In any random group, there is often someone with more energy, more spirit, more oomph than everyone else. That oomph factor is likely a sign of high engagement. In the workplace, engagement represents additional discretionary effort above and beyond what is typically expected of an employee. Engagement can heighten productivity, enhance quality and accelerate results. It can factor into operating costs, sales and customer loyalty. On the flip side, dis-engagement carries a real dollars and cents downside for every organization. The stakes are high. To get a sense of how high, Spherion took a closer look at engagement in its most recent Emerging Workforce Study. The findings provide valuable insight into the level of engagement of today’s workers, but more importantly, they shed light on the hard and soft cost benefits to achieving high engagement.

The Link between Job Satisfaction and Engagement

Job satisfaction is fundamental to engagement, yet most workers are less than satisfied with their jobs. While relationships with immediate supervisors generate a higher degree of satisfaction, that is not the case for current pay, potential to earn more or training and career development opportunities. Improving job satisfaction can improve engagement levels.

Satisfaction Drives Perception

Improving job satisfaction also improves employee perceptions. We found that more satisfied employees are:

• 2x more likely to have pride in their employer (97% vs. 43%)
• 2x more likely to believe in the strength and stability of their company’s future (96% vs. 52%)
• 3x more likely to trust senior leadership to do what’s best for the organization and its employees (89% vs. 30%)
• 3x more likely to be satisfied with their ability to maintain work/life balance (61% vs. 22%)
• 4x more likely to believe their company is effective at recruiting the best talent available (76% vs. 22%)
• 5x more likely to be satisfied with their access to the organization’s online career development tools (76% vs. 22%)  

Engagement Encourages an Enterprise Viewpoint

In addition to contributing more, highly engaged workers better understand how they can impact the company’s success. Engaged employees are more loyal. They believe in the organization, they understand its mission, and they know they can make a difference. This is why they are usually the most productive workers. They also take an enterprise view of their role in the organization, thinking about the whole company and how they fit into it. In customer-facing roles, engaged employees are more likely to treat customers in ways that positively influence customer satisfaction. Beyond these “soft” benefits of engagement, research by Gallup shows that companies with engaged workforces not only generate higher earnings per share, they seemed to bounce back from the recession at a faster rate.

Engagement Disconnects

In our study, we saw some key differences in what employers think it takes to improve engagement, compared to the employee viewpoint.

• Workers say “feeling more valued by the company” is the number one way their employer could improve their engagement, while companies named “rewarding workers for their accomplishments” as the least influential factor in engagement.
• While 87% of companies believe “gaining more trust in senior leadership to do what’s best for the organization and its workers” is extremely/very influential over engagement, only 8% of workers said that would improve their level of engagement.

Considering the fact that our findings uncovered a direct link between higher engagement and higher retention — to the tune of 31% — narrowing the employer/employee perception gap should be a high priority for any employer looking to increase engagement.

Taking Steps to Promote a More Engaged Workforce

An impactful way to drive employee engagement is to promote employee alignment with organizational mission and vision. Communication is critical in this endeavor. Employees yearn to be connected to their employer and to something broader and bigger than what may be found in their job description. The majority — 75% — of workers view their job as more than just a way to earn a living. An organization that not only has a clear mission but demonstrably follows through on that mission is more likely to have engaged employees who tend to adopt that mission as their own.

Despite clear evidence of the potential impact of a highly engaged workforce on company growth, profitability and customer loyalty, only 53% of employers regularly measure engagement levels. This is an important first step in moving the needle on engagement.

Local Spherion owner Michael Chalmers and his team have been serving the recruiting and staffing needs of Macon metropolitan area employers for more than 22 years. Founded in 1946, Spherion is a $2 billion national workforce leader with a distinct local focus. To learn more about how Spherion can help you, contact 478-956-1700 or visit them online at www.spherion.com.