The Six-Factor Employee Engagement Model

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Here's a video where you can learn about our Six-Factor Employee Engagement model. It’s the result of five years of field research, learning from experts, and presenting findings to practitioners. We field-tested it, created practices, modified them, and measured results. Now I’m happy to share these ideas with others.

When employees are engaged, they’re so committed to their work and workplace that they’re willing to give their best effort. When employees are engaged, everyone wins. There are advantages in profitability, productivity, satisfaction, product quality, employee retention, and even employee health. But engagement doesn’t happen by chance; it takes design and effort.

It became popular to blame low engagement on the pandemic, but the data show that overall workplace engagement has been low for years and employee departures have been steadily increasing over time. The pandemic didn’t cause low engagement; it simply revealed what was already happening—workplaces had an engagement problem long before the pandemic.

So, what can a workplace do to increase engagement?

Having an engagement plan is more than offering perks like free lunches or gym subsidies; it’s about creating an engagement identity. If you take away the free lunches or gym subsidies, engagement declines. But engagement increases when you build engagement drivers and habits into the culture.

• What is in place to drive engagement at your workplace?
• What are the habits to reinforce engagement?
• What role will employees, teams, and leaders play?
• How will engagement be measured?

These are some of the questions answered in our model. 

Today I’m teaching the model at ARM Group’s Leadership Retreat. ARM Group is an award-winning engineering and science firm with offices in 14 locations. They’ve brought their top leaders to the lovely Omni Bedford Springs Resort for professional development, team building, and having fun together.

What’s remarkable about ARM Group is that it is not a human services or professional development organization; it is an engineering and science firm. But the leaders at ARM Group decided to invest in the engagement of their people because they know that having engaged employees is good for everyone.

It’s not just about avoiding the unnecessary cost of disengagement but gaining the benefits of engagement. While some organizations talk about improving employee engagement, ARM Group is actually doing it!

If you’re interested in creating a comprehensive engagement program, the six-factor model can help you think through various components like:

• Casting a vision for engagement to get buy-in
• Crafting engagement habits that are regular and routine
• Creating engagement drivers that speak to each employee
• Connecting employees together for the cause of engagement

Let’s turn the tide on engagement in your organization. Watch the video now!