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Employee engagement is something that gets talked about a lot in soft terms—but it’s also something that can and should be measured, considered more objectively and analytically.
There are different ways to do this, of course, including employee engagement surveys—but my focus today isn’t the how. It’s the why. If you’ve never taken a date-oriented approach to employee engagement in the past, what benefit is there to doing so today?
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The Benefits of Tracking Employee Engagement
- You can identify problems early on. Simply put, you don’t want to wait until employees are leaving en masse to think about engagement. You want to be more proactive than that—and if the numbers aren’t what you would hope for, you want to try to address them before things take a turn.
- Measuring employee engagement can help you build trust. It’s a funny thing about employment engagement: Measuring it can actually help you develop That’s because your team members ultimately value two-way communication, and it means a lot to them when you take an interest in what they say. The simple act of surveying them about their engagement lets them know you care.
- Real data can help you persuade your own boss or manager. If there’s a problem with engagement, it may require you to make some changes to the company culture—something that will require buy-in from other managers, leaders, and executives. As you try to get them on board, having some raw numbers at your disposal can be invaluable.
- You can build on what works. Employee engagement surveys can help you identify problems, yet they can also help you see where things are working well—allowing you to build on positive momentum and channel your resources into programs that you know to be effective.
- You can reach out to specific employees who are disengaged. Finally, your surveys may reveal specific employees who are struggling—and allow you to pay them some one-on-one attention. This can be as simple as taking them out for coffee and asking what you can do to help them feel more motivated.
Employee engagement isn’t something you should leave to chance. Be aware of where your engagement levels lie—and of what you might do to improve them.
