The crucial link between active listening and employee engagement

U.S. employees are becoming increasingly disengaged. 

Just 32% of U.S. employees are now engaged, with 18% actively disengaged. And although there's no one solution to reversing this downward trend, a fundamental starting point is to actively listen to your people. Implementing tools and techniques to do this will give your employees a voice which, in turn, informs the company's direction. Such an approach not only makes employees feel empowered, but it places them at the very heart of your business. Here's why a people-centric strategy based on active listening is so intrinsically linked to your employee engagement. 

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Gallup research shows that after a decade of U.S. employee engagement levels increasing year-on-year, 2021 saw the first drop in engagement and this trend continued into 2022. Why is this such an issue? Highly engaged employees are more likely to outperform their peers by as much as 147%, and so disengagement is actually having a direct impact on your bottom-line.

So, what are the root causes of the growing disenchantment among the U.S workforce? Gallup has identified some common elements that appear to be impacting engagement levels. These include poor clarity of expectations; disconnection to purpose; a lack of growth opportunities; too few opportunities for employees to do what they do best; and not feeling cared about at work. So, with this information to hand, how can you, as a HR leader, make improvements?

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Simply put, you can't and shouldn't! Understanding the large-scale reasons why U.S. employees might be disengaged is all very well, however, you can't possibly make changes based on assumptions alone. You need to know exactly what your particular employees are thinking and feeling about their job, their managers, their colleagues and the company as a whole. And this means asking them using an active listening approach.

Active listening means proactively finding out what your people think and feel about aspects of their role and the organisation. Active listening can be as simple as setting up regular one-to-ones and team meetings, however listening tools that enable the large-scale collation and dissection of employee feedback — such as employee engagement surveys — should also form part of your listening toolkit. 

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Engagement surveys can provide invaluable insights about employees' differing views, behaviors, and attitudes when done well, and this means capturing real-time feedback by surveying your employees at least every six months. However, the surveys must be focused and to the point, asking about a particular topic or aspect of the employee journey in just a few simple questions, such as the quality of the onboarding process or the learning and development opportunities.

This approach is very different to the traditional annual employee survey, which organizations drag out every year, repeating the same questions survey after survey, year after year. The succinct and simple nature of modern employee engagement surveys and questioning means the insights can be collated and analysed quickly and ultimately, are more actionable and link directly to your organizational goals and key measures.

Of course, gathering insights without acting upon them is pointless, and can even prove damaging as employees will feel that they are not listened to and that their views have no value. It's therefore important that the learning from the surveys are actioned quickly in order to make real, positive changes. The insights may reveal a range of issues that need addressing, as well as elements that are done well and should be replicated. For example, there might be a high percentage of employees who don't feel valued and appreciated by their managers, as well as a group of employees who feel excluded and ignored.

With valuable new information on hand, the organization can put together action plans, which may include changes in behavior around recognition and a new diversity and inclusion strategy. 

Ultimately, an active listening strategy can prove a powerful means to elevate engagement levels, creating a thriving organizational culture that employees want to be a part of.