When you send out pulse surveys, you may wonder how to interpret the results you're getting. What is a good result? What results are other companies in your industry seeing? This is where employee engagement benchmark data is valuable.
Diana Bond
Senior Customer Success Manager, Eletive
"Benchmarking provides valuable context and helps you set ambitious but realistic goals."
With Eletive, you have the possibility to perform multiple benchmark comparisons. You can compare your employee survey results to all the data in the Eletive database. You can also slice and dice the data and benchmark your results within multiple categories.
We created this guide to help you understand employee engagement and benchmarking for a better workplace.
Guide your organisation with engagement benchmarking
We know that employee engagement drives productivity and success. And you know what they say: what gets measured gets managed. You cannot overstate the significance of benchmarking. A thorough data benchmark for engagement let's you assess our employee satisfaction levels and understand them in a wider context.
This is the power of benchmarking. It's a game-changer for businesses striving to create a motivated and thriving work environment. Comparing your organisation's engagement levels to the global workforce helps you see how you compare to others.
Related readings:
Global employee engagement surveys
The best employee engagement survey questions – what to ask and why?
Types of employee engagement data benchmarks
Eletive multiple benchmark feature allows you to tailor your benchmark values with high levels of specificity. Diving deeper into your employee engagement statistics like this will provide you with deeper and more valuable insights.
Employee engagement benchmark categories:
All Eletive users
A specific industry
A specific segment within the organisation
Company size
Age
Sex
Date of birth
Date of employment
Country
Region
Sub-region (for example the Nordics)
Type of labour (blue/white-collar)
Employment type (full-time/part-time)
Manager
Related reading: A technical guide to Multiple Benchmarks in Eletive
How to interpret and apply benchmark data insights
Select relevant benchmarks:
Choose benchmarks that closely align with your industry, company size, and location. This ensures the comparisons are accurate and meaningful.
Collect comprehensive data:
Accurate benchmarking requires thorough data collection. Utilise employee surveys, performance metrics, and feedback mechanisms to gather the information needed for a comprehensive analysis.
Analyse and interpret:
Once you have the data, analyse it against the benchmarks. Identify gaps, trends, and areas of strength that offer insights into your engagement strategy.
Develop actionable strategies:
Use the insights gained from benchmarking to develop targeted strategies for improvement. Whether it's enhancing communication, providing growth opportunities, or refining recognition programs, make data-driven decisions.
Monitor and adapt:
Employee engagement is an ongoing journey. Monitor your progress, track changes, and adapt your strategies as needed to ensure a consistently engaged workforce.
In a world where engaged employees are the backbone of thriving organisations, benchmarking empowers you to measure, adapt, and succeed.
By comparing your employee engagement levels to multiple benchmarks, you embark on a path of growth, innovation, and lasting success.
Related reading: Rutgers are building a happy workplace with Eletive
A data-driven approach to employee engagement
Eletive's different features help you work data-driven with employee engagement. With multiple benchmarks and for example heatmaps, you can monitor trends and progress, and quickly pinpoint problems before they become more serious. These two features can boost your data-driven approach quickly.
Furthermore, benchmarking allows you to slice and dice the data from your employee survey results and compare different segments within your organisation. This provides valuable insights about where you need to focus your attention.
Perhaps you’d like to compare employees who’ve been with your organisation for 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years. Or maybe you want to compare your organisation as a whole to other companies in your industry. Look at the data, discuss the results with the team and come to a conclusion.
Create a plan together and regularly check your progress to see if you are meeting the benchmark. Hence, benchmarks enable you to set realistic goals and evaluate the progress the team or organisation is making.
Diana Bond
Senior Customer Success Manager, Eletive
"Multiple benchmarks provide reliable data to understand your team or organisation, helping you make informed decisions and take effective actions."
Companies across various industries have employed benchmark data to enhance engagement and achieve remarkable outcomes.
By implementing changes based on benchmark insights, these organisations witnessed increased productivity, higher morale, and improved retention rates.
Related reading: Best practices for employee engagement surveys
Benefits of employee engagement benchmark data
Standardise your metrics:
Benchmarking offers a standardised yardstick to measure your employee engagement against industry norms. These quantitative insights guide your strategies and help set achievable goals that drive growth.
Identify opportunities:
By comparing your engagement levels to benchmarks, you uncover areas where you excel and discover untapped potential. You can replicate successful practices and make targeted improvements where needed, continuously improving your employee engagement strategy.
Reduce employee attrition:
To attract and retain top talent, your organisation needs to be on par or ahead of the curve in terms of employee engagement. Unwanted attrition is a constly issue, and maintaining a highly engaged workforce lowers the risk of employees leaving their jobs. Benchmarking keeps you aligned with industry trends, ensuring you don't fall behind.
Strategic decision-making:
Comparative data helps you make informed decisions on resource allocation, training initiatives, and engagement programs. This will have a direct impact on your workforce's performance and satisfaction.
Cultivate a culture of excellence:
Benchmarking fosters a culture of continuous improvement. As you work towards achieving and surpassing benchmarks, you instil a sense of achievement and pride within your teams.
Improve the employee experience:
High engagement levels lead to happier employees. That, in turn, translates to improved customer satisfaction and business outcomes. Benchmarking helps you fine-tune your employee experience for maximum impact. When your employees feel that you value their well-being, that in itself increases engagement.
Future trends in employee engagement benchmarking
The world of employee engagement benchmarking is evolving rapidly, driven by technological advancements and changing work dynamics.
Predictive analytics, personalized engagement strategies, and leveraging artificial intelligence are some emerging trends that promise to shape the future of benchmarking.
Related reading: Employee engagement trends in 2023
Conclusion
No matter your role, you understand the significance of employee engagement in driving business success.
Measuring employee engagement and collecting employee feedback is essential. It allows you to work proactively to improve culture and performance. But to be able to make the right decisions, you need to understand your employee engagement results.
With Eletive it's easy to benchmark your survey results. You can compare them to different industries. You can compare them to all Eletive users.
You can compare them to specific segments within the organisation. You can compare them based on age, employment time, gender, country, type of work, and more.
Ensuring your employees are engaged at work will help you. Highly engaged employees are not only more committed to your organisational goals. They also put in the discretionary effort that gives your organisation a competitive edge.
FAQ
What is employee engagement benchmarking?
Employee engagement benchmarking is the process of comparing your employee survey results against the survey results of other organisations. This helps you understand your results in a broader context and set relevant goals.
How do I use multiple benchmarks?
Allow other users in the platform to change the default benchmark. Enable managers to add several extra benchmarks. With multiple benchmarks, you can compare results to both industry and country benchmarks at the same time.
Why is benchmarking employee engagement important?
Benchmarking provides a quantitative and qualitative assessment of your organisation's employee engagement efforts. It helps you gauge how effectively your strategies are working and offers insights into areas that require attention. You can improve your choices and have a more motivated and productive workforce by comparing your engagement levels with industry benchmarks.
How do I analyse benchmarking data?
Analyse your benchmarking data by comparing your organisation's engagement metrics to the benchmarks of your choice. Identify areas where your organization excels and where it falls short. Look for trends and patterns that provide insights into the effectiveness of your engagement strategies.
What employee engagement metrics should I benchmark?
When it comes to measuring employee engagement, a variety of metrics come into play. Quantitative metrics, such as engagement surveys, retention rates, and productivity metrics, provide a numerical perspective on engagement levels.
On the other hand, qualitative metrics like employee feedback, sentiment analysis, and culture assessments offer a deeper understanding of the emotional pulse of the organisation.
Related reading:
Discover more about employee engagement
Employee engagement index what it is and how to calculate it
