Are Scorecards and Metrics Killing Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement is a critical factor determining the company's productivity, competitive edge, growth and success. Engaged employees are more likely to give their best for the business goals and teams to achieve their target in the given time. Though it is crucial to enhance employee engagement, many companies often need help to engage their employees.

One of the major reasons behind that is the dependence on unsuitable employee engagement metrics and scorecards. Companies need to devise a measurement system to determine the degree to which their employees are engaged, but a wrong metric system can do more harm than good. This raises the question, "Are scorecards and metrics killing employee engagement?" To find the answer to this question, let's first understand what scorecards are and how they work.

What are employee engagement scorecards?

The employee engagement scorecards offer the guiding principle for team leaders and managers to achieve better employee engagement. It is a supervising method that helps leaders and management professionals assess and review employees' performance and engagement. It consists of a detailed list of essential qualities, daily tasks, and skills that employees need to possess in order to fulfil their responsibilities more effectively. Supervisors and managers use these metrics to assess employee performance.

The employee engagement scorecards consist of various key performance indicators across various aspects of the business, such as Expected quota or results, Key responsibilities, Skills, Specific duties and Core values. The scorecards help managers link these categories into a single view and make informed decisions. Choosing the right metrics from these factors and ensuring meaningful linkages would lead to better decision-making is essential. Unfortunately, many decision-makers need to look at the bigger picture and focus on the right aspects. This is one reason why scorecards may need to be more effectively measured by employee productivity.

Why scorecards and metrics may not be effective as employee engagement measures?

HR scorecards were initially derived from the "Balanced Scorecard" theory by Arthur M. Schneiderman, a renowned management consultant. The end goal of the HR scorecards was to strengthen the employee-employer relationship, create a productive work culture and improve the bottom line by establishing an effective linkage between the organizational goals and HR activities.

For example, Employee turnover is one of the HR scorecards which helps to evaluate how company turnover affects the company's profits, the cost of replacing employees and how the turnover affects employees' morale. It also measures the impact on the company's strategic goals to establish a productive work environment. But there are certain areas where scorecards may not be an effective strategy for assessing productivity and employee engagement. Following are some of the drawbacks of employee scorecards that make them unsuitable for measuring employee engagement.

1. Intangibles

Though scorecards can effectively measure the tangible impact, they may not help measure the intangible impact of HR activities and employee productivity. It surely raises questions over the credibility of the HR department as they may not be able to present the data on intangibles like employee issues solved or productivity. It can further hinder the HR department's ability to prove its worth to the organization. The exact things that the HR department is responsible for measuring are the things that cannot be measured with scorecards. Hence it may not be useful to determine employee engagement.

2. Accuracy

When employees leave a company, they are known to fudge workplace surveys and exit interviews. That means the scorecards that measure employee sentiment in the company may not be accurate and negatively affect further decisions. Though the leaving employees may not do it deliberately, their distorted answers regarding the employment experience can affect the credibility and effectiveness of the HR team, their managers and supervisors. It can also go the way.

The leaving employee may also say they are happy with the arrangements in the company, but in reality, they are dissatisfied with certain aspects of the company. It can leave the problems undetected as the employee doesn't report them for various reasons. Therefore, the scorecards may not be 100% accurate in measuring employee satisfaction and engagement.

3. Interpretation

The HR scorecard information and results should be interpreted by HR practitioners and experts who are well-versed in the implications of workplace metrics and their impact. If an outside consultant synthesizes or interprets the HR scorecard results, it can lead to inaccurate and misinterpreted data. Moreover, HR scorecards are more effective if they are produced by the in-house HR staff, but the in-house staff may not be trained or have sufficient knowledge to interpret the scorecard data.

These are reasons why HR scorecards and the involved metric may not be effective in measuring employee satisfaction and engagement. Then what's the solution? Read ahead to find out.

How to improve employee satisfaction and engagement in your company?

Every company wants employees who are motivated and excited to come to work and are always on their toes to contribute to the team. Engaged and happy employees are more satisfied with their work and always ready to contribute. Unfortunately, companies do not take any steps to engage their employees and satisfy them. Thankfully, some simple steps can significantly impact employee satisfaction and engagement. These activities can create curiosity and satisfaction in the employees' minds and motivate them more. Here are some of those activities.

1. Employee engagement platform

An employee engagement platform can be a great initiative companies take to bring all the companies together and share ideas, thoughts and opinions. The employee engagement platform can be a social platform for employees to share their achievements and celebrate the success of others. It can also be an effective way to share essential updates like new hires, employee promotions, company vacations, employee birthdays, work anniversaries, etc.

This platform can help companies to make their employees more included and valued. The employees will feel that their contribution to the team is acknowledged, appreciated and celebrated. Instead of designing such a platform from scratch, you can hire an HR consultant to prove an employee engagement platform for your company.

2. Team building activities

Team building activities effectively promote teamwork and trust among the team members. The team-building activities can be played in the form of games that will promote the participation of all the team members. It also helps all the team members to get familiar with each other. The activities are designed in a way the participants have to trust each other with a particular responsibility or task. This trust and accountability also positively reflect on their work.

3. Workplace parties

Parties, get-togethers, and team outings make the team members feel valued and a part of the team. When employees come together not for work purposes, they share their ideas, socialize and get to know each other. Therefore companies can host various workplace parties to boost engagement among the team. Some party ideas can include:

• Diwali party
• Traditional day
• Halloween party
• Potluck meals
• Costume party

Employee engagement is undoubtedly an essential part of company success. But HR scorecards and metrics may not be effective in measuring employee engagement and satisfaction and their impact on business success. Therefore companies must try various employee engagement activities, such as offering an employee engagement platform to promote employee participation and engagement.

Teamnest's employee engagement platform is an effective way to achieve higher employee engagement. It is an online forum where employees can share their ideas, share important updates and recognize and reward achievement, which helps to promote healthy competition and teamwork. The team members can also create individual channels dedicated to a specific topic to discuss ideas and contributions.

Talk with Teamnest's Employee Engagement Expert today @ +91 913-786-6322 or email at sales@teamnest.com.