What is employee engagement?

Imagine two employees at the same company on the same day. 

One employee isn’t noticeably unfocused but there are signs they’re disengaging: late to work, not participating in team discussions, and leaving early. The other employee is attentive during meetings, even asking questions and generating discussion, and accomplishes work tasks on time. They make an effort to discuss performance and professional development steps with a manager.

The reality is these two different employees exist at every business. Employees can show their interest (or lack of) in a number of different ways. This is called employee engagement, and it's critical to every business. If employees aren’t engaged in or completing tasks as they are asked, a business may face serious risks including high employee turnover, absenteeism, and a decline in productivity. 

High employee engagement can propel businesses forward. Gallup reported a 23% increase in profitability when measuring different business units and teams and employee engagement. Moreover, engagement is fundamental for an employee's sense of fulfillment in their role and connection to both their work and a company. 

This guide will help you understand:

• What employee engagement is
• Why it impacts business performance and employee satisfaction
• Tips for making the most out of your work environment for happy and healthy workers
  
  

Understanding employee engagement

Do you know how connected your employees feel to their work or position? That’s employee engagement. Broadly speaking, employee engagement is determined by how involved or fulfilled or enthusiastic a worker is on the job. According to a Gallup survey, only 33% of U.S. employees are actively engaged, while worldwide that number drops to 23%.

Workers can be better cared for and put into positions that make them feel good about what they do. Employees who don’t may find work elsewhere that does give them this feeling. That means you’ll be left spending money to replace them. Employee engagement is a massive and practical strategy opportunity for businesses to curb those costs, and work to fix low morale and a lack of productivity. 

Employee engagement vs. employee satisfaction

It’s important to note that one thing employee engagement is not is just job satisfaction. Employees who are satisfied may still be disengaged at work. Employee engagement is an enduring and evolving sense of contentment and emotional commitment to a workplace’s values and culture. 

Employee satisfaction is the level of contentment an employee feels in the workplace. It’s happy employees who are pleased with their roles. To achieve a better understanding of your employees in the workplace, look for evidence of their engagement and satisfaction. 

Why is employee engagement important

It might seem obvious to note that engaged employees make for better and more effective workplaces that run efficiently. This is the core importance of employee engagement. When workers feel they are contributing to something, they tend to feel more fulfilled and go above and beyond in their workplace. 

Employee engagement is how positively workers interact with their environment and how their environment responds. When the workplace is hectic or stressful, even so far as toxic, employees will disengage, stop doing their work, or leave altogether. 

Components of employee engagement

The specifics of employee engagement, and what to include or not in an engagement strategy, will vary depending on workplace, workers and overall reception to a program centering the employee experience. 

However, there are a few common components that managers and business leaders should consider when understanding employee engagement at-large and how to boost it. 

Some common elements of employee engagement:

• Professional development opportunities like courses, mentoring, or job shadowing
• Feedback loop that emphasizes positive behaviors over negative ones
• Connect job tasks and coworkers with company’s values and mission
• Employers and managers establish clear team goals and measurable outcomes 
• Value-based career decisions and development, such as choosing roles and companies based on ethics and morals
  
  

Three key elements for any employee engagement strategy

To get started on your own employee engagement strategy, use the following elements as a foundation to build from.

• Purpose: Establish a connection between what an employee does and what the business is trying to achieve to foster a better sense of overall purpose.
• Development: Create an action plan and steps to achieve for employee personal development, ensuring their work and goals lead to where they want to go. 
• Communication: Set up regular meetings to talk about work, professional development, and even room to talk about life beyond work to keep a healthy work-life balance.

Who is responsible for employee engagement? 

Employees will become more efficient, effective workers if they have the support system to help them get there. Who ensures employees are engaged at work?

Employees

Employees are always responsible for their own health and happiness at work. No matter their role at any business—from entry level to executive—they are in control of your own experience.

If an employee is feeling dissatisfied with their current circumstance, consider helping them draft a list of goals, wants and needs. This will help create a better idea of purpose and provide the direction or framework to get them there.

Human resources/people operations

Human resources or people ops teams are going to be essential in fostering better employee engagement. HR teams can help facilitate engagement between employees and managers. Help managers craft programs and processes to engage workers. For example, HR teams can help define and implement a flexible work schedule to promote work-life balance. Another example may be a standard operating procedure to implement employee feedback on managers. Keep employees informed and accountable to these programs, encouraging them to participate every chance possible. 

Managers

A manager is going to be the best connection and advocate for their employees. Clearly communicate policies, expectations, consequences and benefits to engaging with work, other team members and development opportunities. You will be the first point of real contact for an employee’s connection to the broader business. Make sure that relationship is as strong as it can be.

You’ll know the specific needs or considerations your employees will need on a case-by-case basis. Focus on your leadership and management style, and if you need to adjust it for your employees to be better engaged.  

Challenges to employee engagement 

Not all challenges to employee engagement exist in the workplace. It’s worth understanding both internal and external factors

• Lack of leadership: It’s very difficult to engage employees without strong leadership. Bad management, according to our report on employee motivation, is a top reason to feel unmotivated. Nearly 31% of respondents said bad management left them feeling unmotivated in their workplace. Good leadership involves delegating tasks, exemplifying the high standards a manager or employer sets, and clear communication with actionable steps. Without these elements, employees can drift.
  
  
• Communication gaps: According to respondents of our report on how to motivate employees: “Communication is key. Good management is when the management and employees are on the same page.”
  
  Your employees want to feel like they are part of their team, part of the fabric of whatever workplace they’re in. No matter if you manage part or full-time employees, it’s beneficial to speak to them on a regular basis for check-ins. If that communication is absent, employees may drift. 
  
  
• Limited growth opportunities: If your employees are in a position to grow out of their role but there’s no opportunity to do so they will feel undervalued and may leave, which can increase turnover rates. Beyond that, until a new role is found, your employee may quietly quit or reduce their engagement if they feel whatever professional developments needs they have aren’t being met.
  
  
• Employee financial stress: In ZayZoon's annual state of employee financial wellness report, we found that 52% of employee respondents felt stressed daily about their finances. This stress can include paying bills, affording groceries, or managing rent or a mortgage. The list goes on and on.

How to improve employee engagement

Employee engagement isn’t going to be perfect, particularly if this isn’t something your business or team has typically focused on before. 

Whether you’re a seasoned pro at managing teams and employee engagement or starting out to build out a fulfilling program for your employees, consider the following tips: 

• Feedback loop: Ask your employees how they feel about engagement opportunities and programs. Make sure they understand their feedback is valuable because this is ultimately for them. 
  
  
• Listen, see, hear your employees: Actively listen to what employees say they need; see how they react in meetings or with customers; and tell them that you hear them when they raise concerns or have ideas on improving the employee experience. 
  
  
• Recognition and rewards: If your employees are doing a great job, tell them! Set up a perks or a rewards and recognition element to your employee engagement. Make this an ongoing practice, not a one-off perk. Consider personalizing those rewards, too, to maximize impact. Small gestures like this can go a long way to ensuring employee happiness and satisfaction.
  
  
• Workplace dynamic: Put on your detective hat and investigate the root causes of an employee’s disengagement from the workplace. What is at the core of their unhappiness and lack of motivation? Keep communication between management and an employee open, honest, and ongoing. Foster an empathetic work environment that seeks to replace frustration with contentment.
  
  
• Track engagement: There are many ways to track employee engagement. A clear first step is a temperature check: send out pulse surveys to get a real-time understanding of how your employees feel. Check turnover or employee absenteeism rates at the start of any employee engagement initiative and measure it over time to see if there’s a decrease. Metrics don’t tell the whole story but they will provide you an opportunity to dig deeper for solutions.
  
  
• Holistic employee wellness: Benefits are essential to the employee experience. Workers give the majority of their day to their work and they often expect businesses to respond by providing essential benefits like health and wellness. Dental coverage is crucial, for example, but do you consider your employee’s financial wellness? It’s a rising benefit trend. Offering employees the chance to manage external stressors like financial wellness can go a long way to improve how employees feel about their lives.
  
  ZayZoon offers a number of different benefits including earned wage access (EWA), or pay on-demand, gas cards, gift cards, lower insurance opportunities and more at no cost to the employer. In our report on the state of employee financial wellness, we found companies using ZayZoon saw a 29% decrease in turnover.
  
  Another opportunity to engage employees is with Money Mindsets, a financial wellness quiz designed to support an employee’s individual financial self. Each Money Mindset comes with personalized resources and tools to strengthen financial wellness.