Gallup published an overview of their latest Employee Engagement survey results in the article, “In New Workplace, U.S. Employee Engagement Stagnates.”1 They highlighted 3 items:
“In 2023, 33% of employees were engaged
Not engaged or actively disengaged employees cause about $1.9 trillion in lost productivity
The percentage of actively disengaged workers has declined to 16% in 2023.”1
Even though they found a slight increase in engaged employees over the year before, I still find it unsettling that only 33% of employees are engaged at their organization. I’ll pause right here to remind you of how Gallup defines employee engagement,
“The involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace.”2
So, imagine having 67% of your workforce not involved or enthusiastic about their work and workplace…that’s what these results imply. What are some of the reasons employees aren’t engaged? According to Gallup, “in 2023, employees in the U.S. continued to feel more detached from their employers, with less clear expectations, lower levels of satisfaction with their organization, and less connection to its mission or purpose, than they did four years ago. They are also less likely to feel someone at work cares about them as a person.”1 Some of these elements come from organizations not clearly communicating, training, and adjusting to the new workplace of exclusively remote or hybrid workforces. Other causes of these detachments are the implications of employee turnover and restructuring (since the pandemic) that have landed managers with additional job responsibilities, among other things.
The article has many great insights that I encourage you to peruse and challenge yourself on what you can control and do better on. Also, as you may know, Badeau Consulting, LLC is an employee engagement and leadership organization who uncomplicates leading humans so that we can inspire confidence back into your team. By tapping into their authentic human needs and leadership potential, we create space for innovation and growth. We do this through designing and implementing a system that fosters and protects a strong culture where employees are heard and understood from leadership down. In doing so, individual team members can gain confidence to bravely introduce innovative ideas and grow the company.
As we partner with organizations on employee engagement initiatives, it’s important that we don’t overcomplicate things; life is complicated enough! We need to get back to the basics of what our human workforces need. There are 5 needs every organization should consider:
Every employee wants to feel heard, understood, connected, appreciated, and fulfilled in their workplace.
Heard and Understood –
FYI - I tend to put these two needs together.
Question for you - what do these needs mean to you?
For me, this means:
Someone listens and understands
People ask questions to make sure they get it
Someone knows where I stand on things
My opinion counts
If you took 1 step to meet an employee’s need to be heard and understood, I strongly encourage you to exercise the emotional intelligence (EQ) leadership skill of empathy.
Empathy is about understanding, recognizing/appreciating, and articulating in your own words that person’s thoughts/feelings/beliefs/opinions/etc.
It’s about listening to understand vs. listening to reply.
For more tips, see my previous publications that dive into empathy.
Connected –
Question for you - what does this need mean to you?
For me, this means:
I feel connected to the bigger picture / the team / the organization
I have a connection to mission, vision, values, and purpose
I am connected to larger world / community
I know how my goals fit in with the team and organization
I know my expectations
I feel part of something
I understand the business / how it works (business acumen)
I have relationships with others, even friends / best friends at work
If you took 1 step to meet an employee’s need to be connected, I strongly encourage you to make sure they understand how they fit in to the bigger picture.
Employees want to know that the work they do matters.
Appreciated –
Question for you - what does this need mean to you?
For me, this means:
I am consistently being thanked / recognized
I received feedback – in moment and continuous (both positive and developmental)
I feel valued
I’m given the right tools to do my job – my needs are appreciated
My progress is communicated to me
If you took 1 step to meet an employee’s need to be appreciated, I strongly encourage you to give them a piece of STAR feedback.
Feedback that is direct, specific, timely, and genuine makes employees feel like they are appreciated and you care.
They aren’t just receiving a generic “Thank you” or “Good job.”
And by the way, STAR stands for ST-Situation/Task, A-Action, R-Result – want more information, reach out as I have coaching and training for this!
Fulfilled –
Question for you - what does this need mean to you?
For me, this means:
I get to focus on what motivates me
I focus on what makes me happy
I get to focus on my strengths – do what I do best everyday
I have opportunities to learn and grow
Career development is encouraged
I have work life integration (my definition; every human is different)
I have lower stress and higher well-being/happiness and optimism
I have multiple stress tolerance techniques
If you took 1 step to meet an employee’s need to be fulfilled, I strongly encourage you to ask them what drives them/makes them happy.
When you know this, you are better able to support them in their journey by matching roles and responsibilities, projects, and developmental opportunities to their strengths and motivations.
Employee engagement is the core of the employee experience and Gallup has found positive business outcomes associated with increases in employee engagement; outcomes such as increases in profitability and customer loyalty and decreases in absenteeism, safety incidents, and turnover, among others. Undoubtedly, every organization should prioritize executing their employee engagement strategy – if you or your organization needs help, that’s what I do, so please reach out!
So, my question to you – what is one thing you will do right now to address your and/or your employee’s needs?
BONUS - To assess where you and your organization are in your employee engagement culture journey, download my “Culture Pulse: Employee Engagement Questionnaire” here: https://www.badeauconsulting.com/culturepulseeequestionnaire
Are you ready to dig into emotional intelligence, employee engagement, and leadership work? I am a People Success Strategist who uncomplicates leading humans so that we can inspire confidence back into your team. By tapping into their authentic human leadership potential, we create space for innovation and growth.
We do this through designing and implementing a system that fosters and protects a strong culture where employees are heard and understood from leadership down. In doing so, individual team members can gain confidence to bravely introduce innovative ideas and grow the company.
If you are ready to get started, please reach out to chat: https://www.badeauconsulting.com/.
I look forward to providing monthly pulse points to help you stay up to date with how the workplace culture scene is evolving.
About Jaclyn T. Badeau, CPA, CGMA, MBA, EQ Certified
Jaclyn Badeau is the Founder and President of Badeau Consulting. She specializes in employee engagement initiatives that help companies inspire confidence back into their team for innovation and growth. Jaclyn’s background in cultivating high performing teams, delivering coaching and mentoring, serving as a global business risk advisor, and facilitating internal and external leadership training to a global workforce gives her the unique perspective of what employees need and what works. She is also a multi award recipient and passionate about sharing her expertise and knowledge in volunteer advisory and leadership positions roles for many associations and not-for-profits.
About Pulse Point
Pulse Point is a monthly blog to stay up to date with how the workplace culture scene is evolving.
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