The Impact of Employee Engagement and Recognition on Financial Performance

We all know unengaged employees when we see them. They may take excessive breaks, do the bare minimum of their responsibilities, and generally lack enthusiasm for their work and for the company. Employees like this are not happy or excited about the company and can be a financial drain. On the opposite end of the spectrum, engaged employees go the extra mile for their companies and can significantly increase the profitability of the business.

According to Gallup, “employee engagement is strongly connected to business outcomes essential to an organization’s financial success, such as productivity, profitability and customer engagement. Engaged employees support the innovation, growth and revenue that their companies need.” Here are some of the ways engaged employees contribute to financial performance.

Engaged employees put forth extra effort. When people are invested and involved in their work, they naturally want to work harder than employees who don’t care about their jobs. They’ll willingly stay a bit late or skip a break or two in order to see a big project through to the finish, and they’ll also be ready to take on additional responsibility when needed.

Engaged employees reduce turnover and training expenses. Employees who are personally invested in their work are extremely less likely to be looking for other opportunities. By cutting down on turnover, you lose much fewer hours to new employee training and accuracy checking. Your seasoned employees continue to grow and increase their skills as well, rather than spending time showing new people the ropes.

Engaged employees waste less time. People who are uninterested in their jobs spend the least time possible performing their tasks. But those who are passionate about what they do want to be doing it. They’ll waste less time on office gossip, organizing their desks and checking social media, and more time devoting their brain power to the job at hand.

Engaged employees create innovative solutions. Engrossed employees are much more likely to be open to thinking outside the box and coming up with creative ideas to solve problems or improve processes. They are up to the challenge and are on the same page with you for improving the business and cutting costs. One of these engaged employees may think up the next big thing for your company.

Take Advantage of the Correlation between Employee Engagement and Business Performance

One simple and concrete way to encourage engagement at your company is to begin an employee recognition program. By acknowledging when your employees do a great job, and even by noticing and observing service anniversaries, you can create an environment in which people feel appreciated and invested in the company. Contact Terryberry to discuss options for your company – whether it’s peer-to-peer programs, an online platform, creating custom awards jewelry or swag, we can help get your company’s recognition program up and running.