The Finance Behind High Employee Engagement

By : Dhruv Anand – AVP & Head Talent Management, Netmagic Solutions

In today’s times of intense career mobility and attrition, if an organization does not give its employees enough reasons to stay, or worse, gives them reasons to leave, employees are fairly likely to move to employers who will keep them happier. While employee engagement is quantified in various methods but very limited correlation to financial performance, Employee Engagement certainly has a huge impact on the finance of any organization or business. Employee engagement, and how it is handled could differ from company to company. While a lot of organizations want to see their employees content and satisfied, some top-tier companies strive hard to keep the enthusiasm of their workers alive.

How does employee engagement affect the company finances?

Even before entering into the workforce, prospective employees have a certain vision of the place they would like to work at. The atmosphere and treatment meted out to employees plays a significant role in attracting workers. All industries are experiencing a stronger need to prioritize their workplace culture in order to retain their best talent. A disengaged and disgruntled workforce can damage the culture. Financial drainage is also seen in the form of salaries and benefits given out to these employees. Such employees are more likely to leave the company making it necessary to find replacements. This is a triple blow to time, money and productivity of the management.

An engaged workforce, on the other hand, reduces financial drainage and positively impacts the business. There is a reason why top companies like Google and Facebook focus on non-cash rewards such as flexibility, work content and a comfortable office space with activity centres. Your environment acting as an engager and a good work environment is often fundamental for employees to work without too much stress, in turn increasing their productivity and thus financial revenue.

Retaining your best people through financial benefits and compensations

In addition to the base salary, it is important to show your employees that there are other monetary benefits and rewards for them in the organization. Smart employers are aware that keeping a high quality employee comes with a high compensation and benefit package, which is worth every penny due to the superior value delivered. Financial benefits sweeten the employment contract with surprises workers wouldn’t generally expect.

It is also critical to ensure proper communication with your employees. While financial benefits are important, a homely and comfortable work environment along with recognition goes a long way in helping retain your best workers. Employees often talk about their holiday bonuses or follow their stocks closely because they have stock options. This kind of compensation also gives the workers a stronger sense of satisfaction when the company succeeds.

The role of financial literacy and financial wellness

Economic and monetary issues have become very critical for today’s employers. Millennials are spending as much time as they can at the workspace in order to pay their bills and debts for even the most basic utilities. This increasing amount of stress often ends up hampering their productivity and lowers engagement inspite of best efforts from employer. With this mounting stress and uncertainty, organizations are now playing an active role in easing the financial situations of their employees through a variety of possibilities, sometimes through the forms of rewards. This could be through food vouchers and coupons, sponsored trips with family inorder to destress during the weekend, or even movie tickets.

These factors have gone a long way in motivating employees, easing their situation and ultimately retaining them. Organizations have realised that helping their workers in turn boosts their revenue, thus making it a win-win situation.