All companies experience financial challenges or wish to remain fiscally ahead. Business is about making money after all. Blame the economy, investors, regulations or a combination of the three, but at some point or another, business owners will be looking for a way to give their budget a break. Of course, while considering these savings, we hear the outcry of our employees. Disengagement levels are rising, but they’re still not great and a lot of the time the answers we’re provided include more hits to the budget, not less.
We’re here to put your mind to ease. The ROI of investing in employee engagement is real and it’s within any business leader’s grasp.
The Bottom Line And Employee Engagement
There are numerous articles from experts discussing employee engagement and how it helps workers (obviously). We’re not even exempt from the list, but at the end of the day, what does all the work do for companies? Is there a connection to increased profits? The good news is that investing in employee engagement isn’t just a boost to your company culture.
The potential ROI of better performance over competition is of course a sure-fire way to meet better financial profitability. Studies have shown that organizations with engaged employees outperform those with low employee engagement by 202%. Besides showing a hike in both performance and initial profit, research revealed engaged companies have five times higher shareholder returns over five years.
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Attaining Return On Engagement
How exactly can you take a step in the right direction when it comes to employee engagement?
- Increase Communication: Begin by making it clear that managers and supervisors need to be involved in planning and executing the plan’s tactics. If alignment is off at any point of the leadership chain, there is chance to lose skilled talent.
- Keep Managers in Mind: Your skilled talent includes those people who are leading the employees you’re trying to engage. Managers and supervisors should be receiving continued training and appreciation so they never feel stagnant in their position. Not only does this keep the leadership poised to continue performing well, employees who work for engaged managers are 59% more likely to be engaged themselves.
- Focus on Strengths: Management teams that focus on strengths every day have 12.5% greater productivity and workers who use their strengths every day are 6x more likely to be engaged on the job.
- Appreciation Goes a Long Way: This is the most obvious direction experts take organizations hoping to up engagement. That’s because the number 1 reason American employees leave their jobs is the lack of appreciation they feel from the organization. That’s a hefty thought, but appreciation isn’t expensive on-site cafeterias and big budget perks. It can be as simple as saying thank you, providing volunteering opportunities and offering opportunities for skill development.
Bio: Michael Heller
Michael Heller has 20+ years of experience in strategic human resources, talent management and technology consulting. As an HR executive at Washington Consulting, Digital Management and Deltek, Michael led teams to develop innovative human capital management programs and initiatives. Previously, Michael held a variety of positions at American Management Systems and Booz Allen Hamilton where he executed on talent acquisition, total rewards, performance management, strategic HR partnership and philanthropy strategies.
Michael serves the community as a board member of Teardrops to Rainbows, an organization dedicated to supporting families of children with cancer. Michael has a Masters degree in Human Resources from Georgetown University and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Connecticut. Michael resides in Gaithersburg, Maryland with his wife and daughter and enjoys cooking and college basketball.
