Employee engagement is a hot topic—and for good reason. Research studies from Gallup®, BlessingWhite®, and many more continue to demonstrate that engagement highly impacts key organizational metrics including talent retention, mission achievement, growth and profitability.

In fact, Kevin Kruse, author of “Employee Engagement 2.0,” cites 28 studies that directly tie engagement to positive results in retention, customer loyalty, sales, safety, profits, and shareholder returns. Yet, in the United States, surveys reveal that only 29% of employees are engaged. As many as 24% are actively disengaged, contributing to significant financial losses. The numbers are far worse outside of the United States, where the average engagement level is only 13%.

Engagement surveys are commonly used to assess the organization’s level of employee engagement. Questions generally focus on levels of satisfaction or the degree to which managers effectively support employees. Management then creates strategies, programs or policies in order to better engage employees. While this approach has proven valuable in many organizations, it has limitations in terms of improving individual engagement and creating a culture of engagement. This article will outline why this is the case and what is needed to achieve a greater impact on organizational performance metrics.

The types of questions used on engagement surveys identify, in general, what employees want and/or what the organization or manager is doing or not doing to help or hinder engagement. Individual employees’ answers are nearly always anonymous in order to encourage honest answers. Consequently, managers are generally not able to use the answers of specific individuals to help facilitate their personal engagement.

Harrison Assessments Engagement & Retention Analysis with Fulfillment