Social Media and Employee Engagement

Organizations are increasingly getting focused on employee engagement, which is simply a measure of an employee’s enthusiasm, energy and commitment to the organization and to the quality of his or her work. It has been referred to as an emotional state that measures employees’ attachment to their organization, willingness to perform, and sense of ownership for the process and outcomes for their work.

It should seem obvious that positive employee engagement results in key performance metrics: better quality, improved productivity, and higher employee retention. Commitment to the organization’s mission and its outcomes improves 

Employee engagement is about morale. If employees feel positively about their environment, if they feel like their work is valued and valuable, and they are committed to positive outcomes, then the morale in the workplace will be significantly improved.

And when morale is strong in an organization, personal interactions are more positive and constructive. Not only does this lead to better and more fruitful relationships among employees, it will also lead to greatly improved customer interactions. And these positive external occasions will contribute to a positive brand for the organization, which will in turn bolster the sense of mission and worth internally. A virtuous cycle indeed. 

Yet, according to a recent Gallup survey, fewer than a third of American workers are committed and enthusiastic about their work:

“Seventy-one percent of American workers are "not engaged" or "actively disengaged" in their work, meaning they are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and are less likely to be productive.”

According to a major study by IBM, most HR executives struggle to effectively connect their workforce:

“For example, 78 percent of the HR leaders we interviewed do not think their organizations are effective at fostering collaboration and social networking. Yet only 21 percent have recently increased the amount they invest in the tools required to promote collaboration and networking.

Another study revealed that 98% of HR respondents say they believe that social networking is an important tool for recruiting, retaining and managing employees. If you take the numbers at face value, the gap between the 98% believers and the 21% taking action seems like an opportunity for breakthroughs in employee engagement using social media.

In spite of the zealous enthusiasm of the IT sector, technology alone cannot address the problem of engagement, but companies are increasingly seeing social media as an expedient means to get employees engaged.

In an article called Top 15 Ways to Engage Your Workforce, Workforce.com has laid out 15 suggested areas to engage employees. Internal social technologies can indirectly affect most of these, but have a direct effect on several, which are shown in bold in the list below.

1. Onboarding experience 
2. Offer clear lines of sight or alignment
3. Feedback/communication
4. Feeling of community
5. Opportunities for job advancement
6. Commitment to developing the employee
7. Treating professionals like professionals
8. Compensation, including non-monetary rewards
9. Genuine investment in people
10. Shared purpose
11. Relationship with peers 
12. Leadership
13. Career development
14. Empowerment
15. Company image

Now compare these keys to employee empowerment with some of the results from a survey conducted by Jive Software of more than 500 people from 350 companies on their experience of using social software:

• 39% increase in employee connectedness
• 25% decrease in onboarding time
• 29% increase in executive communication.
• 34% decrease in time to find information and experts
• 27% reduction in email sent
• 26% decrease in time needed for meetings
• 27% decrease in duplicated tasks
• 32% increase in ideas generated within the company
• 32% decrease in time to find answers
• 37% increase in project collaboration and productivity
• 30% increase in employee satisfaction
• 24% decrease in need for travel

Certainly seems that Social Networks are a great way to drive employee engagement, improve organizational culture, identity and productivity.