How Employee Engagement Leads to Maximising Workforce Production

Your guards and cleaners keep your business competitive and productive. It’s time to invest in your company’s relationship with them.

Regardless of what industry you’re in, the way you manage your people is probably the critical determination of an organisation’s survival and success. This is especially critical when your workforce is distributed across many sites, as is the case for the cleaning and security industries.

Developing positive relationships through consistent engagement between management and workforce not only creates a friendlier, more positive working environment, but it also goes a long way in securing the sustainability of a company. According to workplace training and development organization, Dale Carnegie, Companies with engaged employees outperform those without by 202%.

Increased Productivity

Understanding your workforce and supporting them in achieving a schedule of work that fits around their needs and skills goes a long way, both in terms of developing a good relationship with your cleaners or guards, and by increasing productivity within your organisation. For example, a cleaner with a list of tasks assigned to them that they like doing is more likely to be performing at the best of their ability, producing desired results for your business. Global management firm, Hay Group, conducted a survey that revealed an engaged workforce is 40% more productive than one that is not engaged. When the engagement level among employees increases, it increases their productivity, which in turn improves the financial standing of the organisation. Various research from across the world has demonstrated the connection between effective staff/management relationships and overall financial results. And according to the Workplace Research Foundation, highly engaged employees are 38% more likely to have above-average productivity.

Improved Customer Satisfaction

You know firsthand, the more you enjoy doing something, the more you want to do it. This is no different when it comes to work. If a guard or cleaner loves their job, they will naturally go the extra mile to do that job to the best of their ability, providing excellent customer service to your clients as they do so. Studies have shown the link between employee engagement and customer satisfaction. This means that when employees are satisfied, they happily serve customers, genuinely resolving all their queries and doubts. A happy employee is one of the most powerful business development tools you can have and a fantastic way to build long-term business relationships and develop a brand.

Lower Employee Turnover

When employees feel they are contributing to the success of a business and are respected for doing so, they will grow with your business. Guards and cleaners who are fully engaged with their jobs and the organisation as a whole, will not be on the look-out for employment opportunities elsewhere.

The two main reasons why employees look for alternatives are: They are not interested in doing what is assigned to them and they are not happy with the organisation. Quite simply, happy staff equals a happy business. Retaining staff through effective engagement decreases costs associated with finding new employees and training them from scratch. Estimates on these costs run as high as 150% of the employee’s annual salary. The cost is much less for lower-level positions, but is still significant enough to make retention a high priority for your business. Effective employee engagement takes away the need to spend excess time and money on training new guards and cleaners, enabling an organisation’s continued progress with its existing workforce without affecting the pace of business operations. According to Gallup, companies who promote employee engagement through regular employee feedback have turnover rates that are 14.9% lower than for those employees who receive no feedback.

Investing in employee engagement is a key business strategy. It keeps an organisation competitive, drives productivity and improves the bottom line — proving the business benefits of a happy and engaged workforce are not to be dismissed.