How do you measure your business’ success? Employee Engagement is one of the most telling measurements. This is because engaged, passionate employees create engaged customers, resulting in increased sales and impacting other key performance indicators. Marketing guru Jay Abraham once said, “You are surrounded by simple, obvious solutions that can dramatically increase your income, power, influence and success. The problem is, you just don't see them.” Tapping into your engaged employees is one of those simple solutions. They have firsthand experience as to what is or is not working. And, when employees feel their opinions are valued, they are more likely to be engaged.
So, which companies are best at engaging their employees? Since organizations usually keep these scores private, we will look at a few ways to identify the "best in class." A clear correlation between customer engagement and employee engagement has been found; companies with high customer engagement rankings often also enjoy high employee engagement. For instance, Google, the Ritz-Carlton and Costco all won high ranks in our 2009 Most Engaged Customers Report. All three companies are also known for treating their employees well.
What are some of the hallmarks of companies with high employee engagement? Costco workers are more engaged than workers in other similar warehouse stores because they enjoy higher pay and better benefits. As stated in the 2009 MEC report, “These above industry average wages and benefits are cited as one of the reasons Costco has relatively low staff turnover. Longer tenured employees become more knowledgeable employees, which translate into a more positive experience for the customer.”
Rankings of the best companies to work for are another potential source of companies with highly engaged employees. Google consistently wins high spots in Fortune’s 100 Best Companies To Work, for instance. This year, Google took fourth place. The company that took first, NetApp, has a long-standing reputation for treating employees well; this is the sixth consecutive year that Fortune has honored NetApp as one of the best companies to work for. As the video here shows, NetApp offers a plethora of unusual perks at their headquarters campus in California.
Ultimately, however, communication is the most important component of healthy employee/employer relationships. As Dave Hitz, founder of NetApp points out, most people think of successful working experiences as those where "your boss understood you, and you understood what the goal was." Employee feedback mechanisms, such as surveys and focus groups, allow employers to understand how to create more appealing working environments--and see their ROI spike as a result of happier employees.
Learn more about how we can help your company with employee engagement by downloading the resource below.
~Monica Nolan, PeopleMetrics
Top photo by Neal Fowler.
Topic: Employee Experience
