In our first post, we mentioned Gallup’s “Q12 Assessment.” This assessment, taken by millions of staff over decades, measures employee engagement. But what is employee engagement, really, and why does it matter to you?
Employee engagement measures the relationship between the company and the employee. An “engaged” employee commits deeply to their company, their company’s values, and their individual work. They understand how their work benefits and contributes to their organization. They enthusiastically, accurately, and efficiently complete their work and keep an eye on they can best move their company forward. You could say that an engaged employee has an “all in” attitude. Conversely, the spectrum of a disengaged employee ranges from one that does the bare minimum each day to one that actively and intentionally brings harm to the company, the company’s staff, the company’s output, and ultimately, the company’s reputation. All staff fall into one of these two categories.
Clearly, you want to have or be a part of an organization filled with engaged employees. Companies made up of engaged employees outperform other companies by a significant margin. As a business owner or manager of a department, having engaged employees should be your number one goal. Without engaged employees, product quality, customer service, and profit suffer. Un-engaged employees also create an environment that lacks fun or enjoyment. Conversely, organizations filled with engaged employees score high marks in every category – all while fostering an enjoyable and rewarding environment that further entices employees to do their best.
When you think about it, why would anyone want to work where people weren’t engaged? Yet, according to Gallup, “only 15% of employees worldwide and 35% in the U.S. fall in the ‘engaged’ category.” These staggering statistics reveal just how few of us really enjoy not only doing our jobs, but even enjoy coming in to work. Stop for a moment and think about a weekend where you had some work to do at home. Now recall a time where, because you felt tired or upset, that work either didn’t get done, took too long to get done, didn’t get done properly, or made you miserable to complete. Easy to see this, right? That happens every work day to 65% of us. Imagine just how much waste that equates to. This lack of engagement results in extremely low daily productivity. Numerous studies show that, during a standard eight hour work day, the average employee does only two hours and 53 minutes of actual work! Let that sink in. That’s the average. Not to overstate the obvious, but that means that, while there are people doing more, there are also people doing less.
Pop Quiz:
What is the best way to improve product quality, customer service, and pay your staff more than your competitors – without adding any staff or assets – all while dramatically increasing your profitability?
Answer:
Employee Engagement.
The first four questions in Gallup’s Q12 survey relate to standards and standardization. In the next four posts, we will review each of these questions and how being standardized allows you to get high marks on each question.
written by Wally Hines