What You Need to Know About Employee Engagement

“Employee Engagement” has become a buzz phrase in business over the past several years.
So, what is Employee Engagement?

Engagement Defined

Forbes defines employee engagement as “the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and goals.” It is NOT employee satisfaction or happiness.

Rather, engagement is about a bone deep commitment to the company. Engaged employees are willing to go the extra mile. They have good attitudes and are also  willing ready to work as part of the team to accomplish goals.

Benefits of an Engaged Workforce

A study by Dale Carnegie Training found that companies with engaged employees outperform those without engaged employees by up to 202%.
In Gallup’s 2016 State of the American Workplace survey, they found that businesses with an engagement strategy have better business outcomes.

In fact, those that scored in the top quartile of employee engagement have nearly doubled the odds of success when compared to those at the bottom of the quartile.

When compared with companies in the bottom quartile of engagement, companies in the top quartile showed improvements in the following areas:

• 41% lower absenteeism
• 24% lower turnover (high-turnover organizations)
• 59% lower turnover (low-turnover organizations)
• 28% less shrinkage
• 70% fewer safety incidents
• 58% lower patient safety incidents
• 40% fewer quality defects
• 10% higher customer metrics
• 17% higher productivity
• 20% higher sales
• 21% higher profitability

Can you see what all the buzz is about?

What if your business could experience even one of these factors (e.g., 20% higher sales) with an employee engagement strategy?

Would you be willing to create and implement such a strategy?

There are many more studies on the impact of employee engagement. Most of all, business leaders who truly understand the impact of engaging their workforce, and who create and implement engagement strategies, will be able to outpace the competition.

How Do I Engage My Workforce?

In my book, The Magnetic Advantage, I lay out a 3-part formula to create an engaged workforce.

1. 1. Magnetic Leadership

   Great leadership is the cornerstone of The Magnetic Advantage formula. As John Maxwell says, “everything rises and falls on leadership.” It takes a certain kind of leader to create an engaged workforce.  So I call these people “Magnetic Leaders.”

   In Zig Ziglar’s book Born to Win, he gives six personal qualities as the “foundational stones” of success. These qualities essential to becoming a Magnetic Leader are:

   1. Honesty
   2. Character
   3. Faith
   4. Integrity
   5. Love
   6. Loyalty

   To become a Magnetic Leader, assess your foundational qualities and develop a plan to shore up your weak areas. But most noteworthy, you must commit to your own personal development on an ongoing basis.

 2. Magnetic Culture

A company’s culture is its personality. As with people, a company’s personality either draws folks in or pushes them away. A Magnetic Culture is one that is specifically designed to Attract, Retain and Engage employees.

To create an engaged workforce, you must have a Magnetic Culture. There are two primary steps to building a Magnetic Culture.

a) Create your Guiding Principles – Determine what the company stands for and where it is going. And you do this by creating your Vision Statement, Mission Statement and Core Values.

b) Bring your Guiding Principles to Life! – Integrate your guiding principles throughout the company and model them yourself.
In my book, The Magnetic Advantage, I give several practical ways to integrate your guiding principles and create a thriving culture.

3. Magnetic Employee Programs

1. While culture is the heart of a company, employee programs are the hands and feet. Magnetic Employee Programs take into account what employees really desire, which creates strong engagement.
   In addition, these programs maximize the company’s ROI by spending money in the right places and improving profits through engagement.

The strategy I use to create Magnetic Employee Programs is Total Rewards. It includes everything an employee values – financial and non-financial. Total Rewards consists of the following six employee programs:

• Compensation
• Benefits
• Work-Life Programs
• Recognition
• Performance Management
• Talent Development

Creating a company’s Total Rewards strategy is the art of combining these six elements into a package while remaining unique to your company. Finally, this creates a strong magnetic pull to attract, retain and engage the best employees.

To Wrap It Up

You can have an engaged workforce and reap the benefits, yet it all starts with YOU.

Tom Ziglar says, “Change starts with you, but it doesn’t start until you do.”
Develop the qualities of a Magnetic Leader, build a powerful Magnetic Culture, and create Magnetic Employee Programs.  As a result, you will be amazed by how your company soars!

For more information on developing engagement, check out my book The Magnetic Advantage or one of the various resources on my site!