Employee engagement is an HR buzzword – and it remains that way because so many employers still struggle to get it right.

After all, a recent and much-cited Gallup poll found just under one third (31.5%) of employees in the U.S. are engaged at work.  The fact that it was Gallup’s highest reading since 2000, when they first began offering the poll, screams that engagement is not getting much traction in today’s workplace.

So it’s a problem. But how do you fix it – and, maybe more importantly, how do you know if your employees are engaged at all?

According to Elaine Varelas, managing partner at Keystone Partners, engaged employees work “like owners,” bringing increased energy, innovation and productivity to the job. 

“It’s no wonder that organizations are looking for new and effective ways—and spending millions of dollars—to promote, encourage and measure employee engagement,” Varelas says.

She explains that it’s pretty easy to know engagement when you see it—that barista who is determined to make your skim mocha latte just right; and when we don’t—the cable employee who doesn’t care that you’re now two hours late for work.  What is more difficult to determine is how to engender or define engagement. 

Varelas notes that measuring engagement is an industry unto itself.  Many large organizations hire consultants to assess their employees’ commitment, productivity and passion.  Tens of thousands of dollars later, HR professions get a boatload of results, not-so-great news about their current engagement efforts, and strategies for scrapping what they’re already doing and starting over.  This information is often overwhelming and the work to fix it is daunting.  

Defining engagement

“In all of this costly measurement and evaluation, many organizations lose sight of a fundamental question: engaged to what?” she says.

Before asking, “Are our employees engaged?” and “How do we know?” Varelas says HR leaders need to push their peers, as in other company leaders, to define the engagement goal.  The organization must first understand the “what” of engagement and then communicate that to employees.  Typically, engagement stems from the company’s mission and culture, but it needs to be formed and morphed into its own force and must include where employees fit into the mix, she says.

One of Varelas’ favorite examples of engagement features a janitor at a Boston-area hospital.  He believed that his job was central to the mission of the organization: to help people get healthy and recover faster.  From an organizational perspective, the janitor’s job was just as important as a surgeon or an administrator. 

“His goal was clearly defined, his work was valued, and as such, he was highly engaged on the job,” she says.

Align recognition to engagement goals

In addition to understanding the “what” of engagement, organizations need to align their recognition and rewards systems to those goals.  The janitor must be recognized for upholding the hospital’s goals—keeping the hospital clean to promote healthy patients.  If hospital employees were only recognized for overtime and working long hours, there would be a disconnect between the goals and the rewards, which damages engagement. 

Varelas says HR professionals should look around their organization to identify their most engaged employees.  Who are they?  What qualities do they possess?  Where are they in the organization?  Beginning with your own employees and building off of their engagement is a less intimidating way to promote engagement throughout the organization.  

But the key may lie with managers.  According to other Gallup research, managers take on the primary responsibility for employees’ level of engagement.  Managers who empower employees, give them challenges and opportunities, partner with them to solve problems, and value their contributions produce engaged employees. 

Varelas says this means rooting out managers of engaged employees in an organization.  What are their most significant management skills?  What makes people want to work hard for them?  What is it about the employee/manager relationship that is encouraging engagement?  Who can manage engagement best at your organization?

“It isn’t enough to discover the qualities a manager must possess to foster engagement,” she says. “Employers must also give managers the tools and training they need to keep employees engaged and them hold managers responsible for follow through.“

Expectations around engagement should be clear, measured and rewarded.  Employee engagement functions should be a part of a manager’s core assessed roles, not something to be treated as a “bonus” skill. 

“Managers hold the key to employee engagement, but need the skills, support, and backing of the organization to be successful,” she says.

While hiring a consultant to determine employee engagement levels is an option, Varelas says it isn’t a necessity.  Instead of trying to institute externally-derived engagement strategies, for example, HR can build off of its own internal successes. 

“By working with managers to promote and measure engagement strategies with their employees, HR can develop engagement strategies that align more closely with an organization’s culture, mission and goals,” Varelas concludes.