The benefits of engaged employees are widely known. Having an engaged employee is beneficial to your organisation in many ways; we outline six in this article.
Recently, I wrote about the 10 secrets to employee happiness. Why is it important that we have happy employees in our organisation? It’s about employee engagement. The happier an employee is, the likelihood of their level of engagement being higher as well. There are many benefits of engaged employees, and we outline six of them here.
So, why should a manager care if an employee is engaged? We know from studies that an engaged employee is likely to;
- positively influence other employees
- be more productive and profitable
- provide better customer service
- be more enthusiastic about their work
- be comfortable staying in their role
- offer positive suggestions for the organisation
Let’s delve deeper than these points. However, before we do, let’s understand what we mean by employee engagement and an engaged employee. The wikipedia entry for employee engagement summarises these well;
Employee engagement is a property of the relationship between an organisation and its employees. An engaged employee is one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organisation’s reputation and interests.
Looking at the benefits and above description it’s obvious that we want employees that are enthusiastic and positive, as they would be nice to have as colleagues. However, past the ‘soft benefits’ for you as a manager, and your organisation, there are plenty of other benefits to having an engaged workforce.
Our top six benefits of engaged employees, in no particular order, are…
Engaged employees are more productive
Engaged employees are often the ones with the highest engagement level, and most productive team members you have. They are typically committed to ‘going the extra mile’ to ensure they are the doing the best they can.
Statistics show that engaged employees tend to take less days off too, which is great boost for productivity. According to research performed by the Hay Group ‘the offices with engaged employees were as much as 43% more productive’.
This has to be one of the key benefits of engaged employees – the more productive a team member is, the more likely that the entire team will notice, and follow suit to lift productivity, which is an obvious huge win for the team and the business.
Engaged employees have higher retention rates
Retaining your best employees ensures the company keeps a great culture, and it costs less – studies show that it costs 40% of an employees annual salary to replace them, let alone the hassle and inconvenience of having to train up a new employee.
When companies put an emphasis on ensuring they gain as many benefits of engaged employees as possible, there is a much higher chance that their employees will feel safe, satisfied, and less likely to leave an organisation.
As engaged employees are more invested in the success of the company they also become more loyal.
Engaged employees are innovative
It is a well known fact that engaged employees perform at a higher level and bring passion and interest to their job, which often leads to innovation in the workplace.
As highly engaged employees have a sense of ownership in their organisations, they tend to constantly think of innovative methods to improve themselves and their teams.
There’s a key reason why innovative companies like Apple, Microsoft and Netflix spend so much time and budget on ensuring they engage their team members across the globe. The resulting innovation means they stay at the forefront of their respective industries.
Image: Stock Snap
Engaged employees offer better customer service
Engaged employees are happier and therefore typically provide better service to their colleagues and customers, as a result of being positive and proactive.
Ensuring great customer service is a huge win for the company, ensuring happy customers into the future.
Read our article on how employee engagement affects customer service to learn more.
Engaged employees are more profitable
A study by Wyatt Watson found that companies that have highly engaged employees produce 26% higher revenue per employee. This is expected, given that highly engaged employees are committed to ensuring success for their team.
The more engaged your employees are the more efficient and productive they become, and that certainly can’t be a bad thing!
A study by Wyatt Watson found that companies that have highly engaged employees produce 26% higher revenue per employee.
Engaged employees are more satisfied
Research indicates that if employees are engaged with the company their job satisfaction levels increase. Satisfied employees play a key role in your organisation, as ambassadors of the company. They encourage other high performing individuals to join your company, and they are walking ambassadors for your business.
In Summary
We’ve outlined six powerful benefits of engaged employees, as a way to highlight the importance of getting all of your team on-board. How do you feel your employee engagement levels are? What do you proactively do to raise these in your organisation?
These activities you put into place don’t need to be a cost centre either; there are a number of ways to boost employee engagement levels, which actually save you money.
