Measuring colleague engagement
07 Dec 2023, posted in Blogs
At its simplest, ‘employee engagement’ is a catch-all term covering the different ways your workforce interacts with you and each other. There are many ways to motivate a workforce, enhancing productivity, happiness and retention, but some are better than others, which is why we advocate for something more enduring.
We advocate moving from employee engagement to creating thriving colleague communities. Why? Because unlocking the power of engagement means transforming the way you interact with your people, from temporary workers to suppliers, partners and even customers.
Why should I measure colleague engagement?
Measuring colleague engagement is critical for identifying areas for improvement, increasing employee retention, improving productivity and performance, enhancing customer satisfaction, and aligning organisational goals.
Recording colleague engagement at every stage of your journey is beneficial. Before implementing your engagement strategy, you can measure colleague engagement – this will demonstrate the impact and success of the changes.
How to measure colleague engagement
Measuring colleague engagement involves collecting data through various methods, including surveys, focus groups, one-on-one interviews, and performance metrics. By measuring colleague engagement, organisations can identify areas for improvement and develop targeted interventions to increase employee engagement and improve organisational performance.
Our top 10 ways to measure colleague engagement
- Surveys: Conducting surveys is a common and effective way to measure the engagement of your peoplecolleague engagement. Surveys typically include questions about job satisfaction, work environment, communication, recognition, and other factors that contribute to colleague engagement.
- Focus groups: Focus groups are another way to measure engagement. In a focus group, a small group of your people are brought together to discuss their experiences. The discussion is typically facilitated by a trained moderator who asks questions to elicit feedback on various aspects of working with or for you.
- One-on-one interviews: One-on-one interviews with employees and even customers can also be used to measure colleague engagement. In the context of employee engagement, a manager or HR representative would met with an employee to discuss their experience at work, their level of engagement, and any concerns they may have.
- Engagement scorecards: Colleague engagement scorecards provide a snapshot of engagement levels in or with an organisation. Scorecards typically include data on factors such as turnover rates, absenteeism, productivity, and employee or customer satisfaction.
- Feedback systems: Feedback systems allow your people to provide feedback on their experience at work in real-time. These systems can take various forms, such as online feedback forms, suggestion boxes, or social media platforms.
- Pulse surveys: Pulse surveys are shorter and more frequent than traditional surveys, typically administered weekly or monthly. They are designed to provide ongoing feedback on colleague engagement levels and identify changes in engagement over time.
- Net promoter score: The net promoter score (NPS) is a metric that measures the likelihood that an employee would recommend the organisation as a place to work. The score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors (employees who would not recommend the organisation) from the percentage of promoters (employees who would recommend the organisation).
- Turnover rate: The employee or customer turnover rate measures the percentage of employees or customers who leave or stop working with an organisation over a given period.
- Online review monitoring: Monitoring digital and social media channels such as Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and Twitter can provide valuable insights into employee engagement levels. Employees often share their experiences and opinions about their employer on social media platforms, providing a rich data source on employee engagement.
- Exit interviews: Conducting exit interviews with employees who are leaving the organisation can provide valuable feedback on employee engagement levels. Exit interviews can help identify why employees are leaving and provide insights into areas for improvement.
I’ve measured colleague engagement, now what?
Once you have measured colleague engagement, it’s important to analyse the data, identify areas for improvement, and develop an action plan to address any issues.
You should communicate the results to your people. Involving all impacted parties in the planning process ensures that the action plan is tailored to their needs. Implement interventions to address the key issues, monitor progress over time, and adjust interventions as needed to create a more positive and productive working environment and relationship.
