Employee Engagement And Its Effect On Your Business

What separates a mediocre company from a great one? What is it that makes a customer actively choose your business over your competitor’s time and time again? And what is it that makes your business a great place to work, inspiring outstanding performance from your employees? The answer is 2 simple, words – employee engagement. This has become a top priority for many businesses in recent years. In such a rapidly moving commercial world, business leaders understand that having a high performing workforce is essential for the growth of their organisation. But what exactly do we mean when we say ‘engaged employees’ and what will investing time and resources into improving employee engagement do to help your business?

No matter what sector you’re in, people are the key to your success. Put simply, employee engagement is defined as the extent to which employees commit to something or someone in their organisation and their desire to win or achieve great results for the business. In fact, research has shown that engaged employees work harder, are more loyal and more likely to go the extra mile for the business. It’s no surprise then that businesses who have highly engaged employees are more likely to see success and growth in their business than those with indifferent or disengaged employees. An engaged employee takes pride in what they do and will often bring more than just a smiling face to work. There are a variety of ways you can encourage your employees to be more engaged in their roles, from shifting focus to personal development, offering new training options, increasing communication between departments and even improving your own company culture to align with employee values.

In a nutshell, employee engagement has been proven to have a direct influence on the commercial success of a company. Research conducted by Nancy R Lockwood in her book ‘Leveraging Employee Engagement For Competitive Advantage’ states that employees with the highest levels of engagement with their organisation are likely to perform 20% better than other employees and are 87% less likely to leave the organisation. If you invest the time and effort into ensuring your employees are engaged and satisfied, you are likely to see your profits growing up to 3x faster than your competitors, all due to the dedicated efforts of your employees. Employee engagement can affect your growth rates, profits, turnover and even customer loyalty.

Just as employee engagement can be highly profitable, disengagement can cost your business dearly. Disengaged employees have a direct and negative impact on your business, both in terms of workplace atmosphere and your bottom line. Disengaged employees care less about their jobs, tend to be absent more, experience more safety incidents and make less effort in their day to day tasks. Disengaged employees are unlikely to stay with your organisation for long periods of time, so the cost of overtime to cover illnesses, recruiting and training new employees all adds up over time. If that wasn’t bad enough actively disengaged employees can add up to a lot more. A disengaged employee can cost employers approximately £3,400 for every £10,000 in annual salary, made up of sickness, absenteeism and lost productivity.

Ouch. The bottom line here (pun very much intended) is that if a business wants to boost its profitability and productivity, increase customer loyalty and see significant growth, they need to focus on engaging their employees. Not sure how to do that? Get in touch with youbecome today for a free employee engagement consultation.