Why Employee Engagement Matters, and How We Improved it at I’m a Puzzle

You're not alone in thinking that great corporate culture leads to better results. In fact, there is a proven link between happy employees and corporate success. Data shows that people working in positive work environments perform at higher levels.

In our experience, too, employee engagement can have a major impact on company performance. At Im-a-puzzle, we believe in a great work culture that empowers everyone to go the extra mile and do their best work. Doing this means we can create the best jigsaw puzzle platform for our users!

Why you should conduct employee engagement surveys

Let me tell you a story about the time we faced a "crisis" at work when we sold our last business. People kept leaving us as they lost their passion for coming to work. We had a growing number of resignations and staff members with poor morale. The office buzzed with tension, and we all felt the strain.

Our parent company Chegg suggested that we conduct an employee engagement survey to learn about the concerns of our team members.

We asked questions like:

• Are you proud to be a part of our team?
• Are you happy with your present remuneration and benefits package?
• Do you enjoy interacting with your coworkers?
• Are you appreciated for your professional achievements?
• Do you see yourself working here in a year?

The survey revealed a few interesting insights about our team:

• Employees wanted to know if they had job security.
• Employees wanted to know their growth prospects with us.
• Employees wanted to know how invested we are in their success.

After analyzing the results of an employee engagement survey, we put together a plan to address the grievances employees had raised. We monitored progress over the next year. When the administered the survey again, we found that our culture was strong again.

You can easily lose sight of culture if you don’t track it

Given the success we've had with employee engagement surveys in our former business, you would think it was only logical to use them from the start as we built out our new gaming business.

However, when two of our team members submitted their resignations, their departures made us realize how important it is to monitor employee engagement data. It was a good nudge we needed.

What we learnt from the survey

Our survey results showed that approximately 70 percent of our employees are engaged in their work —a decent score relative to industry standards.

We had some interesting feedback from the survey, though. For example, our team was interested in more transparency in our product roadmap. They were hopeful for growth opportunities and flexible working hours.

As a result, we started taking the time to explain our decisions to the team. For example, when we decided to add features where users can create and share their own puzzles, we made it a point to explain the reason behind these decisions.

We also learned that it's not so much a progression to leadership that our team craves, but instead the ability to continue learning. As a result, we pay for online courses for employees to take, improving their skills and making them more valuable here at the company.

We started a few other initiatives as a result of the employee engagement survey. We began:

• Developing a people-focused culture.
• Recognizing top performers and rewarded them.
• Mentoring employees.
• Offering flexible timing and remote work opportunities.
• Conducting employee engagement surveys more frequently.

Employee engagement data can unlock your real business potential

If you want to create an engaging culture that drives success and growth, employee engagement is a great starting point.

As we continued to take these surveys, we found that our employee engagement steadily improved, now up 15% frome when we started. In that same period, we’ve been more productive than ever adding new puzzles and features to im-a-puzzle. It all starts with listening.