Employee Engagement

At SHRM Talent Conference 2024 I asked the room this question: Who here has ever heard of one manager getting fired for a low employee engagement survey score? Please raise your hand if you can think of even just one. The only sound was the 400-plus attendees turning in their seats to see if anyone raised their hands. There were no hands up.

Those who experience their work as a calling are most likely to feel a deep alignment between their vocation and who they are as a person. However, they are also most likely to act faster to leave than other employees when they have mistrust of management because they bring high degrees of expectations that escalates frustration quicker when stifled by a poor boss. What to do?

As important as engagement is, what do you think provides the best data? A one-day snapshot survey or a regularly scheduled one-on-one manager to employee conversation. To truly know how our employees feel about their jobs every day, we know conducting Stay Interviews are the best way to ask, listen, probe, and respond to individual problems and needs. That’s how to truly gauge employee engagement and improve employee retention.

Here’s what’s true: Higher engagement leads to lower turnover. But does conducting more surveys lead to higher employee engagement? Today I’m diving deeper into my research from one of my books to address the question.

If improving employee engagement and retention is top of your priority list, consider changing just one Employee/Manager meeting to a Stay Interview where employees talk about their needs, not their performance.