They say that leaders are only as good as their teams. Well, in the same tone, an organisation is only as good as its employee engagement. The cornerstone of a prosperous workplace, employee engagement is the driving force behind productivity, innovation, and a significant slice of employee satisfaction.
What Is Employee Engagement and Why Is It So Important?
Often engagement can be confused with satisfaction, well-being, or happiness. While all are important and can contribute holistically to team members, employee engagement is a pillar of organisational success.
Employee engagement is a team member’s inherent sense of connection to their work, team members, and the organisation as a whole. It’s an indicator of their intention to stay long-term and the level of enthusiasm they have towards progressing the organisation’s goals.
When it comes to employee engagement, meaningful work will almost always have a greater impact than the inclusion of a wellness package. Genuine and authentic recognition of employees’ contributions and achievements also tend to go further than a well-stocked tea room. Of course, you can have all of these, but workday perks won’t keep employees engaged in the same way that true purpose and recognition will. You want to keep your finger on the pulse of which workplace initiatives inspire the most engagement for your employees.
In a professional setting, much like a personal setting, people ultimately want to feel empathised with and understood. If you want to work towards significant shifts in team culture, employee retention, and employee engagement, then you need to start with this very notion: understanding your organisation’s most important asset, its people, and what matters to them.
Increased Employee Engagement Is the Finish Line – But Where Is the Starting Line?
To find the answers, you need to ask the right questions. The most effective way to find out the tone, opinion, and perspective of your employees is to conduct an employee engagement survey. And the most effective way to then improve employee engagement is to act based on the findings of the survey.
Employee engagement surveys, such as our Pathways Australia survey, give employees a chance to answer honestly, candidly, and anonymously. Survey questions focus on aspects like management, work fulfilment, team building and communication, and the organisation as a whole. This is the first step in employees feeling heard.
Not only is this data collected to show the leadership team the common threads amongst their employees or where their teams may be feeling disengaged, but it also compares the organisation to the sector average across hundreds of other organisations.
Insight Is Where it Starts and Action Is Where the Difference Is Made
After the survey is conducted, Pathways Australia will provide your organisation with key insights into the data and help you create action plans with measurable goals for the future. We also share the survey’s insights with your team, creating an opportunity for honest conversations about the results – including what the leadership team has learned from the process.
With this accurate and relevant data, your leadership team can see areas with the most impact. There’s no wasting time with vague, indirect, or ineffective questions. With an employee engagement survey, leadership can act in ways that are truly beneficial to their employees.
This experience results in having engaged teams who genuinely want to progress the organisation forward. Why? Because they feel understood and their work provides meaning, there are processes in place for them to feel equipped, and they have the autonomy to play their part in the bigger picture.
Learn More With Pathways Australia
Pathways Australia has been a leading provider of employee engagement and satisfaction surveys to the community services sector for over 20 years. With our experience working with not-for-profit (NFP) organisations and in conjunction with leaders, HR, People and Culture Managers, and organisational psychologists, our employee engagement survey has been designed specifically for organisations like yours.
Discover how Pathways Australia can assist you in independently and accurately measuring employee engagement and satisfaction with our tailored survey services. To get started, speak with one of our specialists – get in touch today.
