5 Ways to Measure Employee Engagement Beyond Surveys 

Employee engagement surveys pros and cons

Many internal communicators consider surveys a top method for gathering employee engagement metrics—and for good reason.

Why? Because they’re relatively easy and cheap to do. Communication professionals can also ask tailored questions that address specific problems and opportunities facing their company. Ultimately, a survey can turn a myriad of attitudes and viewpoints within an organization into clear, actionable data.

The feedback tool, however, isn’t without limitations. Employees might conceal the truth by providing responses they think their manager wants to hear, rather than stating their honest opinion. Too many internal polls can become a burden, leading to fatigue, careless answers, and information overload among the workforce. Traditional surveys also aren’t designed to ask follow-up questions, meaning there’s little to no opportunity to get to the core of an issue.

Internal communicators looking to paint a picture of workplace morale within their organization, therefore, should consider a multi-pronged approach. Relying on one method alone for capturing the voice of the employee isn’t likely to produce accurate results.

What is “voice of the employee”?

In short, voice of the employee is a general understanding of what workers are thinking, feeling, and experiencing on the job. It’s insight into company culture through the ideas, concerns, and perspectives of staff members who encounter it (or the lack of it) on a day-to-day basis.

Having a robust process in place to capture voice of the employee allows internal communicators to fix problems, boost morale, improve retention rates, and develop a sense of belonging, among other benefits. Business leaders can make smarter decisions when they know what’s really happening within their organization.

5 ways to measure employee engagement other than surveys

Since a strong dataset requires a variety of sources, below are five employee engagement ideas that go beyond the survey:

(can numbers 1-5 be H3s, but smaller font, to help break up this section? Understood that the paragraph text will be below on separate line but MS won’t let me do that here)

1. One-on-one discussions:

A straightforward way to learn more about the challenges employees face is to ask them directly. Book a room, put a meeting on the calendar, and have a candid conversation with a colleague. This approach, while somewhat time-consuming, can yield a degree of quality information most others can’t. Just make sure employees feel comfortable enough to share what’s on their mind without fear of judgement or retaliation.

2. Digital footprints:

Sometimes insights come not from what people say, but from what they do. In this sense, another option involves assessing various employee engagement activities, such as participation in meetings or logging into a new software program. A spike in late-night messages, for example, might indicate an employee is suffering from poor management or a heavy workload.

3. Employee-to-employee interactions:

Sometimes workers are cautious to bring up a problem with their manager, yet eager to discuss it with each other on Slack. When used with employee privacy in mind, digital listening tools can shine a light on issues as they happen, rather than having to wait for the next scheduled survey, which could be months away. Frequent communication among employees on various platforms can also be a sign of healthy workforce engagement.

4. Anonymous channels:

In certain situations, there’s no better way for employees to submit feedback than through an anonymous channel that separates the message from the messenger. This format is ideal for sensitive or controversial subject matter. Workers can offer tough criticism or, if necessary, be as blunt as they need to encourage the leadership team to open an investigation.

5. Manager feedback:

Another tactic for gauging workforce morale is asking managers to share what they’re seeing and hearing. Do their teams seem focused and content, or is employee engagement waning due to a new policy or unaddressed issue? Internal communicators could either meet with managers on a quarterly basis or send them specific questions to talk through with each team member.

How employee engagement drives growth

Although some of these strategies can require more time and resources than a standard survey, they’re worth exploring.

At the end of the day, internal communicators who have a holistic system to measure employee engagement rates are in a better position to improve them, since they’re basing their decisions on a stronger, more reliable dataset.

And that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Employees who feel supported and appreciated, after all, are more motivated. And a workforce that’s enthusiastic about work is more likely to be more productive, too, helping to bolster a company’s bottom line.