Measuring Employee Engagement Helps Create Company-Wide Savings

Naysayers remain, treating employee engagement as a trend, the latest pop culture fad in business. Oftentimes the naysayers confuse satisfaction with engagement. As an organization works toward creating a culture and engagement mindset, the ones who just touch on it equate “happy” employees as engaged employees.

Measuring employee engagement will help an organization tap into its core, to discover what’s working and what’s not in an organization. The initial investment to conduct an employee engagement survey and come up with a follow-up plan will become savings for a company later on.

Engagement goes far deeper than a Sunday barbecue hosted by the company. It’s a daily commitment of an employee with her workplace to give the best of herself and work toward the company goals as well as a daily commitment from employers to create a purpose-rich workplace that fosters an engaged employee mindset. How important is this?

Employee engagement keeps an organization’s costs down and productivity up. Disengagement directly impacts an organization’s bottom line.

1. Engaged employees are loyal employees: An SHMR study suggests that the cost to recruit, train, develop, and ,in turn, the loss of production when an employee leaves are about the cost of 6 to 9 months salary (on average). If you have a manager making $40,000.00 a year, that translates to up to $30,000.00 in organizational costs. Obviously, turnover rates vary depending on the role and wage of each employee; nevertheless, turnover costs. Engaged workforces, according to Gallup, have of employee turnover 65% less than other organizations.
   
   
2. Absenteeism: According to a study published by the Workforce Institute “unscheduled absenteeism is a chronic problem for US employers, conservatively costing $3,600 per hourly employee per year, and $2,650 per salaried employee per year.” Employees who feel valued, love their jobs, and are working toward the goals set by their organization don’t miss work or “call in sick.” Their work is a priority.
   
   
3. Respect for the Workplace: Employees who are invested in their workplace and jobs treat their things with respect and take care of the work environment, like turning off lights and fans and not taking home that extra pen. This respect for the workplace saves thousands of dollars per year.
   
   
4. Higher productivity: It’s inevitable that an engaged employee and a purposeful workplace creates better customer service. There’s a trickle-down effect. If employers take care of their employees, then employees will take care of their customers. Happy customers are repeat customers.