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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO:
Employee engagement
An employee engagement hub with everything you need to know from simple definitions to strategy as well as tactics. At People Insight we can help you both measure and improve employee engagement.
We live and breathe employee engagement, and part of that is keeping up-to-date with modern studies and surveys. It’s important to keep updated on employee trends and engagement drivers to ensure we’re providing our employees with exactly what they need.
We’ve collated our top 50 favourite employee engagement statistics below. We’ve included data from our cross-sector benchmark norms, as well as a few from other highly reputable sources.
Our employee engagement statistics will be broken down into the categories of purpose, enablement, autonomy, reward and leadership, as per our own Pearl™ employee engagement model.
But first, some general statistics on the state of play when it comes to engagement
Have your employee engagement efforts hit a brick wall? It happens. We all need a little bit of inspiration from time to time. We’re here to help you out. If you’re looking for a little motivation, we’ve compiled a handy list of 25 employee engagement quotes from experts, authors and business leaders. Each quote can teach us about employee engagement and how it impacts performance, productivity, morale and business success.
We have divided the engagement quotes into five sections, in accordance with our Pearl™ employee experience model. Our model has been created by combining business experience, occupational psychology, extensive literature reviews and statistical analysis of over 20 million data points. Take some time to consider Purpose, Enablement, Autonomy, Reward and Leadership and you will notice a marked improvement in employee engagement and employee experience.
Defining what employee engagement is and what it means to your organisation is the first step to creating a more engaging and inclusive place to work.
Employee engagement is defined as the emotional commitment an employee has to their work, the organisation and its goals. There are various aspects that influence how engaged employees feel, and these can vary by organisation, demographic and employee.
Before we go on, let’s clarify the difference between employee engagement and employee experience. In essence, employee engagement is how employees feel about their work, usually measured by an engagement survey. Employee experience on the other hand is a way of thinking that considers how employees might see, hear, believe, and feel about all areas of their life at work. For a deeper dive on the difference, take a look at our guide to employee engagement vs employee experience.
Why is defining employee engagement important?
An effective employee voice strategy requires leadership to be on the same page about what employee engagement means and why it is important. However defining employee engagement can be confusing as there are lots of different understandings of it.
Employee engagement can also mean different things to different people in your organisation. For example, your CEO might care about its impact for business outcomes, while a team leader might care about a more motivated team, and an individual employee could care most about having a sense of purpose in their role.
Some definitions of employee engagement are closer to employee satisfaction or happiness. Unfortunately, this isn’t enough to encourage employees to go the extra mile, be committed to the success of their organisation and be motivated to do their best every day.
By now, we all understand the importance of employee engagement — which is why so many organisations are taking great strides to improve upon it over time. Employee engagement is a cornerstone of a thriving workplace, directly impacting productivity, innovation and retention. Knowing this is all very well and good, but how do you actually improve upon employee engagement levels?
Understanding the drivers of employee engagement allows organisations to create focused strategies that align employees with organisational goals. People Insight’s Pearl™ model identifies five primary drivers of employee engagement: Purpose, Enablement, Autonomy, Reward and Leadership.
Let’s explore each of these drivers of employee engagement and their significance in creating a committed, engaged workforce.
The right employee engagement strategy will improve long-term engagement, support business performance and increase your appeal as an employer – helping you hire and retain the best talent. The end goal of an employee engagement strategy is to improve how engaged your people feel. It’s a structured plan that gets everyone on the same page, sets out what you are trying to achieve and why as well as keeping people accountable.
4 steps to creating an engagement strategy
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer for an engagement strategy, however there are 4 key stages to consider when putting your strategy together.
Gathering insights – use an employee survey to understand how your people feel and what is holding back engagement.
Defining your objectives – your strategy should be aligned with your plans for growth and business targets.
Building your action plan – these will help you deliver effective, lasting change to achieve your objectives.
Measuring progress – regularly measure progress against your objectives to keep up momentum and see the impact you are making.
We’re living in a brave new world when it comes to work. We’re recognising that we all work differently, and in order to get the most out of employees, you need to work with them. You need to be flexible and allow them to create, innovate and work in a way that works for them. This could mean allowing employees to choose their hours (within reason). It could mean allowing for four-day work weeks. Or it could mean allowing for hybrid working.
So many companies these days have transitioned to a hybrid model of working, and that’s a great thing. There are so many positives that come with hybrid working. But there are also challenges. One of these challenges is that of employee engagement. How can you make sure your hybrid employees are engaged, motivated and productive? Here are our top employee engagement ideas to keep your hybrid employees enthusiastic and eager to turn up (whether physically or virtually) to work every morning.
Every organisational culture is different. Every company’s employees are motivated by different factors. But based on our employee experience research and years of consulting, here are the most effective engagement ideas to keep your hybrid performers engaged:
Companies looking to boost performance often turn to the topic of employee engagement — for good reason.Understanding how to measure employee engagement is the first step to boosting levels of productivity, retention and wellbeing. It’s been shown that engaged employees are more motivated and committed to organisational goals, while disengaged employees can seriously negatively impact overall morale. So establishing current levels of employee engagement within your organisation, then striving to improve them, makes good business sense.
So how do you go about measuring employee engagement? We’ll talk you through ten effective methods below, compiled through years of experience in the fields of HR and leadership. But before we discuss how to measure employee engagement it’s worth first answering the question — why is it even important?
Why is it important to measure employee engagement?
When it comes to running a business, most of us know that data is our friend — the more we have, the more insights we have, the better and more informed our decisions. That means we can drive our businesses forward in meaningful ways.
Regularly measuring employee engagement gives data-driven insights into the drivers of performance and morale. Engagement levels fluctuate due to factors like leadership changes or external pressures, such as economic shifts. Measuring these drivers allows organisations to support staff effectively and align efforts with cultural values, ultimately boosting organisational impact.
When it comes to employee survey questionnaire design, we recommend using proven frameworks where possible.
For instance, People Insight’s employee surveys are based on our Pearl, Belong, and Thrive frameworks. These have been designed by organisational psychologists to provide actionable insights based on robust benchmark data, so you know how your organisation’s results stack up.
However, we know that you’ll also want to ask custom employee feedback questions to explore something unique to your organisation. In these cases, follow our best-practice advice to design survey questions that give you the best possible data to act on.
How long should an employee survey be?
Most employee surveys contain about 35 questions. An employee survey should take 10-15 minutes to complete. A pulse survey is usually shorter, so will include only 10-20 questions.
People are usually happy to spend time completing a survey if it covers topics that matter to them but it is important to get the balance right. Asking too few questions can leave you with unclear data that’s hard to act on and may create “organisational blindspots” so employee concerns are missed. Equally, if a survey is too long then respondents may get bored and give up or put less effort into answering questions.
Employee surveys are an incredibly effective way of gathering employee feedback, gauging engagement levels and identifying opportunities for improvement. But of course we would say that — we are a leading provider of employee surveys, after all. What you might be surprised to hear us say is that surveys by themselves are not enough. They are, in fact, only the first step. Without effective post-survey action planning, the time and resources spent conducting surveys are wasted, and employees are left disillusioned about whether their input truly matters.
Our benchmark data highlights a significant issue: across sectors, only 52% of employees believe any action will be taken following an employee survey — which is, needless to say, a big problem. This disconnect undermines trust and engagement and could, in the long run, lead to declining participation in future surveys.
To bridge this gap, organisations need to shift their focus from simply gathering data to implementing meaningful, well-communicated action plans that address employee concerns.
Here’s how to make post-survey action planning effective and impactful.
Camelot UK is the operator of the UK’s National Lottery, which has raised over £35 billion for good cause projects and created more than 4,250 millionaires since its launch in 1994. Alongside its role in making huge winners, the company’s primary objective is to maximise returns to good causes in the most socially-responsible and cost-efficient way, helping build local communities, power sports teams, unleash creative talent, empower the elderly and unlock young potential.
Camelot UK appointed a new CEO in October 2014. Since then, there has been a clear commitment to engagement and taking action as a result of staff feedback, and Camelot UK’s employee engagement score has gone up by 10%.
By focusing their activities on leadership behaviour, truly living the values, transparent communication, understanding their impact, and recognition, Camelot UK has succeeded in making a positive impact on their customers and their organisation.
