Employee Engagement: How To Create It?

By Estelle Auger, Student at ENS Paris-Saclay

In business, a scourge affects employee motivation, productivity, and team morale: Lack of engagement. A team that lacks engagement is costly. Actively disengaged employees cost the US economy up to $605 billion a year. Similarly, companies with disengaged employees generate 2.5 times less revenue than those with highly engaged employees. Thus, employee engagement is characterised by putting a lot of energy into one’s work physically, mentally, and emotionally, going beyond what is expected or required, going above and beyond to overcome obstacles encountered along the way, and adhering to the company’s business goals.

Engaged employees are more productive, focused on their customers, and likely to stay with their company. The numbers are there to prove it. According to findings from the Harvard Business Review, 71% of participants consider employee engagement to be a critical factor in overall business success.

Being a passionate, emphatic, and actively engaged employee does not come naturally. Company leaders must invest in their employees and develop a strategy to increase the number of passionate employees. However, many managers place too little emphasis on employee engagement.
How can organisations improve employee engagement? What is the best way to create it? What can be done to increase it?

Creating a sense of difference for the employees

It has been shown that employees generally become highly engaged when they have access to meaningful work and career opportunities.

So how can we make opportunities more meaningful?

First, motivating jobs offer variety, opportunities to make an impact, and a chance to make a difference at work.

Variety is necessary to motivate job creation as it catalyses engagement. Employees who use a wide range of skills for various tasks are ten times more likely to be highly engaged than those whose jobs are monotonous.

Variety can take many forms: new goals, different projects, opportunities to move around the company, new responsibilities, and time to learn and experiment.
In addition to variety, the opportunity to make an impact gives employees a sense of purpose at work and in their careers. Employees who feel they have the power to influence strategic, administrative, or operational outcomes are twice as likely to be highly engaged as those who do not.

Finally, people find meaning and commitment in their work when they believe they can make a difference. For instance, Danone, the Paris-based food giant, aims to empower its 90,000 employees worldwide. It is the case for employees in an Argentine dairy plant who own two to five square meters of workspace and are responsible for improving processes in their small production area. “The secret,” says one plant employee, “is to believe that we own a small part of the plant. Being an owner motivates me every day”.

Secondly, while rewarding jobs is crucial, rewarding relationships with colleagues catalyses engagement in an even more powerful way. Employees who feel valued by their colleagues are three times more likely to be highly engaged than employees who do not feel valued.

Finally, people are more likely to see themselves as having a future in the company if they feel that their skills and goals match the needs of the organisation. And when this fit exists, employees are more likely to commit. Indeed, employees who think their company is a good fit are seventeen times more likely to be highly engaged than employees who do not feel their company is a good fit.

Companies must cultivate a culture of trust and respect

To create and maintain a high level of employee engagement, companies must implement a culture in which employees feel supported. When their company culture was characterised by trust and respect, employees were four times more likely to have strong retention intentions and five times more likely to be highly engaged.

Where is the best place for managers to implement a culture of trust and respect? There are two agents. One of the solutions is creating a safe environment where leaders encourage risk-taking, value employee differences, and promote open conversation and transparency. It is an environment where people can take risks without fear of repercussions if they make mistakes and where they can trust and support each other. Furthermore, when employees feel that their work environment is safe to take risks, they are three times more likely to stay with their current employer. For example, the former head of ethics at Northrop Grumman launched a programme that allows managers to. Employees at all levels need to understand that they can safely answer complex questions and will not be reprimanded for doing so. These efforts are paying off, as Fortune recently ranked Northrop Grumman third in its “Global Most Admired” survey. Secondly, trustworthy colleagues: employees can rely on their colleagues to help them, even in difficult situations. Research shows that having colleagues with a high level of trust is a crucial enabler for maintaining engagement: Employees who feel they can rely on their colleagues are almost seven times more likely to be highly engaged and committed to staying with their company than those who do not have such trusting relationships.

Focusing on employee well-being

According to research involving 1,367 employees in large US companies across various industries, the amount of physical, mental, and emotional energy people can bring to their work is the most potent indicator of their engagement at work. The greater the amount of energy, the higher the level of engagement. In addition, investing in employee well-being can have a positive influence on the bottom line.

Consider that some companies have saved hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade by offering wellness programs to their employees. However, in addition to the potential benefits, finding an energetic balance between employees’ work and their free time is essential for a long-term relationship. Companies need to use two catalysts to persuade employees that they are being supported.

Energy boosters keep employees physically, mentally, and emotionally energised. Highly engaged employees devote significant physical, emotional, and mental energy to their work. They innovate and overcome obstacles daily to help their company survive. They must maintain their stamina to achieve these levels of performance. By supporting their efforts and recovery, employers can help their employees maintain sufficient physical, mental, and emotional reserves. People must recover from their exertions to return to work with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. Employees who have the opportunity to recover are three times more likely to be highly engaged than those who do not have the time to do so. The ability to recuperate from hard work is more critical than ever in today’s increasingly demanding business world. Long working hours and overtime pay increase stress and reduce employees’ enthusiasm for their work, reducing their commitment. Stress costs companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost work time (absenteeism), reduced productivity (presenteeism), increased health care and insurance costs, and employee turnover.

Employee engagement to foster companies’ success

Engaged employees are more productive, focused on their customers, and likely to stay with their company. But it’s not easy to implement strategies to consider all employees as engaged. Part of the solution is to create an organisation where it’s safe to speak up, safe to take risks and one where colleagues have each other’s back. Now is the time to reinvent employee engagement.

Estelle Auger

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