Successful companies link employee engagement to staff retention

What is the difference between someone who is engaged or not?  And why is it important?  I read a great definition on a Canadian forum:

Engaged employees are not just committed. They are "enthused" and "in gear" using their talents and discretionary effort to make a difference in their employer's quest for sustainable business success.

Moreover, engaged employees stay for what they give (they like their work) whilst disengaged employees stay for what they get (favourable job conditions, growth opportunities, and job security).

Although North America has one of the highest proportions of engaged employees worldwide, a recent survey showed that fewer than 1 in 3 employees (29%) are fully engaged and 19% are actually disengaged.

The survey's findings show that the two most common factors influencing job satisfaction at every level are more opportunities to use talents and career development and training.

And what are the most common reasons for leaving a company?

Bad managers are cited as the third most common reason for leaving (trailing lack of career growth and dislike of the actual work).  And only about half (53%) of employees trust their organisation's senior leaders! Yet these are the people who set the tone for organisational culture and need to inspire high-performance and commitment.

So how do successful companies approach engagement?

In my experience, they have an effective employee retention strategy based on an understanding of engagement. The US survey showed a clear correlation between engagement and retention, with 85% of engaged employees indicating that they plan to stay with their employer through 2008.

So if you feel your staff aren't as positive about working for you as they could be, consider the following:

• Maximise your managers input – they are the main connection in the employee engagement equation
• Align, align, align - clarify strategy and organisational goals
• Re-define career goals – employees need line-of-sight on their future to be truly engaged
• Pay attention to culture – culture and employee motivation go hand-in-hand
• Survey less, act more - don't rely purely on an employee engagement survey to drive your strategy

Recrion works with companies to make employee engagement and retention an ongoing priority, not a once-a-year event.  By using a multi-faceted approach to address problem areas, Recrion has improved engagement scores in organisations UK wide.

For more information call one of our Retention Specialists on +44 1780 484910 or visit www.recrion.co.uk