How to measure employee engagement

[David Neilly]

I have been reviewing the literature on employee engagement and have not found any information about how the researchers...Towers Perrin, Gallup, Blessing White...actually measure and analyze engagement.

For example, Towers Perrin uses their 9 questions to measure engagement and then they put respondents into three "buckets"- Highly engaged, moderately engaged and disengaged. Does anyone know how the "buckets" are defined? For example, do they define highly engaged as scoring "Agree" or "Strongly Agree" on all 9 questions, or an average of 4 or better on a 5 point scale for the 9 questions?

I would appreciate any information that you can provide.

Many thanks,

Dave

[Jean Douglas, CMC]

Yes, Ted and I worked very closely together.He was the person who sparked my interest in working for Hewitt. He is a wonderful person, a great traveling companion - engagement work takes you on the road a lot and an incredible source of stories and information. And, I must add - an excellent dinner companion; he knows the best restaurants.

Say hello for me - Now that I am on my own, my travels have been extremely limited and I seldom get to Ontario (I'm in BC).

[David Neilly]

By the way, do you know how Hewitt measures engagement...are you able to share?

[Robert Morris]

David:

I think this source will be helpful to you:

http://was7.hewitt.com/bestemployers/canada/best.htm

Best regards, Bob

[Stephen J. Gill]

Jean-
The paper by Faye Schmidt is a terrific resource on definitions and measures of engagement. Thanks for posting the link.
-Steve

[Dean Reed]

Dave,
I'm going through this process myself and came to the same conclusion that information is somewhat scattered or just missing when it comes to measurement. I'm going to try a modified version of the Q12 and then create our own meausurement system by basically taking the Likert scale that you mentioned and then making even cut-off points.

Along with this though, making sure to analyze the answers separately to really get a good feel of the data and not just take the number at its face value. I would be interested in hearing what you come up with so please keep us posted.

Regards,

Dean

[Jean Douglas, CMC]

Hi Dean,
In creating your scale, I suggest that you first consider what "engagement" means to you and how you would define it - in terminology a lay-person would understand. Then build the items from that definition. With the exception of the Q12, the majority of researchers have a set of items that measure the degree to which the employee speaks positively about the organization (e.g., would recommend the place to a friend, is proud of the business, etc.), does more than the least amount required (the strive or extra effort component of engagement) and whether the employee wants to remain working for this employer (vs loving what they do but would readily work elsewhere).

The Q12, while popular (great marketing and a rational explanation of their approach) uses a measure of the entire workplace experience (in the 12 items) vs a set of items targeting engagement that can then be used in an analysis to determine which workplace factors (e.g., supervision, leadership, pay, etc.) have a strong impact on engagement.

I don't mind sharing with you, my set of engagement questions, since you are a fellow member of the network. It is based on my research experience and a review of current academic research. I will continue to fine-tune the items as my data base increases (and to be in-line with the ongoing academic research - there is a lot more academic research available, finally). My items are (the order does not matter):
1. I think [organization name] is an excellent employer.
2. I like working here.
3. I get a sense of personal satisfaction from my job.
4. I like what I do in my job.
5. I am proud of the way we do business.
6. I care about the future of [organization name].
7. I would recommend [organization name] to a friend as a good place to work.
8. I am personally motivated to help [organization name] be successful.
9. When I talk about working for [organization name], I do so with pride.

If you wish to reduce the number of items, you could eliminate 1 or 2, 3 or 4, and 5 or 9.
I am testing the engagement items to see which are the strongest items. I had to develop my own measure so that I did not violate the copyright of my former employers (Mercer and Hewitt).

You can use an even or an odd scale - make sure you are consistent throughout the survey.
For example:
5-point:
Strongly Agree, Slightly Agree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Slightly Disagree, Strongly Disagree.
4-point:
Strongly Agree, Slightly Agree, Slightly Disagree, Strongly Disagree.
6-point:
Strongly Agree, Agree, Slightly Agree, Slightly Disagree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree.
7-point:
Strongly Agree, Agree, Slightly Agree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Slightly Disagree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree.

The most common (and scientifically robust) way to establish an engagement score is to calculate an average score on the items. So, for example, if you have 6 engagement items and are using the 6-point scale where Strongly Disagree=1, and Strongly Agree = 6; the highest average score would be 6. A reasonable cut-off score to create an "engaged", "almost engaged" and not engaged" could be:
Engaged has a 4.5 or greater average score
Almost engaged has a score that is less than 4.5, but greater than 2.5
Not engaged has a score that is less than or equal to 2.5

If you want to raise the bar, then increase the cut-off average for engaged.

The engagement score is then the percentage of employees who had a score of 4.5 or greater.

The engagement score can then be used in higher level statistical analyses - predictive analyses - to determine the factors that can most strongly (positively or negatively) affect engagement.

I will leave this note at this point as I could easily go on for pages. If you do use my items, I would love it if you would reference me in the report (you don't need to do so on the survey as it would clutter it up too much). However, that is up to you. I would rather everyone use good measures than worry about getting credit.

If you need to know more about calculating reliability scores and predictive analyses, please let me know.

[Robert Morris]

Jean:

Thank you for providing a wealth of information and insights. Earlier today, I shared what follows with another group. Perhaps at least some of the material will be relevant to the issues that you, Dean,and David have already raised.

* * * * *

I have just read and will soon review David Croston's Employee Engagement: The "People First" Approach to Building a Business. It is well-worth checking out.

Also, re drivers of employee engagement, here are links to some excellent material:

http://www.govleaders.org/gallup_article.htm

http://www.isrinsight.com/Solutions/engagement.aspx

http://jobfunctions.bnet.com/abstract.aspx?&kw=employee+engagem...

http://jobfunctions.bnet.com/abstract.aspx?&kw=employee+engagem...

http://jobfunctions.bnet.com/abstract.aspx?&kw=employee+engagem...

I hope the information now provided is of some assistance.

Best regards, Bob

[David Neilly]

You folks are a gold mine of insight and assistance. I really appreciate all of your help and will gladly post any advances that I make or information that I find.

Best wishes,

Dave

[David Neilly]

Hi Jean,

I would like to know more about calculating reliability scores and predictive analysis.

Thanks,

Dave

[Jean Douglas, CMC]

Do you want me to post information to this forum, create a new forum or take it offline (email)?
Jean

[John Kmiec]

Like David, I would also like to know more about calculating reliability scores and predictive analysis. More specifically, I'd like to know how you and your organization approach these things during your studies - I'm going to have to do this type of research for my dissertation, so I would really like to hear from a professional like yourself.

Thanks, Jean

[e-mail]

[David Neilly]

It looks like John is also interested. For me, whatever approach is easiest for you.

Dave