The Importance of Employee Engagement

In today’s knowledge-based economy, employees are a company’s largest asset. They are responsible for converting ideas and actions into revenue for the company and differentiation against competitors. The return on investment from employees is often dependent on a company’s culture. It’s widely believed that the better culture a company has, the more productive an employee will be which will result in higher output from that employee. Google is famous for introducing incredible employee benefits. While part of this is done to aid in competitive recruiting, it’s equally as important in ensuring their employees are productive. Nap pods may be a bit goofy, but at the end of the day, they allow employees to be more rested and perform better.

Now, while many may believe in the benefits of employee engagement, the negatives of ignoring employee culture are astonishing. On average, employers will spend about 6 to 9 months of an employee’s salary to find, hire and train a replacement. For mid-level and senior managers, the total cost of replacing an employee is upwards of 150% of their salary. As millennials continue to take over the workforce, job turnover will only increase. Only 50% of millennial workers expect to still be working at the same company a year from now.

Ignoring employee culture and engagement is no longer an option. Without a defined strategy to build and foster a strong workforce, a company cannot look forward to growth and change. While building an engaged workforce is dependent on a number of different factors including salary, career training, and effective management, we believe one of the most important drivers is the overall purpose and mission of the company. Having a well-defined corporate social impact strategy helps employees feel engaged in the work they’re doing and the overall impact of that work. According to Babson University, businesses with a commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) could see productivity increases by 13% and turnover reductions by up to 50%.Everyone wants to be proud of the company they work for and CSR strategies can drive that feeling. According to Kenexa Research, 86% of employees satisfied with their employer’s CSR commitment had high levels of engagement. Not only can these CSR strategies drive real change within an organization, but they can also drive meaningful change in the world.

At WeHero, we understand this connection and believe there are a number of ways to craft a custom Social Impact or CSR strategy or leverage an existing strategy to drive employee engagement. Our approach is always to survey the entire organization, from new hires to the C-Suite, to better understand the current perception of the company’s mission. Depending on the biggest areas for improvement after building and defining the overall strategy, we leverage employee volunteering and skills-based volunteering to ensure each and every employee understands the importance of the new mission. Whether it’s having the C-Suite get their hands dirty through 3-hour case studies with crucial non-profit partners or having all new hires spend a day of their onboarding training supporting the most relevant cause, everyone needs to be involved to ensure the entire workforce is engaged.Our mission is to build custom strategies that allow companies to most successfully fulfill their purpose and improve profit and revenue growth. Curious about how we can support employee engagement? Reach out to us!

‍Sources:

‍https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CostofTurnover.pdf

‍https://www.satellinstitute.org/study-reveals-companies-engaged-in-csr-can-reduce-staff-turnover-rates-by-50/

‍https://cmoe.com/blog/statistics-reveal-price-of-high-employee-turnover-infographic/