Analytics and advisory company Gallup found that being disengaged had a significant effect on the personal emotions of employees in its State of The Global Workplace 2024 Report. Speaking to employees, Gallup monitored feelings such as stress, anger and worry. Interestingly, those who are disengaged are dealing with these emotions at the same scale as those who are unemployed.
Conversely, the research found that “half of employees who are engaged at work are thriving in life overall” and were experiencing fewer negative emotions.
It is not only staff on the ground floor who are impacted by engagement with their roles, managers are also experiencing similar issues.
Only 30% of managers are engaged with their work, and they are more prone to emotions like stress and anger than other employees. The emotional toll of the job suggests that managers may need the most support in organisations.
On top of that, given that Gallup found that 70% of the variance in team engagement can be attributed to the manager it is essential that productive businesses have engaged managers.
Best practice for employee engagement
Gallup identified three practices in highly engaged workplaces.
Firstly, engaged workplaces put an emphasis on the hiring of managers and their development.
These workplaces also incorporate engagement at every stage of the career life cycle. This means engagement is always a part of the culture and impacts how hires are made to how performances are reviewed.
Finally, there is a focus on wellbeing at home and at work. Using coaches, utilising wellbeing practices, and giving tools for financial literacy can all be part of this focus.
Speaking about the need to be mindful of engagement at all times of the career life cycle, Amrit Sandhar the CEO and Founder of employee engagement firm &Evolve offers a starting point: “ When it comes to creating a pleasant environment, there are many steps small businesses can take. The first is having clear values or principles as an organisation. This might be seen as something only large organisations undertake, but every business needs to define its culture.
“This is why the ‘Mission, Vision and Values’ module in the Help to Grow: Management Course is helpful, because when you define your organisation's values you are also clarifying the behaviours expected across your business.”
The benefits of engaged employees
According to Gallup, best practice for businesses is to have three-fourths of their managers engaged and seven in 10 non-managers. This is the equivalent of 14 engaged employees for every one actively disengaged employee. Many business leaders would see this is as far above average, and it is 11 times more engagement that most companies see, but the benefits are significant.
Comparing the top quartile of engaged teams to the bottom, Gallup saw that engaged businesses had 78% less absenteeism, 51% higher turnover for businesses with typically low turnover, and 63% less safety incidents. Employee engagement is clearly a smart investment.
Dr Chinny Nzekwe-Excel, Associate Professor of Enterprise and Corporate Development at Birmingham City University, discussed the Help to Grow: Management Course and the benefits of employee engagement: “Employee engagement, which is a key factor in the success or productivity of any organisation, that is why it is covered in the Help to Grow: Management Course. Just as change is and can be difficult for a single individual, changing one or more aspects of an SME organisation can also be a challenge since this will most likely involve or affect more than one individual/ employee.
Employee engagement and effectively leading change are essential factors that can influence customer satisfaction, productivity, and profitability of any business.
"Therefore, it is not surprising that market leaders pay a lot of attention to increasing their employee engagement.”
She added that the module on the Help to Grow: Management Course, “is designed to develop (and/ or enhance) the managerial skills of SME owners and managers which can allow them to create conditions for employee engagement (beyond minimal needs for satisfaction), to monitor and correct their engagement level, to build team resilience and to support their people through constant change.”
You can find out more about the Help to Grow: Management Course here.
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