The New Worker

When it comes to learning management systems (LMS), there are a lot of different options to choose from. There are many different types of enterprise learning management systems on the market, so how do you know which one is right for your organization? With so many different functionalities, alternatives and vendors, it can be hard to make a decision. In this blog post, we discuss the must-have features of an enterprise learning management system.

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What's in this article

• What is an enterprise learning management system (ELM)?
• What are the main differences between a traditional LMS and an ELM?
• Who uses corporate learning management systems?
• Why use corporate learning management systems?
• What features should an LMS have?
• The best LMS for businesses

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What is an enterprise learning management system (ELM)?

An enterprise learning management system (ELM) is a type of software that helps organizations manage, track and deliver employee training. ELMs can be used for both professional development purposes and organizational training.

ELMs help organizations save time and money by streamlining learning and development processes. They also improve employee engagement and motivation by providing a more efficient way to access learning materials. As learning management systems become more popular, their functionality is constantly evolving to meet the needs of different types of businesses. This means that there's an enterprise learning management system out there for just about every organization.

What are the main differences between a traditional LMS and an ELM?

The main difference between a traditional learning management system (LMS) and an enterprise learning management system (ELM) is that ELMs are designed for businesses with complex learning and development needs. For this reason, ELMs offer more comprehensive functionality than traditional LMSs.

For example, an advanced LMS for companies usually comes with a wide range of features that can be customized to fit the specific learning and development needs of an organization, like skills training and specific features for HR departments. They also offer more scalability than traditional LMSs.

Other differences between ELMs and traditional LMSs include:

• ELMs offer more comprehensive reporting and analytics than traditional LMSs. This can be very helpful for businesses that need to track employee learning and development progress.
• ELMs often come with built-in tools for authoring, delivering and managing learning content. This is pretty useful for business owners who want to create their own learning materials, or who need to manage a large amount of learning content.
• ELMs typically have more robust security features than traditional LMSs. This is important for businesses that need to protect sensitive employee data.
• Its course management will normally allow access for several people in different training departments, which can be very useful for corporate trainers who need to set up a complex online education program.

Who uses corporate learning management systems?

Corporate learning management systems are used by businesses of all sizes across different industries. They are useful for corporate training so they are used by non-profit organizations, SMBs, cooperatives, etc.

Some of the most common users of LMSs include:

• Human resources departments
• Training and development teams
• E-learning providers 
• Organizations with remote employees

Why use corporate learning management systems?

There are many reasons why businesses invest in learning management systems:

• Improved learning outcomes: One of the main advantages of using an LMS is that it helps improve learning outcomes. That’s because an LMS increases learner activities and makes it easy to deliver training materials and track employee progress. As a result, businesses that use a professional LMS often see improved employee retention rates and increased productivity levels.
• Greater efficiency: Learning management systems also help businesses save time and money by streamlining learning and development processes. For example, LMSs take a lot of the heavy lifting off the creation and delivery of online courses, which can save businesses the time and expense of putting together traditional face-to-face training sessions.
• Better engagement: Enterprise LMSs improve employee engagement by providing a more efficient way to access learning materials, as well as better onboarding and assessment tools. Employees can use an LMS to access learning content from anywhere at any time. This makes learning more convenient and allows employees to fit learning into their busy schedules.
• More comprehensive reporting: Another benefit of an ELM is that it provides businesses with more comprehensive reporting and analytics than a traditional course system. This can mean anything from being able to track employee learning progress to understanding which learning materials are most popular, and where you might need to rethink a particular lesson.

What features should an LMS have?

When choosing an enterprise learning management system, it’s important to consider the features that are most important to your business. This is something that varies from business to business, but there are some key features that every ELM should have.

In general, an enterprise learning management system should be modular enough to meet the specific needs of your organization. It should also be easy to use so that employees can start learning quickly and without any headaches. Below are just a few of the most important features to look for in an enterprise learning management system.

1. Synchronous and asynchronous courses

A good enterprise learning management system should offer both synchronous and asynchronous courses. Synchronous courses are those that are taken in real-time, while asynchronous courses can be accessed by employees at their own pace, something fundamental for training courses that are conducted in an online learning environment. A good learning management system offers the possibility to create both types of courses and can accommodate blended learning, so you can decide which one is best for each learning situation.

2. Learning management

One of the most important features of an enterprise learning management system is learning management for your training programs. This refers to the ability to manage and deliver learning content, as well as track employee progress and see whether they're completing their assigned tasks or not.

Why is this important? Well, learning data management is essential for businesses that want to improve learning outcomes and ensure that employees are retaining what they're learning. It also allows managers to see which employees need more help or support, and identify areas where learning is being neglected.

3. Enrollment management

Another important feature of an enterprise learning management system is enrollment management. This refers to the ability to manage and track employee enrollments in courses, as well as their progress. This is important for businesses that want to ensure that employees are completing their courses and progressing through them at a reasonable pace. It also allows managers to identify any areas where employees are struggling, or any absences that are not easily explained.

4. Certification and accreditation

Do you need to offer certification or accreditation for your employees? If so, then you'll need an enterprise learning management system that offers this feature. You should be able to create your own certifications, with quizzes, exams and any other grading material you need.

Certification and accreditation can be a great way to ensure that your employees are up-to-date on the latest industry standards, and it can also help improve employee retention rates. This feature is invaluable if you're working in a fast-paced industry like tech or marketing, as it will ensure that your employees are always up-to-date on the latest trends.

5. Collaboration tools

Discover our latest author feature, allowing employees to contribute in course creation and easily sharing their knowledge with their colleagues !

The best LMS for businesses

If you're looking for an enterprise learning management system that offers all of the above features and more, then you should check out Workleap LMS. LMS is a powerful, yet easy-to-use learning management system that doesn't require a lot of product training. It offers all of the features mentioned above, as well as a whole host of others that are extremely useful for businesses of all sizes.

Workleap LMS has a learning portal that can be used to deliver learning content to employees, as well as track their progress and assess their learning outcomes. It also offers an enrollment management system that makes it easy to manage and track employee enrollments in courses, as well as their progress through them.

What's more, LMS is reasonably priced, especially when you consider the wealth of features it offers. So if you're looking for an LMS which has low training & acquisition costs, but which will still give you everything you need to manage your learning content effectively, Workleap is the right choice for you.

Employee engagement is having its moment, and we're here for it. The data keeps flowing in and points to one thing: organizations cannot afford to neglect their employees' engagement levels. That's because happy, productive, and engaged employees work better, strengthen the company culture, and contribute even more to the bottom line.

According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report, business units with engaged workers have 23% higher profits compared with their disengaged counterparts.

The stakes are higher with a remote workforce. The scattered nature of a distributed team makes it easier for engagement to dwindle if it isn't looked after. But it doesn't have to get to that point.

With these strategies and tips, you can keep remote employees engaged and build the foundations for a winning team.

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What is remote employee engagement and why is it important?

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment that an employee has to their organization. It impacts the way employees work and is driven by 10 employee engagement metrics, including feedback, personal growth, wellness, and job satisfaction.

Having an engaged workforce is vital to an organization’s success, regardless of where and how your employees work. It’s the glue that holds teams and the broader organization together, through thick and thin. When engagement is high, employees contribute higher-quality work, collaborate well together, and act more positively at work.

When your team is distributed, it’s smart to pay even closer attention to engagement levels. That’s because the perks of good employee engagement – as well as the pitfalls of disengagement – are amplified when employees work remotely.

When engagement is on the rise, you’ll reap countless benefits:

• Easier and faster employee onboarding
• Higher chances of reaching (and even surpassing) business objectives
• Happier and more productive employees
• Increased employee retention rates
• Stronger employer brand and easier recruitment processes

However, if you let it slip through the cracks, employee disengagement can bring serious risks for remote teams:

• Feelings of isolation and poor team chemistry
• Long and costly onboarding
• Difficulty meeting objectives
• Misalignment and lack of collaboration between teams
• Poor peer-to-peer and employee-manager relationships
• Fragmented and weak company culture

Do you know where your team stands? Look out for these 9 signs of disengagement and close the gaps before anything escalates.

12 Ways to engage remote employees

Tackling engagement doesn’t have to be incredibly challenging. The trick is to take an approach that will address engagement in the short, medium, and long term. Therefore, a great employee engagement strategy will feature quick wins, long-haul initiatives, and everything in between. We put together a list of 12 ways to engage remote employees to help you get started.

1. Stay connected

At the height of the pandemic, Officevibe found that 1 in 5 employees felt huge discomfort being isolated. While the world has regained a sense of normalcy since then, many people still feel this way when working from home every day. Actively seeking and encouraging connection is the number one way to avoid any feelings of isolation.

2. Promote open and regular communication

One thing many of us took for granted before remote work became the norm was the ease and frequency of in-person communication. Think water cooler chats, lunchtime conversations, popping into someone’s office, or even peeking over your cubicle to ask someone a quick question. These interactions no longer exist for fully remote employees or seldom happen for hybrid teams. But that doesn’t mean communication has to take a hit.

Circumvent this by encouraging employees to reach out to you or their teammates whenever they have a question, need to bounce ideas, or simply want to chat.

3. Choose the right communication tools

To promote communication in the most constructive way, it’s important to use the right communication platforms and tools. This can be the difference between having a unique remote organizational culture, and one that falls flat. For example, using a platform like Slack internally gives employees a chance to create channels based on interests, projects, and teams, while allowing them to respond to conversations with more personality.

When it comes to collaboration, connectivity, training, and technology policies, 29% of employees ranked robust, standardized, and integrated as their top 5 qualities for virtual-collaboration tools.

Mckinsey & Company

Pro tip: If your team is hybrid, be sure to adopt a remote-first communication policy. This includes making all meetings virtually accessible and ensuring the experience is not impaired for remote attendees.

4. Meet with employees regularly

According to Officevibe data, 70% of employees say they’d like to spend more time with their managers. By meeting with employees individually through regular one-on-ones, you can easily satisfy this common employee need. To make your one-on-ones more impactful, set some talking points beforehand, opt for video calls whenever possible, and kick them off with a personal check-in.

Notice a dip in engagement? Dig deeper in your next one-on-one with this employee engagement meeting template.

5. Follow best practices for virtual meetings

Working through a pandemic has taught us that many things normally done in the office environment can be replicated at home, including meetings. The key to keeping them engaging and effective is to follow remote meeting best practices, like setting manageable time limits, recording the meeting, and sharing a recap.

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6. Make time for social activities

A good way to increase remote employee engagement is to sprinkle in lighthearted and fun social activities into the mix. It's easy to overlook the value of virtual activities, but for remote teams, they're the primary time and place for employees to get to know each other and build rapport.

You can spice virtual team activities up by involving your employees and having each team member host a session based on their interests. For example, wine connoisseurs can organize a wine tasting, foodies can teach a cooking class, and game enthusiasts can plan a virtual game night.

Need more ideas? Many employee engagement activities can be adapted for a remote environment using video conferencing platforms and break-out rooms.

7. Focus on collaboration

With a fully remote workforce, the risk of working in silos is bigger and can easily cause frustration and disengagement across the board. You can counteract this by focusing on collaboration in your employees' everyday work. This can be done by creating interdepartmental teams for specific projects or sprints based on the different skills needed to get the job done.

You can also structure collaboration between remote employees by implementing a responsibility assignment framework, like the RACI chart. This framework divides tasks by responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed parties, and helps keep everyone in full swing.

👉 Overcome common collaboration challenges with these remote teamwork tips.  

8. Create a feedback loop

Another way to keep remote employees engaged is to add mechanisms, like an employee feedback loop, to facilitate continuous improvement. A great way to capitalize on employee feedback is to make it two-sided. Doing so gives your people agency in their employee experience and helps them perform at their best while guiding managers in the right direction.

💬 Spark productive, two-way conversations by adding these continuous feedback loop strategies to your engagement plan.

9. Make employees feel valued

In our latest data report, The state of the employee experience, Officevibe found that the two engagement metrics with the strongest correlation are recognition frequency and happiness at work. It's no wonder then that making employees feel valued is a key way to improve employee engagement.

The data also found that 72% of employees get praise less than once a week, and 1 in 4 says their organization doesn’t celebrate employee accomplishments or learnings. The opportunity for improvement is huge and can be achieved by fostering a culture of recognition. Making it genuine, regular, and personal are a few ways to increase recognition in the workplace.

⭐️ Client spotlight: See how Gorilla76 elevated its remote company culture and boosted its employee recognition metric by 60% using Officevibe.

10. Facilitate seamless employee onboarding

Onboarding sets the tone for remote workers' experience at a company, so why not make it as seamless and enjoyable as possible? A new hire's first few weeks are crucial, so it's important to book introduction calls, put together packages with relevant training documents, and set up all necessary accounts with your IT department. During this time, an onboarding tool like Softstart can keep things tidy for managers and employees alike.

In the subsequent months, it's important to make sure new employees understand their roles and responsibilities clearly and have all the resources and tools they need to perform well.

✅ Set new remote employees up for success with this ultimate remote onboarding checklist.

11. Offer career development opportunities

Employees should never feel stuck in their career paths because they work remotely. If they do, disengagement will rise rapidly and motivation can easily plummet.

Only 60% of employees state that they have a development plan to improve their skills.

Officevibe's report on the state of the employee experience

Offering remote employees access to online training platforms like Coursera, internal mentorship programs, and job shadowing opportunities are great ways to help them build the skills they need to take on new challenges within your organization. When remote workers feel confident with their development plan, they're likely to become highly engaged employees.

12. Meet in person once a year (if possible)

Remote work has made in-person interactions all the more meaningful. If your budget allows for it, consider organizing a yearly in-person event to gather your remote employees together. This can be around the holidays, or near an important company date. The key to making the most out of an in-person event is to plan an agenda to the tee.

Activities to organize during these events include:

• Brainstorming sessions
• Innovation challenges
• Team dinners or potlucks
• Executive presentations or townhalls
• Workshops to build new skills

Next steps: Measuring employee engagement and acting on your findings

Adding these strategies to your engagement plan is a great place to start. But to make sure your remote employees work and feel their best, you'll want to keep tabs on how they are doing so you can continuously support them.

The best way to do this is by measuring employee engagement with frequent pulse surveys, regularly acting on the results, and tracking your data over time.

Step 1: Send remote employees weekly pulse surveys to measure engagement

An employee engagement survey is a survey used to collect data on all metrics of engagement. When kept short (five to seven questions long) and conducted frequently (weekly or biweekly), these surveys are referred to as pulse surveys. As their name suggests, they help managers keep a pulse on employee engagement and sentiment.

Measuring employee engagement with Officevibe

Pulling from a bank of 122 tried and true employee engagement questions, Officevibe does the heavy lifting for you by sending employees weekly or biweekly polls to gather insights you can act on. These science-baked Pulse Surveys are 100% anonymous, offering team members a safe space to share their honest feelings at work.

Ready to give it a try? Get your survey on with our complete guide to conducting employee engagement surveys.

Step 2: Gather results and act on your findings promptly

Before hitting send, let employees know a survey is coming their way and explain why it's important for them to answer. After all team members answer, gather the results and look out for any red flags first: is anyone answering very negatively? Are any results alarming? These should always be tackled first, and as quickly as possible.

Next, look out for exceptional results. Is your employee Net Promoter Score off the charts? Do most team members strongly agree when asked if their workloads allow them to maintain a good work-life balance? Take note of what's going great, and make sure you continue nurturing these areas of engagement.

Step 3: Track data over time and keep your strategy nimble

Engagement levels will change over time. And for the most part, this is nothing to be concerned about. Seasonality, company milestones, and specific sprints may bring peaks and troughs in your data, so it's important to address engagement based on current results.

Keeping track of data over time also helps you measure the effectiveness of the engagement initiatives and activities you put in place. If the data is stagnant, it's a sign that you need to reevaluate your strategy.

Engage remote workers with an employee experience sidekick

Managing a remote team poses its challenges, but with the right tools, you can face them with confidence. When you notice a downtrend in remote employee engagement, turn to this list of engagement ideas and try implementing something new.

If things start feeling tough or overwhelming, remember: you're not alone! An employee engagement platform like Officevibe can help you keep yourself and your remote team on track with built-in features like anonymous feedback, Good Vibes, and Pulse Surveys. Every superhero needs a sidekick, and we're happy to be yours.

We've heard a lot about employee engagement recently; why it's so important to the success of your organization, how to measure it (and boost it), and what the signs of disengagement might be.

To refresh your memory, employee engagement refers to the emotional investment a person has in their job and company. The benefits of employee engagement are well documented by now, as it's been proven that engaged employees are happier, perform better, and stay longer at their organizations.

But what motivates employees to form genuine connections with their jobs? When managers and senior leaders understand what's driving employee engagement, they can more easily achieve broader business goals, build solid relationships with their people, and improve overall performance.

To help you develop and implement effective engagement strategies to boost happiness, productivity, and satisfaction in the workplace, we've outlined the most critical drivers of employee engagement and the steps you can take to ensure a healthy environment for your teams.

What's driving employee engagement?

A recent survey from Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report revealed that only 21% of employees feel engaged in their work. This jarring stat highlights the disconnect modern professionals feel with their daily tasks, which can lead to:

• Increased employee turnover
• Reduced productivity
• Declining ambassadorship
• Higher levels of absenteeism

A sound employee engagement strategy could make all the difference in keeping your team happy and connected with their work. Let's explore the top 15 drivers of employee engagement that managers can keep an eye on to improve overall engagement and workplace wellness.

1. Meaningful work

What's better at inspiring employees than providing them with meaningful work? When employees feel aligned with company values, engagement levels rise. People want to feel like they are contributing to something larger than themselves, so revisiting the company's mission and values could be a good step toward boosting employee engagement.

Additionally, ensuring your employees are aligned with team objectives will help foster a more collaborative and productive environment. When your team rallies around shared goals, you can move forward more efficiently.

2. Career growth opportunities

One of the key drivers of engagement is investing in employee success. As with businesses, success will mean something different to each employee, but presenting them with options for professional development is an easy way to positively affect engagement.

Most employees sense when managers are disinterested in their personal growth. Senior leadership can prevent this disconnect by creating a work environment that drives engagement and allows every team member to flourish. Create career development opportunities for them to sharpen their skills or learn new industry-specific competencies.

3. Leadership integrity

Most drivers of employee engagement offer ways that management can encourage employees and improve business performance. However, this driver reflects whether or not leadership has gained employee trust and emphasizes the direct impact that trust has on employee experience.

Think about your team and how employees feel when they come to work. Ask yourself:

• Do employees have positive relationships with members of leadership?
• Does your company culture promote transparency, regular communication, and accountability across all levels of the organization?

{emphasize}Respect is a two-way street. Learn how you can improve trust and integrity on your team.{emphasize}

4. Employee empowerment and recognition

One of the most critical employee engagement drivers is ensuring that employees feel valued. While a simple "thank you" can sometimes go a long way, managers and C-suite leadership can maintain and improve a hard-working employee's engagement level by recognizing them for quality work.

According to Officevibe data, a quarter of employees feel like their organization doesn't celebrate accomplishments or learnings. By upping your recognition game you will see an increase in:

• Employee happiness
• Job satisfaction
• Retention rates
• Productivity
• Team collaboration

{emphasize}Recognizing your employees' dedication keeps them engaged and illuminates their value to the team. Start creating a culture of recognition at your organization; it's easier than you think.{emphasize}

5. Sense of belonging

As a manager or team leader, one of your top priorities should always be to ensure you are fostering a safe and inclusive space for your diverse teams. A key part of employee engagement is building a positive workplace that encourages coworker relationships and a sense of community, in the office or virtually, but unfortunately, Officevibe Pulse Survey data shows that 19% of employees do not feel that people’s personal identities are respected by everyone in their organization.

A team can only function if everyone's well-being is taken to heart. Tune in to how your people are feeling with a series of diversity and inclusion activities and develop connections with these team-building activities.

6. Role clarity

One of the most common drivers of employee engagement is having roles and responsibilities clearly outlined for each of your team members. When managers explain how individual employees contribute to the bigger picture, your people can develop clearly defined game plans for their short and long-term professional aspirations.

It's also important to note that while an employee might perform well at certain tasks, their heart might not necessarily be in that type of project. Have an honest and judgment-free conversation with your team members to understand where their strengths lie and uncover the tasks they genuinely enjoy performing to drive employee engagement.

{emphasize}Take the time to clarify roles and responsibilities in your next meeting with this free Officevibe one-on-one template.{emphasize}

7. Psychological safety

This engagement driver lies in a manager's ability to create a space that encourages honesty and integrity. Achieving consistently high engagement requires a safe work environment. When employees feel secure at work, they can feel comfortable receiving and giving constructive feedback, making mistakes, and speaking up about what's on their minds. When people feel comfortable to be themselves, they're better able to collaborate with their peers and can fully immerse themselves in their projects.

{emphasize}Psychological safety is of the utmost importance in any workplace, regardless of your field or industry. Get your team's perspective on the level of psychological safety within your organization using this free template.{emphasize}

8. Work-life balance

Another critical engagement driver is ensuring a flexible work-life balance for your whole team. Employees simply cannot perform to the best of their abilities if they're showing up to work burnt out and exhausted because they're unable to disconnect after quitting time, on the weekends, or even on their lunch breaks. When employees can enjoy and maintain their personal lives without guilt or fear of repercussion, they'll be happier and better equipped to pour their time and creativity into their daily tasks.

{emphasize}If you're noticing an employee of yours struggling with their mental health or maintaining a stable work-life balance, act quickly and schedule a one-on-one meeting or send them an employee wellness survey.{emphasize}

9. Resources and tools

An employee's job performance is only as good as the materials they have at their disposal. Though often underestimated in its efficacy, when you provide employees with the right equipment for their work space, they'll feel more comfortable undertaking tasks and completing projects regardless of their physical location.

Additionally, you can drive engagement by ensuring that your team not only has access to physical tools, but to resources and software that simplify their work.

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10. Transparency

More transparency from leadership can do wonders to improve company morale and increase employee retention. One of the most important marks of a great leader is how honest you are with your people when the going gets tough. By keeping your employees in the know, you can foster strong employee-manager relationships and a company culture of honesty and accountability. Remember: if you make a mistake, own up to it and keep yourself accountable...there's always room to grow, regardless of your rank!

11. Fairness

No matter your industry, employees will naturally compare themselves, their salaries, and the treatment they receive from management to their peers. As a manager, it's your responsibility to honor that desire for equity by ensuring that all team members receive the same treatment. Rather than feeling competitive or envious, you can empower employees to work together as a team to maintain a positive environment for everyone.

{emphasize}Take the pulse of your team to see where they stand on the levels of equity at your organization with these 21 diversity, equity, and inclusion survey questions.{emphasize}

12. Autonomy

Of all the employee engagement drivers we've listed thus far, autonomy can be the trickiest for managers to balance. People need guidance to do their jobs, but giving employees autonomy is less about letting them have free reign and more about trusting them to make informed decisions. After all, you hired them for a reason.

When you establish mutual trust and respect between the management team and employees, you give people the confidence they need to do their job. This vital confidence will provide motivation and increase employee engagement across the board.

{emphasize}💡Check out these seven tips to improve and master employee autonomy in a remote context.{emphasize}

13. Clear communication

It goes without saying: effective, clear, and open communication is critical to overall performance and is also a non-negotiable if you want to build solid relationships with your team members. With remote and hybrid work models the new reality, clear communication has become one of the top drivers of employee engagement as the non-verbal cues of in-person conversations are no longer there to guide you. If you want to improve communication at work, make sure you're practicing active listening to better understand and meet your team's needs.

Leadership should also set an example of quality communication by providing actionable objectives and clarifying the company's goals. Doing so sets a standard for communication throughout the organization, improving awareness and engagement from top to bottom.

14. Workload distribution

Part of prioritizing employee wellness is ensuring that no single person takes on more work than they feel comfortable handling. As a manager, it may be hard to tell when certain people feel overwhelmed, but that's where quality communication comes in handy.

Working with individuals and team leaders, you can identify areas where perhaps some departments need further delegation of tasks. As a result, no one feels overworked or overwhelmed, and productivity will naturally increase as everyone settles into their roles.

{emphasize}If you notice an employee struggling with their workload, it's important to schedule a meeting with them sooner rather than later. Discuss how you can help them reduce their work stress with this one-on-one template.{emphasize}

15. Rest

Rest is another one of those engagement drivers that requires leadership to set an example. Sometimes, it can be challenging for employees to set boundaries and take the time they need to recharge.

You can help your team members feel comfortable caring for their well-being by encouraging rest and self-care. As a result, individuals can return to work rejuvenated, and employee engagement levels will reflect this boost in energy.

Increase employee engagement with easy-to-use software

Common engagement drivers span multiple industries, but it's up to you to find what members of your organization need and value most for them to succeed. Employee well-being has understandably taken a hit in recent years, but an employee engagement survey is one of the most efficient ways to measure engagement, get employee feedback, and tackle issues before they evolve.

To improve morale, increase employee retention, and ensure the success of your business, your management team needs to foster a positive, encouraging company culture. Increased engagement won't happen overnight, but with enough time and effort, you can forge meaningful connections with your team members and create a healthy, happy, and productive work environment.

Learn more about Officevibe's employee engagement solution to see how you can get the ball rolling on developing employee engagement strategies that work for your organization.

When you carry out a survey to gauge how your team is feeling, how do you share the results with them?

For some, measuring employee engagement can be challenging — especially for managers overseeing large or distributed teams — but an employee engagement survey can help you craft effective communication strategies to elevate your organization's entire employee experience.

The employee survey results you collect can give you a detailed breakdown of how employees feel via honest feedback, and this transparency opens the door for more genuine conversations.

However, asking the right questions through your employee engagement survey is only the first step in your surveying journey. The most crucial part of conducting employee engagement surveys is communicating results so that together you can dive deeper into where your company needs improvement and develop a collaborative action plan.

If you're not sure how to move forward with your survey results, here's how we recommend you communicate your analysis to your team or the rest of your organization.

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Steps to communicating survey results

Engagement surveys are an excellent way to get your finger on the pulse of the employee experience at your organization. With these employee surveys, you can keep track of key engagement metrics like:

• Feedback
• Relationship with Manager
• Recognition
• Company Alignment
• Happiness
• Ambassadorship

Maximizing the potential benefits of an employee engagement survey requires you to communicate survey results effectively to teams throughout the company. To ensure your team sees a positive impact following your employee engagement survey, share the results with key players from every part of your company, including the executive team, department leads, and of course, the employees. By allowing people in every position to feel heard, you can set the stage for continuous improvement.

Wondering how to communicate employee engagement survey results effectively? Here's what we suggest:

1. Thank employees for participating

Employee feedback is at the core of engagement surveys, and showing your appreciation can go a long way. Actively acknowledging feedback can encourage employees to talk openly about their thoughts, enabling the entire company to make positive changes. Saying "thank you" can be as simple as sending a company-wide email or scheduling an all-hands meeting to share the survey results' key takeaways.

Showing you care allows employees to feel more comfortable sharing feedback in future surveys. If an employee has expressed concern (anonymously or not), it's crucial to respond to this feedback and address any issues before they burgeon.

2. Share an initial overview of the survey results

Providing constructive feedback to managers can be intimidating, but employees want to know that you're committed to improving their workplace experience. After reviewing employee survey results, share the key metrics in a company-wide meeting. You'll want to do so relatively soon after your employees complete the survey to showcase your focus and dedication to addressing their concerns in a timely manner.

In this initial overview, you can highlight company scores, key findings, and common employee perceptions. Remember: while, it's important to share positive survey results and what your company does well, be sure to highlight opportunities to strengthen your organization. The goal is to start an open dialogue between employees and company leaders, and the key is transparency.

Likewise, a great way to showcase your ongoing commitment to improving the employee experience is by providing details about how you plan to tackle current concerns. Whether that includes engagement initiatives or a separate revision process, your dedication can strengthen morale to show employees that you're taking their feedback to heart.

3. Analyze results with the leadership team

The next step is to meet with the leadership team to examine the details of the results more thoroughly. This is a good time to go over the company engagement score and overall trends as you evaluate the health of your organization. Focus on using employee feedback to develop solutions for concerns illuminated by the engagement survey results.

Here, the executive team can plan future engagement initiatives. This meeting is also an excellent opportunity for the leadership team to express any concerns so you can talk through them.

Put your money where your mouth is: learn how to analyze and take action with your employee survey results.

4. Analyze results with other managers

The next step in communicating your employee engagement survey results is breaking them down with other department managers or team leads. The whole of a business is only as strong as its parts. Successful communication requires honest conversations with people at every level of your organization, so, an honest conversation will involve reviewing team results – including employee feedback about manager satisfaction.

The importance of measuring employee engagement cannot be overstated. According to Officevibe data, 47% of employees regularly feel overwhelmed at work. Without collecting employee feedback through engagement surveys, it becomes much more challenging to uncover insight on crucial topics surrounding employee well-being. When used effectively, an employee survey can increase engagement and create a happier and healthier workplace.

Providing managers and department heads with actionable solutions to challenges can help foster a more collaborative environment during team meetings and improve manager-employee relationships. This process may take time, but the increase in productivity and workplace happiness will be well worth it.

Employee well-being should always be your top priority as a manager. Check in on your people using an employee wellness survey.

5. Communicate updates and follow up with your team

Completing the survey is the easier part. The real trick to improving engagement is continuously communicating with your team after the survey concludes. Bridge the gap between employees and managers by frequently giving, receiving, and using feedback to make adjustments in the workplace.

Doing so can help build trust with your employees and promote collaboration across departments. Whether you prefer bi-annual employee surveys or collect survey results more frequently, your dedication to progress will help your employees feel more comfortable participating in engagement surveys in the future.

Discover tried and true continuous feedback loop strategies to increase engagement in your workplace.

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Communication tips and best practices

We know that every manager is unique and will have their own communication style. But it's important to connect with your employees and learn how to best share survey results with them. Let's explore ways in which you can best communicate with your people.

Be transparent

As with any company-wide initiative, leadership can set the example for addressing feedback. To encourage employee participation in open discussions, be honest about the survey results. Doing so can strengthen that budding trust between you and your employees.

Remember that trust in the workplace must be earned, so if you stumble, own up to it, be transparent about it, and be ready to learn from your mistakes. Your team members will likely feel more comfortable coming to you with their questions or their concerns if they feel like they can be open with you.

Additionally, avoid excessive jargon or lengthy explanations. Aim to make the results as clear and accessible as possible so your employees can easily understand company objectives moving forward.

Respect your employees' responses

Honesty and open communication is the bedrock of a healthy organization. Employees should never feel guilty about expressing their concerns. They need to feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback so the company can make changes, which means you need to be open to positive and negative survey responses.

Create a safe space for your employees to share their opinions and ideas through anonymous feedback channels.

Encourage employee participation

When your employee engagement survey concludes, you'll likely have multiple methods of delivering the results. Charts, graphs, and statistics can help paint a clearer image of the overall trends in feedback. Still, employees should also be able to connect the results to their personal experience in the workplace.

A simple way to get everyone on the same page is to implement several rounds of communication. These varying approaches can include:

• A town hall meeting: This method allows everyone in various departments to receive the same information simultaneously. Plus, you can record these meetings for later review.
• Focus groups: Gather employees from the same or different departments and encourage them to discuss the survey results. Doing so may highlight deeper issues and provide further clarity.
• One-on-one sessions: A fantastic way to break down hierarchal barriers is by holding one-on-one meetings. Employees have the opportunity to address managers and leadership directly about their concerns, and managers have the chance to communicate on a personal level with their people. As a result, you may see an increase in engagement.

💡Need help initiating a one-on-one conversation? We've got your back. Check out these tips from managers on how to make the most of your one-on-one meetings.

Collect feedback regularly

When the first survey goes well, it's easy to forget that improving engagement is a long-term commitment and process. What works for your team today might not work a month from now; goals, needs, and expectations can shift over time. To maintain the momentum following a successful survey, remember to be flexible and remain attentive.

The communication loop should always be active, with feedback coming and going between managers and employees regularly. Don't be afraid to repeat the survey process! Creating a highly engaging workplace is an ongoing, collaborative endeavor, and you'll need all hands on deck to discover what works best for your company.

🗝️ Feedback is key to fostering a healthy office culture. Try these tips for creating a positive feedback culture in the workplace.

Keep on surveying and boosting employee engagement

Developing effective employee engagement strategies can be challenging, but the work is worth the numerous benefits. From cultivating a better company culture to increasing employee happiness, engagement surveys give you fast, comprehensive insights about your organization's health.

Officevibe's Pulse Survey tool lets employees provide anonymous responses to your survey questions, eliminating that initial hesitation and making it easier than ever to begin the survey process. What kind of surveys you conduct will depend on your company's needs. With our vast array of employee engagement templates, you can find and use employee surveys for:

• Annual check-ins
• Employee well-being reviews
• Job satisfaction check-ins
• Remote employee check-ins

The most important thing to remember while conducting an employee engagement survey is to practice active listening. Be attentive, ask follow-up questions, and reflect on what your employee is telling you.

By flexing intuitive communication strategies, conducting employee engagement surveys, and analyzing feedback, you'll be one step closer to fostering a thriving culture.

When it comes to creating and maintaining a thriving workplace, we should never underestimate the power of employee engagement. Having an engaged workforce truly is the backbone of business success, so it's imperative to connect with employees and make sure they enjoy what they do, feel seen and heard, and recognize their value within the company.

In essence, engaged employees are ones who find more satisfaction in their daily tasks and work with authentic energy. Disengaged employees tend to feel unhappy and more stressed at work, which unsurprisingly has a direct impact on their performance.

To keep employees engaged and foster a positive environment, managers need to keep a pulse on their team’s employee engagement levels by applying several best practices on a daily basis.

To help guide you through ways to improve employee engagement, we've put together our top 10 employee engagement best practices.

{emphasize}Try our 10 best practices to boost employee engagement

• 10 employee engagement best practices
• Use the right tools to measure and increase employee engagement{emphasize}

10 employee engagement best practices

While there are many things managers can do to track and encourage employees' engagement, there are some fundamental employee engagement best practices that we recommend most. No matter the field or industry, these are effective across the board when building an employee engagement strategy:

1. Create a feedback culture

A little feedback can go a long way when it comes to employee engagement. So much so that creating a feedback loop is at the top of our list of employee engagement best practices for a reason. Regularly gathering employee feedback and acting upon it is one of the very best ways to boost employee engagement.

In fact, Officevibe Pulse Survey data shows that 83% of employees appreciate feedback. On the flip side, holding back honest feedback can cause low employee engagement rates and reduced productivity.

Tools like employee engagement surveys and pulse surveys are key when it comes to helping employees feel heard. By frequently conducting surveys, you gather valuable information on how your coworkers feel about their work and which aspects of their work life could use improvement.

Taking action as a result of the feedback makes them feel valued. Feeling valued makes for an engaged workforce that's more satisfied at work. It's a virtuous cycle.

Psst: What's the secret to enhancing your team's employee engagement? Implement an employee feedback loop to help eliminate issues and frustrations at the source.

2. Have transparent communication

Building a feedback culture and encouraging transparent communication go hand-in-hand. When employees feel comfortable enough to open up and share their honest thoughts, you get more valuable feedback and better employee engagement.

While some employees may shy away from expressing themselves in an open setting, offering them the option to share their feedback anonymously is a great way to promote honest communication in a way that suits them.

Officevibe data shows that 23% of employees are unsatisfied with the frequency of feedback coming from their direct manager, so be sure to implement this in your employee engagement program.

Good communication is essential to ensuring mutual understanding and cooperation within the workplace. Fostering transparent communication is built on trust, which we will get to next.

Discover 5 ways to collect honest feedback from your employees so you can improve your team’s workplace experience.

3. Build trust

Trust is at the very core of employee engagement. To have open communication with your team members, your organization must build and foster trust at every level. This starts with being approachable and human so that employees feel supported and connected on a more personal level.

Trust in the workplace also helps employees feel more secure in their jobs and ultimately reduces turnover. When you lack trust, you feel less connected to your organization and peers, and in turn feel less engaged in your role.

4. Develop wellness programs

Allowing for a good work-life balance, encouraging physical fitness, and paying attention to mental health are all important employee engagement best practices. Now more than ever, focusing on these work elements is truly non-negotiable when it comes to creating an effective employee engagement program.

When employees can balance their time and take care of their minds and bodies, they feel happier and more fulfilled both at work and in their personal lives. Implementing a health and wellness program at work benefits both the employees and the company.

When employees feel healthy, they usually also feel more engaged and productive at work. We recommend implementing employee wellness surveys to gather valuable insights into how you can improve engagement and connect with your team on a genuine person-to-person level.

5. Conduct stay interviews

Most people are familiar with the exit interview when an employee decides to leave the organization. They're conducted to help managers, leaders, and HR professionals better understand the reasons for their departure. But what's equally important (and sometimes overlooked) is the stay interview. These discussions should take place with current employees to understand what’s keeping them on your team and at your company.

It's important to note that not every employee who stays is satisfied with their role in the organization. During these conversations, you may uncover areas of improvement that can make your employees happier and more engaged.

The information you gather from a stay interview helps you better understand employee needs and implement a retention strategy that meets them. When employees needs are recognized, they feel more engaged.

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6. Ensure your team is aligned

From understanding the company's values to working towards shared goals, alignment is key. When employees move in the same direction with clear expectations and objectives, they are far more likely to succeed and feel like they are making a significant contribution to the organization.

When your team is aligned, each employee understands the importance of their role and believes in the team vision. This increases employee engagement and creates a sense of camaraderie and belonging.

There are several ways to encourage alignment, including clearly communicating company core values and setting clear goals for your team. To dive deeper, check out our 5 ways to ensure team alignment.

7. Allow flexibility

The past couple of years have really shifted the way we work. Navigating the new normal is different for every organization and every employee, so we all have to adapt to the times. This is especially true for a leadership team and human resources when it comes to keeping employee engagement high in a remote or hybrid model.

Allowing for greater flexibility shows employees you trust them to manage their time and stay engaged. It also makes management more responsible for ensuring that teams and employees don't feel disconnected. This best practice is a must for keeping up with today's ever-changing work environment.

Managing teams has always presented challenges and this is no different in the new distributed work environment. Make things easier on yourself by learning how to effectively manage and engage remote teams.

8. Encourage career development

Without growth, we stagnate and tend to lose our motivation. That's why it's so important to support employees' professional development. If employees don't have clear career paths, they tend to start feeling unattached to their work. Recognize their potential, encourage their development, and give them opportunities to grow.

Encouraging them to take on new challenges and more responsibilities or learn new skills helps employees feel engaged and valued at work. One-on-one meetings are a great way to establish employee goals and steps needed to achieve them.

9. Acknowledge successes with employee recognition

The best managers know that gratitude is the best attitude, so acknowledging employees' accomplishments and successes can have a truly positive impact on employee engagement. Recognizing different teams for their efforts plays a pivotal role in building trust and increasing employee engagement.

From giving private kudos, to celebrating milestones, to sharing peer-to-peer recognition, there are many ways to acknowledge everyone's achievements – not just the "star employees".

While many employees don't mind if managers publicly acknowledge them, others prefer not to be in the spotlight. That's why tools like Good Vibes are a great way to send meaningful, personalized messages to employees. Want some employee recognition message examples to get inspired? We've got you.

10. Lead by example

The saying "do as I say and not as I do" has no business in business! Leading by example is a powerful way for managers to remain genuine and connected to their employees. Teams look to their leaders for inspiration and motivation, so walking the walk shows that they believe in the company goals you are all striving for together.

Employee engagement is heightened when employees feel a human connection and relatability to their managers. This best practice is something to keep in mind when putting together an effective employee recognition program.

Use the right tools to measure and increase employee engagement

Engaged employees are happy employees, so putting these employee engagement best practices into play is an effective way to achieve happiness, boost satisfaction, and maintain motivation. Improving employee engagement efforts starts at the top, so putting together the right employee engagement strategy is key.

Officevibe's employee engagement solution has all the tools managers need to keep employees engaged. From measuring engagement through employee engagement surveys, to growing a healthy company culture, to supporting employee retention, our platform helps promote open communication and propel business forward in a positive direction.

If you’ve been tasked with developing an onboarding process, it’s hard to know where to begin. Fortunately, you don’t have to start with a blank page (or worse, a blank spreadsheet). 

Below, you’ll find a collection of onboarding templates that meet the specific needs of several different roles and employee contexts. To make sure that these template, we’ve gathered information from employees, employers, and market studies. Remember—a great onboarding experience can improve new hire retention rates by 50%.

We’re excited to share our onboarding templates and checklists with you in one easy-to-access place so that you can mix and match the best templates for your particular organization!

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Why use an onboarding template?

• Saves you time: relying on onboarding templates saves you preparation time that you would have used to brainstorm and research onboarding ideas, interview stakeholders, and build from scratch. Instead, you can use this time to ensure that your new hire has a smooth warm welcome to your organization. 
• Establishes a standard: when companies provide a standard across all departments, they help to establish a uniform corporate culture that allows teammates to feel like they’re all working for the same goal. While every department is going to have slightly different onboarding needs, using a similar template for each can be very influential. 
• Points you in the right direction: establishing HR standards is hard even for people operations experts. When you use a template, you don’t have to second guess whether you’re including the most important information. 
• Prevents knowledge transfer gaps: with so much to teach every new hire, we can expect some information to slip through the cracks. Onboarding checklists and templates are instrumental in ensuring you’re not forgetting something important. 
• Stellar first impression: starting a new job is scary, and your new hire wants to feel like they’re in good hands. A well-executed highly-polished onboarding experience starts with a great template.

10 different onboarding templates examples to inspire you

New hire onboarding template

If you’re hiring for a general position or for a position that’s hard to define, you can still benefit from checklists and templates. In fact, you might benefit from a preset framework even more because it can help you narrow down your new hire onboarding tasks to only include the most important things that they need to do their position.

This highly-customizable new hire template allows you to choose from more than 53 recommended activities that apply to most new hires, including sessions that explore their job objectives and responsibilities and the company’s overall goals.

Manager onboarding template

Hiring at the manager level requires the knowledge transfer of big-picture, high-stake company information. It can feel very overwhelming for both onboarder and onboardee and it’s hard to know which info is pertinent at what time.

Workleap's manager onboarding template allows hiring managers to collaborate with other team members who hold the important key to your manager’s success (like IT teams, other managers, and even entry-level employees). It enables you to have a healthy mixture of team-building exercises and metric briefing so that your manager comes out of their onboarding experience with a knowledge of what’s important to the company and the impact they can make. 

Executive onboarding template

Considering that executive positions are very senior-level, there is a common misconception that new executives don’t require an onboarding period. The exact opposite is true. Although executives aren’t new to their industry, they’re new to your company and must be given a proper introduction to their new role. 

Workleap Onboarding's executive template comes perfectly-packed with high-level sessions including those that dive deep into your business ambitions and strategy as well as important initiatives. It also adds important people elements, allocating time for your new executive to meet other key employees and socialize with their coworkers.  

Developer onboarding template

Developers are what (literally) helps a business run, whether it’s a software business, product business, or something entirely different. Although developers often work independently, it’s still important that they’re onboarded as part of the team. 

Onboarding's developer template offers a variety of onboarding ideas that balances the need for highly-technical training sessions with team-building events that focus on nourishing soft skills and providing an introduction to the company. 

Sales onboarding template

Your sales team is the face of your business, so it’s extra important that they understand all of its ins and outs. And while a lot of their skills will be learned on the go, it’s still very important for a sales team to be equipped with a complete customer profile before they embark on their day-to-day tasks. 

Our sales onboarding template includes unique cards that you won’t find in other onboarding templates, including a task to listen to recorded sales calls and a task for diving deep into your ideal customer profile—two sessions that are sure to empower any new hire. 

Designer onboarding template

Designers are a creative bunch, and you can help them flourish within their role by giving them a strong foundation to work off of. The designer onboarding template from Workleap Onboarding features, among other things, a complete overview of your org’s design system and even comes with an opportunity for your new designer to shadow an existing employee. 

Other unique cards include a deep dive into the roles of each designer’s teammates and a special focus on the role that feedback plays in your org. By the end of the onboarding period, your design will feel confident to let their creative visions out. 

Marketing onboarding template

Marketing roles can vary quite a bit in their day-to-day tasks and area of responsibility. One thing is for certain, though—in order to succeed at their job, marketing professionals need to have the full inside scoop on how their business works and how they can create marketing campaigns that align with company goals.

Give your marketing hires a great start with our marketing onboarding template, where sessions include an overview of your Go-To-Market playbook and a bird’s eye view of your competitor landscape.  

Finance onboarding template

If you think that finance roles are just about the numbers, think again. Your finance team needs to be just as well-integrated as everyone else. You can immerse them in your company’s landscape with Workleap's finance onboarding template which includes tasks to teach how you track business expenses and how to show your new hire how your company performs financial forecasting. 

Support onboarding template

Have you ever heard the phrase “help me help you”? In order to provide the support that they were hired to do, team support members need a proper onboarding that shows them team objectives and customer service tools. You’ll get this and then some in the Onboarding support agent template. 

Recruiter onboarding template 

Recruiters are the company cheerleader, so it’s extra important that they know that they have to be excited about. This template provides you with a great framework for showing new HR hires how you track applicants and what you look for in your ideal candidates. 

It may seem strange to onboard somebody so that they know how to onboard, but going about it any other way would be like selling a car that you’ve never driven. Set your new hire up in the driver seat so that they can hit the road at full speed.

Next steps

Sourcing the right template is not the only step that goes into building a fantastic onboarding experience, but it’s one of the most important ones. Check out our complete template library to select the ones that are most relevant to your organization and start crafting a wonderful first impression.

There are myriad reasons why your employee might be having a rough day at work; maybe their car broke down on their way to the office or maybe they've been struggling with a personal matter. But let's face it: as much as we'd like to check these things at the door when we log on to work, these external factors can affect employee engagement and concentration. We're only human after all.

But if you begin to notice recurring patterns of chronic absenteeism, listlessness, an inability to focus, or just a general disconnection from your employees, your team might be struggling with maintaining healthy employee engagement.

For companies to reverse, or better yet, prevent the damaging effects of actively disengaged employees, managers should keep a watchful eye on 10 employee engagement metrics, including the relationship between employees and managers, overall happiness, company alignment, relationship with colleagues, and personal growth.

What is employee disengagement?

Before we explore some of the more conspicuous employee engagement statistics we uncovered, let's define employee engagement, or lack thereof.

When a team experiences high employee engagement, their people feel connected emotionally and mentally to their jobs. They feel invested in their roles and the company and are motivated to perform to the best of their abilities. When your employees are not engaged at work, you'll notice a general lack of enthusiasm and interest in their day-to-day tasks.

Some early signs of disengagement can occur when:

• An employee consistently misses deadlines
• An employee no longer reaches out to their teammates
• An employee who used to share creative ideas in meetings begins to retreat

{emphasize}Take stock of your team and look out for other warning signs of disengagement so you can start boosting engagement and employee retention.{emphasize}

Causes of disengaged employees

There are many causes of employee disengagement, but it's important to note that as a manager, you can take steps towards helping your employees mend their fractured relationships with their work.

Some common causes of low employee engagement include:

• Lack of feedback and direction from their manager
• Lack of socializing with peers
• Lack of understanding or connection to the core mission and values of the company
• Feeling underappreciated and unrecognized for their work
• An incomplete onboarding
• Feeling that they are not properly compensated for their work
• Few career advancement opportunities

9 statistics on employee disengagement

In Officevibe's recent data report on the state of employee experience, we observed some thought-provoking employee engagement stats. While some of them may seem jarring at first, rest assured that there are ways to turn things around to support a team of highly engaged employees.

Job satisfaction needs to be improved

Job satisfaction is integral to maintaining high employee engagement. According to Officevibe statistics, 42% of employees don't feel like they're adequately compensated for their work, which can lead to resentment and a negative view of your organization.

If you don’t know how employees feel about your company, you can get a pretty good idea using the employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) by asking them: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our organization as a place to work to others?”

Ultimately, you want to have your employees acting as promoters for your company – not neutrals, and certainly not detractors. This will help you both attract top talent and improve employee retention.

Focus on these areas to improve job satisfaction:

• Workload: Do your employees have too much work to complete in an unrealistic amount of time? Do they need to work on the weekends, stay long hours, and neglect a work-life balance?
• Benefits: Does your company offer perks and benefits that are desirable for your employees– enough that they are excited to come to work? Think beyond health benefits.
• Salary: Employees need to feel that they are properly compensated for their work, and if they don’t, then there is no doubt that the quality of their work will be affected.

{emphasize}💡Try these 12 tips to improve job satisfaction on your team.{emphasize}

Relationships with managers are unsteady

As a manager, the relationships you foster with your people can have a huge impact on your team's overall employee engagement. We found that 75% of employees who leave their jobs or display low levels of engagement say that it's due in part to their managers or broader company leadership.

It's also important to note that 70% of people wished they could actually spend more time with their managers to create a stronger connection with them and with the organization.

How to improve your employee-manager relationships:

While there's no one-size-fits all solution to building strong relationships with your teammates, the following strategies can help with improving employee engagement:

• Communicate constantly: Hold regular one-on-one meetings to go over your employee’s work and give them constructive ways in which they can improve. This is also a great opportunity to listen to your team and collect their honest feedback to see what you can do to keep your employees actively engaged.
• Bring some pzazz to the team: Who says work can't be fun? Strengthen your bonds with your teammates and get to know the people behind the screens through different employee engagement activities like innovation challenges, lunch and learns, and creative workshops.
• Recognize their hard work: And do this as often as possible. Recognition is one of the lowest-cost, but most important ways to keep employees engaged. By offering meaningful recognition messages, you're acknowledging their efforts and letting your employees know that you value them.
• Encourage work-life balance: It’s really important that your employees know that you value them as complete individuals, not just workers. Expecting them to stay late every day, reaching out after business hours, and not showing an interest in who they are outside of the office are all ways to disengage your employees and create a negative view of the company culture.

Insufficient recognition

We briefly touched on the importance of employee recognition, but it's worth noting that 1 in 4 employees don't feel like their organizations celebrate accomplishments or learnings. A thriving company culture is one that highlights employee achievements, but also recognizes efforts and small victories.

Recognition doesn't (and shouldn't) have to come in the form of a Starbucks gift card or even a very public praise wall.

Some ways to increase recognition in the workplace include:

• Advocating for regular virtual recognition
• Acknowledging work anniversaries and other milestones
• Carving out time for shout outs during team events

{emphasize}✨ When you highlight employee contributions, everyone shines. Officevibe's peer-to-peer recognition tool, Good Vibes, allows you to celebrate both the big wins and subtle triumphs.{emphasize}

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Misalignment with role expectations

It’s vital that your employees know exactly what is expected from them. This might seem obvious, but 75% of employees stated that their managers could define more precise goals.

Often lines get blurred and it can become anxiety-inducing to not know your exact job or role. Make sure to provide employees with clear goals and expectations. With tools like Officevibe, you can set individual and team objectives with an intuitive goal-setting framework

Make sure your team is aligned with company values and goals:

• For your team to move forward together as a united front and ensure company success, it's important for your team to be aligned with the company's values.
• When an employee feels connected to their organization's mission and business strategy, they are more likely to enjoy their work. When goals and values are both understood and aligned, and employees feel included in the progress of the company toward these goals, they are sure to be more engaged.

{emphasize}The first step in fixing the disconnect is to be transparent with your team. Let them know your goals and be open about sharing numbers and high-level communications. Including your team in every detail of the company’s value and purpose will make them feel part of something bigger.{emphasize}

Feedback is not frequent enough

Only 25% of employees feel like the feedback they receive from their managers is frequent enough to help them improve and reach their goals. If you notice that your employee is struggling with certain tasks, waiting to talk to them about it at a “TBD later date” won’t do much in helping inspire them or overcome the challenge.

Here are a few reminders on how to give effective employee feedback:

• Keep it constant: This includes everything from praise for good work to constructive criticism for projects that can use improvement. Monthly check-ins and annual reviews do serve a purpose, but details may fall through the cracks over time. Continuous dialogue creates an open channel of communication with your teammates.
• Remind them that feedback is for them: It’s important to let employees know that any feedback sessions are for them. That they are safe places to discuss anything that they feel concerned about or want to work on and improve. Making the feedback process positive makes receiving feedback (even negative) less daunting because employees know that you are both working towards the same goal of helping them feel and be the best they can be.
• Make feedback anonymous: Employees will be more inclined to share what's on their minds if they can speak freely. By making feedback anonymous, you're focusing on the message, not the messenger.
• Ask for feedback on your performance: It’s a universal truth that there is always room for growth, so ask your employees for feedback on your performance as a manager. You can boost employee engagement by checking in with your team to learn which areas you excel in, and which could be improved on.

{emphasize}There are no two ways about it: feedback is crucial to improving employee retention and engagement. Learn more in our comprehensive guide on employee feedback

{emphasize}

Employee wellness has taken a hit

The pandemic has brought about a whole new set of challenges for the workplace, with employee well-being and mental health at the top of the list of casualties. Officevibe data has shown that 47% of employees regularly feel overwhelmed, with an unfortunate 26% feeling like their managers aren't concerned with the state of their mental health. Nobody's well-being should be forgotten, or even an afterthought.

{emphasize}If your company has adopted a hybrid work model, make sure you continue to engage with your remote employees as you would if they were in the office. There are tons of ways to boost morale and nurture a team of engaged employees, in person or virtually, most of which won't set you back at all.

💡Keep things fresh and explore some of these 14 employee engagement ideas your team will love.{emphasize}

Touch base with your team and ensure they're feeling supported by asking them some of the following employee wellness survey questions:

• On a scale of 1 to 10, please rate your degree of work-related burnout.
• What wellness-promoting initiatives would you like to see in the workplace?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you agree with the following: “I enjoy an optimal work-life balance at my current job”?
• Does your workload leave you enough time to pursue hobbies, personal activities, or career development?

Too few career advancement opportunities

Employee expectations have shifted in recent years; most modern professionals are no longer content with staying static in their positions and are eager to grow at their companies. But 40% of employees note that they don't have a development plan to help them improve their skills and drive their growth.

As a manager, you can keep your employees engaged by helping them sharpen their skills or learn new industry trends. By offering your employees career development opportunities, you're letting them know that you're invested in them and want to keep them around for the long-haul.

{emphasize}💡Take on a mentorship role for your employees to help improve employee engagement with these seven techniques.{emphasize}

How to improve employee engagement on your team

Even if things seem a little bleak sometimes, it's never too late to turn things around and offer your team a great workplace experience and ensure your employees are engaged.

You can start improving employee engagement on your team by:

• Giving consistent employee feedback (and asking for it, too!)
• Conducting regular one-on-one meetings
• Focusing on employee well-being
• Implementing recognition programs

We know it can feel a little overwhelming at times, but employee engagement tools like Officevibe can help you build a positive company culture and increase employee engagement.

Get to know your team better and find out what works for them and what keeps them engaged.

Being a manager means juggling people management with a busy agenda and a long to-do list. With so much going on at all times, it can be hard to spot if one of your employees isn't as invested in the team or company anymore.

Learning to spot the signs of disengagement is important because it can take some time to understand the causes and build action plans accordingly. The earlier you detect these signs, the less progressed disengagement will be, which means you'll face fewer obstacles to reverse it.

If you're not sure where to start, this article is for you. Read on to learn how to identify early symptoms of disengaged employees and implement the right next steps to reactivate your employees' engagement.

What are employee engagement and disengagement?

Employee engagement is the level of involvement people feel in their jobs, their dedication to the organization, and the amount of effort and energy they put into their direct work.

Engaged employees tend to be happy at work and feel valued by leadership. They work with authentic energy and find more satisfaction in their daily tasks.

Disengaged employees, on the other hand, may not feel like themselves at work. They may feel more stress, and show signs of fatigue, loneliness, sadness, and even anger (and if they are experiencing issues in their personal lives, these feelings may be amplified in the workplace).

9 signs of disengaged employees

Disengaged employees are not just unhappy employees. There are a number of other signs and effects to look out for. And while engagement can fluctuate, we can't assume that a disengaged employee will eventually bounce back on their own. If they don't seem like an active part of the team anymore, you need to keep an active eye out.

Why? Because, as we see time and time again, disengagement often results in:

• People quitting the team and an increase in employee turnover
• Inability to deliver team projects
• Team conflict (between engaged and disengaged employees)
• Mistakes (sometimes minor, sometimes more severe)
• Your time redirected from your to-do's, into addressing all of the above

Addressing unhealthy behaviors like missed deadlines, doing the bare minimum, or leaving early all the time are not just the responsibility of HR professionals. Your impact as a manager matters more than you may think, so you shouldn't wait until it's too late to address disengagement.

75% of employees who display low levels of engagement or leave their jobs say it's due to their manager or leadership.

The state of the employee experience

Our report uncovers some thought-provoking employee disengagement statistics. Read more to find ways to turn things around and support a team of highly engaged employees.

Early signs of employee disengagement

An actively disengaged employee will shift from how they used to be. It's not always a clear sign and doesn't necessarily show up as a negative attitude. Sometimes it manifests as a change in their personal work ethic, work quality, or even level of communication within the workplace.

Some early behaviors you should look out for are:

1. A team member who used to love sharing ideas suddenly doesn't do it anymore.
2. A team member who used to reach out to other team members now isolates or sticks to their own space.
3. A team member who used to be on top of deadlines starts missing some.
4. A team member who used to contribute to other aspects of the team (outside of the scope of work) no longer does it.

What's the common denominator? One prominent sign you're looking for here is a change in behavior.

🗒️ Quick note: Keep in mind that it's important to contrast the disengagement symptoms with a previous record of behaviors. Not all employeeshave to innovate all the time, contribute outside their scope of work, go the extra mile, or be a top performer every day.

In an ideal world, sure, that would be nice. But we shouldn't have these expectations from every employee. Sometimes they simply have low energy, have been taking more breaks, or may be going through some personal issues.

Drastic signs of employee disengagement

The longer you let disengagement go undetected, the higher the chances are of it becoming progressively worse. This is neither good for the team and organization, nor for the employee dealing with disengagement.

Some of the most serious signs of a disengaged employee are:

5. They start making mistakes (often).
6. They don't have answers to questions that correspond to their day-to-day job.
7. They often reschedule or cancel meetings with you (their manager) or team meetings and team calls with their peers.
8. They openly resist change with a bad attitude.
9. They stop following protocol and dynamics.

Whether an employee misses meetings altogether or is behind on deadlines, always take note of these changes. Even if you notice early or more drastic behaviors of disengagement, there's still a lot you can do to retain the talent and help an actively disengaged employee become engaged again.

💡Check out some of our top tips on how to improve employee engagement and retention.

Reasons why employees disengage

Before you can properly tackle engagement issues, it's helpful to understand what caused your employees to disengage. That way, you can nip it in the bud and avoid further problems.

High levels of stress and feeling overwhelmed

Occasional stress is normal in any job, but it can't be a constant. If so, your employees will suffer from burnout and disengagement. In fact, Officevibe Pulse Survey data shows that 39% of employees feel negatively about the levels of stress related to their work and 47% often feel overwhelmed at work, so it's important to recognize the causes.

Our data shows that the top 3 factors affecting stress at work include:

• Workload
• Access to non-material resources (like support, training, and knowledge)
• Pay

If, during your self-reflection and diagnosis, stress and feeling overwhelmed seem to be the issues, talk to your team member about these 3 elements and gather their thoughts.

When noticing a disengaged employee, you'll likely discover signs like a lack of motivation to complete everyday tasks or goals, signs of poor sleep, difficulty focusing during meetings or in their own work time, and isolation from the team or social events. If your employees' work is suffering, it's time to connect.

💡To help guide you through the conversation with your team member, consult our meeting template to discuss work stress.

Lack of professional development

We all want to grow and develop. A key aspect of keeping a job interesting is to feel challenged and know that you're moving forward. Considering 30% of Officevibe users say they don't have the opportunity to grow within their organization and 42% see no clear plan to improve their skills, this is especially important. Knowing where you excel and need to improve is essential to career development.

Our data shows that recognition, feedback, and professional development are mostly affected by frequency and timeliness. Employees need new challenges in order to feel highly engaged. Staying in tune with your team and their professional progression is key to making sure they remain engaged employees over time.

Feedback and recognition

If you want to turn a disengaged employee into an engaged employee, you need to focus on offering this constant development, as well as feedback and recognition. Creating a culture of recognition in the workplace is essential, eventually leading to better engagement.

Did you know that 40% of employees are unhappy with the frequency of recognition they receive, and 30% are unsatisfied with the amount of feedback they get?

Ask your team how often they would like to receive feedback from you, and brainstorm ideas to better recognize them.

Officevibe's employee engagement solution measures employees' satisfaction with the frequency and quality of both feedback and recognition, which can help you identify if either are an issue for your team.

Lack of trust, poor communication, and poor collaboration

Working remotely is challenging these areas more than ever. It's not easy to smoothly translate everything that was in-person into a digital context.

Our data shows that collaboration, communication, and trust are affected by:

• Levels of transparency
• Ability to voice one's opinion
• Manager's time availability

The first step to addressing the lack of trust, communication, and collaboration is to help your team feel heard. Offer a dedicated time and place, like a one-on-one meeting, to openly talk about the things your employees are struggling with. Make sure your team knows they can always reach out, and encourage team members to communicate with each other as well.

If you're looking for a solution to give your team a safe and permanent place to share their opinions, without having to add to your work pile, an anonymous feedback tool is a great solution. They can instantly elaborate on specific pain points, and you can respond to their comments while letting them stay anonymous.

Unfair compensation

If employees don't feel their efforts are being compensated fairly, it will be easy for them to disengage and start looking for other opportunities.

We know that team leaders don't always have the ability to change their team members' compensation. So what can you do?

We suggest taking time to align expectations with your disengaged employees. This can help you fill some gaps, look into any excessive workload, and gather insights for upper management to drive change.

Poor change management

Organizations and company cultures evolve and change, and that's a good thing! But we need to make sure we help our teams adapt to those changes, too.

Officevibe data shows that employee motivation and engagement are strongly correlated to:

• Having the ability to connect with the organization’s values and purpose.
• The leaders’ ability to communicate those values and that purpose.

Take the time to bring up any changes your team and/or organization have gone through. Have these impacted how your unengaged employees perceive the company? Do they still have everything they need to meet their (sometimes new) objectives?

Lack of resources and/or support to meet the organization's objectives

Sometimes, it all boils down to employees feeling that they lack help within their team or organization. Oftentimes, this stems from simply not having the right resources to meet the organization's objectives, despite being expected to do.

35% of employees feel their workplace doesn't invest enough resources to measure up to its ambitions.

Officevibe Pulse Survey data

But how can you find out if your team struggles with this?

Employee engagement surveys help management see if employees are disengaged before it happens – even if they don't have time to connect with their employees face-to-face in the workplace. These surveys can help managers collect valuable information and data about their employees that they may not have known about, and in turn, offer support.

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Actionable tips to re-engage disengaged employees

The best way to identify that something's off before it's too late is by having a record of engagement metrics. By tracking engagement metrics, you'll spot early signs and notice a decline as soon as it happens. Officevibe tracks engagement and runs a quick employee engagement survey each week to check in with your people and ask them for feedback.

That means no matter how busy you are, you're still getting information about how your employees feel and what they need. You can check the data and employee feedback from anywhere, at any time, and respond to their concerns as they arise.

The best part? It smoothly integrates into your team's day-to-day. You can focus on your responsibilities as a team leader, while the tool collects and analyzes the data for you.

So let's break down the steps.

1. Run diagnostics and identify what is disengaging your employees

The first step to solving any problem is to figure out what it is. Tools like employee engagement surveys, anonymous feedback, and one-on-one meetings can help you diagnose signs of disengagement. Open communication can help you retain your top performers, get closer to your team, pinpoint strengths, and come up with solutions.

The key is to ask the right questions. And if you're unsure where to start, you can pull from a curated employee engagement survey question bank. From there, you can address each of the common causes of disengagement and explore what you can do.

2. Self-reflect and be empathetic above all

Once you're able to identify what's causing disengagement, the next step is to put yourself in your team's shoes and be empathetic. Try to see things from their perspective and reality.

Ask yourself and self-reflect:

• If I was in their position, how would I react to the situation?
• What negative changes or situations have we recently faced as a team that also affected that person (or people)?
• Have I been proactive in making sure they have everything they need?
• Think about moments when this person (or people) brought value to the team.
• Reflect on the uniqueness of the employee(s) and their work.

3. Immediately, book a one-on-one meeting (and be honest)

Once you self-reflect and try to sympathize with what is causing an employee to disengage, book a one-on-one meeting.

This template can help guide your talking points during your one-on-one:

• Tell them upfront that you have noticed their disengagement (make sure you come from an empathetic point of view and genuine place to help, as opposed to this being a performance review).
• Mention specific changes in behavior you have observed (the clearer the examples, the better!).
• Bring up stories of your self-reflection about the value they bring to their team, and their potential.
• Give them room to tell you what they think (what is causing them to disengage, their perceptions and feelings). And really listen.
• Set action items that show your team member(s) that you're committed to their employee engagement, and help them know what to do next.

If your team members don't mention any subjects that you identified in your diagnoses and/or self-reflection, be proactive in bringing them up!

There's a chance your employee might be able to verbalize why they're disengaged, why they've lost interest in their job, or why they no longer feel motivated, but may not be clear on where their disengagement is coming from.

💡To help you be proactive, we put together some topics to bring up during your one-on-ones, along with the next steps. Use these one-on-one meeting templates as inspiration.

Encouraging engaged employees within your organization

Now that you know what obvious signs and subtle changes to look out for in a disengaged employee, you'll see the bigger picture. This way, you'll be better prepared to take the steps to help them become engaged employees who are part of the company culture once again. When employees are engaged and happy, business thrives, and when employees are disengaged, the whole team and the whole company feel the effects.

Communication is key, and we like to believe that there's no such thing as non-necessary conversations. Officevibe offers the tools you need to help your company establish better communication with everyone.

When measuring employee engagement and satisfaction, the employee Net Promoter Score, or eNPS, is the metric you should use to get actionable insights.

Salary is no longer the leading determining factor for employee loyalty and productivity. Employees want to take on new challenges, learn new skills, and know that their organization values their time and input.

Collaboration, flexibility, and the company’s culture also determine employee experience (EX) and retention rates.

Considering all these factors to measure employee engagement can be challenging. However, the eNPS provides a user-friendly engagement tool you can use to analyze employee satisfaction and identify areas for continuous improvement.

This guide will take an in-depth look at the employee Net Promoter Score, its scoring methodology, and how one single question can be a powerful springboard to measuring and improving engagement within your organization.

Measuring employee engagement: What is the eNPS?

The employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is a simple way to track loyalty and pride for your organization. And it’s an important part of the Engagement Metrics in Officevibe. It measures employees’ willingness to recommend your organization as a good place to work, and whether they’re engaged and enthusiastic about their work. It evolved from the original customer-focused Net Promoter System.

{emphasize}

The history of employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

It started in 2003 when Fred Reichheld, a partner at Bain & Company (founders of the Net Promoter System), created a new way to measure how well an organization treats the people whose lives it affects — or how well it generates relationships worthy of loyalty. He called that metric the Net Promoter Score or NPS®.

He didn’t keep the methodology to himself. He shared it so anyone could apply it, and organizations developed and expanded it over time. It evolved to extend its use beyond customers, applying it to help build employee engagement and commitment. The new methods had broadened impact, not just on measuring customer loyalty but now also on transforming their organizations.

– The Net Promoter System

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The NPS question asks: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our organization’s products or services to a friend or colleague?”

While the eNPS question asks: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our organization as a place to work to others?”

The employee Net Promoter Score respondent categories

Depending on their answers, your employee Net Promoter Score survey respondents will fall into three categories:

• Promoters: Engaged employees with a score of 9 or 10
• Neutrals: Employees with an eNPS score of 7 or 8
• Detractors: Employees with a score ranging from 0 to 6

Promoters

Promoters are satisfied employees who contribute positively to promoting company image and growth. The company culture resonates with these employees and inspires them to deliver top-tier work.  

Unfortunately, many companies don’t focus on these employees when evaluating employee Net Promoter Score surveys.

Promoters’ feedback can provide valuable insights into what positively contributes to their employee experience, and companies should leverage this information to retain talented employees and increase productivity.

Neutrals

Neutral employees are generally satisfied with their work environment but remain open to offers from other companies.

These employees are not likely to recommend the organization as a workplace. Still, they won’t speak negatively about the company.

The answers from neutrals don’t form part of the eNPS formula. However, gauging neutral employee sentiment is crucial, especially since most employees might fall into this category.

Using the feedback from these employees, the human resources department can implement practical improvements, transforming the neutrals into promoters.  

Detractors        

Detractors are employees who are unlikely to recommend the business as a workplace. Even an answer of “6” in employee engagement surveys typically indicates that the employee is at least partially unsatisfied at work.

The risk of detractors leaving the business is high, and swift action is necessary to prevent this from happening. You can determine the causes of low worker engagement through a stay interview.

Gathering and evaluating this feedback is crucial to minimizing employee turnover and costs. Leading companies genuinely care about detractors’ problems and encourage honest feedback. When a detractor gives details about why they are unhappy, believe them and assume that other employees might be experiencing the same issues.

Employee Net Promoter Score Pros

Deploying an eNPS survey holds various advantages for your organization:

• Usability. One of the most significant benefits of the eNPS survey is its ease of use. Employees only need to answer one question, saving valuable time and eliminating survey fatigue.
• High participation rates. Because the eNPS is a quick and easy survey, you can expect most employees to take the time to answer this question.
• Accurate assessment of employee engagement. The eNPS accurately reflects how employees feel about recommending the company. When employees answer the question anonymously, they will likely have no problem being honest, allowing you to detect the causes of low productivity and engagement.
• Accurate reflection of team satisfaction. Employee satisfaction is one component of EX, and deploying this survey will help you detect potential issues that increase employee turnover.
• Cost-effective feedback tool. Because the eNPS only consists of one question, you can quickly deploy this survey via the organization’s existing communication channel at no additional cost.
  • For example, when you deploy Officevibe to your organization, every employee will receive the eNPS question in their Onboarding Survey. After that, the employees will receive the question again every three months.
• Continuous measuring. Your organization can deploy the eNPS survey more frequently than extensive annual engagement surveys, allowing for effective and ongoing EX monitoring.
• Benchmarking suitability. The results of an eNPS survey are easy to benchmark against your organization’s past results. Comparing how you’ve scored in the past or how you’re doing vs. other teams in your organization can give you a better idea of where and when things might have changed or where you need to focus your efforts.
• Similar to NPS. Your employees should be ambassadors for the company and be inclined to promote its products and services to others. Using similar metrics for employees and customers in your organization’s communications can help you deliver products and services of the highest quality.
• Identify general problem areas within the organization. The eNPS effectively measures employee engagement and satisfaction. However, these metrics can highlight underlying issues in the organization, helping you optimize interdepartmental communication, employee recognition, and other factors.

Employee Net Promoter Score Cons

The simplicity of eNPS is one of its main advantages over other key performance indicators. However, the fact that this score only consists of one question can also be a limitation.

Once employees respond to this survey, you will only know how many team members are promoters, neutrals, or detractors, but you won’t know why.

In some cases, using the eNPS as a stand-alone feedback tool can be ineffective, and you should consider including it as part of a more extensive feedback program.

You can also create a survey around the eNPS with follow-up questions. However, you will need to know the employee’s scores to ensure that you ask the right questions.

The employee Net Promoter Score methodology

The employee Net Promoter Score’s popularity is due to its simplicity. Completing the eNPS questionnaire only takes a few seconds, and you can encourage employees to take this survey more regularly than annual employee engagement surveys. The result? Frequent, quick surveys allow for more consistent input and support a proactive and informed feedback loop.

Short, anonymous feedback requires less effort to analyze than complex, lengthy annual surveys, allowing you to take swift action on what’s working and needs improving.

How to calculate the eNPS

The eNPS formula is relatively straightforward. To determine the eNPS score of your business or a specific department, start by calculating:

1. The percentage of promoters among respondents
2. The percentage of detractors among respondents

Next, subtract the detractor percentage from the promoter percentage. In other words:

Let’s look at a practical example of how to measure employee loyalty using the eNPS.

Suppose your organization has 50 employees, and they all participate in the eNPS questionnaire. Upon receiving their results, you notice that of the 50 employees:

• 12 (24%) are detractors
• 20 (40%) are neutrals
• 18 (36%) are promoters

In this example, 24% of your employees are detractors, and 36% are promoters. We don’t include the 40% neutral employees in the eNPS formula.

36% (promoters) – 24% (detractors) = 12%, or an employee Net Promoter Score of +12.

When calculating the eNPS, you don’t consider neutral employees, as their score alone doesn’t provide valuable insights. However, gathering feedback from these employees is critical. Employees who skipped this question are also neutrals.

As you can see from our example, if you have a positive employee Net Promoter Score, your business has more promoters than detractors, indicating relatively high employee loyalty.

If the eNPS is negative, the company has more detractors than promoters. If this is the case, you’ll need to consider employee feedback carefully to zero in on issues with employee engagement.

The importance of your eNPS

Why should you measure eNPS and consistently work to increase this score?

The eNPS gives an accurate indication of employee experience throughout your entire organization. Employee experience is how your team perceives all interactions with their employer. The various aspects affecting employee experience include the physical workspace, company culture, and the company’s technologies.

Employee engagement and optimal productivity are among the most significant benefits of a positive employee experience.

Employees who feel optimistic about the work environment tend to be proactive and resolve issues through creative problem-solving.

When the company-wide EX is positive, absenteeism rates are low. Happy employees enjoy being at work and are not constantly looking for reasons to play hooky.

Improving employee engagement also promotes team loyalty, keeping turnover costs low. These costs include:

• The cost of marketing a vacant position
• The cost of hiring a new employee
• The cost of training a new employee
• The costs relating to lower productivity due to lower team morale

You can prevent these costs and optimize profitability by keeping your finger on the pulse of employee engagement and taking appropriate steps to make sure that your employees are happy.

Calculate where you stand with your people and build a winning employer brand.

Get the full guide

Ensuring optimal employee satisfaction: What are good employee Net Promoter Scores?

How do you know if your company’s employee Net Promoter Score results are on track?

In theory, these scores range from -100 (100% of employees are detractors) to +100 (100% of employees are promoters). In practice, these scores range from -50 to +50, though scores outside these brackets are possible.

If your company’s eNPS is lower than -10, drastic steps are necessary to improve employee engagement. Look at the answers to follow-up questions to identify areas where improvements are necessary.

Scores ranging from -10 to +20 are normal. If the scores are higher than +10, you can be proud of your company’s level of employee engagement.

An eNPS above +40 is excellent, and you should actively work towards keeping employee engagement at this level. Consult with promoters to determine what the company is doing right.

Ways to improve your employee Net Promoter Score

Here’s how to improve your eNPS and help your company maintain optimal employee satisfaction and engagement.

Incorporate the eNPS into a feedback program

The eNPS consists of only one question, and the answers are numbers ranging from 0 to 10. While these scores are insightful, you will need to dive deeper with a more extensive feedback program to gain additional valuable insights.

Formulate follow-up surveys with open-ended questions to evaluate each eNPS response within a better context. Here are some example follow-up questions to help get you started. Including the eNPS in an employee feedback program will clarify where improvements are necessary.

Communicate with all responders

Find out why your responders gave the answers they did, starting with the detractors.

Passive responders have the potential to become detractors or promoters, and you need to ensure that they fall into the latter camp.

Neutral employees include those who didn’t respond to the survey, and you need to target them in your comprehensive questionnaire, even if you don’t include their scores in the eNPS formula.  

Don’t leave your promoters unattended because you think they’re content. Knowing why they gave a high eNPS can be valuable in formulating long-term solutions for employee engagement.

Monitor your organization’s eNPS continuously

Consistent monitoring is crucial to ensure that your goals to optimize EX are on track. After making positive changes, regularly deploy an eNPS as a feedback tool to determine how effective these improvements are.

You should also measure the eNPS results against the previous responses to gauge your organization’s direction.

For example, poor survey results might coincide with a launch of a company initiative that puts extra pressure on employees. Collecting historical data paints a richer picture of your organization’s EX state over time.

Maintain transparency and open communication channels

Listening to feedback can significantly boost team members’ engagement and satisfaction. In some cases, establishing transparency might require an open discussion about the employees’ survey results and their answers to each follow-up question. With a tool like Officevibe, this type of discussion can remain anonymous thanks to in-app feedback messaging. That way, everyone feels comfortable sharing honest insights on engagement topics.

Consider discussing team scores during performance reviews. You should also let them know how you plan to address their concerns, then check in with them after you make improvements.

The promoters’ input is valuable in boosting employee Net Promoter Scores. Thank the promoters for their feedback and ask why they are likely to recommend the organization to other highly talented individuals.

In some cases, promoters notice organizational efforts that other colleagues might not. Focusing on these efforts can help increase the eNPS results.

Continuously improve

Taking action is the key to improving your employee Net Promoter Scores.

This feedback tool lets you determine which actions you need to take to optimize employee engagement and productivity while preventing team members from leaving the company.

After deploying an eNPS and communicating with employees, formulate and implement specific actions to make improvements. Then, using following-up surveys or conversations, ensure that these actions were effective.

How often should you measure eNPS?

How regularly you deploy an eNPS feedback tool depends on your organization and your employees’ challenges. Ideally, your company should conduct eNPS surveys at least once per year.

If your organization operates within a high-intensity industry, eNPS rollouts should be more frequent, allowing you to monitor employee engagement.

Measuring eNPS once a quarter seems to be effective across most industries. You can also conduct eNPS surveys after changing company policies and incentives, gauging how they affect employee engagement. Because completing these surveys is a relatively quick process, you can conduct them more frequently than comprehensive surveys consisting of multiple questions. However, sending these surveys out once a month or more frequently can result in questionnaire fatigue.

Employee Net Promoter score benchmarking

Benchmarking your eNPS against competitors is not ideal, as getting accurate scores is not always easy. And even if it was, doing so doesn’t give you the insights you need to make practical improvements with your team.

Suppose your eNPS is higher than that of a competitor. Does that mean your eNPS is at the level it should be? Not necessarily.

Your competitors don’t have the same number of team members as your organization, and they have an organizational culture that differs from yours.

Other companies also face unique circumstances and challenges, including regulatory requirements, which might, unfortunately, take priority over employee experience and satisfaction.

Instead, your organization should be benchmarking against itself. Your eNPS should improve over time, especially after making organizational changes.

For example, if your eNPS was +5 in 2022, aim for a score of +10 in 2023. Then, if all goes according to plan, you can set a score goal of +15 for 2024.

Your reputation counts

How do your employees view your organization? At Officevibe, the employee Net Promoter Score is among our most effective engagement tools to help you gauge how your team feels and interacts with your business, customers, and target market. And we’re not the only ones. Organizations like HubSpot, Salesforce, Apple, and Netflix recognize the value of this simple survey tool and use eNPS to measure employee engagement and keep an eye on their employer brand.

But eNPS is only the beginning.

Many people make the mistake of focusing too much on the eNPS. While tracking and continuously improving this metric is valuable, it’s not all that matters. The eNPS is only one part of an entire feedback loop that should include employee engagement surveys, performance reviews, and regular one-on-ones to keep the conversations and development flowing.

It’s easy to get started. With Officevibe, you can do all that. Automate eNPS question sends by including the question in their next Pulse Survey, and you’ll guarantee a follow-up and consistent scoring every 90 days. Just another way we make sure you have the most complete and up-to-date data on your reputation as an employer. Try for free today.

Calculate where you stand with your people and build a winning employer brand.

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If you were asked to rate your engagement at work on a scale from 0-10, how would you do that? If you answered with a 7 out of 10, what does that mean exactly?

Not a whole lot, because engagement is the sum of many feelings and without the right approach, it’s hard to quantify.

What you can do is ask questions that infer engagement, like are you satisfied with your current responsibilities? Or do you believe in the organization's mission? Or would you consider leaving your organization for a similar role at another company?

By answering these questions that infer engagement, you can have a more holistic view of how they truly feel at work.

It’s tough to say that you’re “engaged” 7 out of 10, but you can get an idea of how engaged an employee is by asking questions related to engagement. This article will show you how to do just that.

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What is employee engagement?

William Kahn, a Professor at Boston University coined the term “employee engagement” in his 1990 paper, “Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work.” He defined engagement as:

In other words, that emotional commitment to the organization is what makes an employee engaged. The tricky part is that this can mean a lot of things.

Is engagement feeling happy at work? Or maybe being satisfied with what you do for a living? Well, yes, it's both of those things. But it's also so much more, and leaving other factors out of the equation can significantly distort your view on engagement.

{emphasize}For example, you can be happy at work, but not get enough feedback from your manager. You can get a ton of great feedback but have no opportunities for growth. You can have opportunities for growth, but no work-life balance.{emphasize}

Why is measuring employee engagement important?

Employee engagement has the power to make or break business success because it affects all aspects of work. It's clear then that having a team of highly engaged employees brings many advantages.

Anne M. Mulcahy, former CEO of Xerox says it flawlessly:

If those points aren't convincing enough, we've also uncovered a few extra benefits of employee engagement:

• Better team performance and alignment
• Stronger ambassadorship and employer brand
• Less workplace stress
• Lower employee turnover

No one would want to pass on these benefits, but they won't just happen overnight. If you want to reap the rewards of employee engagement, it's important to consistently measure metrics that contribute to engagement so you can see where it stands and how it can be improved. From there, you can create an employee engagement strategy that addresses shortcomings and reinforces strengths.

{emphasize}🔑 A key part of improving employee engagement is earning employees' trust. They need to believe that the organization genuinely cares about them in order to feel engaged and committed to their team and organization.{emphasize}

By committing to measuring and improving employee engagement, you’re showing employees that their well-being at work matters to you and that you're making a conscious effort to make sure they’re happy at work. That alone can improve employee engagement, at least in the short term.

How to measure employee engagement with 10 easy metrics

There are many pieces to the employee engagement puzzle. And understanding 10 of those pieces can tell you nearly everything you need to know about engagement within your team.

Based on Officevibe's employee experience research, these are the 10 employee engagement metrics you should understand and monitor to measure engagement at work.

1. Feedback

Employee feedback plays into engagement by giving employees the tools and guidance they need to perform their best. Letting employees know what areas they can improve will minimize the risk of confusion, poor quality of work, and even imposter syndrome. That's because giving great feedback nudges people in the right direction and lets them know you believe in them.

{emphasize}Feedback sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Feedback frequency: Are you satisfied with the frequency of feedback coming from your peers?
• Feedback quality: Is the feedback you get specific?
• Suggestions for the organization: On a scale from 0-10, if you have new ideas for your organization, what are the chances you will share them?{emphasize}

2. Recognition

It's difficult to feel engaged when your work regularly goes unnoticed by your peers and direct manager. Oftentimes, lack of recognition isn't intentional. It's simply forgotten, especially during bustling periods. But here's a secret: recognizing employees when work is extra busy is a low-hanging fruit that can make them feel valued and improve employee engagement in only a few minutes.

{emphasize}Recognition sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Recognition frequency: How would you rate the frequency at which you receive recognition?
• Recognition quality: Is recognition meaningful when you receive it?{emphasize}

{emphasize}Acknowledging how your team feels about recognition is key to boosting engagement. Ask these employee recognition survey questions to better understand their needs and expectations.{emphasize}

3. Happiness

Happiness is one of the top-of-mind employee engagement metrics for most managers, yet many don't know how to measure it – understandably so. Many factors can contribute to happiness, so the first step is narrowing down happiness (or lack thereof) stemming from work.

{emphasize}Happiness sub-metrics and question examples

• Happiness at work: Generally speaking, how would you rate your level of happiness at work?
• Work-life balance: Do you have the flexibility to take time off when you need to?{emphasize}

4. Relationship with peers

Considering the average employee spends just as much, if not more, time with their colleagues than their family and friends, it's no surprise that having a good relationship with your peers is important to engagement. If your employees collaborate and communicate well, and respect each other, the entire team will thrive.

{emphasize}Relationship with peers sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Collaboration between peers: Do you and your peers collaborate well together?
• Communication between peers: Are communications among peers honest and transparent?
• Trust between peers: On a scale from 0-10, how safe do you feel to be yourself around your peers?{emphasize}

{emphasize}Trust is paramount to a team's success. Check out these five strategies to build trust and boost collaboration with your peers.{emphasize}

5. Relationship with managers

Officevibe's data report, "The state of the employee experience", showed that 75% of employees who display low engagement levels or leave their jobs say that it's due to their manager or leadership. That's why it's crucial to maintain positive and supportive relationships with your employees, and keep a close eye on this metric at all times.

{emphasize}Relationship with manager sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Collaboration with manager: When you ask your direct manager for help, can they devote time to help you?
• Communication with manager: Are you satisfied with how frequently you meet with your direct manager?
• Trust with manager: Do you feel your direct manager cares about your well-being?{emphasize}

6. Personal growth

Feeling stagnated at work is a fast-track ticket to disengagement. Employees want to feel challenged and mentally stimulated, while also having a clear idea of where they are headed. Detecting early signs of a dwindling personal growth metric can let you know that your team members are in dire need of guidance and motivation to feel engaged.

{emphasize}Personal growth sub-metrics and question examples

• Autonomy: Do you feel you have enough freedom to decide how you do your work?
• Mastery: How would you define the level of challenge you have at work?
• Purpose: Can you see how your work contributes to your organization's success?{emphasize}

7. Alignment

Feeling aligned with your company's vision, mission, and values is a key contributor to engagement. When you understand where your organization is headed and how you play a role in reaching broader objectives, you're more likely to be productive at work and genuinely enjoy your job.

{emphasize}Alignment sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Ethics and social responsibility: On a scale of 0-10, how environmentally-conscious is your organization?
• Values: Are you motivated by your organization's values?
• Mission and vision: Do you believe that your organization is able to reach its objectives?{emphasize}

8. Satisfaction

An engaged employee feels satisfied with their role within their team or company, and all aspects surrounding it. If they do not feel supported with the right resources or fairly compensated for their work, employee satisfaction will decrease and so will engagement. If caught on time, you can make quick changes and prevent issues from becoming larger and more difficult to tackle.

{emphasize}Satisfaction sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Compensation: Do you trust you are paid fairly compared to similar roles in other organizations?
• Role within organization: Are your responsibilities clear?
• Workplace: Do you feel like your work environment reflects your organizational culture?{emphasize}

{emphasize}Start gauging team sentiment and morale with this 10-question employee satisfaction survey template.{emphasize}

9. Wellness

Gone are the days of hustle culture and high-stress environments. Employees are now prioritizing health and wellness, and signs of stress and overwhelming workloads are important to flag. The good news is that employees are talking about this metric more openly, so measuring it through surveys can help you keep tabs on how everyone feels throughout the whole year.

{emphasize}Wellness sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Personal health: Do you feel that working at your organization allows you to have a healthy lifestyle?
• Stress: On a scale from 0-10, how reasonable is your workload?{emphasize}

{emphasize}Check in on your team and their well-being with these employee wellness questions, surveys, and templates.{emphasize}

10. Ambassadorship

It's one thing to be happy at work, but it's another to truly advocate for your organization and its offerings. By monitoring and measuring ambassadorship, you can divide your team into three categories:

• Promoters
• Neutrals
• Detractors

To measure employee engagement, be sure to evaluate the employee experience from the perspective of each of these groups. You'll learn what makes promoters feel engaged, why detractors are disengaged, and where gaps can be filled for neutrals.

{emphasize}Ambassadorship sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS): On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend your organization as a good place to work?
• Pride: When you say what organization you work for, how do you feel?{emphasize}

Ways to measure employee engagement metrics

Employee engagement is a complex issue that requires effort from everyone in the organization. The most common way to measure engagement is using surveys, but it's important to complement them with other tools and processes. When conducting surveys, you should also consider taking various approaches depending on what you are looking to measure.

Here's how you could be measuring employee engagement on a regular basis.

Surveys to measure employee engagement

Annual engagement surveys

An annual employee engagement survey can be used to gather high-level, organization-wide insights for leadership teams. Oftentimes, these surveys are used to guide broader business strategies and initiatives in preparation for the next year.

{emphasize}While these surveys do measure employee engagement, the possibility of bias is high and responses may not accurately reflect how employees felt across the entire year.{emphasize}

Pulse Surveys

Short, frequent employee engagement surveys are a great way to keep a pulse on the vibe in your team. There’s no need to make this process complex. It can be as simple as regularly asking your team 5-10 questions related to the various engagement metrics mentioned above. With the responses you collect, you can measure employee engagement at any given time. Do this consistently over a few months, and you'll see fluctuations that can further guide your engagement strategy.

{emphasize}Getting started doesn't have to be difficult. Collect valuable insights with a pulse survey tool and uncover any issues that might be affecting your team.{emphasize}

eNPS surveys

The employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), a derivative of the customer-centric Net Promoter Score created by Fred Reichheld, quantifies a company's employee loyalty and pride. It does so by asking a single, simple question: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our organization as a great place to work?"

To best leverage this method, send the eNPS question at least once a year with one or two follow-up questions. A score above 10+ is something to be proud of, and anything below 0 should be further assessed.

{emphasize}💡Learn everything you need to know about the employee Net Promoter Score, including its methodology, how to calculate it, and what you can do to improve your score.{emphasize}

Non-survey methods to measure employee engagement

One-on-one meetings

Another great way to measure engagement is through regular one-on-one meetings with employees. Similar to your employee engagement surveys, you can structure these conversations with talking points based on the 10 metrics of engagement.

The advantage of this method of collecting feedback is that it’s face-to-face (either in person or virtually). And because it’s a private, safe conversation, you can get much more detail about each issue that’s brought up. The key for managers is to remove that fear from employees so they feel safe opening up.

{emphasize}If you’re looking for help with your one-on-ones, our free one-on-one meeting templates should help you.{emphasize}

Stay interviews

Using structured interviews for employees is a great way to collect feedback and find out what makes them engaged or what holds them back from being engaged. Some of the most insightful conversations to have are stay interviews, where you ask employees who are happy at work what makes them want to stay. The goal is to find out what you're already doing well and how you can better leverage it.

{emphasize}Improve employee retention by conducting your next stay interview with these 6 questions.{emphasize}

Exit interviews

In most cases, an exit interview will not convince a departing employee to stay. However, they should still be part of your process to measure engagement as they can help you find out what you could have done better to improve engagement.

Employee turnover rate

Turnover rate shows the percentage of people that left your organization during a given period. Employees usually change jobs when they no longer feel challenged, see no opportunities for growth, or have a negative experience at work. A high turnover rate can therefore indicate that engagement is low. When paired with an exit interview, you can get to the root issues impacting engagement levels.

What to do after you measure employee engagement

Measuring employee engagement is only the first step. As an organization, you need to be committed to continuously improving engagement. Here is what you can do with employee survey results.

Communicate the results

If you sent out a survey, send employees a thank you message for completing it, communicate a summary of the results, and share what the next steps are in an upcoming team meeting. Keeping your team in the loop allows them to get involved in their own employee engagement journeys.

Pick one or a few things to improve

You'll likely find multiple points of improvement. This is normal. Instead of overwhelming yourself or your team by trying to tackle everything, pick the area or areas that would have the biggest impact on engagement. Start small, and brainstorm with your team on things like:

• How you can improve each item
• Who will be held accountable
• How you’ll be able to measure its effectiveness (set a goal)

Once you narrow this down, you'll be able to build an action plan and start actively working towards increasing employee engagement.

Follow up and repeat

Continuously follow up with team members to see how things are going, and if there’s anything you need to do to readjust and realign on the goal.

Repeat the process over and over. Measuring employee engagement isn’t a one-shot deal. Engagement takes time to build and will always evolve, so it’s important to stay agile.

Employee engagement tools are here to help

When assessing how to measure employee engagement, remember that you are not alone. Tools like Officevibe exist to facilitate every part of your employee engagement strategy, from surveying employees with automated Pulse Surveys to scheduling one-on-ones and keeping track of all your engagement metrics in one tidy place.

By following the tips in this article and using the right tools, you'll be on your way to successfully measuring engagement within your team.

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When it comes to employee engagement, it's safe to say that the most engaged employees are the happiest, most productive employees. That's why it's so important for managers and senior leaders to check in often and be aware of how their teams are doing to ensure a positive employee experience.

While we encourage other methods and tools equally, employee engagement surveys play a key role in staying on top of employee satisfaction, commitment, motivation, a sense of purpose, and passion for their work. You'll hear us say this often: employees feel valued when they can communicate openly and feel heard. That's where an employee survey comes in clutch.

Whether you're just getting acquainted with building a solid employee engagement strategy or are looking to refresh your approach, we're here to help guide you through how to create your own employee engagement survey and how to measure employee engagement. Not sure where to start? We've got you.

{emphasize}Create your employee engagement surveys

• What is an employee engagement survey?
• Why should you have employee engagement surveys
• How to create an effective employee engagement survey
• You've sent your employee engagement survey. What's next?{emphasize}

What is an employee engagement survey?

To kick things off, let's start with the basics. An employee engagement survey is a set of strategic questions used to measure the connection an employee feels towards their work, team, and organization.

These employee surveys give employees a voice within their organization and are a great way to get a high-level view of employees' engagement levels over time. Surveys provide honest feedback directly to their manager, who then has plenty of actionable insights to work with.

When it comes to creating the right employee engagement survey questions, there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. The employee survey questions should be carefully crafted to be aligned with your organization and its objectives. Staying aligned is essential for sustaining performance over time. Alignment and employee engagement go hand-in-hand when it comes to creating a happy and productive work environment.

The frequency of employee surveys also varies. From annual to quarterly, to bi-weekly, and even weekly – they all have their own purpose and value. The annual and quarterly kinds are usually conducted by the organization to give leadership teams high-level information on things like employee experience and company culture to help guide business strategy and HR initiatives.

The more frequent kind, like pulse surveys, provide a more accurate and timely way to get employee feedback that is current and relevant to measure employee engagement levels and job satisfaction in real-time.

Dive deeper into survey types and frequency in our guide on employee engagement surveys.

Why should you have employee engagement surveys

There are so many benefits to conducting employee engagement surveys. First and foremost, employees feel heard. Give them the opportunity to have a voice because, once again, when they feel as though their opinions matter, they feel more valued.

Receiving honest employee feedback also allows the organization to identify issues and opportunities. Are there problems within the team that managers might not be aware of? What can they do to improve a situation? How can they increase employee satisfaction? Figuring these things out allows managers, human resources professionals, and organizational leaders to make meaningful and effective changes.

Responding to employee feedback with actions is a great way to build trust, which in turn helps improve employee engagement. When employees know that their suggestions are taken into account and being acted upon, it opens the door to even more honesty in future surveys.

Having this level of trust also helps foster a healthy company culture. Employees feel more comfortable speaking up, the organization is more accountable for taking action, and everyone feels more in sync. Essentially, an employee engagement survey is a great tool for everyone.

Frequency is key. That's why having a continuous feedback loop strategy is a great way to gather feedback, opinions, suggestions, and comments from employees regularly.

How to create an effective employee engagement survey

Now that you're familiar with employee engagement surveys and why they are such an important tool, it's time to learn how to create one.

We'll walk you through the survey process with the three key steps you need to take – from establishing your metrics to crafting the employee survey questions to clicking send when you're ready. Once you're acquainted with these steps, you'll feel more confident in your approach.

Step 1: Establish which engagement metrics you want to measure

It's one thing to ask questions and gather information, and it's another to measure it. Before getting started on creating your employee engagement survey, you'll need to establish the employee engagement metrics you want to measure. What does this mean? Quite simply, there are several metrics you can measure to assess your employee engagement levels. You'll measure these consistently over time to get a clear picture of what's going on with your employees and teams.

At Officevibe, our pulse survey tool uses 10 metrics to gauge how people feel. These are relationship with manager, feedback, personal growth, relationship with peers, wellness, recognition, company alignment, happiness, satisfaction, and ambassadorship.

This comprehensive list is a great launchpad from which to categorize your employee engagement survey questions, which we'll get into in the next step.

Having a consistent view of these metrics gives managers the ability to see what's going well and what issues need tending to. The results of these metrics will help give you the ability to tackle and resolve issues that you may not have been otherwise privy to. Once you have this established, it's time to create the employee engagement survey itself.

[ov_cta id="5117519"]

Step 2: Build the employee survey

Now that you've established the metrics you want to measure, it's time to start choosing the specific employee engagement survey questions that are relevant to your team and tailored to your organization. A great way to start your engagement survey design is to map out the questions per metric category.

Here are some solid examples of questions based on the 10 metrics we covered in the last step. You can use them as-is or leverage them for inspiration when creating your employee surveys:

Relationship with manager
Do you feel that you can trust your direct manager?
Does your manager take the time to support you when you ask for help?
Do you think your direct manager cares about your well-being?

Feedback questions
Are you satisfied with how often you receive feedback from your direct manager?
Is the feedback you receive specific?
Does the kind of feedback you receive help you with professional growth?

Personal growth questions
Do you feel you have enough freedom to decide how you do your work?
Is there someone at work who helps you with professional development and achieving career goals?
Do you have the opportunity to grow within your organization?

Relationship with peers
Can you depend on your peers when you need help?
Do you and your team members collaborate well together?
Is your communication with your peers honest and transparent?

Wellness questions
Overall, how do you feel about your level of work-related stress?
On a scale of 0-10, how would you rate your organization’s efforts to promote employee wellness?
Do you think someone would say or do something if you felt distressed at work?

Recognition questions
How would you rate the frequency at which you receive recognition?
Does recognition feel genuine and meaningful when you receive it?
Does your organization encourage employees to recognize each other?

Company alignment questions
Do your organization's leaders acknowledge that employees are essential to its success?
Do you believe that your organization can reach its objectives?
Do you feel aligned with the company's values and goals?

Happiness questions
Do you enjoy the work that you do?
Do you feel that you have a healthy work-life balance?
Have you noticed your work taking a toll on your personal life?

Job satisfaction questions
Do you know what you need to do to achieve your goals and objectives?
On a scale of 0-10, how reasonable is your workload?
Are you comfortable in your physical work environment?

Ambassadorship questions
On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend your organization as a good place to work?
On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend your organization's products or services?
Do you feel proud to be a part of your organization?

Prefer not to start from scratch? Choose the survey that’s right for your team from one of our 5 free employee engagement survey templates.

Step 3: Send it out

After putting together your employee engagement survey questions, it's time to send them out to your team members. Before jumping right into it, it's important to have a strategy in place. There are several key factors that come into play when ensuring the proper use and success of your employee engagement survey. Here are our top quick tips:

1. Let's start with creating employee surveys of an appropriate length. While you may have many questions you want to ask, you shouldn't ask them all at once. Employees' time plays a factor, and you don't want them to feel overwhelmed. The amount of time an employee spends on an engagement survey will affect your response rate. In essence, shorter, more frequent pulse surveys result in higher participation rates and tend to have higher-quality survey data. Fewer questions tend to mean more time spent on each answer.
2. Consider survey format. For example, some more in-depth employee engagement surveys can be around 30 questions long, while shorter pulse surveys can be around 10 questions. Sometimes, you can even keep them to just a few questions. Remember tip #1, survey length can factor in on the quality of survey results.
3. Regarding frequency, weekly or bi-weekly pulse surveys are a great way to stay in tune with employees and understand the highs and lows they're experiencing in real time. Frequent employee engagement surveys make it easier to spot and address issues before they turn into bigger problems. Annual surveys serve their own purpose, as do these more frequent ones.
4. When sending out the employee engagement survey, be sure to explain to your employees why you're sending it. Be honest, transparent, and approachable. And most importantly, if this is an anonymous survey, be sure to clarify that. Allowing for anonymity can open the forum for employees to give more candid feedback and provide you with richer results.

You've sent your employee engagement survey. What's next?

Once the employee engagement survey has gone out and employees have taken the time to respond, it's up to managers, senior leadership, and human resources to review, reflect upon, and analyze the survey results. This allows them to measure employee engagement, identify issues, and close in on where there's room for improvement.

This data is so valuable. Measuring employee engagement survey results, analyzing them, and building an action plan can create tremendous changes within the organization and its culture. Taking the time to measure employee engagement, respond to feedback, and take action shows that management is listening and that they care. In turn, as we've learned, this results in greater employee engagement and employee satisfaction.

And it doesn't stop there. Repeat surveys enable you to gauge how well the action plan has been working and to spot changes in employee engagement and sentiments so you can continue striving for increased employee performance, happiness, satisfaction, and productivity.

While you want to analyze changes, be sure to vary the questions in your follow-up surveys and avoid asking the same questions. Survey fatigue is real. For greater employee engagement and more genuine responses, switch them up and keep them fresh!

Employee engagement is an ever-evolving thing that requires constant attention and acknowledgment. Officevibe Pulse Surveys make creating and analyzing the survey results simple. Easy-to-understand key findings and reports tap into top insights that can help guide you as you build your action plan with data-driven decisions.

Greater employee engagement makes for greater employee empowerment. In fact, did you know that 83% of employees who use Officevibe feel like their manager cares about their opinion? These kinds of numbers really help with employee retention, positive employee experience, great company culture, and even business success.

Let's effectively survey employees and make sure all employees feel heard. Our employee engagement solution can help you do just that.

Different companies may have different goals, but all successful teams have one thing in common: high employee engagement. Highly engaged employees perform better and bring dedication, maximum effort, effective communication, and efficient contributions to every project. They know the work they must do and how to do it. 

Experts in the business world talk a lot about employee engagement but not always how to improve it. It's not enough to just say that employee engagement is important and expect everyone else to figure out the rest. That's why we crafted this helpful guide on ways to improve employee engagement and how to measure it to keep the momentum going.

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11 Tips to increase employee engagement

Every company wants to improve employee engagement and increase all-around productivity, but many managers just don't know where to start. With these 11 tips, you'll be better equipped to support your team and foster a happier, more positive company culture.

1. Implement recognition programs

Everyone deserves recognition for their hard work and dedication. It's easy for employees to feel like they're just spinning their wheels when management seems to overlook their work. By implementing recognition programs to improve employee engagement, you can generate intrinsic motivation for an already engaged workforce.

Recognition programs don't need to be complicated or costly; employees want to feel like their work has meaning, contributes to broader goals, and aligns with their personal values. It's important to remember not only to highlight successes but to recognize effort and resilience.

Officevibe data shows that 91% of employees appreciate the acknowledgment, even if it's a simple recognition message like "I appreciate the thought you put into this project."

Your company is unique, so make sure you implement employee recognition initiatives that best suit your team. Some ways to increase recognition in the workplace include:

• Advocating for regular virtual recognition
• Acknowledging work anniversaries and other milestones
• Recognizing employees’ personal accomplishments

Peer-to-peer recognition is one of the most meaningful ways your employees can acknowledge each other's contributions. Start promoting recognition among colleagues with Officevibe's latest feature, Good Vibes.

2. Ask for employee feedback

One of the best ways to improve employee engagement is by asking your team members how they feel. By collecting employee feedback, you're showing that you're honestly interested in their thoughts and opinions. Asking for feedback help both in-person and remote employees feel valued and more in charge of the overall employee experience.

Asking for feedback through employee engagement surveys will help you take the company's pulse and hear what people have to say. You can check in regularly with employees worldwide to keep the communication lines open. In these engagement surveys, You can also ask for feedback on specific events or operations to evaluate processes, figuring out what went well, what didn't, and what you could do better.  

Don't just ask for feedback, though – respond to it. Let your employees know you're listening and care about their suggestions, questions, compliments, and concerns. Feedback helps employees grow and they'll be much more likely to communicate if they know their voice makes a difference.

Giving and receiving feedback is a key way to boost employee engagement. Check out these 10 tried and true tips for creating a feedback culture in the workplace.

3. Conduct regular one-on-one meetings

One of the best ways to drive employee engagement is by scheduling regular one-on-one meetings with your team members. Make a habit of building time into your schedule to interact with your people and give them your undivided attention.

Keep the meetings short but plan them intentionally. Use them to discuss performance and employee experience, ask questions, nudge for suggestions, and create an opportunity to develop relationships through non-work-related conversations. A time-efficient meeting can go a long way toward improving employee engagement and productivity in the workplace. 

Not sure how to go about scheduling and leading a one-on-0ne meeting? Use one of three Officevibe meeting templates so you can be on the same page.

4. Offer professional development opportunities

If you struggle with actively disengaged employees, consider offering training to help them stay on top of industry trends and sharpen their skills. Some employees may feel like they've plateaued in their positions or daily tasks, so creating opportunities for development that align with your team and organization can help employee engagement levels rise.

Here are some ways to keep the training interesting:

Keep it specific: Tailor the training to your particular industry and even a specific department within your company. Provide learning materials or access to external resources on specific areas instead of broad concepts.

Mix up the format: You don't need to stick to a 500-page textbook and chapter-end quizzes. Mix up the material to keep it engaging. You can incorporate things like online games and team competitions to help people learn and absorb key concepts.

5. Empower your employees with the right tools

You need the right tools to succeed at and complete any task and the workplace is no different. Without the right physical equipment (at home or in the office), employees may experience discomfort and have a harder time focusing on their work. Without the proper resources and software, your team will be ill-equipped to reach their goals, resulting in frustration and eventually maybe even apathy toward their work.

As a manager, you can empower your team and increase productivity by providing the tools they need to succeed, such as:

• Relevant and up-to-date software
• A proper office setup (desk, chair, keyboard, etc.)
• Workshops and training sessions

[ov_cta id="5119909"]

6. Organize interactive activities

One of the best employee engagement strategies (and arguably the most fun) is to organize interactive in-person activities. This will obviously depend on whether you're managing a distributed team, but if you have the opportunity to meet as a group, you can improve engagement by incorporating entertaining activities into the schedule.

It's a great way to build team chemistry and overall productivity.

When we talk about fun activities, we don't mean creative ways to tackle business projects. We're referring to opportunities for coworkers to spend time together outside of business hours – activities like:

• Hiking
• A book club
• Bowling
• Volunteering

Keep in mind that different employees may have different definitions of fun. You should organize activities that have something for everyone and will give them a chance to relax and relieve stress. Even an hour or two away from the office can encourage employees to recharge their batteries and feel energized for the next workday.

Looking for more ways to build team chemistry? Check out this list of 40+ fun employee engagement activities.

7. Set clear goals

By setting clear goals, you can help support your employees in their day-to-day tasks and long-term objectives, but you can also improve team alignment. People will rally together if they share a common goal and know how to achieve it. On the flip side, a lack of clearly defined goals can lead to disengagement, apathy, and poor personal commitments.

While there are several methodologies you can use to set objectives like the SMART system, the OKRs framework is an excellent method for creating goals and bringing clarity to your organization. OKRs ask, "what is the goal?" (objective) and then expand by defining "how do we get there?" (key results).

With OKRs, you can set a clear and meaningful objective for the future, like "increase our social media presence by next quarter."

Then, set three to five metrics that will help you know when you've reached your goal like:

• Increased LinkedIn following by 35%
• Increased engagement on social posts
• Publish 15 thought leadership articles

One of our favorite thing about the OKRs framework is that it helps teams realign their focus from individual tasks to the overall impact.

A great employee goal-setting framework can help you and your team go the distance together. Read more about how you can set and meet your objectives.

8. Build trust through transparency

As a manager, one of your priorities should be creating an environment where employees can trust you and freely share their ideas and concerns. Building trust takes time and intentionality. However, it will pay off in the long run as employees engage more effectively throughout the week.

Establishing trust begins with openness on your end. You need to model transparency by speaking openly with employees about your vision, goals, and even your concerns. This will encourage team members (especially new hires) to do the same, helping maintain accountability within the department.

9. Encourage teamwork

Do you worry about the collaboration levels on your team? If you're sensing a disconnect between employees, have an honest conversation with your team to get to the root of the problem.

Encouraging teamwork is a great way to increase employee engagement. You can create projects for employees to work on together or find ways to help individuals with their specific tasks. Collaboration in the workplace plays a crucial role in establishing a great company culture.

10. Focus on employee well-being

Sleepy, stressed-out employees don't have the time or energy to engage with their peers. They also don't perform at their best throughout the day and can easily lose focus on their goals. Physical and mental health are critical components of a vibrant, productive company.

By encouraging company-wide wellness initiatives, you'll automatically promote involvement and have more highly engaged employees. You can do this by:

• Providing healthy food options at lunchtime instead of sugary, artificial snacks.
• Setting up a breakroom where employees can exercise.
• Organizing walk-a-thons, 5K races, and other activities that promote physical well-being.
• Checking in with team members to ensure they're doing well.
• Offering free counseling services to those struggling with stress, burnout, or mental health issues.

Your employees might not always feel comfortable reaching out for help when they need it. Send your team an employee wellness survey to see how you can help their well-being.

11. Revisit the company's core values and mission

Your company's mission and values drive short-term operations and long-term goals. However, they're not always obvious. Defining company values and reminding your employees of them will help communicate what your company stands for and build camaraderie. 

Everyone wants to feel part of something bigger than themselves. People want to know if their individual work is contributing to a larger purpose. By revisiting the organization's mission and values, you can avoid corporate apathy and increase employee engagement.

Tools to help you measure employee engagement

Remember the OKRs framework for setting clear goals? A vital piece of creating an objective is being able to measure it. You must measure your goals to ensure you're on the right track. Improving employee engagement is a worthy goal, but measuring it can be challenging. Fortunately, at Officevibe, we have the tools your company needs to succeed – and to know when you've done so.

Our full suite of tools includes a robust employee feedback tool where your employees can anonymously submit regular feedback quickly and easily online. You can routinely check in with your crew and hear what they have to say, encouraging them to engage more with their work as well as company management. 

We've created Pulse Surveys that use science-backed data to measure employee engagement in your workplace. An employee engagement survey enables you to do a health check on your company weekly with five straightforward questions. Employees can submit the survey anonymously and provide you with real-time insights via direct reports to help track workforce engagement trends.

If you want to have a private chat with one of your employees, the one-on-one meetings tool is the perfect solution for collaborating with team members. This tool can help you organize your meetings to make the most of your time and have meaningful conversations.

With state-of-the-art tools from Officevibe, you can measure your employee engagement levels accurately and quickly. We’ll provide the data and insights you need to keep everyone on your team involved and actively contributing to your business goals. 

Improving employee engagement is an ongoing effort

Building employee engagement doesn't happen overnight. It's an ongoing initiative that will take time and continual intentionality.

If you want to boost employee engagement, you must be willing to collaborate with your team. Here are some excellent ways to do this:

Share survey feedback results. Once you collect anonymous feedback from a survey, feel free to share the results. Let people know what's going on, general attitudes and opinions, and ways to improve certain areas.

Conduct follow-up meetings. Meetings help connect employees and encourage managers to interact – but that's just the beginning. You'll want to conduct follow-up meetings to continue the conversation, increase employee engagement, and encourage middle management to get involved. Asking the right one-on-one meeting questions can help you dive deeper into what matters most to your people.

Set goals on aspects that need improvement. Don't just point out the failures and demand that team members do better. Set goals to help people know what they can do to improve engagement and where. Clear action steps will build a sense of ownership and a team-player mindset moving forward.

Communicate progress. Many employees feel disconnected simply because they're out of the loop. You can fix this easily by communicating progress and keeping everyone in the know. Company goals shouldn't be for your eyes only – let others know about them, too, so you can work together and celebrate milestones.

Establish regular review sessions. Asking for feedback and sending out surveys isn't a one-and-done activity. You must continue monitoring and reviewing to make sure you're on the right track as a business.

If you don't know where to begin, consider these 25 pulse survey questions to boost every employee engagement metric.

This may seem like a tall task at first, but it gets easier once you get into it. After a while, scheduling one-on-one meetings and sending out regular progress reports will become a habit. You'll also start to see the fruits of your labor.

Improve employee engagement with a software solution

In today's competitive business environment, encouraging employee engagement is more important than ever. You'll want to create a company culture that focuses on things like collaboration, rewards for hard work, and an emphasis on long-term goals. It will take time and effort, but with the right tools, you can connect with new employees and maintain a healthy, productive work environment.

Do you want to know how to improve employee engagement and practical, effective ways to do it? Learn more about Officevibe's employee engagement solution that has the tools and knowledge to equip managers and help them engage employees.