Employee Engagement Benchmarks: Data, Score, Survey & Industry

If you're working on your employee engagement strategies, you also must focus on its benchmarks to measure and analyze its progress.

Yes, employee engagement benchmarks are pivotal in understanding how well your engagement initiatives compare to industry standards. They also help you identify areas for improvement.

Simply put, engagement benchmarks prevent stress from focusing on the wrong things and help you zero in on what truly matters.

So, this topic is definitely worth exploring. In this blog, we’ll cover the basics of employee engagement benchmarks, how to measure them, and how they can help your organization improve.

What is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement refers to an employee's emotional commitment to work and the workplace. It's often confused with happiness and satisfaction, but it goes beyond that.

It simply answers two very significant questions:

• How committed are your employees to their work and workplace?
• How well are your employees communicating and connecting?

The response you receive can pretty much sum up the level of employee engagement within your organization.

After learning the meaning of employee engagement, you may also be interested in how an engaged employee behaves.

An engaged employee is fully invested in their work. They believe in taking the initiative and going above and beyond their job role. Most of the time, engaged employees are not driven solely by paychecks or promotions. They do a great job because they receive a sense of fulfillment from their work.

Sooner or later, such commitment and drive will reflect positively on their performance and company growth.

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment to the organization and its goals.
~ Kevin Kruse

What are Employee Engagement Benchmarks?

Employee engagement benchmarks serve as a standard against which organizations can measure how their employee engagement initiatives perform compared to industry standards. It acts as a reference point.

Usually, the data is collected through employee surveys that measure various aspects of employee engagement. Then, the data is analyzed and transformed into meaningful metrics and benchmarks.

With the help of these benchmarks, organizations can identify their strengths and areas that require improvement.

Now that you know the meaning of employee engagement benchmarks, let’s take a closer look at the specific types of benchmarks you can use.

Types of Employee Engagement Benchmarks

There are several types of employee engagement benchmarks, each offering unique insights into the dynamics of employee engagement. But in this blog, we're going to list the key types only.

1. Global Benchmarks

Is your organization operating in multiple countries and diverse cultural backgrounds?

If yes, then the need of the hour for you is to know the global benchmarking.

Global benchmarks can help you compare your organization's employee engagement standards to those of other organizations worldwide. This is particularly useful if you want to assess global trends and check how your company is performing internationally.

You'll be interested to know that many reputable firms like Gallup, SHRM, Gartner conduct large-scale employee engagement surveys. These surveys provide insightful data across various industries and regions. You can either participate or buy access to these surveys. And compare your organization's results to it.

2. Industry Benchmarks

You can also do the same sector or industry analysis using industry benchmarks. Benchmarks like these assist you in measuring your employee engagement against other companies. But in the same industry or sector.

The challenges and opportunities in each industry are unique. So, industry-specific comparisons give a better overview of engagement levels. In fact, they can also help you assess whether your engagement initiatives are competitive.

3. Demographic Benchmarks

Simply implementing engagement strategies isn't enough. You've got to make sure your strategy resonates with and meets the needs of different demographic groups. And to do that, you need demographic benchmarks.

Demographic benchmarks involve comparing engagement across different groups within your organization. This can be based on age, gender, race, region, or even tenure.

The most impressive attribute of such a benchmark is that it can help you uncover disparities in how various groups experience in your workplace. Such discoveries and analyses can help you tailor your strategies better.

4. Internal or Departmental Benchmarks

Internal or departmental benchmarking can be a great way to delve deeper.

Using internal benchmarking, you can compare engagement levels within various departments and teams in your organization. What's more, you'll be able to identify the high-performing departments.

At the same time, spotlight teams that are under-performing and may need help.

5. Leadership Assessment Benchmarks

No employee engagement initiative succeeds without strong leadership.

Effective leaders drive change and shape workplace culture. Understanding how well leaders perform within your organization is crucial. Leadership assessment benchmarks provide a way to measure this performance.

These benchmarks evaluate a leader's skills in communication, decision-making, and conflict resolution, along with their emotional intelligence.

Most importantly, their ability to foster a culture of employee engagement is a key factor in their overall effectiveness.

6. Role-based Benchmarks

If you wish to measure employee engagement at different job levels, you can opt for role-based benchmarks. These are handy when you want to compare engagement across various roles within your organization.

Through role-based benchmarks, you can recognize job roles with high engagement levels. Simultaneously, spot roles with lower levels of engagement. Such in-depth analysis can help you implement more effective employee engagement strategies. And ensure that employees feel valued and appreciated regardless of their position.

Key Employee Engagement Metrics to Set Up Benchmarking

You've come a long way trying to understand the basics of employee engagement benchmarks. Now, it's time for you to know the key employee engagement metrics.

So, here they are:

1. Employee Recognition Levels

Gallup reveals that employees are four times as likely to be engaged at work if they strongly agree to receive the right amount of recognition for their efforts.

Employee recognition levels are hands-down one of the primary drivers of engagement. They reflect how your employees feel about your organization.

But to know how they're feeling, you've got to keep track of recognition levels. You can also gauge how frequently and effectively your employees are recognized and rewarded for their contributions.

The plus point of this metric is that you can compare your recognition program with industry standards. And identify areas where your organization is lagging.

2. Employee Satisfaction

As the name suggests, employee satisfaction is the overall happiness and contentment within the workplace. And no wonder this metric is highly significant if you wish to understand the general mood and pulse of your team members.

In fact, 82% of employees say employee satisfaction is a crucial driver of their productivity.

Some solid ways for you to effectively measure employee satisfaction are:

A. Employee Net Promoter Score

Employee Net Promoter Score is a survey-based scoring system that can assist you in measuring employee satisfaction and loyalty. It tries to answer a simple question for the employers, i.e.

Are your employees willing to recommend their organization to their friends and family?

A simple yet powerful question.

The scoring pattern ranges from 0 to 10. The respondents are further classified as Promoters, Passives, and Detractors.

eNPS can also help you determine how impactful your existing company culture is on the satisfaction and engagement levels.

B. Employee Turnover Rate

42% of employee turnover is preventable but often ignored.

Employee turnover refers to the departure of individuals from the organization where they're employed. Simply put, it's the rate of employees departing from an organization within a specific timeframe.

Various factors can contribute to employee turnover within an organization, such as voluntary resignations, involuntary layoffs, terminations, transfers, or fatalities. Essentially, it includes any reason for exit other than natural causes, such as retirement.

And this undoubtedly can be an effective way to measure employee engagement in your company.

Do Give a Read:What is Employee Turnover Rate and How to Calculate It?

C. Absenteeism Rate

Job dissatisfaction has led to increased workplace absenteeism, with rates as high as 15% in some industries.

Yes, the given stats make sense. Employees can opt to remain absent if they're dissatisfied with their current jobs.

As an employee engagement metric, the absenteeism rate reveals several crucial things, such as patterns in attendance, employee engagement, job satisfaction, and overall work culture.

All of these are essential data required for measuring and improving employee engagement in an organization.

3. Employee Productivity

Employers are always interested in enhancing employee productivity. But little do they know that productivity is directly tied to engagement. After all, it's difficult for employees to perform without feeling satisfied and engaged in their roles.

As an employee engagement metric, it can give you necessary insights into how engaged your employees are. At the same time, it will help you implement effective strategies to increase the productivity levels of your team members.

Here's how productivity serves as an indicator of engagement.

A. Output per Employee

Output per employee gauges the average work each person completes within a given period. It's a handy way to monitor team productivity.

Using this as a benchmark, you can effectively spot top-performing areas. Simultaneously, identify departments that might need additional support for better performance.

B. Time to Productivity

If you want to measure how quickly your new hires reach their full potential, you must use time-to-productivity metrics. A shorter time suggests a smooth onboarding experience and high initial engagement.

In fact, benchmarking this metric lets you compare your onboarding process to industry standards. It can help you see where some tweaks could make it even more efficient.

So, readers, these were the employee engagement metrics. Now, we will unravel how to measure employee engagement with surveys.

How to Measure Employee Engagement through Surveys

A Gallup report states that,

80% of employees who have received meaningful feedback in the past week are fully engaged.

If you know the potential of surveys, you may wish to measure your employee engagement through them. And it's certainly not a bad idea. But to do that, you've to focus on four main pillars, namely:

• Equity

• Meaningful Connections

• Purpose

• Leadership

There is also an additional one. These pillars give you valuable insights into your organization's current climate and highlight areas for improvement.

Here's how each one contributes to a comprehensive employee engagement survey:

1. Equity

Needless to say, equity is the foundation, the cornerstone of any workplace. So, it's important for you to monitor its prevalence periodically.

For this, you can use surveys to check in on things like

• Fair pay

• Equal Opportunities

• Fair and just treatment of all employees

You must also ensure your employees feel valued and respected, regardless of their role or background. Look at your survey data to see where people feel supported and where gaps might exist. This is your chance to listen to what matters to them.

2. Meaningful Connections

People feel better when they feel connected to each other. Don't you think?
You must have observed that solid communication and genuine relationships make meaningful connections.

However, hectic schedules, workloads, and constant deadlines take a toll on employees. As a result, they may not get the time to nurture their workplace bonds and may end up feeling isolated.

So, to help your team members, you must ask how they feel about being supported and included, conduct surveys, and seek feedback on workplace relationships.

3. Purpose

Our work matters! Not just a cog in the machines but a real-time contributor to our organization. That's all that we want to feel as employees.

A good survey question might ask whether people feel their work aligns with the company's mission. Don't be afraid to be more specific. Ask proper and straightforward questions.

Clear purpose is one of the simplest yet most powerful ways to keep people engaged.

4. Leadership

Leaders set the tone, right?

Your survey should include questions for employees and management to gauge how healthy leaders connect with their teams and set examples.

Employees are more likely to feel engaged when leaders are genuinely involved and supportive. It's about knowing that management is there, not just in title but in action.

Last but not the least,

5. AI-powered Experience Management Tools

You can indeed consider using an AI-powered experience management tool for deeper insights. These platforms allow you to design surveys specific to different departments, helping you get precise feedback on issues that matter to each group. Personalizing surveys this way makes responses more accurate and actionable, showing employees that their voices are indeed heard.

Employee Engagement Score Benchmarks

Knowing your position on employee engagement is essential. It can help you identify areas that need extra attention.

In this comprehensive blog, we'll discuss how engagement scores tend to look across different industries and company sizes.

1. Employee Engagement Industry Benchmarks

Have you ever noticed how some industries seem to have higher engagement than others? It's often because of the nature of the work itself.

For example, employees work closely with customers in industries like hospitality and real estate. They can see firsthand the impact they're making. The regular, direct feedback they receive creates a real sense of purpose and fulfillment. Subsequently, this leads to higher engagement levels.

However, engagement scores can be a bit lower in fields like manufacturing and technology. These industries tend to have more structured environments, with high demands and fewer direct customer interactions, making them feel more mundane.

If you're in one of these fields, that doesn't mean you're out of luck. It's just a cue to check in with your employees more often to ensure they feel supported and valued, even if the work environment sometimes feels intense.

2. Employee Engagement Benchmarks by Company Size

Interestingly, company size can also play a role in engagement. In smaller businesses, people often feel closer to leadership and more connected to the company's mission. In larger organizations, it's easier for people to feel like just a number.

Surveys can help identify engagement strategies that fit your company's size, ensuring that everyone feels part of something meaningful, no matter how big or small the organization.

Now, you may be wondering about the use of understanding these engagement benchmarks.

Well, understanding them can help you set realistic goals and tailor your approaches. After all, we cannot deny that every organization is different. Nonetheless, every team deserves to feel connected, appreciated, and valued.

Conclusion

Employee engagement benchmarks are a powerful tool to help you connect with your team. At the same time, create a culture where everyone feels valued. By looking at how engagement varies by industry and company size, you can set realistic goals and identify areas for growth tailored to your organization’s unique needs.

So, take these insights, apply them thoughtfully, and watch your team’s commitment and motivation soar.

Sanjeevani Saikia is a Content Marketing Specialist at Vantage Circle Vantage Circle and a voice behind the Vantage Influencers Podcast. As a writer and podcast host, Sanjeevani is dedicated to exploring and promoting recognition-rich, people-first cultures. Through her writing and conversations with HR leaders from around the world, she brings critical industry insights to the forefront. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com.