Measuring employee engagement means focusing initially on the distinction between a satisfied and an engaged employee. Even though an employee may be generally satisfied with their job and the organization, there is no guarantee that they will commit more or work harder as a result.
For sure, it is an indicator but not necessarily a guarantee. Some well-known engagement surveys define specific criteria that are recognized as being drivers of engagement and provide questions to employees against those criteria.
At an informal level, as leader you can measure engagement levels on a continuous basis simply by monitoring ongoing performance; there will always be indicators to support you in this. For example, if you measure productivity in your field of business, then a drop in that indicator could have something to do with engagement levels; so too might a fall in customer satisfaction levels or an increase in employee turnover.
To develop a more formal approach, and to align with the 12 drivers of engagement (Q87), develop your own employee engagement survey around these drivers to measure employee satisfaction and engagement levels at the same time.
Taking three of the drivers – leadership, culture and composition – as an example, this might work as follows:
Staying with the drivers, next develop a questionnaire along the following lines, using a simple rating scale: 1 = Disagree Strongly; 2 = Disagree Somewhat; 3 = Neither Agree nor Disagree; 4 = Agree Somewhat; 5= Agree Strongly. In the sample below, there are three statements for each of the three sample drivers.
The first two in each section relate to the outcomes described above and measure satisfaction levels, while the third italicized statement measures whether that satisfaction is translated in higher engagement levels.
Although only a sample approach, this shows how the 12 drivers of engagement can be used as the basis for an effective survey to measure both employee satisfaction and engagement levels.
