Employee engagement is a common topic for HR teams, and of course, this is for a good reason. Allen Woo, a people developer and employee management specialist, has taken on the task of sharing the importance of establishing metrics to measure employee engagement and the advantages of doing so.
Many are already aware of the link between employee engagement and business results, the importance of having employee engagement is becoming increasingly necessary. Since engagement is defined more as a feeling than a quantifiable measure, many HR professionals face the challenge of trying to measure the success of their strategy.
Today there are a number of metrics for measuring employee engagement. Woo has taken it upon himself to provide some examples of metrics you can use to measure the success of your workplace engagement strategy.
The first is employee absenteeism and turnover rate. As you might expect, the most engaged employees are the ones who show up and put in the effort. And despite being a lagging indicator, absenteeism and employee turnover rates provide useful information about employees’ experience in the workplace.
“If your company has high employee turnover you need to improve your workforce experience,” Woo points out. “Remember that engaged employees show up and are present in every sense of the word.”
Net Promoter Score for employees. Initially, this is one of the indicators to measure customer satisfaction. Still, it has likewise been adopted internally by managers to get the same information from their employees by asking this simple question:
“How likely are you to recommend working at our company to a friend or colleague?” In general, the question is answered on a scale of 0 to 10, with anyone answering 0 to 6 being considered a detractor, anyone answering 7 and 8 is considered a passive, and anyone answering 9 to 10 is considered a promoter.
Simply subtract your percentage of promoters and detractors to calculate your NPS. A negative score means that more employees would not recommend your company to others. “While a positive score is indicative of high levels engagement and more people recommending your company to others as a great place to work, This is without a doubt one of the most popular employee engagement metrics,” says Woo.
There are also employee engagement surveys. Unlike absenteeism rates, employee surveys are an essential indicator, providing information on engagement levels. The cadence of surveys can vary, but it is generally a good idea to conduct them frequently.
“Surveying employees allows HR teams to ask customized questions about the employee experience,” notes Woo. “Plus, you can compare your progress against historical data and business units, both of which, of course, are important tools for identifying successes and threats in your engagement strategy.”
Encouraging employee engagement may seem more like an art than a science, but measuring results doesn’t have to be difficult. These simple metrics can help you make sure you’re on the right track to a highly engaged workplace.
Another metric for measuring employee engagement is the job offer acceptance rate. This describes how many offers are sent out to fill a position versus how many are accepted by the recipients. Employee engagement is basically the emotional commitment that employees have to an organization.
The time to accept a job offer can usually say something about the employee’s ability to commit. Still, it can also say something about the employee’s emotional connection to the company. Keep in mind that understanding the candidates’ view of the workplace culture is a crucial element of sustained engagement.
Employee willingness to grow is one of the most important metrics and therefore, it is important to track this. Employees should want to grow, in their role, their title, financially, have more responsibility, etc.
One of the key objectives of any manager is to ensure that their team is growing and meeting their objectives within the organization. That’s why regular meetings are an excellent way to keep in touch.
“These simple metrics for measuring employee engagement, both qualitative and quantitative, can help you ensure you are on the right path to acquiring a highly committed workplace,” Woo concludes.