How to Track Employee Engagement?

There’s no question that employee engagement continues to be a hot topic amongst senior leaders these days as the economy continues to struggle through what appears to be the bottom of its hole and companies place more focus on improving productivity. The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) has found strong correlations between engaged workforces and high-performing ones, which is probably why that amidst layoffs and stock plunges engagement has become all that more important.

In a recent engagement study we did with the ASTD, we asked how companies measure engagement. Some of the most common responses are pretty obvious and standard, such as asking in exit interviews and tracking turnover, but neither of those are particularly good at tackling the problem before employees quit.

In the chart above, you’ll see a breakdown of different ways companies are tracking employee engagement, with informal discussions being the number one way to assess a person’s position that does NOT require them quitting first.

The chart separates out high-performing organizations - those that have shown considerable growth and market share over the last five years - to reveal gaps and show potential opportunities for everyone else. Interestingly enough, very few low-performing organizations take input from employees’ supervisors into account when assessing engagement; in fact, many of the largest gaps revolve around informal methods such as focus groups and interviews. It is in these areas where companies who want to make strides in engagement may want to focus their attention.

Erik Samdahl is the marketing director for i4cp and manages i4cp’s Productivity Blog.