This was our 30-second straw poll survey were participants were asked to pick their top 3 benefits of an engaged workforce from a choice of 7*.
And the top 3 were:
- Productivity Increases – 35%
- Staff Retention – 25%
- Employees take fewer days off – 12%
Closely followed by:
4. Employees – better understanding of customer needs – 10%
=5. Employees create, share and give customers new ideas – 8%
=5. Bottom line profits increase – 8%
7. Other – you choose – 2%
What People Said
An engaged workforce top 3 gives us a weighting. But it’s the aggregated effect of all the other benefits which make work a happier place to be – for employees and the customers their enhanced engagement impacts.
That said, productivity came top. But you can see the synergy because that has a knock-on effect to bottom line profits.
So what did the respondents say? Not all put productivity top. One respondent for example commented that:
“My main focus would be that staff better understand the clients needs thus ensuring the client receives the best quality care.”
And that thought was echoed by another, who saw a correlation between engaged employees and how they understand the client needs.
“An employee who really understands customer needs will query and check and raise issues before they become a problem – a real asset to quality and customer satisfaction.”
We are social animals. And we spend a huge chunk of our life in the workplace. So feeling part of a team is a vital aspect of engagement as this respondent revealed:
“An engaged workforce want to be part of the business as they believe in what it does and feel the time they are spending is making a difference to a customer and that’s why they deliver awesome service to the client.”
The cost of getting it wrong exacerbates HR issues. It has a knock-on effect not just to the employee but further up the chain. So having engaged employees prevents many HR issues as this respondent highlights:
“In addition, an engaged and happy team results in fewer senior hours being spent sorting out HR gripes!”
If we think back to the concept of synergy, bottom line profits are directly impacted by costs. And one of those is the benefits of retention versus the cost of replacing staff. A lower churn rate by keeping your employees engaged was an excellent point made well by this respondent:
“We picked staff retention as a well trained and experienced member of staff is invaluable and the time it would take to build a replacement up to the same standards would be very long and costly due to the mistakes they would make whilst learning. Good reliable staff are a huge asset to any business.”
Quite succinctly, as this respondent shared, the whole concept of employee engagement can be summarised as:
“Well that is what we hope most. To have more motivated, more productive staff if they are more engaged.”
Better Employee Engagement Is An Investment In Success
It’s an easy conclusion to reach after hearing from a broad cross-section of people. And it’s something we can certainly help you with. In fact, we’ll be writing to you very soon about just that.
A Thank You To Our Participants
Some of the wonderful clients who contributed to this article are:
* This was a weighted survey. First choice was awarded 3 points, second choice 2 points, and third choice a single point to arrive at the top 3.
Want to empower your employees? Complete this form and we’ll get in touch with ideas to help you do just that:
[contact-form-7]