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aspx

How to Measure Employee Engagement With the

Q12
There are 12 needs managers can meet to improve employees' productivity. This
approach to engagement is simple, and it works. These are the 12 employee needs that
make up the items on Gallup's engagement survey:

1. I know what is expected of me at work.

2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

1 I know what is expected of me at work.

Why It's Important
Clear expectations are the most basic and fundamental employee need.
Employees who strongly agree that their job description aligns with the work they
do are 2.5 times more likely than other employees to be engaged.

Employees need to grasp the fundamentals of their work, which are not limited to
their job description. In many cases, employees are held accountable for work that
doesn't match their job description, which can confuse and frustrate them as they
try to do their job and make decisions every day.

What the Best Managers Do

The greatest pitfall of the first element is that managers assume the simplicity of
the statement means they have a simple solution when their employees disagree
with this element: "If people don't know what's expected, I'll just tell them." But
helping employees understand what their manager and organization expect from
them requires much more than just telling them what to do.
The most effective managers define and discuss the explicit and implicit
expectations for each employee. They paint a picture of outstanding performance
and help employees recognize how their work leads to the success of their
coworkers, their business area and the entire organization.

I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.

Why It's Important
Of the 12 elements, a person having the materials and equipment to do their work
well is the strongest indicator of job stress.

Despite the functional nature of this statement, this element measures both
physical resource needs and potential barriers between the employer and
employee. Employees get frustrated with their manager or organization for
creating goals and expectations that seem impossible to achieve.

What the Best Managers Do

"Materials and equipment" is not just a checklist of tools. It includes the tangible
and intangible resources employees need to do their job. In today's workforce,
information and empowerment are often as necessary as technology and office
supplies.

The most effective managers don't assume what their team needs. They ask for
and listen to their employees' needs and advocate for those needs when necessary.
They also find ways to make the most of their team's ingenuity and talents when
they cannot fully fund requests.

At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.

Why It's Important
One of the most powerful strategies for managers and organizations is giving their
employees opportunities to apply the best of their natural selves (their talents) as
well as their skills and knowledge. As the leading attribute employees look for in
a new job -- and its absence one of the main reasons employees leave a job --
when people get to do what they do best every day at work, the organizations they
work for get a boost in employee attraction, engagement and retention.

What the Best Managers Do

Successful managers get to know their employees as individuals and give them
opportunities to apply the best of their natural selves -- their talents. They talk to
each employee about their unique value and make adjustments to align work,
when possible, with team members' talents. The best managers know where their
employees excel and position them so that they are engaged and provide
maximum value to the organization.

In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
Why It's Important
Top performers are hard to find. And once an organization hires them, it needs to
make sure these employees feel valued for their work and contributions, or they
could be at risk of leaving. Employees who do not feel adequately recognized are
twice as likely to say they'll quit in the next year.
 Workplace recognition motivates, provides a sense of accomplishment and makes
employees feel valued for the work they do. Recognition also sends a message to
other employees about what success looks like.

What the Best Managers Do

The most effective leaders create a recognition-rich environment with praise
coming from multiple sources at multiple times. The best managers learn how
individuals like to be recognized, and they recognize them timely and often for
achieving their goals and demonstrating high performance. They also explain why
their performance matters.

13. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.

Why It's Important
Employees need to know that they are more than just a number. They need to
know that someone is concerned about them as people first and as employees
second. The fifth element of engagement may seem like a "soft" aspect of
management, but there are key payoffs when people work in an environment
where they feel safe.

They are more likely to experiment with new ideas, share information and support
each other in their work and personal lives. They are prepared to give their
manager and organization the benefit of the doubt, and they feel more equipped to
strike a balance between their work and personal lives.

In turn, they are more likely to be advocates for their employer.

What the Best Managers Do

Few managers take defined action to meet this employee need because caring
about someone else cannot be manufactured. But the most successful managers
know employees as individuals, acknowledge achievements, have performance
conversations, conduct formal reviews and, above all, respect their employees.

These behaviors build a work environment where employees feel safe

experimenting with new ideas, sharing information, exploring opportunities for
development, and supporting each other in their work and personal lives.

14. There is someone at work who encourages my development.

Why It's Important
Gallup data show that lack of development and career growth is the No. 1 reason
employees leave a job. Development is part of the unwritten social contract
workers expect when they are hired.

However, personal and professional development does not occur in a vacuum. It

takes effort and attention. Employees need help navigating their career, whether
that is through sponsorship, coaching, protection, exposure, visibility or
challenging work assignments.

What the Best Managers Do

One common misunderstanding about this element of engagement is that
"development" means "promotion." But they are not the same thing. A promotion
 is a one-time event. Development is a process of understanding each person's
unique talents and strengths and finding roles, positions and projects that allow
employees to apply them.

Great managers coach employees by identifying wins and misses, motivating

them to go beyond what they think they can do, connecting them with potential
mentors, and holding them accountable for their performance.

15. At work, my opinions seem to count.

Why It's Important
The days of managers and leaders having to know it all are quickly vanishing as
organizations accept the fact that they are facing unprecedented change,
competition and stagnant organic growth. No leader or manager can survive
alone, nor do they have all the answers. This element of engagement is powerful
and measures employees' sense of value and contribution.

What the Best Managers Do

Asking for and considering individuals' input leads to more informed decision-
making and encourages new ideas that positively influence business results. The
best managers promote open dialogue and provide honest feedback on employees'
opinions and ideas -- supporting good ideas and addressing unfeasible ones.

Great managers create feedback loops, so people feel like they are involved in the
decision-making process.

16. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.

Why It's Important
The absence of many engagement elements -- job clarity, proper equipment and
resources, work that aligns with one's talents, consistent feedback -- can create
real obstacles to productivity. It's easy to see why employees need these elements
to do their job well. The same cannot be said for the eighth element.

It is a strictly emotional need, and a higher-level one at that, as if employees

cannot energize themselves to do all they could do without knowing how their job
fits into the grander scheme of things. The data say that is just what happens.

If a job were just a job, it really wouldn't matter where someone worked. But
employees want their job to have meaning. In fact, for millennials, this element
was among the strongest drivers of retention.

What the Best Managers Do

Many leaders and managers think that putting the organization's mission
statement on a wall is enough for employees to feel this connection. It is not.

Leaders must ensure that the organization's mission and purpose are clear and
aligned with the employee experience. Managers play a significant role in helping
employees understand how their role and daily tasks contribute to the
organization's mission. Great managers create opportunities for employees to
 share mission moments and stories about the organization achieving its purpose.

17. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.

Why It's Important
Trusting that one's coworkers share a commitment to quality is vital to excellent
team performance. And as work is becoming more interconnected, interdependent
and project-based, this element is critical.

The worst performer on the team sets the team's standards. By a 6-to-1 margin,
people are more upset with a colleague who has the ability but does not try than
with a colleague who tries hard but does not have much ability.

What the Best Managers Do

Employees need to be in an environment where there is mutual trust and respect
for each other's efforts and results. This starts with a deep awareness of work
standards and team expectations.

Great managers do not stand by and watch their team erode. They establish clear
standards of performance, hold employees accountable and foster an environment
of excellence by recognizing and sharing examples of exceptional work.

18. I have a best friend at work.

Why It's Important
More than any other Q12 statement, "I have a best friend at work" tends to
generate questions and skepticism. But there is one stubborn fact: It predicts
performance.

Early research on employee engagement and the Q12 elements revealed a unique
social trend among employees on top-performing teams. When employees have a
deep sense of affiliation with their team members, they take positive actions that
benefit the business -- actions they may not otherwise even consider.

What the Best Managers Do

The best employers recognize that people want to build meaningful friendships
and that company loyalty is built on these relationships. But friendships at work
need to be put in the proper context.

Managers should not try to manufacture friendships or to make everyone be

friends. Rather, they should create situations where people can get to know each
other.

The best managers look for opportunities to get their team together for events,
encourage people to share stories about themselves and plan for time to socialize
at work when it will not disrupt customer service or other performance outcomes.

19. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
Why It's Important
For all the complexity of performance appraisals -- balanced scorecards, 360-
 degree feedback, self-evaluations and forced grading reports -- the statement that
reveals the best connection between perceptions of evaluations and actual
employee performance is remarkably simple: "In the last six months, someone at
work has talked to me about my progress."

This statement does not specify that the discussion is an official review. What is
most important to employees is that they understand how they are doing, how
their work is perceived and what the future holds. There is nothing wrong with
formal evaluations, and there are many reasons to recommend them.

What the Best Managers Do

When a manager regularly checks in on their employees' progress, team members
are more likely to believe they get paid fairly, more likely to stay with the
company and more than twice as likely to recommend the company to others as a
great place to work.

Great managers have frequent conversations -- formal and informal -- with

employees about how they are doing. In short, they are coaches, providing
immediate, constructive and motivating feedback to help employees achieve
increasingly better results.

20. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.
Why It's Important
The desire to learn and grow is a basic human need and required to maintain
employee momentum and motivation. This element is also critical in a time when
companies are hungry for organic growth.

When people grow, companies grow and are more likely to stay in business.
When employees feel like they are learning and growing, they work harder and
more efficiently.

But when they have to do the same thing every day without a chance to learn
something new, they rarely stay enthusiastic or excited about their jobs.

What the Best Managers Do

Successful managers challenge employees, create learning opportunities and
frequently ask employees what they are learning.

Beyond providing training, they encourage employees to learn new skills or find
better ways to do a job. They talk with employees about short-term and long-term
growth goals, and they are open to allowing their employees to take on new
responsibilities and roles.

The Gallup Q12 items are Gallup proprietary information and are protected by law.
You may not administer a survey with the Q12 items or reproduce them without
written consent from Gallup. Copyright © 1993-1998 Gallup, Inc. All rights
reserved.

https://www.gallup.com/workplace/285674/improve-employee-engagement-workplace.aspx
 What Is Employee Engagement and
How Do You Improve It?
 Employee Engagement Definition
 Why Is Employee Engagement Important?
 Whose Job Is Employee Engagement?
 What Are the Drivers of Employee Engagement?
 Why Current Programs Aren't Improving Employee Engagement
 Measuring Employee Engagement: Gallup's Questions
 The Employee Engagement Model
 Employee Engagement Examples: The 3 Types of Employees You Have
 What's the Difference Between Employee Engagement and the Employee Experience?
 How to Improve Employee Engagement: Team Engagement Ideas
 Improving Employee Engagement Begins Here

01 Employee Engagement Definition

Gallup defines employee engagement as the involvement and enthusiasm of
employees in their work and workplace.

Employee engagement helps you measure and manage employees' perspectives on the
crucial elements of your workplace culture.

You can find out if your employees are actively engaged with their work or simply
putting in their time. You can discover if your team building activities and human
resources practices influence positive business outcomes or if there's room to grow.

And with the right approach, you can learn how to improve your employees'
connection to their work and your company.

02 Why Is Employee Engagement Important?

Employees make decisions and take actions every day that can affect your workforce
and organization.

The way your company treats employees and how employees treat one another can
positively affect their actions -- or can place your organization at risk.

Based on decades of employee engagement research, Gallup knows that engaged

employees produce better business outcomes than other employees -- across industry,
company size, and nationality, and in good economic times and bad.
But only 21% of employees worldwide and 33% in the U.S. fall in the "engaged"
category.

So, what can companies do better to engage employees?

When companies use Gallup's Q12® as a framework to improve employee

engagement-- one that executives support as a primary management strategy -- they
yield clear and better results.

Asking, "Why is employee engagement important?" is a vital question for leaders to

consider. Because without employee engagement, there's no team engagement,
making it more difficult to improve business outcomes.

When Gallup analyzed the differences in performance among business/work units, the
benefits of employee engagement were clear. When comparing employee engagement
levels, Gallup found that top- and bottom-quartile business units and teams had the
following differences in business outcomes*:

81% in absenteeism

58% in patient safety incidents (mortality and falls)

18% in turnover for high-turnover organizations

43% in turnover for low-turnover organizations

28% in shrinkage (theft)

64% in safety incidents (accidents)

41% in quality (defects)

10% in customer loyalty/engagement

18% in productivity (sales)

23% in profitability
*The above figures are median percent differences across companies in Gallup's
database. High-turnover organizations are those with more than 40% annualized
turnover. Low-turnover organizations are those with 40% or lower annualized
turnover.

03 Whose Job Is Employee Engagement?

70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager.
 Employee engagement should be a manager's primary role responsibility.

Managers are in charge of ensuring that employees know what work needs to be done,
supporting and advocating for them when necessary, and explaining how their work
connects to organizational success.

To succeed in that responsibility, managers need to be equipped to have ongoing

coaching conversations with employees.

Unfortunately, most managers don't know how to make frequent conversations

meaningful, so their actions are more likely to be interpreted as micromanaging
without providing the right tools and direction.

So, it's not enough for leaders to simply tell managers to own engagement and coach
their teams.

Leaders must:
 redefine managers' roles and expectations
 provide the training tools, resources and development that managers need to coach and meet those
expectations
 create evaluation practices that help managers accurately measure performance, hold employees
accountable and coach to the future

04 What Are the Drivers of Employee

Engagement?
One of the most common mistakes companies make is to approach engagement as a
sporadic exercise in making their employees feel happy -- usually around the time
when a survey is coming up.

It's true that we describe engaged employees as "enthusiastic." And surveys play a big
role in measuring staff engagement. But it's not that simple.

People want purpose and meaning from their work. They want to be
known for what they're good at.

These are the key drivers of employee engagement:

 purpose

development

a caring manager

ongoing conversations

a focus on strengths

Employees need more than a fleeting warm-fuzzy feeling and a good paycheck (even
if it helps them respond positively on a survey) to invest in their work and achieve
more for your company.

People want purpose and meaning from their work. They want to be known for what
makes them unique. This is what drives employee engagement.
And they want relationships, particularly with a manager who can coach them to the
next level. This is who drives employee engagement.

One of Gallup's biggest discoveries: the manager or team leader alone accounts for
70% of the variance in team engagement.

05 Why Current Programs Aren't Improving

Employee Engagement
Nearly 80% of employees worldwide are still not engaged or are actively disengaged
at work, despite more effort from companies.

The greatest cause of a workplace engagement program's failure is this: Employee

engagement is widely considered "an HR thing."

It is not owned by leaders, expected of managers nor understood by front-line

employees.

The result is that some organizations believe they have exhausted "engagement" as a
performance lever before they truly explore its full potential to change their business.

These leaders consistently experience low engagement, or they plateau and eventually
decline -- despite repeated attempts to boost scores. Other times, they have high
engagement numbers, but their business results tell a different story.

At a loss for explanations, leaders may blame the tool, the measurement, the
philosophy or environmental factors that they believe make their problems unique.

But, the apparent failure of employee engagement efforts is likely because of how
organizations implement workplace employee engagement programs. Some common
mistakes:

Too complicated.

Leaders make engagement metrics far too complicated by focusing on predictors that
are often outside managers' control and typically don't relate to meeting employees'
core psychological needs at work.

Incorrect engagement metrics.

They use a low-bar "percent favorable" metric that inflates scores and creates blind
spots, resulting in the appearance of high engagement without strong business
outcomes.

Overuse of surveys.

They overuse pulse surveys to get immediate feedback and rarely take action on the
results.

In contrast, leaders who have integrated engagement into their corporate strategy
using the framework we outline in the next section on this page see significant gains
year after year.
06 Measuring Employee Engagement: Gallup's
Questions
Gallup has identified 12 elements of employee engagement that predict high team
performance.

Managers can take charge of engagement by asking and evaluating their employees'
responses to these 12 employee engagement questions to create a structure for their
interactions with employees -- casual conversations, meeting agendas, performance
evaluations and team goal setting.

We've been measuring and reporting employee engagement trends for years and have
used the 12 elements to determine how involved and enthusiastic employees are in
their work and workplace.

The 12 Elements

Some of the 12 elements might seem simple. But Gallup's employee engagement
research has found that only a small percentage of employees strongly agree their
employer or manager delivers on them.

Here are three employee engagement ideas to help managers approach each element:

Q01. I know what is expected of me at work.

Helping employees understand what their organization, leaders and manager expect
from them requires more than someone telling them what to do. The most effective
managers define and discuss each employee's explicit and implicit expectations. They
paint a picture of outstanding performance and help employees recognize how their
work leads to the success of their coworkers, their business area and the entire
organization.

Q02. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.

"Materials and equipment" is not just a checklist of tools. It includes both tangible and
intangible resources -- office supplies, software, knowledge sharing and permissions,
to name a few -- that employees need to do their job. The most effective managers
don't assume what their team needs. They ask for and listen to their employees' needs
and advocate for them when necessary. They also find ways to make the most of their
team's ingenuity and talents when they cannot fully fund requests.

Q03. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.

When people get to do what they do best every day at work, the organizations they
work for get a boost in employee attraction, engagement and retention. Successful
managers get to know their employees as individuals and give them opportunities to
apply the best of their natural selves -- their talents. They talk to each employee about
their unique value and make adjustments to align work, when possible, with team
members' talents. The best managers know where their employees excel and position
them so that they are engaged and provide maximum value to the organization.

07 The Employee Engagement Model

There are four levels in the employee engagement model.

This four-level hierarchy is based on four types of employees' performance

development needs:

Meeting the needs in the three foundational levels creates an environment of trust and
support that enables managers and employees to get the most out of the top level --
personal growth.

These levels provide a road map for managers to motivate and develop their team
members and improve the team members' performance, with each one building on the
previous.

The levels do not represent phases. Managers do not "finish" the first level and then
move on to the second level. They must ensure that employees know what is expected
of them and have the right materials and equipment to do their work while meeting
needs on the second, third and fourth levels.
With their team members, managers should identify needs and obstacles on an
ongoing basis and ideally take action before challenges inhibit their employees'
performance.

Interested in using our Q12 survey? Learning more about how to improve employee
engagement in your workplace starts here.

08 Employee Engagement Examples: The 3 Types

of Employees You Have
The 3 Personas of Engagement

Engaged

Engaged employees are highly involved in and enthusiastic about their work and
workplace. They are psychological "owners," drive high performance and innovation,
and move the organization forward.

Example: An employee who logs in for a few hours longer to get a project over the
finish line or who spends more time on the phone with a client who needs help --
because they're committed to their organization's "client first" values. They build up
their coworkers and have strong relationships within the organization.

The 3 Personas of Engagement

Not Engaged

Not engaged employees are psychologically unattached to their work and company.
Because their engagement needs are not being fully met, they're putting time -- but
not energy or passion -- into their work.

Example: An employee who completes their work but is fueled by duty rather than
passion or personal interest. This employee may prefer to fly under the radar and
might back down from more intense or high-profile work.

The 3 Personas of Engagement

Actively Disengaged

Actively disengaged employees aren't just unhappy at work -- they are resentful that
their needs aren't being met and are acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these
workers potentially undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish.

Example: This employee spends their time talking negatively about coworkers,
current projects, leaders, etc. They may be searching for other employment
opportunities in their spare time and do not plan to stay at their current job much
longer.
09 What's the Difference Between Employee
Engagement and the Employee Experience?
A company's employee experience reflects an employee's entire journey with the
organization.

It includes prehire experiences, post-exit interactions, and aspects of a job related to

an employee's role, workspace, wellbeing, and relationships with their manager and
team.

The employee life cycle includes seven stages that capture the most significant
employee-employer interactions that connect employees with the organization.

Naturally, each employee's engagement influences their employee experience during

the engage stage of the employee life cycle. However, employee engagement also
affects (and is affected by) aspects of every other stage.

Therefore, the biggest difference between the employee experience and employee
engagement isn't actually a difference -- it's more of a distinction. Developing
employee engagement must be the main focus of managers within every single stage
of the employee life cycle, all of which directly influences the employee experience.

Making the Connection

Many organizations have engagement programs that are disconnected from various
aspects of the employee experience.

They may see engagement purely in terms of retention rather than as essential to a

powerful recruitment strategy. Or, they may see the value in implementing an
engaging onboarding process yet fail to see how a focus on engagement can transform
performance conversations.

Organizations that make employee engagement a central part of their corporate

strategy take a different approach. They incorporate aspects of engagement into all
elements of their employee experience so that each feeds into and amplifies the other.

Applying Engagement to Every Stage: Questions to Ask

Attract

Are we leading with communications about our mission to attract talent who finds our
purpose motivating?

Hire

Are we hiring for fit to role so that people do what they do best every day?
Onboard

Do we engage new hires from day one and make onboarding a long-term process that
establishes clear expectations and a positive manager relationship?

Engage

Do our managers and their teams have regular discussions about the engagement of
their team members and how to create an engaging culture?

Perform

Are discussions about engagement needs integrated with performance conversations?

Develop

Do managers infuse engagement topics into development discussions with their

teams?

Depart

Does the organization recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of people when
they leave?

10 How to Improve Employee Engagement: Team

Engagement Ideas
There are no quick fixes when it comes to human relationships. Simple team
engagement activities or staff engagement exercises won't transform your culture.

But since the value of the Q12 items is in helping managers and teams start
conversations and approach workforce engagement issues authentically and
meaningfully, there are lots of ideas in the framework to help you build your team up.

For example:

Addressing Diversity and Inclusion

A new manager has inherited a low-performing team with diverse ages, genders,
cultures and personalities. After a few months of private conversations and tense team
meetings, she can tell that a lack of cooperation and disunity are at the heart of the
team's lack of collaboration and low performance outcomes.

Engagement areas for manager action:

Q04 Receiving frequent recognition:
Make recognition a regular agenda item to demonstrate appreciation for individuals'
different contributions to the team and organization.

Q05 Someone cares about me:

Ask employees: What would make you feel like a valued team member? Individualize
the approach to leading team members based on how they say they want to be treated.

Q07 My opinions count:

Become an advocate for employees' ideas. Solicit them during meetings and take
action on them.

11 Improving Employee Engagement Begins Here

Partner with Gallup to bring the best out of your employees.

For Departments and Organizations Learn about our employee engagement solutions
and customized plans for organizations. Connect with a Gallup expert to talk through
your employee engagement goals, access to our platform -- Gallup Access (home to
the Q12 survey) -- and discover how a partnership with us could look.

We recommend this option for departments in organizations with more than 100
employees.

For Smaller Teams and Organizations Purchase a one-time Q12 survey. Get limited
access to our platform for 12 months.

We recommend this option for teams and organizations with fewer than 100
employees.