Employee Engagement Index–how to compute it?

Employee Engagement Index to monitor engagement over the years

Do you compute an Employee Engagement Index? You measure employee engagement. But do you calculate the level of engagement? Do you have a metric to monitor change in engagement year-by-year?

In an employee engagement survey, you have items to determine the Level of Engagement of employees. This requires only a handful of questions. Level of Engagement items tend to measure either 1) the condition of engagement (the presence of cognitive, emotional and physical energy) and 2) the outcomes of engagement like intending to stay with the company (retention), advocacy, and putting forth extra effort to make the organization successful.

Then, you have additional items on the survey  that focus on the Drivers of Engagement. There are typically more items to evaluate Drivers of Engagement. With a more extensive list of questions, you can collect more specific information. You may also include items on the pre-engagement threshold motivators of pay and benefits.

Some clients ask if they can have an engagement score to use as a barometer to compare employee engagement over the years. In other words, if the same survey questions are asked, year-after-year, then isn’t there a way to show change? Is there some formula to use to show whether employee engagement is going up or down? Can you create an Employee Engagement Index?

Options for computing an Employee Engagement Index

Below are a couple of options you can use to create an Employee Engagement Index.

Engagement Index: Option 1

One way to calculate the engagement index is to compute three numbers: 1) the percent engaged, 2) the percent responsive to engagement, and 3) the percent disengaged. To clarify, these numbers can be computed this way:

• Engaged: percent who give top two box responses to the Level of Engagement questions–see the numbers in yellow in the image below
  • All positive responses–Strongly Agree and/or Agree
  • No Neutral response
  • No negative responses–Disagree and/or Strongly Disagree
• Responsive to Engagement (Passive): percent of employees who give top three box responses to the Level of Engagement questions (includes at least one Neutral response but no negative responses)
• Disengaged: percent of employees who give at least one bottom two box response to the Level of Engagement questions (includes at least one negative response–Disagree and/or Strongly Disagree)

The three numbers–% Engaged, % Passive, and % Disengaged–provide metrics to monitor change over the years. For example, just highlighting the percent Engaged from year-to-year is a useful metric for your Employee Engagement Index.

Engagement Index: Option 2

Another option for creating the engagement index is to compute a mean percent favorable score for each section of the survey and monitor changes in those scores, year-by-year. This method generates a number of scores to monitor. This works best if the company is targeting a particular area—like Fit, Trust, Caring, Communication, Achievement or Ownership—and wants to monitor if the changes they have made since the last survey are having an impact.

Calculate scores for all sections—not just one or two sections—because any changes in one area will typically have an impact on other areas. Also, monitor the key driver questions to see if targeted items have changed. These mean percent favorable scores for each area are your metrics. Use these metrics to monitor changes in engagement from year-to-year.

More Detailed Explanation of Employee Engagement Metrics

There are many ways to compute an Employee Engagement Index. If you are interested in a more detailed review of Employee Engagement Metrics, go to this link.

When engagement is measured, there is greater likelihood that it will be monitored. Therefore, be sure to use a method that will help your organization improve engagement.

Check this website for more information on employee engagement.

Contact Sheila to help you improve employee engagement in your organization.