In reply to Natasha:

Hi Natasha

I'd start by asking the question of what they [your manager/senior manager] are hoping to achieve? Is there a problem they're trying to solve (i.e. staff are not productive enough? High turnover?) or are they just trying to establish a measurement of where you are now, so that you can measure progress?

You may already have some data from exit interviews which you could examine?

You could as others have suggested use a survey or external provider for an assessment. Or run a focus group/employee forum with representatives or a specific group if there is a particular group where problems have been identified. It depends on your available budget and the culture of the organisation.

There are lots of ways forward but unless you know what you're trying to measure or achieve, it could be a fairly meaningless exercise!

In reply to Natasha:

Lots of organisations out there can help you build an engagement survey......

In reply to Natasha:

Hi Natasha
It sounds to me that this is learning more towards an employee value proposition which should include metrics on understanding how engaged your employees are feeling. This is usually done in a number of ways including engagement surveys, monitoring changes in employee behaviours including sickness/leavers etc. Happy to chat if helpful.

In reply to Benjamin:

Thanks Benjamin, We decided to carry out he Great Place to Work survey again from which I have previously developed the EVP. I also wondered whether I should look at any other factors or metrics which could contribute to high levels of absenteeism in a particular division of the business.

In reply to Ray:

We're using great place to work again for the engagement piece. What I think I'm hearing from everyone is that productivity and engagement are separate pieces and should be measured differently.

In reply to Polly:

I've come to the realisation that I need to approach this differently. Engagement is one piece and then productivity (linked to absenteeim and turnover etc) should be measured differently. I'll reintroduce the exit interviews. We have one area of the business that scores very low on our engagement surveys and also suffers with high employee turnover and absenteeism rates. I was trying to see if I could link some sort of measurement as the engagement survey doesn't address the days lost/productivity issue.

In reply to Natasha:

Do you monitor the reasons why people are absent? We know that the majority fall into two categories, Mental Health and Muscular-skeletal. Depending on how easy it is for you to get accurate data, it could be worthwhile understanding where the main risks are in your business how they are linked to age/role etc and how this compares to averages. You can then invest focused initiatives in the right areas. Aon have survey data on Benefits and Trends which is free as well as health data etc.

In reply to Natasha:

Hello @Natasha,
The CIPD in 2013, defined employee engagement as “being positively present during the performance of work by willingly contributing intellectual effort, experiencing positive emotions and meaningful connections to other”.
To measure engagement will therefore require employees informing you of their work experience and how they feel or felt with regards to working in your organisation. This kind of information is typically gathered through the use of Employee Surveys to capture 'Employee Voice'. You can then see how the collated data survey results changes over time as management implement changes in response to each survey. Note however, that employees have to be willing to respond to the survey and truthfully so to make it meaningful and worth the while.
All the best Natasha.
Felix