02 Jul 2018

How to Increase Employee Engagement

Gallup conducted a study on employee engagement. The results of their findings were shocking for most CEO’s.

Only 31% of employees in the United States are fully engaged at their jobs! This means that about 70% of US employees are either partially engaged, disengaged, or outright hostile at work!

 


Fully engaged employees are the ones you are excited to see on Monday morning. They show enthusiasm in their jobs and constantly have high levels of performance.

Disengaged employees do their jobs, but put forth just enough effort to not get fired. They show little passion or creativity for their jobs and are just going through the motions.

Actively disengaged employees are the most damaging in a company. They are disgruntled and voice their unhappiness to the rest of their peers. Not only do they look for ways to get out of work, but they are nightmares for team moral and company culture.

What does this type of employee engagement mean to the bottom line?

 

Frontline employees influence a full 90% of the profits of an average company. Employee  engagement is the most untapped source of increased profits available to businesses today. If we could improve the engagement of the 70% of employees who are disengaged, imagine the increased profits in your company!

3 Ways to Increase Employee Engagement:

 

  1. Cast a compelling vision backed by a compelling purpose:

    Your company vision is the destination. It is where you are going. Southwest Airlines is a great example of this. Their vision statement is “To become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline.”

    Your company purpose is the “why” behind where you are going. Why do you want to achieve your vision? What does it matter? Why does Southwest want to achieve their vision? It’s their purpose statement. Their purpose statement is to “Connect People to what’s important in their lives…”

    Your employees want to come to work for more than just a dollar bill. Cast a vision backed by a compelling purpose your employees can buy in to. For a team, the vision becomes the North Star and the purpose becomes the rocket fuel!

  2. Create buy in of the Vision and Purpose:

    Most people are inspired to give it their all when they feel like their work has value. Their works feeds their soul.

    Gaining team buy-in occurs when the team clearly understand the vision, they are inspired by it, and they believe that the leaders value their participation in achieving it. They must understand their individual roles, their priorities, and the roadmap for achieving the vision.

    Done properly, the team becomes unified, fully engaged, with everyone pulling in the same direction creating team alignment!

  3. Facilitate Exceptional Execution

    Accomplish this through:

    1. Setting clear expectations for your employees tied to an actionable plan. It’s not enough just to create a compelling vision. Leaders must develop a game plan of how to achieve it.
    2. Provide the support and resources needed for employees to accomplish those expectations
    3. Create a culture of healthy empowerment. (A great resource for this is Kip Tindell’s book, “Uncontainable”!)
    4. Lead by example! Lead with humility. Strive to nurture caring relationships with your team members so they sense that they are more than a means to enriching your bank account!

Kip Tindell, CEO of The Container Store, does it about as well as anyone I’ve seen. By mastering these 3 things to increase their employee engagement, The Container Store enjoys only a 10% annual turnover compared to retail industry averaging 100%! Their employees are 10 times more likely to stay working at their company than employees of other retail stores.

For CEO’s and business leaders looking for a tool to increase employee engagement, my best recommendation is Group Activation System provided by Engage and Grow – a company dedicated to increasing employee engagement. Bryan Haynes, CEO of FHG, and his 50 employees recently used their program and their employee engagement sky rocketed! They recently had their best month they’ve had in 6 years because of this tool.

Employee engagement is the most untapped source of increased profits available to business today.

How engaged are your employees? Click here for a free anonymous survey from Engage and Grow that you can send your employees to gage their engagement!

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