Google is a highly admired company worldwide. The tech giant has been a trendsetter in technological innovation and creating a work environment where employees are highly engaged and free to express their creativity. In fact, Google’s employee support has increased employee satisfaction by 37 percent, according to a study from Warwick University. Research shows that there is a connection between employee engagement and happiness and that happier employees tend to produce the best results.

Of course, each organisation has its own context and culture. Therefore, it would be remiss to say that all companies should attempt to replicate Google’s strong employee satisfaction trends. Instead, each organisation should focus on three fundamental pillars of employee engagement that form the core of employee satisfaction, regardless of the firm’s unique characteristics. These three pillars are participation (P1), persuasion (P2) and praise (P3), and together, they form the fundamental metric of The RewardCo Engagement Score (ES)—an indicator of business performance that can be generated for each individual, each team, or each business unit. The higher you keep this Engagement Score, the higher your company’s productivity will be.

Participation

A study led by psychologists Peter Butali and David Njoroge shows that employee participation has a significant impact on organisational performance. Indeed, for the company to perform well, employees should be present and involved in achieving the company’s goals, and should feel free to provide the firm with feedback. All three aspects are key measures of an employee’s participation, and an increased employee participation is believed to increase an organisation’s productivity, profitability and market share, according to a study published in the Journal of Management Development in 2013.

Employee participation is important, but how can it be encouraged if employees lack motivation? Employees have ever-changing needs and expectations of an organization, which must be met to encourage meaningful participation. Intrinsic motivation develops within employees when their opinions are valued, career planning is encouraged, work conditions are pleasant, and their efforts are praised.

RewardCo provides a tool that helps measure employee participation through commentary, attendance at training sessions and events, and other areas of participation that are relevant to the organisation.

However, the participation pillar does not work in isolation. Instead, it is measured in conjunction with the persuasion and praise pillars to provide a more complete picture of an employee’s level of intrinsic engagement.

Persuasion

Accountability is another crucial factor to an organisation’s success. In fact, a study from 2016 shows that “the levels of accountability manifested in staffing, performance evaluation and compensation all positively and significantly affect organisational performance.” Persuasion, in this sense, seeks to answer the question, “How likely is it that this employee will successfully complete tasks?”

RewardCo measures employee persuasion through the use of the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) module. Managers can track KPI completion progress, and assign points that can be used for rewards. Employees can also create their own KPIs to help them break down large tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks.

Praise

Finally, rewards and recognition positively impact employee performance as well. This study, published in the International Journal of Science and Research in 2013, shows that employees who receive less rewards are less motivated. Indeed, employees want their efforts to be acknowledged and valued by their supervisors.

A promotion is an obvious form of praise, but employers can also show their recognition and gratitude towards their employees with all sorts of small gestures that show their appreciation. For example, they can elect an employee of the month each month, or set milestones and notice and congratulate when an employee reaches the next one. These gestures may seem to the employers like they are not a big deal, but it can make a huge difference for the employees, especially since worship is often disregarded in the workplace.

Praise, a factor that is particularly hard to measure due to its subjectivity, is measured on RewardCo’s platform in several ways. Employees can commend their peers, and nominate them for awards or badges, for example. As for managers, they can monitor award nominations, select the most deserving recipients, and issue awards.

The Weighted Average of Participation, Persuasion and Praise

RewardCo provides a quantifiable way to track employee engagement using the three pillars. No pillar is measured on its own. Instead, an employee’s overall engagement score is a weighted average of the engagement score for each pillar. Employees want to participate, meet their KPIs, and be recognised for what they do. RewardCo’s platform provides the tool you need to track these needs in a meaningful way.

In the long run, if these needs are well tracked and met, the employee engagement and overall happiness of the employees will benefit the company, just like it has been benefitting Google. By acknowledging and taking action on its employees’ needs, the firm is now one of the most powerful companies in the world, and has set new standards in the tech industry and beyond. As an employer, don’t you dream of a similar success story?