What is Employee Engagement and how do you measure it?

[@jesmith9975]

Defining EE is impossible since it isn't a thing. The definition changes to suit the speaker. Measuring employee engagement falls into the same trap. A great example would be Gallup's 12 questions and almost all of Gallup's statements on employee engagement. They never cite examples of anyone fixing EE to the extent that business metrics were impacted. "Engagement leads to high profits." More likely, high profits drive engagement. The best way to look at the EE/EX industry is that it lacks success stories. The tools have grown exponentially, billion has been invested, and the needle has stayed the same. How long can this industry continue to exist without fixing anything? As long as the industry remains focused on HR, the problem will persist. HR has almost no ability to FORCE change on disinterested leadership. CHRO's compensation is not tied to EE because CEOs know they have little impact on engagement. The experts need to connect their fees to the business impact they deliver. Absent any indications that EE/EX can be improved, it's all snake oil.

[@hughtonks]

EE: cause or effect? Good question. And as you say, it's impossible to define (whether or not it's a thing), and that's why we (Thymometrics) don't claim to be able to measure it. What you can measure, though, is employees' views on various topics, and you can measure changes in those views. A major objective of HR departments is to reduce churn and attrition. Employees don't resign because some employee engagement index is bigger than average in their departments, they resign because they are unhappy about the things that matter to them. Start by giving employees a better way of expressing these views .