7 Employee Engagement Metrics You Must Track at Your Organization

Employee engagement refers to the connection or relationship that employees have with an organization. Low employee engagement can result in low productivity and lower revenue. It also results in lower employee satisfaction. 

Employee engagement is crucial for an improved employee experience, a productive workforce, low employee turnover rates, and overall employee well-being. That's why organizations are beginning to pay more attention to employee engagement levels. One way to monitor employee engagement is by tracking several metrics. 

This article will cover seven employee engagement metrics you should track at your organization. Let’s dive in:

1. Productivity and Workload Balance

Productivity and workload balance are some of the most important employee engagement metrics to monitor. There is a strong relationship between employee engagement and productivity. The percentage of employees that can deliver output consistently and efficiently needs to be measured. This can show you how engaged your team members are.

You can measure employee productivity in different ways, depending on the type of business and goals. For example, you can measure productivity by the objectives reached or profit. You can also use quantitative measurements, like how many calls or products an employee processes in a week or month. Engaged employees can offer higher levels of productivity than disengaged employees. 

Apart from productivity, the workload balance is another metric that can show the levels of employee engagement. One of the things that can affect employee satisfaction negatively is overwork. According to a study, 77% of employees have experienced burnout at least once in their current jobs. Team members who are overworked or at risk of being overloaded are likely to have less job satisfaction. 

The workload data offers insight into work distribution. It should identify overworked employees and those who do minimal work. 

Also, the work-life balance should be kept in check. There should be a healthy balance between the personal and professional lives of the employees in your organization. When there is a disruption, it could affect employee engagement and retention.

2. Employee Health Index

The employee health index is another factor to consider when measuring the employee engagement rate in your organization. The employee health index evaluates fatigue, burnout, and the physical and mental health of the current employees in an organization. 

The general well-being of individual employees is critical to having an engaged workforce. This is why it is crucial to have frequent check-ins to measure the well-being of your employees. An assessment will point out the gaps between employee well-being and the efforts taken by the organization to support it. 

For example, investing in virtual assistants may help to reduce the workload of overworked employees. Automation tools can also reduce workload and boost employee health index.

Ask work-related and non-work-related questions to ensure each employee receives the support needed to be productive at work. Employee surveys can help identify the percentage of employees facing high stress and anxiety at work. 

Questions such as “Are you comfortable with the number of tasks assigned per day?” or “How would you rate the workload assigned to your team?” can be helpful here. 

Check out the top reasons for burnout at the workplace in the image below.

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What does it mean if more of your employees are reporting these issues? Well, chances are you have a poor employee health index. That could also mean you’re about to have a disengaged workforce. Something needs to be rectified.

You should measure how satisfied your employees are with the workload and their general well-being at the workplace. Your organization can formulate an action plan based on employee feedback. You can provide resources such as wellness programs to create a happier workplace. 

Improving overall employee health and welfare is vital in changing workplace culture.

3. Rewards and Recognition

This is another factor for monitoring the employee engagement rate at your organization. You must track if your employees are adequately rewarded. Aso, if they feel acknowledged for their work. Employee recognition results in improved employee engagement.

Confirm if there are effective employee recognition programs in place. This is even more critical for employees who have gone the extra mile and have contributed to meeting company goals. Workplace recognition will also help to track productivity and the percentage of engaged employees in your organization. 

Employees who feel adequately compensated for their efforts will be motivated to put in extra effort in the future. Employees who are frequently recognized for their efforts will also feel valued by the organization. The markers of employee recognition include retention rate, employee loyalty, and motivation. 

To track this, hand out questionnaires to individual employees. Ask them how satisfied they are with the existing employee recognition system. You can also ask them whether they found the recognition or rewards valuable. You can also ask them if they think they get recognized frequently enough. 

A positive score will indicate that your employees are happy with the level of workplace recognition. The results may also show how your employees would prefer to be recognized and how often they would like to be recognized. You can improve your rewards and employee recognition programs based on those results.

4. Employee NPS

NPS refers to Net Promoter Score. This metric is widely used across different organizations to track the levels of employee engagement. Employees with a high NPS score are generally considered engaged.

NPS is often measured through employee engagement surveys. Employees are asked questions like “On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend this company to a friend or company?” You can then categorize the responses into promoters, passives, and detractors. 

Promoters refer to employees who indicate that they are satisfied with the organization and are very likely to recommend the company. For example, on a scale of 1-10, employees who select 9 or 10 are promoters. Promoters are engaged employees. 

Passives refer to employees who are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the company. While they are not likely to recommend the company to a friend, they also won’t discredit the company. On a scale of 1-10, scores between 7 and 8 are passives. 

Here’s a Net Promoter Sample from Contact Monkey:

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On the other hand, detractors are employees who are unsatisfied or unhappy with the company.  Employees who give scores below 6 have poor employee satisfaction. NPS can be calculated as the percentage difference between promoters and detractors using this formula:
Employee Net Promoter Score = (Promoters – Detractors) / Total respondents. An NPS score above 50 is excellent. 

Tracking the NPS also allows you to follow up and find out why certain employees are unsatisfied. Through feedback, companies can devise methods to increase their employees' satisfaction levels.

5. Performance Review

Performance review is another employee engagement metric to track at your organization. Successful organizations are filled with highly engaged employees who perform their jobs well. Tracking performance reviews can give more insight into the level of employee satisfaction. Generally, performance metrics can be divided into four categories:

• Work quality metrics: This includes results such as NPS, number of errors, and general feedback.

• Work quantity metrics: This includes results such as the number of units produced. It could also be the number of conversions or sales.

• Work efficiency metrics: This balances the work quality and quantity metrics to measure efficiency. Progress tracking software, for example, can be used to track work efficiency.

• Organizational performance metrics:  This includes project results, revenue per employee, and the return on investment (ROI) on human capital.

Timely performance reviews will benefit both the employees and the organization. When you track how well employees perform, as well as the organizational performance metrics, it can help measure employee engagement. Check out this performance review template from Indeed.com:

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When employee engagement improves, it is likely to reflect on performance. Bad performance reviews may indicate employee disengagement.

6. Employee Retention Rate

Employee retention rate refers to an organization's ability to retain its employees over a period. The retention rate can be used in measuring employee engagement levels. Disengaged employees are more likely to leave the company for a better organization. 

A good retention rate benefits the company by reducing onboarding and training costs for new hires. In addition, when valuable employees leave an organization, it reflects on the productivity and sustainability of the workplace. A good retention rate means having long-term employees who are familiar with the internal processes and company values and goals. 

Employee retention rate can be calculated using this formula: 

Employee retention rate = (Total number of employees – Total number of employees who left) / Total number of employees x 100. 

Tracking the retention rate helps you know how to work on issues that can lead to employee turnover. The retention rate varies by industry and sector. However, every organization should strive to retain valuable employees for as long as possible. Generally, a retention rate of 90% is excellent for most companies. 

Listening to employee feedback makes it possible to improve employee engagement and retain engaged employees.

7. Employee Engagement Surveys

Employee engagement surveys are crucial in tracking the engagement levels of your employees. An engagement survey lets you know what employees feel about the organization. It provides an effective way of gathering employee feedback across every department in the organization. 

Regular employee engagement surveys provide an easy and comfortable medium for employees to express their thoughts and opinions about the workplace. An engagement survey should cover employee satisfaction, relationship with team members, personal growth, individual needs, and communication. 

The form below gives an example of an employee engagement survey:

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Conducting regular surveys means getting regular feedback from employees. The survey results can indicate the level of employee engagement at your organization. Based on the results, you can create an action plan for implementing changes that can improve employee engagement.

In Closing

Tracking employee engagement is important in every organization. The level of employee engagement at your organization has a huge impact on productivity, retention rate, and much more. 

Productivity and balanced workforce, employee health index, rewards and recognition, and employee NPS can help you measure employee engagement. Timely performance reviews, employee retention rates, and employee engagement surveys are also effective ways of measuring employee satisfaction. 

Tracking your engagement score isn’t enough. You should create action plans to improve employee engagement and resolve issues that can lead to disengagement.

Author Bio:

Mackenzie Lepretre is currently the Director of Operations at FreeUp Marketplace, a top-rated marketplace for businesses to find and connect with the best remote professionals. She has worked with freelancers and run freelance teams for 5+ years.