In most organizations I have worked in engagement (or job satisfaction as it was formerly called) was measured annually or bi-annually. Generally you got a long list of questions to complete online. About 4-6 month later you were invited to a focus group to discuss the results, and if you were lucky you could become part of a real working party to work on improvement of one of the detected weak points of your organization (often something to do with communications).
Some survey providers have shortened the survey to around 10 key questions that really matter to determine the engagement of an employee. Gallup is an example, they use a 12 question survey. I really like number 5: “Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?” and number 10: “Do you have a best friend at work?”.
In the end engagement is very personal and situational. In the current phase of my life my main engagement drivers are probably different from the ones when I just started working (“How can I climb the career ladder as quick as possible?”).
After some introspection I came up with my current 15 most important engagement drivers (not necessarily in order of importance).
- Are the values of the company I work for aligned with my personal values?
- Can I have a big impact on the results?
- Can I influence the direction of the organization?
- Can I influence the composition of my own team?
- Can I work on innovative and breakthrough projects?
- Is the organization non-bureaucratic and non-hierarchical?
- Can I stay out of formal meetings as much as possible?
- Can I work with people I can have fun with?
- Can I work with talented young people?
- Is there an allergy for mediocrity?
- Can I work independently without too much interference from my boss?
- Can I work internationally?
- Do I learn enough?
- Am I not locked up in the traditional HR domain?
- Can I have fun?
