Providing employees with a positive working environment does far more than create good press for your business. Employees who feel engaged and productive are more likely to succeed, which builds success for your company. Whether your outcome is increased sales or better turnaround times, focusing on what’s going on inside your organization is ideal for seeing results on a broader scale. So, what can businesses do to improve engagement? How does wellbeing impact performance, efficiency, and more? We’ve covered all you need to know in our guide below.
What is employee engagement?
Employee engagement is a metric that reflects how committed and involved someone is in their work. For example, an employee with high engagement may be motivated to complete work swiftly. By contrast, an employee that feels disengaged may procrastinate, miss deadlines, and set back projects. While there’s no ‘magic wand’ to improve engagement for everyone – we’re all different, after all – focusing on engagement, in general, can be a powerful tool that’s often forgotten.
By boosting employee engagement, you can provide a host of benefits to your business. Engaged employees are typically happier employees. This more positive approach to work helps get things done, achieve goals, and go above and beyond to spur workplace initiatives and projects. By improving engagement, you can build up employee satisfaction, increase output, and retain star team members.
What is employee wellbeing?
Employee wellbeing is often treated as something more holistic than engagement statistics. While both take different approaches, the outcomes can be similar. For example, a commitment to improving employee wellbeing can lead to healthier hours and work/life balance initiatives. This focus helps to reduce sick days and improve employee engagement, effectively providing your team members with the fuel they need to work at their best.
Like engagement, well-being isn’t a single band-aid that works for everyone. But committing to well-being programs or strategies can be valuable in the long term. For example, healthier employees may struggle less with maintaining attention. If employees feel their health and mental wellbeing are taken seriously, they also may have increased company loyalty, which is ideal for business retention in the long term.
Why are wellbeing and engagement important in the workplace?
Both wellbeing and engagement are important to building a workplace that fosters long-term success. Providing employees with the means and resources is essential in helping them to achieve their best work. Some of the reasons why well-being and engagement are integral to the workplace include:
Enhanced productivity
Productivity is a crucial measure of business success. Both engagement and well-being can directly impact how productive employees are. For example, a team member that is engaged in their work may complete tasks in less time. Productivity is significant in larger-scale projects, where strict timelines and deadlines dictate the progress and success of the project.
Improved communication
Employees that feel better and are engaged in the workplace are more likely to communicate with others. By providing an open office environment where staff can speak freely, you’re helping to reduce stress and increase efficiency in one. For example, an employee that builds positive relationships with other staff members through wellbeing initiatives is more likely to communicate on problems and ask for support when needed in the workplace.
Greater commitment
Employees that are happy in their workplace are more likely to show commitment and loyalty. This commitment boosts productivity, encourages initiative, and incentivizes staff to do their best work. Reward schemes are one example of engagement and wellbeing initiatives that help to improve employee commitment over time.
Less time off work
The healthier your employees are, the more time they spend in the workplace. Stressed staff are far more likely to be out of work, whether due to mental health reasons or physical health problems caused by a challenging working environment. A well-being and engagement-focused workplace aim to resolve the root problem of a proportion of workplace sickness, encouraging fewer absences and a healthier working environment overall.
Increased retention
Retention is a crucial strategy businesses use to keep their star staff members in-house. While many retention strategies focus on monetary value, the working environment and culture are just as essential in building long-term value for employees. A workplace that values wellbeing and supports better engagement is far more appealing for retention and hiring strategies.
Better employee satisfaction
Employee satisfaction is one of the key benefits of good employee engagement and well-being. While satisfaction can be tricky to measure, the effects of satisfied employees are far-reaching. For example, an employee who scores high on satisfaction may be more productive, more willing to join in with workplace activities, and experience less stress.
Positive business outcomes
The benefits of good implementation of well-being and engagement strategies are clear to see on the quantifiable end. Great productivity leads to stronger business finances, whether through the quality or volume of work completed. Employees who are happier make more of an effort, whether making sales calls or building good client relationships, benefiting the business as a whole.
A healthier, happier workplace
A healthy and happy workplace is attractive both for internal and external customers. Potential hires seeing a positive workplace may be even keener to seek a position. Stakeholders looking to invest in a fresh, forward-thinking business will see similar benefits. For existing staff, a healthier and happier workplace makes coming to work easier and completing tasks less challenging, which benefits everyone.
How to measure wellbeing and engagement
Translating the benefits or return on investment of wellbeing and engagement can be a challenge. For businesses, the outcome of well-being and engagement activities often isn’t a straight figure or percentage. However, using the right metrics can help you gauge how successful strategies are. Some of the key metrics you can use to measure wellbeing and engagement include:
Metrics for wellbeing
Measuring wellbeing can be a challenge for companies. As the outcome of well-being strategies aren’t directly quantifiable, it’s essential to consider different factors in measuring success. While it may be more difficult to calculate a direct ROI, measuring various improved health indicators to understand progress is possible. Some metrics you can use to measure wellbeing include:
Employee feedback
Direct feedback from employees is helpful in deciding if a well-being action suits its purpose. For example, numerous positive reports could indicate a positive impact on staff. By contrast, negative or neutral feedback could suggest the need for adjustment to improve effectiveness or introduce new well-being measures.
Sickness reports
Absence reports provide valuable data for businesses. While some sickness happens across the board, patterns in increased sick days are common in high-stress, heavy workload periods. Examining sickness reports before and after wellbeing measures can provide insight into how effective those measures are. This method is beneficial if you focus on combatting stress in the workplace.
Productivity levels
An increase in productivity is a valuable way to examine the success of well-being activities. For example, surveying staff work before and after implementing a new program. An increase in speed, meeting deadlines, or completing work faster can indicate that a well-being activity is successful.
Overtime and working hours
Examining the working hours and overtime in a team can be a valuable metric resource. A spike in overtime or a steady increase in working hours can suggest reduced wellbeing. As work/life balance is one of the core priorities of wellbeing initiatives, lower overtime is ideal. Working hours can easily be correlated to productivity over a period of time to identify project success.
Metrics for engagement
The process of measuring engagement is simpler than the steps to measure wellbeing. As a more practical metric with clear cause and effect, it’s easier for businesses to pinpoint successful engagement strategies. Surveys are the primary way to source information on engagement, including:
Pulse surveys
Pulse surveys are quick, random surveys that can be applied to different staff members. These short surveys allow businesses to examine engagement at different moments. For example, you may be able to identify differences in productivity on various days of the week or even times of the day.
Engagement surveys
Engagement surveys are longer surveys that are typically implemented company-wide. These surveys offer insight into the engagement of staff members based on their personal opinions and feelings. The information from engagement surveys can be applied to productivity figures to identify how to improve engagement within the company.
Lifecycle surveys
Lifecycles surveys are specialized options used to examine staff engagement at different points in their company lifecycles. For example, you may compare data from their first week in the company, first month, and first year to examine any differences in engagement. This information helps build good retention and ensures long-term engagement over short-term solutions.
Should businesses prioritize wellbeing and engagement?
So, should your business prioritize wellbeing and engagement? In most cases, the answer is yes. As a part of larger strategies to improve productivity and business output, both wellbeing and engagement are core concerns. An employee engaged in their work is more likely to respond well to productivity tools and features, while a disinterested employee may take longer to pick up skills. Similarly, a stressed and overworked team member can take twice as long to adapt to new strategies as a well-rested, healthy employee.
How to improve employee engagement and wellbeing
If you plan to implement workplace engagement and well-being measures, starting with some basic steps can make the process easier. As a valuable part of broader employee satisfaction and health initiatives, improving these measures can help establish higher productivity and retention rates. Here are some of the steps you could take to improve wellbeing and engagement in your business:
1. Start with a strategy
Starting with a strategy can be an effective way to target results. A practical method should include the metrics you’d like to measure, the implementations you’ll make, and how success is defined. For example, if you implement productivity software, you would measure employee productivity before training, after training, and after several months of usage to determine success.
2. Get management on board
Management involvement in initiatives is necessary for wellbeing and engagement processes to be as effective as possible. Leadership and management provide the foundations for strategies, and their response and reactions can make a difference in staff perception. For example, a unified approval of well-being implementations makes it easier for staff to get on board.
3. Gain starting metrics with surveys and studies
Measurements of success require a starting point. Once your strategy is agreed on, you can then use that as a guide to run surveys, tests, and studies on areas of improvement. For example, if one of your key metrics is customer satisfaction, developing and using a survey before implementation can help with the groundwork. These initial metrics provide a point of comparison for future activities, allowing you to quantify success.
4. Design an action plan
A step-by-step plan, much like this one, is vital to any effective workplace implementation. For engagement and well-being, an action plan can provide a way to change workplace elements over time gradually. Not every person will respond to immediate change well, making it essential not to make changes overnight. Action plans also help keep strategies on track, providing a point of reference for future actions and implementations.
5. Research solutions to key engagement and wellbeing concerns
Understanding the key concerns affecting wellbeing and engagement is essential in developing solutions. For example, long hours, overtime, and stress in the workplace can all lead to well-being concerns. Similarly, poor systems management and lack of management support can negatively impact engagement. Understanding what needs to be fixed can be helpful in tailoring a solution.
6. Implement your plan and monitor
Once you’ve decided upon your solutions, it’s time to put your concept into practice. Many engagement and wellbeing strategies hinge on the use of new technology and services to improve the employee experience. Steady implementation with training, feedback, and plenty of learning opportunities is key to making effective change. When everything is lined up, you can monitor ongoing success using tools like Microsoft Viva for immediate, collated insights.
7. Review wellbeing and engagement strategies regularly
Seeking regular feedback from employees, examining metrics, and identifying development areas can help keep your strategy fresh. As employees’ needs and priorities change, your strategy may also need to adapt. For example, reducing stress due to workload is helpful, but examining working hours and focus time is also crucial for long-term success.
Using the right tools to enhance wellbeing and engagement at work
The right tool for the right job is vital in making well-being and engagement schemes work. Utilizing resources that make employees’ jobs easier, reduce stress, and provide better balance are key to this plan. Some of the tools you can use to enhance engagement and wellbeing in the workplace include:
Productivity solutions
Productivity solutions are valuable ways to cut employee workload, improve workflow and encourage collaboration. For example, introducing cloud software can be an effective way to cut down on time finding specific documents. Productivity software contributes to a dynamic environment by making everyone’s jobs more manageable, significantly benefiting managers and employees.
Recognition and reward schemes
Rewards and recognition schemes are an effective way to improve employee satisfaction and happiness. Providing rewards for work achieved, whether a points system or ad-hoc gift cards and similar rewards, can be a powerful way to improve morale. High morale motivates employees, raising engagement and enhancing their wellbeing at work. A staff member that feels recognized for their work is more likely to continue working at that pace to achieve better results.
Communication software
Communication software is an effective quality of life tool to improve wellbeing and engagement. Implementing team-specific software to allow for easy collaboration is helpful in project-based environments. For example, a team working through project communication software can work together more effectively, improving engagement and encouraging a healthier approach to finding out information. Communication tools provide the foundation for a more collaborative working environment, which is beneficial to employees’ mental health.
Empower teams with Microsoft Viva
Microsoft Viva is a tailor-made solution that integrates directly into Microsoft 365, one of the world’s most popular productivity products. Viva Insights provides an easily accessible desktop with usable, actionable insights as an integrated service. Whether you’re looking to track the success of past implementations or gain insight into your current business status, the Viva dashboard offers a range of information.
Integration into mindfulness apps is one way that Viva connects with employees. Another is through the seamless flow from inbox to tasks, with crucial insight and prompts to start the day off. For managers, these insights can be valuable in making change. Information such as employee experience, based on hours worked and focus time, can give essential information into how your team is currently handling their workload. Through insight, it’s possible to take meaningful action and track your progress towards a happier, healthier workplace over time.
Want to place more emphasis on engagement and wellbeing in your workplace? Our expert team can help. Get in touch with our team at Ramsey Consulting Services to discuss your requirements today.
