22 Entrepreneurs Thoughts on Employee Engagement

Groove Management’s Brian Formato shares his thoughts on employee engagement.

I work with many entrepreneurs and start-ups in setting their culture.  One of the biggest mistakes that organizations make is that they confuse employee satisfaction with employee engagement. These are two very different things, yet many employee engagement surveys are set up wrong and they measure satisfaction rather than engagement.  I define employee satisfaction as what you get from a company. This includes your salary, benefits, work environment, attention from your manager, the opportunity for advancement.  Employee engagement is what you give to the company. It is the discretionary effort that an employee puts in.  If an employee feels strongly linked to the purpose of the organization, the customers and their peers, they will be more engaged. To make it simple.  Satisfaction is what you get and engagement is what you give. Entrepreneurs as founders are engaged because they view their work as their life calling.  They are passionate and saw an opportunity that led them to take the risk and start a company. They must realize that everyone they hire may not feel the same way. Therefore, it is important to outline core values or guiding principles for a company and to use those as an interview guide when hiring people.  There must be a cultural fit in order for employees to be highly engaged.