A recent article shared by Gallup indicated that 36% of the US workforce is engaged in their work. Surprisingly, this statistic is higher than it has been for many years, although the number itself is often perceived as disappointing.
However, opinions quickly change when Gallup also reveals that globally only 20% of employees are engaged at work.
Equally important, their findings indicate the percentage of actively offline employed in the US, has increased to 15% through June 2021.
Actively disengaged employees cost companies dearly…higher turnover, more security issues, more frequent absenteeism, lower productivity, etc. Actively disengaged workers also tend to “report miserable work experiences, are generally poorly managed, and tend to bring downn your co-workers.
Because right now?
The reason workforce engagement has become more important now that we’re through the pandemic is that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics says employee turnover or “quit rates” are hitting record levels , and Gallup research has found “substantial differences in employers based on the quality of the work environment.”
“Among actively laid-off workers in 2021, 74% are actively looking for a new job or keeping an eye on job openings. This compares to 55% of disengaged employees and 30% of engaged employees,” the article states. .
With this fact in mind, and despite the recent increase in engagement levels, with only 36% of US employees engaged in their work, there is a lot of room for improvement.
The first step in this improvement process is to formalize an employee engagement plan, and to do so in the same way that a continuous process improvement initiative would be implemented:
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Get buy-in and buy-in from senior leaders. Little will be accomplished without this; the best results are achieved when leaders understand the benefits of engagement and take action.
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Create a formalized implementation plan and establish performance measures so progress can be tracked. Develop realistic, achievable and measurable goals and objectives.
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Work with leaders so they can model the right behaviors and spread the concepts throughout the organization.
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Create and equip project teams to identify and quantify improvement opportunities.
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Foster an environment of collaboration, innovation, continuous improvement and fun. Increases in productivity produce increases in engagement.
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Make sure people have the knowledge and skills to be successful.
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Implement an adequate integrated communication plan, reinforcing the concept of improvement of both “work and the workplace”.
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Reward and recognize people so they feel supported in their efforts.
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Measure results and ROI…and keep your foot on the gas!