Study: More than Half of Employers Still Don’t Have an Employee Engagement Plan

More on the employee engagement front, which is being talked about everywhere these days. According to a just released study announced by Youforce, conducted in March of this year, only about 41% of employers have an employee engagement strategy.  Of these, 30% said it improves employee performance and 13% felt it improves employee retention. For more employee engagement articles on this blog, click here. The news of the study is mixed.  While the the majority (79%) of respondents classified employee engagement as a “high priority,” still for less than half only of the organizations surveyed did that appreciation for the value of an engaged workforce translate into a comprehensive strategy. The study also examined the top forcing driving employee engagement within organizations, and found that corporate culture and recognition, followed closely by career progression and opportunities for learning and training. Survey respondents cited several barriers to higher adoption of employee engagement strategies, including buy-in from senior management. Lee Grant, vice president, international at Youforce, said: “Our research shows that employee engagement is the current big challenge for HR professionals, because it is linked in to so many areas of the HR function. “While this is seen as the responsibility of HR, it is something that should be taken on by all employees. Creating the enabler for employee engagement is the hardest part of the process. Having the right HR systems and technology will provide the detailed insight into the workforce that will allow HR departments to develop an employee engagement strategy that will look after employees and help them become more efficient.” My two cents: As we’ve written about a lot recently, employee engagement is vital to employee motivation and performance.  In a digital world of social networks and constant access to communication, the old model of boss-worker is blurring a bit, and workers want to feel both attention and recognition for their work, as well as being a full member of team.  It would be highly advisable for managers – and organizations as a whole – to consider a fully engaged workforce as top priority in overall company strategy for high performance and growth.  Key ways to increase employee engagement is 2-way feedback and open communication, making work consistently (as much as possible) new, interesting and fun, and demonstrating to employees the importance of their work, both to themselves and their growth within the organization, as well as to the larger success of the organization itself. Your thoughts?