A survey has found that four out of 10 employers has no formal approach to engaging and motivating staff. Engagement can be difficult for businesses to understand and therefore address but there is clear evidence for its link to business performance. I would therefore encourage this 40% of businesses to invest in understanding and addressing engagement in their workforce.

Some argue that engagement has become a buzzword. Maybe it has lost meaning and employers are unclear what it means or how to address it. The point that is often missed, and one which is really important, is that engagement is unique to an organisation. What an engaged employee looks like in one company will often differ greatly to another company.

David MacLeod and Nita Clarke, writing in the ‘Engaging for Success’ report, hit the nail on the head by saying, “there is no silver bullet that will deliver high levels of employee engagement overnight and certainly there is no one size fits all solution”.

Where companies should focus in the first instance is finding out what drives engagement for their employees. What makes them come to work every day – what motivates them to achieve good results – what drives them to go the extra mile?

By having a better understanding of what motivates your employees and using employee surveys to get their feedback, companies can tailor strategy accordingly. It is no coincidence that companies with a high level of engagement are likely to have stronger commercial performance too.

The survey landscape is evolving as businesses need to get employee feedback more regularly and throughout the employee lifecycle. We polled companies and found that 25% are already using ‘pulse surveys.’ A growing number are also introducing joiners’ and leavers’ surveys. What advantage does this give companies though and are there any drawbacks?

One company we work with, insurance firm LV=, provides a great example as highlighted in a recent article. It has experienced sustained growth and executives wanted to assess the recruitment and induction experience. This is a formative time for employees, so getting data here can help inform strategy. LV= has been able to strengthen its employer value proposition and boost staff retention and engagement by doing so.

However, be aware of pitfalls when surveying more frequently – most obviously survey fatigue. If the same employees are repeatedly being asked for their views, they are likely to become disengaged. Think about who you want to survey and why. Communicate clearly with employees to let them know what the survey is for and how data will be used.

The evolution of the employee survey model is part of a wider trend of companies having metrics to assess everything. The limitations of only getting feedback from employees once a year, or even frequently may mean companies get an inaccurate picture of how employees are feeling. It’s time to bring your survey cycle full circle to glean the data that will help give your company a competitive advantage.

Sales and marketing professionals often talk of putting the customer first. As HR professionals, we must ensure that we are putting employees first.

Yes, it is another post about engagement. There’s a reason that so much is written about engagement though; a company cannot experience sustained commercial success without having engaged employees.

Nita Clarke and David MacLeod, authors of the ‘Engaging for success’ report, are doing a great job of keeping engagement high on the business agenda. And business leaders are now clearer than ever on what engagement is and why it’s important.

It’s now time for action though with engagement scores reportedly falling. Companies must do more to engage employees. This could include:

Employees are, ultimately, a company’s biggest potential competitive advantage. They are a genuine point of difference. Make sure that it is an advantage that your company is harnessing.

Is your current employee survey benefitting your company? Some suggest such surveys are just a tick box exercise. That surveys offer little or no real business value. Both assertions may well be true … for some companies, at least. However, this needn’t be the case.

Your employee survey should be designed to fit the company’s unique organisational context and reflect and measure your business strategy. We cover this topic in greater detail in our latest original HR insight paper Mastering questionnaire design in employee surveys.

Relevance is crucial to a meaningful employee survey – and an accurate measure of engagement. A generic set of questions relating to a standard definition of engagement is likely to provide fairly similarly generic data. This restricts your ability to really understand what is driving engagement for your business and implement targeted action plans.

What an engaged employee looks like is different in every company. That means every survey model should be bespoke – an approach advocated by David MacLeod in the Enaging for success report.

A well-aligned survey will give a more valid measure of employee engagement for your business and shows you are progressing on your business strategy from an employee perspective. Such insight and understanding is vital in making informed business decisions and maintaining competitive advantage.

The battle to attract and retain the best talent continues to top the business agenda. A strong employer brand is a prerequisite just to compete.

To get a clear picture of your employer brand, you need feedback from those closest to it – your employees. An annual employee survey is a step in the right direction. But best in class organisations have a more regular dialogue with employees. Communication is, after all, a two-way process.

As I explained in an article for HR Magazine, there’s a real business need to go to the next level and assess engagement throughout the employee lifecycle.

For a number of companies we work with, this has meant implementing surveys for new starters or leavers or running ‘pulse’ surveys at regular intervals.

Such surveys can provide rich data for companies, which can be used to inform strategy:

Overall, by encouraging more regular dialogue with employees, you will have a much clearer idea of how employees feel, what motivates and engages them and how they like to work. This, in turn, can help you enhance the employer brand and attract and retain the best talent.

The economic world remains in a state of flux as we watch and wait for a resolution to the debt crisis. And, after using our veto, the UK is very much a spectator in this process. The uncertainty surrounding the Euro and a flat economy suggests a tough year ahead. But I was buoyed to see that HR professionals appear in bullish mood where 2012 plans and budgets are concerned.

We polled 70 mid-to-senior level HR professionals to gauge expectations for their 2012 budgets in light of the struggling economy. Half of the respondents said budgets would remain the same or increase next year. A further third of those polled (31%) expect a small reduction of their HR budget – by up to 10%.

Put into context, this looks very positive. It suggests that executives are recognising the business value of identifying, developing and engaging talent and aren’t keen to cut back on investment in this area.

It’d be foolhardy to make bold predictions about 2012 while so much uncertainty remains – particularly as the success of the UK’s economy’s is so closely aligned to the rest of Europe. But these figures are at least cause for quiet optimism.

There’s no end in sight yet for the Eurozone debt crisis and UK economic growth forecasts have been slashed for 2012. Times are tough for companies. And our latest research suggests employees are suffering too.

Many businesses are reigning in spending and cutting costs. Employees understand such measures – even if it impacts on pay reviews and bonuses. This doesn’t mean that they like it, but they accept it.

The clear message from employees though, is that many of the causes of their dissatisfaction at work do not relate to financial matters.

Our research – which featured the views of 400,000 private sector employees – highlighted the following as among the most contentious issues:

These are things that needn’t require extensive investment. Listen to your employees and take action to address their concerns. Not only will you have a more engaged workforce, but in the process you’ll strengthen your employer brand proposition and possibly even your bottom line.

Companies continue to make substantial investments in employee surveys. But to realise a survey’s true value, you must have actionable data that’ll drive growth.

Many companies report that they struggle to understand survey data. Drawing simple yet accurate conclusions from a large volume of data isn’t always straightforward. It is often hard to assess how positive a survey score is when viewed in isolation.

Benchmarking can help, providing clarity and context on results. This will ensure managers have accurate data to inform action plans. We look closely at this topic in our latest whitepaper Go compare: The role of employee survey benchmark data.

Benchmarking is only one aspect of a successful employee survey process though. In order to maximise a survey’s effectiveness, a bespoke approach is needed. This means identifying the ‘key drivers’ of engagement for each organisation. Then you can ask the right questions and get accurate, usable data.

What is the difference between satisfied and engaged employees and does it matter?

Contemplating this question, I wonder if I’ve become too absorbed in my own profession! Research shows that satisfaction and engagement are driven by different factors and drive different behaviours. So deciphering between them is necessary.

Are your employees engaged or just satisfied? An employee can be satisfied without being engaged but can’t be engaged without being satisfied.

Satisfaction is more straightforward. It is largely driven by job characteristics and whether an employee is satisfied with their role. ‘Hygiene factors’ such as having the resources to do their job are important drivers.

The drivers of engagement are unique to each organisation. From our experience, an engaged employee at a professional services consultancy looks very different from an engaged employee in a retail chain. Studies suggest engagement is often driven by leadership, culture and communication. Interestingly, these factors relate to the company's ability to motivate and gain commitment from individuals.

Perhaps the most relevant distinction to draw though is that satisfaction doesn’t link to business performance. Engagement does. This is not to dismiss the importance of employee satisfaction. But we must understand the differences between the two states. This will allow companies to focus on factors that will have the biggest impact on levels of engagement.