Do Employee Engagement Initiatives Really Work? What’s the payoff?

We asked human resources executives and managers in over 200 organizations around the world about the return on investment from employee engagement initiatives and impact that employee engagement has on the organization.

Download PDF Version of Infographic: The ROI of Employee Engagement

When asked: How would you describe the impact of employee engagement on your organization overall?

The overall response was, “POSITIVE.” Some open-ended comments were:

“Huge impact!”

“It’s a work in progress and we have a long way to go still.”

“Very positive to our cultural goals.”

“It is vital to providing quality care and fulfilling our mission in the community, so we take it very seriously.”

When asked: Does your organization measure its return on investment (ROI) for employee engagement programs?

We found that only 9% of companies measure the ROI of their employee engagement programs.

When asked: Which of the following metrics are compared to employee engagement scores in your company? Please check all that apply: Employee Retention, Performance Metrics, Customer Satisfaction, Profitability, Product/Service Quality, Other.

We learned that most companies compare employee engagement survey scores to retention numbers followed by other performance metrics.

When asked: In what ways have you seen a return on the organization’s investment in employee engagement?

We found that companies report higher satisfaction, retention, and performance as a result of their investment in employee engagement.

When asked: How strongly do you agree with the following statement: “Our program(s) to improve employee engagement has (have) given us the ROI/results we hoped for.

Only 27% of companies believe that their programs to improve employee engagement have produced the ROI they hoped for.

The ROI from employee engagement most frequently reported is employee retention. Overall, the research shows that most companies aren’t doing a very good job at tracking ROI from their employee engagement initiatives, but most report positive benefits and outcomes, especially retention.

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