Enterprises Challenged in Addressing Employee Engagement

New survey data shows that a majority of enterprises polled are committed to prioritizing employee engagement. The 2018 Employee Engagement Survey from StaffConnect asked C-level executives, HR, communications and other business professionals in North America and Europe about their methodologies, technologies, challenges and goals concerning employee communications and engagement in the enterprise. The survey found that most enterprises have a stated priority of wanting to improve their employees’ experience (EX) in 2018, with nearly 75 percent of organizations planning to implement specific initiatives to boost EX this year.

Interestingly, though, the study also revealed that the way many enterprises approach employee communication and engagement may actually impede engagement efforts. Top findings of the research include the fact that most enterprise organizations still rely primarily on legacy communications with limited reach when communicating with staff, such as email (nearly 80 percent) and newsletters (nearly 50 percent).

Another surprising finding from the StaffConnect survey data is that a significant percentage (more than a quarter of respondents) aren’t even measuring engagement data — or, if they are, they’re using old-school measuring tools like paper surveys (nearly 75 percent), employee suggestion schemes (nearly 40 percent) and reward programs (over 20 percent). Yet, these tools are not efficient in this role, especially when compared head-to-head against mobile technologies. 

While the majority of today’s enterprises value new and innovative technologies to help them create and maintain competitive advantage and are investing in them, many in HR, communications and even the C-suite remain rather behind in this arena. Mobile technologies and engagement platforms are much better equipped to simplify ongoing management and analysis of employee insights via surveys and data, while effectively measuring interaction and capturing feedback on corporate initiatives.

Since many workers are non-desk employees, the outcome of these technology choices around communication and engagement tools means a growing percentage of an organization’s workforce is frequently excluded and out of the loop. An enterprise’s non-desk workforce may not even receive the information necessary to do their jobs. This can quickly lower engagement and lead to a panoply of problems, from decreased productivity and customer service, to unhappy customers and lower profits.

StaffConnect was not surprised to see that, while employee engagement was recognized as important, most organizations do not possess the right tools and/or methodologies to measure it. It is necessary to effectively measure engagement — across the entire organization — and track the results over time to improve it. The tools used can make all the difference in whether or not a company’s commitment to EX and engagement actually produces results.  

Source for charts: 2018 StaffConnect Survey of C-level executives, HR, Communications and other business professionals in North America and Europe regarding employee communications and engagement in the enterprise, including methodologies, technologies, challenges and goals

Geraldine Osman, vice president of marketing with StaffConnect, has more than 20 years’ global marketing leadership experience in the technology sector, transforming companies like Barracuda Networks and Nexsan into recognized, worldwide brands and growing early-stage startups into market-leading, successful companies.

StaffConnect is the leading provider of mobile employee engagement solutions. The StaffConnect platform transforms the employee experience by enabling enterprises to connect, communicate and engage their entire workforce, especially remote, non-desk employees. The customer-branded mobile app gives employees “a voice” — with access to company and user-generated content to increase loyalty and productivity. The cloud-hosted platform empowers employers to target that content, with analytics, to deepen engagement with everyone. From offices in London and San Francisco, StaffConnect’s platform and domain expertise support large businesses around the world to inspire their workforces to deliver better performance, improved customer experiences and greater shareholder value.