The cost of disengagement at work is not just a morale problem.
Low employee engagement is estimated to cost the UK around PS257 billion per year, which is equivalent to 11% of its GDP.
There’s a huge problem and UK businesses need to reconsider their approach to employee engagement and feedback.
Since years, annual employee surveys are a staple in the workplace. They give companies a snapshot of their employees’ feelings and help to inform engagement strategies.
In 2025, it will no longer be enough to rely on one survey per year in order to build a happy and healthy workforce.
Annual surveys can create a lot of data, and it takes a long time to take action.
After HR teams gather, analyse, present results, and gain approval for the next steps, several weeks or even months have passed, leaving employees feeling disappointed by their organization’s lack action.
Kieran Innes is the CEO of employee engagement platform STRIDE. He says that this delay in taking action results in dissatisfaction in the workplace and a lack of trust.
The distance between asking for feedback from employees and communicating what is being done about it, Kieran explained, can be crucial. It can drive engagement or disengagement.
Annual surveys do not always provide the complete picture.
Recency bias is a phenomenon that occurs when employees have a good or bad week at the time a survey arrives in their inbox.
What is the result?
The companies make important decisions based not on how the employees feel at any given time but rather on what they think in a particular moment.
Stribe suggests that HR teams, in order to implement a successful surveying strategy, should conduct their annual surveys along with more frequent surveys during the year.
Pulse surveys provide real-time insight into employee engagement and wellbeing. They are more frequent and focused, allowing for quicker detection of problems.
The pulse surveys are easier to administer and quicker to complete by employees because they usually contain only 5 to 10 questions.
Stribe CEO, Michael Stribe, says that organisations can capture more data by running both annual and pulse surveys at the same time.
Kieran innes says, “Let the results of your annual survey be a guide to your goals and benchmarks for the future. Let your pulse surveys drive you towards these goals.”
The gathering of feedback is just half the battle. What matters most is how and when businesses respond.
If they share their opinions and nothing happens, employees will lose confidence.
Businesses that are successful in increasing employee engagement are those that communicate with employees openly and act quickly.
Kieran says that the most forward-thinking companies use a combination of anonymous Feedback and encourage open conversations in order to create a constant loop of communication. Kieran says that employee engagement and a positive culture can be built by daily interactions, and long-term commitments made by the leadership.
The original version of this article Building engaged workplaces appeared first on HR News.
