of-mouth referrals.
Enhanced overall performance
Enhanced performance stems from incremental improvements across the organisation. Even a mere 1% improvement can make a big difference. Organisations with engaged employees are 23% more profitable. Each positive change within the organisation, regardless of its scale, contributes significantly to your overarching success and performance.
This article contains a snippet from The Business Case for Employee Engagement eBook where we explore essential strategies for HR leaders to secure internal buy-in for investing in employee engagement initiatives for deskless organisations.
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