How To Improve Your Employee Engagement Measurement

Companies with a highly engaged workforce have a competitive advantage: high employee engagement.

Employee engagement is the connection an employee has to their employer and the level of commitment that employee has to their work and workplace. When employee engagement is high, there is less turnover, more productivity, and higher ROI.

To keep their employees engaged, these companies are regularly measuring their levels of employee engagement.

But, how do you measure employee engagement? You need an employee engagement strategy.

By having an employee engagement strategy framework in place, which includes an employee engagement scorecard (e.g., how to rate engagement), you can regularly review the levels of engagement and make changes (as needed) to avoid engagement decreasing.

In this article, we’ll share how to measure employee engagement, employee engagement examples, and tips for how to improve employee engagement.

Let’s first review the types of employee engagement measurement.  

Types of Employee Engagement Measurement

Tracking your employee performance analytics can provide valuable insight into how engaged your workforce is. There are a variety of ways you can measure your employee engagement. Depending on the size of your company, some tactics may be better suited than others.

Here are four of our favorite employee engagement measurement tools:

1. One-On-One Meetings

Surveys aren’t the only measurement of employee engagement. Another form is one-on-one meetings. The advantage of these in-person meetings is not only the in-depth responses you’ll get, but also the opportunity to gauge employees’ verbal and non-verbal cues.  

If you have a remote or hybrid workforce, these meetings can be conducted virtually, too.

2. Employee Engagement Surveys

Collecting employee survey insights is a convenient way for employers to see what their employees are thinking. It can also alleviate the pressure some employees may feel because survey responses can be anonymous.

For many companies, pulse survey questions are their go-to format due to their short length. Some common pulse survey questions include satisfaction, opportunity, and alignment questions. Surveys are a great tool for companies of all sizes, particularly large companies who may not have the resources for conducting one-on-one meetings.

3. Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

Another form of employee productivity measurement is your employee net promoter score (eNPS). This scoring system is used to track and measure employee engagement and loyalty.

Here’s how it works:

1. You ask your employees a single question (e.g., From 0-10, how likely would you recommend this company as a great place to work?).

2. Your eNPS is calculated based on the difference between the highest (e.g., most-engaged employees) and lowest response (least-engaged employees).

4. Exit and Stay Interviews

Curious why your company churnover is so high? When an employee resigns, an exit interview can provide valuable insight. During the exit interview, here are some questions your Human Resources team can ask:

• Why are you leaving the company?
• What was your favorite (and least favorite) part about working for the company?
• What could the company have done better?
• Would you work for us again in the future?

However, if your churnover is low, consider also conducting stay interviews. Interviewing your long-term employees can tell you what you’re doing right to keep your other employees from leaving.

For example, maybe your flexible scheduling, generous PTO, and professional training opportunities all factor into employee loyalty. With this information, you can then use it in your employer branding to attract even more top talent while continuing to retain current staff.

High (and Low) Employee Morale Indicators

Monitoring key employee morale indicators can help you mitigate any employee engagement problems that may be occurring behind-the-scenes. When you notice that employee engagement is dropping, you can quickly step in and address any issues before it’s too late.

Let’s take a look at some high and low employee morale indicators.

High Employee Morale Indicators

Signs of high employee morale are:

• Job Satisfaction. Employees are fulfilled by their jobs or roles within the company.
• Positive Attitude. Employees’ attitudes are optimistic and happy.
• High Productivity. Employees are producing efficient, quality work.
• Increased Customer Satisfaction. Clients are happy with the customer service they’re receiving.
• Team Cohesion. Employees are working well with one another. They feel a sense of belonging and trust each other.

Low Employee Morale Indicators

Common signs of low employee morale are:

• High Turnover. Employees are leaving the company in high numbers. New hires, in particular, are leaving before the one-year mark, oftentimes before their 90-day reviews.
• Absenteeism. Employees are frequently calling out of work or leaving early.
• Lack of Enthusiasm/Motivation. Employees are doing the bare minimum to get by in their roles.
• Employee Burnout. Employees are exhibiting symptoms of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion.
• Employee Boredom. When employees feel they aren’t being challenged, or doing meaningful work, boredom can set in.

Now let’s take a look at how you can measure these employee morale indicators using an employee engagement measurement scale.

Employee Engagement Measurement Scale

Job satisfaction indicators such as turnover, absenteeism, and productivity rate can give you a surface-level peek into your employee engagement. But, by tracking your workforce satisfaction metrics and measuring them, you can take a deeper look into exactly how engaged your workforce is.

Why You Need an Employee Engagement Measurement Scale

An employee engagement measurement scale will provide insight into your workforce’s level of engagement. To know if the engagement level is bad or good, you will need to benchmark your data.

Benchmarking is comparing your data with a reference point or group (e.g., last year’s employee engagement scores or relevant industries). By benchmarking your employee engagement survey results, you can see where your company ranks compared to others in your industry. More importantly, you can see what is working and what isn’t, and address those areas of concern.

Employee Engagement Score Calculation

To compare your scores to others in your industry, here are a few methods you can use:

• Absolute Comparison. Difference between your score and the industry standard.
• Relative Comparison. Percentage difference or ratio between your score and the industry standard.
• Gap Analysis. Use areas where your score is higher (or lower) than the industry standard and calculate the gap size.
• Ranking Analysis. Order your scores from highest to lowest and compare them with the industry ranking.

Let’s take a look at a hypothetical employee engagement measurement example using the absolute comparison. One of your workforce happiness metrics is job satisfaction. Your employee survey question is, “Based on a scale from 1-10 (least satisfied being 1, most satisfied being 10), what is your level of job satisfaction?”

After reviewing your survey results, you find that your average response is a 6 while the industry standard is an 8. Now you take those two numbers and calculate the difference. You can also use this scoring to see how individuals or groups of individuals score against the company, like Geckoboard does here:

Source: Geckoboard

Once you have your employee engagement score benchmark for job satisfaction, then you can then use it for future employee engagement surveys, to see if your scores improve or drop, and make modifications as needed.

How To Improve Employee Engagement

Once you have a clear picture of your employee engagement level, you can begin to address the areas that need improvement. Here are two ways to improve your employee engagement:  

1. Create an Employee Engagement Strategy

Creating a plan for how your company will engage its employees is crucial. Your strategy needs to include ways to measure engagement, engagement goals, budget, and best practices for improving employee engagement.

Some employee engagement strategy examples are creating a questionnaire to measure employee engagement, prioritizing employee feedback, offering scheduling flexibility, and implementing employee engagement activities.

2. Implement Employee Engagement Activities

Employee engagement activities are a great way to boost engagement. Some popular activities are:

• Team-Building Activities. Cultivate engagement and trust with team-building exercises.
• Training. Offer opportunities such as skills workshops, mentorship programs, etc. for professional growth.
• Wellness Initiatives. Boost mental and physical health with health challenges, classes, and sessions. 
• Employee Appreciation Programs. Implement reward and recognition programs.

To evaluate the effectiveness of your employee engagement activities, you’ll also want to measure the following staff development KPIs:

• Training Attendance Rate. How often did employees attend classes or activities?
• Course Completion Rate. What was the employee course completion rate?
• Average Time to Completion. How long did it take employees to complete the activity or course?
• Assessment Results. Did participating employees retain information and skills? If tests were used, what were employees’ test scores?
• Job Performance Impact. Upon completion of the course or activity, did you notice an improvement in job satisfaction and productivity?

Taking the time to evaluate and improve your employee engagement will enable your company to fully reap employee engagement benefits such as reduced work stress and turnover, improved communication and customer service, and higher productivity and ROI.

Improve Your Employee Engagement With GaggleAMP

Now that you know how to effectively measure your employee engagement, it’s time to level up. Using an employee advocacy tool like GaggleAMP can provide valuable insights and metrics to measure and improve employee engagement.

To drive engagement through employee advocacy, schedule a demo today.