The future of employee engagement KPIs lies in prioritizing happiness and well-being in the workplace. Traditional measures of engagement are being replaced by a more holistic approach that focuses on creating a positive and fulfilling work experience for employees.
As employers everywhere seek to understand their workplaces better, they look at different measures like ‘engagement’ to do the job. At Friday Pulse, we’re adamant that engagement lacks the nuance required to understand the wellbeing and productivity needs of employees.
Here’s our take on the top employee engagement KPIs to tackle low morale, and why we believe that happiness should be the number one employee engagement metric on your list.
The future of employee engagement is likely to involve several key trends and shifts in the workplace, including; creating an inclusive, flexible, purpose-driven, and technology-enabled work environment that prioritizes employee well-being and personalization. Organizations that adapt to these trends and invest in fostering a positive employee experience are likely to attract, retain, and engage top talent in the evolving workplace landscape.
There are several employee engagement metrics that can help measure and improve employee engagement, and many different types of employee engagement software that provide this service off-the-shelf.
The top metrics we recommend tracking are:
Remember, metrics should be used in combination and customized to fit the specific needs and goals of your organization. It can be hard to know how to measure employee engagement, but it should all start with regularly measuring and analyzing the metrics you choose.
Based on 25 years of research, Friday Pulse’s Happiness KPI™ draws upon data insights from over 1,000 organizations to measure and improve happiness at work.
More importantly, it taps into the power of positive emotions that can create organizations with high levels of initiative, innovation, loyalty, productivity and creativity.
By asking “How are you feeling at work this week?” the Happiness KPI™ highlights how every team in the organization is performing.
The weekly happiness score — out of 100 — creates a powerful people metric helping to monitor and track well-being across the organization, and capture employees’ experience of work.
You can also create your own employee happiness survey by following our recommended steps.
Happiness is a concept with which everyone can relate. It’s a natural good/bad signal. When an organization focuses on happiness, it builds trust with their employees, signaling that they are interested in the individual, not just what they can produce.
In the question “How happy were you at work this week?” happiness replaces the vagueness of engagement with something everyone can answer clearly. It also grounds the data in the most natural and relatable time period - the working week - making it statistically robust.
Asking about happiness on a weekly basis also gives employees a voice, more so than a yearly or monthly survey can provide.
It provides an opportunity to speak up and provide honest answers. And, the weekly data is not only easy to gather, it’s also incredibly easy to understand and act upon. Good leaders review the data every week, allowing them to identify the opportunities to take meaningful action. This makes employees feel heard and builds trust.
Change in any organization is always challenging. However, starting at the team level creates a real engine for positive change.
The data from Friday Pulse’s Happiness KPI™ provides support to leaders to unlock the potential of their teams. To learn more, download our Happiness KPI whitepaper today.
As a pioneer in workplace happiness, Friday Pulse has also created a framework called The Five Ways to Happiness at Work. Based on 25 years of original research, this in-depth quarterly data complements the weekly Happiness KPI™ and demystifies company cultures by profiling what organizations need to focus on each quarter.
And, we want to help your organization become a better place. For more information on how Friday Pulse can help, please reach out today.
Friday Pulse’s Happiness KPI™ is a powerful measure and can be used alongside other ways of understanding and diagnosing low employee morale including:
Measure employees’ overall satisfaction with their work environment, culture, and opportunities for growth.
Conduct regular surveys to gather feedback on employee satisfaction levels. These surveys can include questions about job satisfaction, work-life balance, compensation, career development opportunities, management support, and overall engagement.
Determine the likelihood of employees recommending the organization as a place to work. This metric helps assess employee loyalty and advocacy. Similar to the Net Promoter Score used in customer satisfaction, eNPS measures how likely employees are to recommend their organization as a place to work. It provides an indication of their satisfaction and engagement levels.
Track the rate at which employees leave the organization. A high turnover rate can indicate low employee satisfaction and may require further investigation to identify underlying issues.
Calculate the percentage of employees who remain with the organization over a specific period. A higher retention rate indicates higher engagement and satisfaction.
Assess employees’ performance and productivity levels to identify any potential correlations with engagement levels. Higher engagement often leads to improved performance.
Monitor absenteeism rates and lateness as they can indicate disengagement or dissatisfaction among employees. These metrics can also be signs of impending burnout amongst staff and so should be treated with sensitivity.
Track the frequency and effectiveness of employee recognition and rewards programs. This can help assess how well the organization acknowledges and appreciates employee contributions. Also track instances of peer recognition and awards within the organization. Positive recognition and appreciation contribute to employee satisfaction and can be an indicator of a supportive work culture.
Measuring employee engagement involves gathering data and analyzing various factors that contribute to employee engagement consistently over time.
The key to creating a positive, productive culture is to stop talking about employee engagement and start talking about happiness. We use Experience Sampling, Cognitive Assessments and Episodal Measurement to measure people’s emotional experience at work. This can lead to improved team morale, greater resilience, more innovation and greater productivity than traditional employee engagement programmes.
If you are interested in learning more on how Friday Pulse can help your organization improve employee morale please contact our Relationships Manager, Megan, on megan@fridaypulse.com
Broaden your understanding of emotions in the workplace with more comprehensive articles on the science of happiness.
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