Does Employee Engagement delay staff attrition?

For me, to relate to this question, I think about my own career journey. I have left previous companies due to lack of growth in one role and bad leadership in another. Could that have been resolved for me to stay with the company? Yes! But I didn’t feel that I could communicate my issues, and so, I walked.

I say - ‘I didn’t feel I could communicate’ – let’s delve into that. It’s important to point out that we did receive ‘employee engagement surveys’, but when I didn’t have the trust and psychological safety, was I really going to put into an anonymous survey that I thought my manager was awful and I was spending evenings at home crying? Absolutely not! So, the lack of communication even in an engagement survey was closely linked to how engaged I felt in my role.

Key learning: Employee engagement surveys are rubbish!

There needs to be a more in depth and PERSONAL communication with staff about how they currently feel in important areas – such as leadership, remuneration, flexibility, growth opportunities, culture. By having personal conversations, you will get insight like you’ve never had before about individual’s motivations, ambitions and what is keeping them with you. Businesses need to move beyond the employee engagement survey and start building trust with their people. As part of my ‘Connect 4 Success’, I speak to a cross section of staff about their own personal career journeys, how the business supports this and how they truly feel about every aspect of being an ‘employee’.

When you know truly how staff feel and their opinions you can make strategic changes which will lead people to feel heard, give them a sense of belonging, they will respect the leaders, trusting that you have their best interests at heart.

This in turn, improves the overall company culture. It really does skyrocket, which means your employer brand improves, recruitment becomes easier and people are more attracted to your brand. Your people are the roots – they will do the work for you to attract others. Because when roots are nourished, leaves flourish.

So does employee engagement delay the inevitable?

I will let you decide, but the stats show that engaged organisations have up to 59% lower turnover. In my experience, when you get it right and keep it personal, people will want to stay and be a part of the amazing journey of the organisation.