Is your company's approach to measuring employee engagement helping you understand your own sentiment towards work?
Can you name what’s creating your sense of unease, identify areas of improvement, and develop an actionable plan to change the course of your career?
Do you trust that your survey answers in that employee engagement survey will be anonymous and that you won’t face retaliation if you provide negative feedback about your underperforming manager?
If you're leading a team, is your performance management system providing you with the data and insights you need to support you in being a more effective leader?
Having surveyed more than 100 leaders from mid-level managers to executives over the last six months across fintech, adtech, advertising, consumer tech, and publishing, I’ve found the answer is “no” to each of those questions.
But this challenge facing my clients isn’t anecdotal. In fact, Gallup’s global study on employee well being highlights that 80% of employees worldwide are either disengaged or miserable at work.
People are struggling to identify their feelings, determine the environmental factors affecting their performance, and build trusting relationships with their managers. Most of my clients don't believe their feedback will be received with a “growth mindset” or lead to any action. Often, the leader they work for is part of the problem.
Leaders, on the other hand, are struggling to support their teams through the volatility of today's work environment due to old school approaches and outdated systems.
How are Companies Measuring your Engagement Level?
One of the challenges with measuring employee sentiment is the methodology that the survey companies use. While there are multiple approaches and tools that companies use to measure employee sentiment, I’ll focus on BambooHR and Gallup which are among the most frequently cited sources in the media and who's measurement tools are used amongst companies.
BambooHR | Gallup | |
Measures | BambooHR measures happiness, engagement, loyalty, and satisfaction levels using eNPS (or employee net promoter score). | Gallup’s approach focuses on worker engagement which quantifies well-being at work. |
Categorization System | Engaged, Disengaged, Miserable | |
Methodology | Employees are asked on a scale from 1 to 10, how likely are you to refer your company as a place to work? Then a follow-up question to explain their answer. The follow-up question depends on the score they give. | Employees are asked how strongly they agree with a set of 12 questions, also known as the Q12. |
Definitions | Promoters are highly engaged and satisfied employees who enthusiastically recommend your organization as a great place to work. They positively impact the organization's image and growth, motivated by a culture that empowers them to deliver top-tier work. Passives are employees who are content but not fully engaged. They may not actively recommend the organization and are open to external job offers. However, they don't typically speak negatively about the company.y. Detractors are unlikely to recommend their organization, indicating dissatisfaction. This makes them more likely to leave, so leaders need to take immediate action to address their concerns. | Thriving (Or Engaged) People who are thriving at work are enthusiastic and passionate about what they do every day. They enjoy working with their colleagues, have development opportunities, and feel cared about as a person. Indifferent (Not Engaged) People who are indifferent at work are psychologically detached from their jobs - they put in the time without energy or passion. Miserable (Actively Disengaged) Miserable Employees are resentful that their needs are not being met and represent the nadir of work unhappiness. |
Why Doesn’t BambooHR's Approach Work for you?
I find BambooHR's methodology problematic for both employees and executive leadership. The labeling system creates an adversarial environment within the organization. Who wants to be identified or labeled a detractor if they provide a negative score? While we would like to believe that a leader will be open-minded to receiving a negative score in respect to their leadership ability, many leaders rationalize the data and will retaliate against their team. With this in mind, you may be inclined not to answer the survey with 100% honesty.
Gallup's Q12
Gallup’s approach to measuring employee well-being is the preferred approach for me. They utilize the Q12, which they’ve narrowed down as the 12 most important questions to measure well-being at work. Many of the questions are focused on the clarity of expectations of the individual's role, recognition of doing good work, and designing a role to leverage one’s strengths.
When a worker’s emotional needs are met, they are in a job where they feel recognized, that allows for their development, and that plays to their strengths. The pinnacle of meeting a worker’s emotional needs is when they feel cared about.
- Jon Clifton, Gallup
You may be an employee who is underperforming because of your manager, but still feel positive about your company. In this case, it is your manager who needs coaching (and to potentially move out of the organization) or for the company to move you into another part of the organization.
Insights from Gallup’s Research
Gallup's survey results from Blind Spot highlight the challenges that people are facing in the workplace. Blind Spot shares research from Gallup’s 15-year study on well-being, revealing the chasm in workplace dynamics, with 20% of the global workforce thriving, 62% are indifferent, and 18% are miserable.
With that said, the biggest area for you to focus on is your manager. According to Gallup, 70% of what determines a worker’s emotional attachment to their job depends on their manager. If you hate your job, it is almost always because of your boss.
A Better Approach: Action Steps you can Take to Measure your Well-Being
In my coaching practice, clients tend to struggle in articulating what is going well with their employer and areas that can be improved.
I’ve found Gallup’s methodology to be a foundational step to help people develop self-awareness about which cohort they land in and to identify aspects of their work that they enjoy, environmental factors that are impacting their performance, and development goals that they can work towards.
Whether you're feeling engaged, disengaged, or miserable, I suggest performing a quarterly or bi-annual reflective exercise to assess your well-being. Utilizing the Q12 , as well as additional questions breaking down your company into categories using a Likert scale (Strongly agree 5 and Strongly Disagree 1), answer how strongly you agree with the following statements:
Company Financials:
My company is one of the top 5 in its industry
My company has a strong balance sheet
My company has a strong financial forecast
Company Culture:
My company is a great place to work
My team has a “we” environment (The work environment is collaborative and people believe the larger mission of the company is greater than each individual)
Role Design:
My role leverages my strengths
I have autonomy in how I do my job
I’m in a role that is helping me build marketable skills, knowledge, and/or leadership skills that are aligned with my career goals
Leadership Quality:
My manager is a great coach, understands my strengths, and how to leverage them
My manager cares about me as a person
Compensation:
My compensation is at the 75th percentile or higher relative to the market
I have clarity on what it will take for me to be promoted to the next level
Assessing your company using a framework like this one will help you narrow in on areas for improvement, create a foundation to discuss a preferred role design and career goals with your manager, and/or support networking conversations you have with potential employers.
Knowing yourself, your career goals, and the type of work environment you will perform best in is the first step in making informed decisions about your career.
Conversely, if you're in a leadership role managing a team, using these questions to measure engagement can be the first step in developing awareness of your effectiveness. It has the potential to create the two way communication channel necessary for a trusting, highly-engaged, and creative team dynamic you've been seeking.
If you’d like to take the next step and get a tailored, in-depth action plan on how to use this information to secure your dream job, book a free consultation today.