I saw a great Youtube video by The Employee Engagement Group on Employee Engagement. It defines Employee Engagement as being about mutual commitment between the Company and the employee. That is a great definition. When both the employee and the company are committed to each other’s success and satisfaction, then “discretionary effort” is unleashed – Discretionary effort being defined as “the above and beyond effort people could give, if they wanted to”.

The statistics around employee engagement are remarkable:

Highly engaged employees are:
480% more committed to driving company success
250% more likely to recommend improvements
370% more likely to recommend their company as an employer

89% of employers think their employees leave for more money. Actually, 12% of employees leave for more money.
75% of employees leaving, leave their boss, not the company

Employees with lower engagement are four times more likely to exit the company
Disengaged managers are three times more likely to have disengaged employees
7 out of 10 employees are disengaged or actively disengaged
87% of C-suite executives state that disengaged employees is a big threat to their business

Can you afford not to survey your employees’ engagement satisfaction?
Can you afford not to make employee engagement a key lever and metric within your company?
Can you afford not to have engaged managers in your key positions? (include engagement level in your definition of a great leader!!!! Measure it!!!!)

The Employee Engagement Group defines Trust in Management as the key driver of employee engagement. I have written often about the need for Leaders to be transparent with their people, as that transparency creates trust…and trust drives performance.

It starts with you building trust. Building trust starts with transparency, vulnerability, openness and empathy!

The video: