The Employee Engagement Deficit

Recently I have been researching Employee Engagement and what companies do in order to track or measure it.  There seems to be a few constants across all companies who have conducted surveys about Employee Engagement.  These are…

1)  There is a direct correlation between employees who are engaged and improved performance, no matter how it is measured.

2)  It is very difficult to achieve a satisfactory level of employee engagement.  In fact it is easier to recognize disengagement.

3)  Companies spend large amounts of money and time to survey employee’s likes and dislikes without improving the company’s performance in any significant way.

The more research I do, the more apparent it is that the correct measure of employee engagement should be “The Employee Engagement Deficit”.  Clearly the goal needs to be closing the gap between fully engaged employees and improved company performance.  Not how much more satisfied employees are with their job and the company.

There are two types of deficits.

Management Deficits

• Managers do not clearly understand how their unit / department contribute to the overall success of the company.
• Managers have not conveyed to employees how their role is related to the goals, objectives and direction of the organization.
• Managers do not exert extra effort beyond what is normally expected to help the company succeed.
• Managers are not personally motivated to help the company be successful.

Employee Deficits

• Employees do not regularly recommend the company as a good place to work to their friends.
• Employees are not inspired to do their best, each day.
• Employees do not act proud to work at the company.
• Employees do not get a sense of personal accomplishment from their jobs.
• Employees are not personally invested in the future of the company.
• Employees do not feel they have a voice in the company.

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It is leadership’s responsibility to close the Manager Deficit gaps with its management team and to hold them accountable for closing the Employee Deficit gaps. Conversely employees should be empowered to hold leadership and peers accountable for walking the talk and aligning job responsibilities with the goals, objectives and direction of the organization.

Where should you start to improve Employee Engagement in your company? 

1. Establish “Employee Engagement” as a corporate objective and clearly differentiate employee engagement from employee satisfaction. 
2. Communicate the importance to full engagement to the future success of the organization.
3. Set specific measurable achievable realistic time-bound (SMART) goals.
4. 360 Degree Accountability, top down, bottom up and peer to peer.
5. Integrate the objective in to the culture of the organization.
6. Measure Improvements and recognize accomplishments.
7. Repeat step 6 regularly.

A final thought on the subject of Employee Engagement.  Make this a priority, even if it means moving other objectives on to the back burner to accomplish this objective first.  Remember success is on the line and your efforts should show marked performance improvements.