A Point of View: High Employee Engagement and DEI Go Hand in Hand

Employee engagement (the extent to which an employee is mentally and emotionally invested in their work and the organization; not to be confused with employee satisfaction or happiness) is a hot topic and for good reason. It’s been proven that high levels of employee engagement benefit both individuals and organizations. Benefits of high engagement include but are not limited to: higher levels of employee satisfaction, better employee physical and mental health, increased retention and lower turnover, improved productivity, and reduction in absenteeism. Leaders who want to elevate their organizations must focus not only on achieving the mission or other business metrics, but also on creating and maintaining a culture of high engagement. Organizations that put Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the forefront and incorporate DEI principles into every aspect of business are likely to have higher engagement.   

Before you can address any possible engagement challenges or DEI deficiencies at your organization, you need to establish a baseline by going straight to the source — your employees. An effective way to achieve this is by conducting an employee engagement survey. Engagement surveys often fail because the questions that are asked do not provide actionable data. However, sometimes they fail because there is actionable data, but the leaders choose not to act on it. A meaningful employee engagement survey is one that contains questions that can measure engagement versus satisfaction or happiness, and that can be used to track year-over-year trends. To truly provide value, an engagement survey should include DEI-related questions in addition to job- and organization-related questions. It’s best for the survey to be anonymous so that the participation rate will be high enough for the results to be meaningful and actionable. Conducting these types of surveys periodically is important because employers should never assume what employees are thinking or feeling about their jobs or the organization.  

Creating a culture of high engagement does not stop at conducting an employee engagement survey. After you’ve asked the questions and received the responses, it’s time to celebrate the successes and develop an action plan to address any deficiencies. If possible, it’s best to use a third-party; however, the most important factor is to gain an unbiased interpretation of the results which will help ensure the development of an action plan that aligns with the desired culture and strategic goals of the organization. It is important to not measure employee engagement in a bubble but within the context of not only learning how your employees think and feel but also how you want them to think and feel (i.e., the organizational culture you wish to manifest). No matter the level of engagement your survey reveals, whether it’s 5% or 85%, one survey does not a highly engaged staff make. Neither does one post-survey “fix.” It must be an ongoing effort to monitor and manage. Evaluate and engage. Analyze and act. You get the idea. High engagement doesn’t happen by accident.  

As important as it is to have highly engaged employees, engagement is only one slice of the employee experience pie. Creating an employee experience people feel good about is the ultimate goal. The employee experience consists of every interaction and touchpoint an organization has with an individual, including how they feel about working there. The key components of employee experience are culture, technology, and physical space. Every aspect of the employee experience fits into one of these categories and must be examined on a regular basis. Just like with overall engagement, surveys are just one tool for measuring how employees view an organization’s DEI efforts and outcomes. Still, a survey, or other type of assessment, is a great start.  

Whether people have a positive or negative employee experience with your organization is and will continue to be critical not only to business success but to individual success. Although it is only one component of the overall experience, establishing a culture that fosters high engagement is an important step in the right direction.