How does it work?
Employee engagement is very important for the success of your company. High levels of engagement are associated with high levels of performance, citizenship behavior and individual well-being (Christian, Garza and Slaughter 2011; Hakanen and Schaufeli 2012; Soane 2013).
Ok, we know engagement is important, but how do we know how engaged my co-worker is? Or how engaged am I for that matter? Therefore we can use the UWES (Wilmar B. Schaufeli, Arnold B. Bakker (2006)), a questionnaire that can be used to measure someone’s engagement at work. To create this questionnaire a database was constructed of 27 studies that have been carried out between 1999 and 2003 in 10 different countries.
Work engagement can be defined as ‘a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterised by vigor, dedication and absorption (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalez-Roma and Bakker (2002, p. 74)):
- Vigor (fe: at my work I feel like bursting with energy);
- Dedication (fe: I find the work that I do meaningful and purposeful);
- Absorption (fe: time flies when I am at work.).
How?
Start using this questionnaire right away. Download the Excel attached which you can approach by clicking this link.
Now it’s easy: send the first tab to your colleagues. When you choose to use Excel, you have to collect all the data and copy it in the tab “Team”. Here you can also fill in the number of employees surveyed. This will give you an average score for the whole team.
This works well for small teams. When you know what segment the team or an individual is doing better than the other, you have something to talk about. I recommend to share the outcomes with each other and talk about it. Creating goals on the way. Personal and team goals to get more engaged!
For a big organization, this is also a good way to learn what the employees are getting excited about and what are holding them back. By starting with one measurement and doing this every period (month/quarter), you can really learn and get them even more engaged.
But be aware, don’t get the high score, because workaholism is always a thread!
