With all the disgruntled and restless employees out there - a recent study put the percentage of employees who are not fully engaged at 75% - employee engagement is as high a concern as ever. Company leaders do somersaults to maximize the engagement of their employees and, by extension, their bottom lines. Administrators scour the landscape for tools and programs - such as volunteer and giving programs - that will increase employee engagement. And employees, well, they just want to be engaged. And if they’re not, they’ll leave. Or never join your company in the first place.
But despite the ongoing attention around employee engagement, most company leaders still can’t seem to create a culture defined by fully productive employees. Why is this?
TINYpulse, a technology solution that helps companies gather employee feedback, recently conducted a survey of more than 300 organizations, gathering responses from more than 400,000 employees. Here are the seven key takeaways that TINYpulse concluded about employee engagement today:
And that doesn’t even factor in the company’s social mission, which is an increasingly critical component in attracting and retaining employees. Companies that clearly show how they’re giving back are going to get back, in the form of more engaged employees.
2. 82% of respondents claimed that their manager clearly outlined their role and responsibility. At the day-to-day team level, it seems that managers are able to effectively set expectations and accountability.
3. But…employee happiness is more dependent on co-workers than direct managers. Employee happiness is 23.3% more correlated to connections with co-workers than direct supervisors. There is a very strong correlation between employee happiness and their rating of co-workers.
Creating a lively, interactive approach around your CSR efforts is one way to socialize your corporate culture in constructive ways. The right online tools make this easy.
4. Team play and collaboration are the top trait employees love about their co-workers. In the recruitment and interview process, leading companies must incorporate opportunities to test and screen for these vital characteristics in candidates.
And bear in mind that employee volunteering provides excellent opportunities for team building and collaboration.
5. 18% of responses included a suggestion, and organizations that don’t promote employee suggestions are at an innovation disadvantage. Businesses that don’t crowdsource innovation and suggestions from their employees are missing a huge opportunity. If you’re relying on an open door policy, then you’re not fully leveraging your most prized asset - your people.
Employees want to be a part of the shaping of your company - and that includes decision-making opportunities around your corporate philanthropy efforts.
6. 36% of responses provided peer-to-peer recognition, which proves that a lightweight and regular system boosts intra-organization recognition. As organizations become more decentralized, virtual, and matrixed, there’s a growing need to provide regular recognition that goes beyond the antiquated one-on-one supervisor-to-employee relationship.
Modern volunteering software can open a whole world of positive peer to peer opportunities. Add in gamification and you’ve got friendly competition around furthering your company’s social mission, and built-in social applications are ideal for promoting intra-organization recognition.
7. Management transparency is the top factor when determining employee happiness. The cost of improving transparency is almost zero, but requires an ongoing dialogue between management and staff. An increasing number of companies will be using transparency as a weapon to attract and retain top talent.
That’s why the right volunteer and giving tools that are instant, social and mobile are so effective at galvanizing excitement and participation in your corporate volunteer program. All of which goes a long way towards increasing employee engagement.
