Strategic talent management cannot be based on measuring employee satisfaction, but on measuring employee engagement. The basic difference between satisfaction and engagement is that satisfaction is a matter of things provided to employees, while engagement is a mutual commitment between a company and an employee. "Companies help employees achieve their potential and employees help companies to better performance," explains consultant Allan Benowitz on BLR.com. He also clearly summarizes what employee engagement is not about. It is not about things, latest gadgets, avoidance of tough decisions, or trying to please everybody, it's a matter of people, relationships, sharing responsibility for a successful future, communication and personal development.
An employee who feels disengaged thinks or expresses sentences like:
"I'm worried that I'll be the next to get fired."
"Why are we dismissing people when we are still making money?"
"They promised to promote me within two years."
"They do not even offer flexible working hours any longer."
"I wanted to retire, but I have to work."
"As soon as the economic situation improves, I'll go somewhere else."
Why measure employee engagement?
First of all, you will show employees that you are really interested in them. You will find out what is stressful for them, giving you the opportunity to improve the situation. This increases the likelihood of your best talent staying. You will also allow employees to play an active role in the search for ways to streamline the operation of the company and shaping its future strategy. Last but not least, you will improve the company's bottom line.
How to measure employee engagement?
- Do not begin measuring engagement until you have support from the top. You must make sure that your leaders will listen to and act upon feedback.
- Hire an external consulting company that has experience with similar projects, this will save you both time and money.
- Familiarize employees with the results and the follow up steps. Establish and share internal benchmarks.
- Promote specific achievements that have occurred since the last survey.
- Set up local sub-committees to track local results.
- Set up an internal committee to track company-wide results and recommend changes to top management.
- Create a common template for the preparation of action plans which will then be shared on your intranet.
- Focus on both development opportunities and strengths.
- Do not repeat the survey more often then every two years. It takes time to analyze results and implement changes based on the feedback.
- Instead of investing in the latest technology, invest in high-quality follow up services after your employees fill in the survey. This includes interpretation of results, action planning, tracking success of the new measures, communication and brand building.
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