Several years ago, I was sitting next to the former CEO of a Fortune 500 company on a long flight. We did the usual airplane pleasantries of introducing ourselves and sharing about our work. Since my work is focused on workplace health and employee engagement, I asked him about his view on assessing employee engagement. Had his company regularly assessed employee engagement?
His response was, “Of course, we surveyed regularly. To not survey would be like flying a plane blind. I don’t know a single Fortune 500 company that doesn’t assess employee engagement.”
You can’t know the health of workplace culture without data. This may be obvious in a large, complex multinational company. But what about a smaller business or nonprofit?
As a leader, you may feel like everything is going well in your company; you are meeting targets and growing to serve a larger audience. But in the midst of outward signs of success, are there any hidden issues that are holding your company back from flourishing? Your feeling of well-being isn’t enough. A serious leader who cares about workplace health will measure employee engagement using a statistically-verified tool.
Perhaps there are signs that something isn’t quite right in your organization, but you have attributed it to the economy or external forces. Your employees haven’t been sharing concerns with leaders, so you think that they must be happy. Unless you use an unbiased, outside assessment, your people might not feel safe to share openly. Even in moderately healthy organizations, people are often hesitant to share the hard truth with leaders.
An annual employee engagement survey as part of the regular rhythm of business measurement will provide the diagnostics to guide actions that focus on continuous improvement in workplace culture. These regular check-ins will help healthy organizations continue on the road to flourishing, and they will help organizations that are not yet healthy identify areas of weakness. Those who act on the information they receive from a reliable employee engagement survey will see the benefit of ongoing attention to workplace health.
Recently, Robert Wachter, Global Marketing Director at Best Workplaces Institute, summarized the financial and spiritual impact of a healthy workplace culture in the article: “The $2 Trillion Problem Every Christian Executive Must Address.” He cited research that shows that organizations with highly engaged employees experience 23% higher profitability, 18% higher productivity in sales, and 14% higher productivity in production. In addition, research by Best Workplaces Institute shows that an engaged employee offers a 33% higher capacity for ministry reach over each non-engaged employee. At an average compensation level, engaged employees return nearly $20,000 annually in increased productivity.[i]
While the gains from employee engagement are clear, some leaders might perceive culture feedback as a burden on their already-too-full plate. In fact, having clarity about the status of your workplace health with a fact-based action plan can actually lift pressure.
Recently, I had a conversation with a leader in an organization that moved from unhealthy to healthy. He said, “I’ve never had more fun as a leader. I used to be managing conflict all the time and responding to people problems. It wore me down. Now our leadership team shares the responsibility for organizational health, we are growing in health, and the pressure has lifted.”
Having actionable information about the health of your organization gets you beyond a vague sense of unease to specific actions to improve workplace health. You also gain a clearer understanding of what is going well, so you can celebrate and reinforce healthy aspects of your organization. And as you listen to and empower people at all levels of your organization in a commitment to workplace health, this responsibility is shared with middle managers and front-line supervisors.
When top performers can easily move from one job to another in a tight labor market, one rationale for focusing on positive workplace health is to retain great talent. While this motivation is still important, the labor market has shifted recently. Employees are hesitant to leave jobs as hiring in many areas has slowed. Does workplace health matter as much in a slow labor market?
As Christian leaders, we value and care for each person in our organization. Our motivation is to see our people flourish, so workplace health is key in any labor market.
Maybe employee turnover has slowed in your local economy, but you don’t want to have disengaged people staying in your organization just because they feel stuck. The dissatisfaction of disengaged employees is contagious and infects your workplace culture. So focusing on improving employee engagement and workplace health lifts your whole organization. It also means people want to stay for all the right reasons, rather than feeling like they have no better alternatives. And as previously mentioned, engaged employees are more productive, which creates a cycle of positivity.
So in a tight labor market, employee engagement becomes a competitive advantage in hiring and retention. And in a slow labor market, the productivity benefits of engaged employees promote organizational health and an improved bottom line.
Best Workplaces Institute has years of experience working with Christian-led businesses across many sectors. The research-based employee engagement survey questions apply equally well to employees in construction companies, financial services, health care, manufacturing, property management, and more.
The elements of the Best Workplaces Institute’s FLOURISH Factors are present across all types of businesses and organizations.
With more than 20 years of experience in helping Christian-led businesses and Christian organizations flourish, Best Workplaces Institute also has a robust data set that allows you to compare your results to peers in your sector. A recent article explains the benefits of using benchmark data for evaluation.
In addition, your Best Workplaces Institute consultant helps you interpret the results of your Employee Engagement Survey and apply them to your particular situation. You can implement an action plan that specifically addresses areas of weakness identified in your survey. And you can take steps to celebrate and reinforce areas of strength.
An annual assessment using Best Workplaces Institute’s Employee Engagement Survey is a starting place on your continuous journey to shepherd your people and organization along the road to flourishing. As you learn and apply information that is specific to your business, you have more tools to directly impact workplace health.
As your employees become more engaged, their enthusiasm is contagious and impacts your whole sphere of influence. Engaged employees have positive interactions with customers and suppliers, who also become champions for your organization. These positive interactions and networks lead to improved productivity, along with continued flourishing in workplace health, which brings joy into your workplace.
[i] Based on productivity research on engaged employees by Dr. Doug Waldo, Best Workplaces Institute.