The heart of employee engagement is, well, the heart of your employees. And the chances of their hearts being fully engaged are greatest when they know and believe in the mission and identity of your company.

According to Gallup, “A strong mission promotes brand differentiation, consumer passion and brand engagement. Unfortunately, only about four in 10 employees (41%) know what their company stands for and what makes its brand different from its competitors’. This lack of brand awareness is not a marketing problem; it is a mission-driven leadership and management problem.”

Conversely, the why of employee engagement has never been clearer. A Gallop report indicated employee engagement, among other performance outcomes, improves customer loyalty (12%), productivity (18%), product quality (60%) and, most motivating of all, improves profitability (16%). 

So where do you start?

The Heart of the Matter

We have repeatedly found that the employee narrative—why employees want to work at your company and why they want to stay—is strongest when it’s tied directly to the company mission. It’s practically a spiritual connection. Employees perform better when they know the work they do is connected to the very mission they signed up for. Do you make customers’ lives better? Connecting your employees’ day-to-day actions to what your company offers, and in the way it wants to offer it, is the very core of building engagement. 

Who Are You?

Your employees may already know this, but when have you last discussed? With so much upside on the table, the investment in primary (qualitative) and secondary (annual company HR surveys) research has never been more vital. And while a consistent engagement-level measurement is essential to tracking growth or decline, it’s equally imperative to know why employees connect or disconnect. Finding that link between passion about the company and the company mission itself will point everyone in the same direction and carry your company to greater engagement, productivity and return. 

Interested in creating an employee narrative that builds engagement? Domus can help.