Government Review of Employee Engagement

Because of the dramatic impact it can have on the bottom line, employee engagement is revolutionizing HR practice across industries around the world. Just last week, a headline in HR Review stated: “The government has launched a review into employee engagement, which will examine ways to boost productivity levels among the UK workforce.” Based on study results, the team will make recommendations to employers on how to improve employee motivation and performance.

Why is the British government concerning themselves directly in the matter of employee engagement? Just look at these numbers:

According to Towers Perrin, a 15% improvement in levels of employee engagement correlates with a 2% improvement in operating margin. What would a two per cent increase in operating margin mean for your company?

Increasing employee engagement also improves performance by as much as 20 per cent, per the Corporate Leadership Council. In today’s tight economic climate and fearful work environment, deriving higher performance levels – willing given – from current staffing levels is more critical than ever.

But Towers Perrin also recently reported, “Only one out of every five workers today is giving full discretionary effort on the job, and this ‘engagement gap’ poses serious risks for employers because of the strong connection between employee engagement and company financial performance.”

So, how do you increase employee engagement to get that additional discretionary effort from your employees? White Water Strategies found that praising staff had the same impact on job satisfaction as a 1% pay rise. And HR Zone found that regular informal feedback has been linked to a 40% rise in employee performance and a 20% increase in discretionary effort.

Strategic recognition programs not only give you the mechanism to give staff the praise they need that is proven to increase their discretionary effort, but also gives you the means to track performance, behavior, and alignment with company values against recognition moments. This allows you to change your company’s social architecture, driving a culture of appreciation that is now even gaining government interest.

Do you see an “engagement gap” in your organization? Have you taken steps to close it and are you seeing the results? Join the conversation in comments.