The last year's Gallup study entitled State of the Global Workplace, which examined employee engagement in 142 countries, including the Czech Republic, showed that only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged i.e., psychologically dedicated to their work and interested in helping their organizations achieve some benefits. More research followed which looked for the reasons.
Gallup decided to further analyze the companies in which engaged employees greatly outnumber those non-engaged. Thirty-two companies, former winners of the best employer award called Gallup Great Workplace Award, were selected. These collectively employed more than 600,000 people in the field of health care, financial services, hospitality, manufacturing and retail. The ratio of engaged workers to those "actively disengaged" in these companies amounted to 9:1.
Comparisons to the other participants of the State of the Global Workplace study reveals seven areas in which the employers with engaged employees differ from the others. You might be surprised to learn that these do not include flexible working options, modern working environments or other great employee benefits.
1. They have leaders willing to improve
Leaders of successful employees do not just talk about what they want. They act as active role models and show their teams how to work on themselves every day. They are not afraid to show vulnerability or imperfection.
2. They have a great HR
HR professionals in these companies excel in the ability to influence and educate top management. They teach how to develop employees in accordance with their natural abilities.
3. They ensure basic assumptions of engagement first
Before they try to win their employees over to a certain vision or values, they provide basic needs for obtaining engagement. First of all, employees should know what they are expected to do in the company, have the necessary resources to perform their work, be well chosen for particular roles and feel the support of their managers.
4. They do not use the economy as an excuse
In difficult times, they manage to maintain open and constant communication, introduce quick changes and provide hope to their employees. They realize employee engagement is one of the few things they can control.
5. They support their managers and teams
Strong teams are formed when the members themselves actively solve problems they encounter. Successful companies support them by developing their skills and resilience. The managers are kept accountable for the development of the "micro cultures" of their teams.
6. They recognize performance
They perceive recognition of employee achievements as a strong motivating factor for performance improvement. They do not tolerate mediocrity.
7. They do not only focus on measuring
They focus on the results they want to achieve, rather than on measuring engagement just because they have some measuring tools.
-Kk-