Connection between Employee Engagement and Performance

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Do you know that 69% of employees work even harder if they are appreciated by their employers? Sounds interesting right? Does your employer also appreciate your work, and does it help to enhance your performance? It is called employee engagement, and it drastically improves the performance of any employee. 

Well, not many people understand the concept of engagement and how it helps in the enhancement of performance in employees. Many researches show how the idea of employee engagement helps in at least 50% increased efficiency of employees. So, without wasting any time, let’s learn more about employee engagement. 

What is Employee Engagement?

In simple terms, employee engagement refers to the mental willingness of an employee towards his work, targets, and other official commitments. It depends on the level of enthusiasm, commitment or emotional investment of an employee towards his official work. Engaged employees mean they are not just meagerly satisfied with their work, but also passionate about getting things done. They are passionate about their work and motivated to contribute to the company's success. 

Benefits of High Employee Engagement

According to Wallable, Companies with the highest rates of employee engagement are 21% more profitable. And this is only one of the many benefits of employee engagement. Here are some more benefits discussed: 

• Increased Productivity: High employee engagement results in increased productivity in the overall business. 
• Lower Absentees: Since it is the employee himself enjoying the work, he is less likely to be absent from the work. 
• Increased Sale: Higher productivity has shown increased sales by up to 20%. This can make or break a company. 
• Improved Collaboration: Since the employees are well connected to the workplace, and their fellow teammates, you’ll see a higher level of collaboration. 

What is Employee Performance and How Is It Measured?

Employee performance refers to the scale of how well an employee performs his part of the work and other official responsibilities. Remember how you used to get your performance results in your school on how well you performed that semester? This is the same thing, but of employees and how they perform their official work.

There are different criteria through which you can calculate the performance of an employee. It includes, how much work he does, how well he does that work, how much he adheres to the deadlines, and whether he is meeting or exceeding the job expectations.

The Link Between Employee Engagement and Performance

There’s a direct link between employee engagement and increased performance. This is not just a theoretical concept but is also backed by much research. Engaged employees are more motivated to perform well because they don't merely do the work half-heartedly, but feel a sense of ownership and pride in their work. And since every employee is highly motivated to get the work done, this directly results in higher productivity and better quality work. There are many types of research which study the positive impact of employee engagement on their performance. Here are some of them discussed: 

• According to Gallup, organisations with higher employee engagement experience 21% higher profitability as compared to other low-engaged businesses. 
• A study by TimeChamp found that the productivity of an engaged employee is 17% more productive as compared to their disengaged counterpart. 

These researches clearly show how engaged employees are more productive and efficient as compared to others. 

How Does Employee Engagement Enhance Performance?

Now that we know that engagement is directly proportional to performance, let’s see how it works. We can simply understand that when a person is determined to do an act, he is more likely to produce a better result. And the same concept is applicable to employees as well. Here's how an engaged employee is more likely to produce better results, and hence enhance performance. 

• Improved motivation and productivity: Once the employees are engaged, they tend to work hard and aim at achieving their targets. It is also through their active participation in their various responsibilities that we see continuous and escalating productivity levels. 
• Increased levels of innovation and creativity: Engaged employees have a high inclination for creative thinking and proposing novel ideas. They are emotionally attached to the organisation thereby constantly looking for new methods to add value to the company.
• Improved Customer Service: Customer needs are often better met by engaged employees than non-engaged ones because they have a tendency to be attentive and responsive.
• Lower absenteeism and turnover rates: There is less absenteeism and turnover where there is more involvement going on among employees; they are more likely to show up for work and stay on track with their particular duties.

How to Improve Employee Engagement?

Now that we know the relationship between employee engagement and increased productivity, let's move on to the strategies to improve employee engagement. Though many employers want to improve their performance not all of them know how to improve employee engagement. Here are some of the methods to improve employee engagement in your office, , similar to how accounting automation software improves financial accuracy and efficiency for businesses. 

• Effective Communication: Healthy communication boosts confidence and ensures that employees are given importance and priority, it also helps them be kept on the same page with the company's objectives. 
• Recognition and Reward: As told at the starting of this article, 69% of employees work even harder if they are appreciated by their employers. If you recognize their work and reward them, this will in turn motivate them to work even harder. 
• Professional Development Opportunities: Regularly keeping and organising professional improvement opportunities will help them to get aligned with the organisation's ideas. 
• Encouraging Work-Life Balance: Promoting a work-life balance among your employees will prevent burnout and frequent absentees. 

How to Measure Employee Engagement and Performance?

After performing all the above-mentioned activities, how will you know that it is working? There are some tools that help to measure or get an idea about employee engagement. One such tool is Gallup's Q12 survey. It provides a set of 12 questions, which you need to present to your employees. It will also provide how they are doing in terms of quality and what is missing or needed which are not met by the employees. 

But this is not as simple as it seems. There are some challenges. Since engagement and performance are subjective matters, it is difficult to understand them in a short span of time. Secondly, engagement is a qualitative measure, but performance can usually be quantified. This becomes a challenge to measure these two in similar terms.

To overcome this issue, companies usually carry out surveys frequently to get insights into employees' minds. This helps them to identify the pattern in different quarters or months, and based on such data, take the next course of action. Many companies seek the expertise of an SEO services to ensure their online presence supports their employee engagement strategies effectively.

FAQ

Are employee engagement and performance in the workplace related?

Yes, many researches show that employee engagement is directly proportional to performance in the workplace. Refer to the article for more details. 

Why is performance management important in employee engagement?

Keeping employees engaged is not adequate, you have to manage their performance to analyse how it is helping the company grow. Conducting regular surveys helps you manage the performance of your employees. 

Conclusion

That’s all you need to know about employee engagement and performance. I hope the relationship between these two concepts is now clear to you. If you are an employer seeking to improve your employees' performance, look no further and try to engage your employees. Our HR software provides innovative solutions to enhance employee engagement and streamline performance management, helping your company grow and flourish. Do let us know the outputs in the comment section below.

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