CPeO Natalie Matalon about Employee Engagement

How important is employee engagement and what would be your advice on how to optimize it?

Employee engagement is not just important; it is the lifeblood of successful organizations. Our greatest strength lies within our people and creating the conditions that allow them to thrive is key to leveraging their capabilities, maximizing contributions and achieving long-term results.

Still, optimizing engagement is highly complex, as there is no one-size-fits-all approach that works consistently across the board. We think about it as a delicate balance across multiple elements. It's akin to orchestrating a symphony, where each instrument plays its part to create a harmonious whole.

Of particular importance is ensuring strong leadership that sets a compelling vision, enables meaningful work that has an impact, focusing on recognition as well as feedback, and fostering a sense of belonging. Striking the right balance in these areas can transform your organization into an epicenter of engagement, where every individual thrives and flourishes. The pursuit of perfection may be unattainable, but it's the commitment to relentless progress that truly matters.

Engagement seems to decrease with company size. What does that mean for fast growing businesses?

The observation that engagement may decrease as a company grows does not surprise me. It's often the case that the natural harmony that is created across engagement elements when the company is small, gets disrupted as it scales and grows. As the number of employees increases, leadership becomes more complex, and strategies that work successfully on a smaller scale may no longer work. Autonomy is often disrupted as leaders feel the need to maintain a sense of control where visibility is no longer clear, and moving fast is then hindered by new layers of decision making and controls. This is why it is so imperative to invest in leadership development and ensure that the skills required to lead larger teams effectively are quickly acquired.

For instance, consider the importance of meaningful work and personal impact. Feeling that your role matters, that it is critical for the success of the mission and that your unique skills and expertise are pivotal to team success. These aspects significantly boost engagement, yet as an organization grows, it’s frequent that team members can feel lost in the shuffle. Strong leadership ensures sound organizational design – it avoids role duplication and maximizes individual potential by enabling stretch opportunities that allow skills to grow and evolve.

The importance of recognition and feedback cannot be overstated. When you work hard and get no input on your performance in return – whether it is positive recognition or constructive feedback – your work will feel less fulfilling. Ensuring mechanisms are in place for this despite growth and direct visibility into one’s work is critical. And of equal importance is creating and authentically maintaining a psychologically safe environment where structured feedback is encouraged. If an organization fails to create such an environment, it could negatively impact the magic of engagement.

These factors are often naturally embedded in small businesses, without needing dedicated communication efforts, overly complex structures, or programs. In larger companies, however, it is more challenging to make every employee feel valued and integral. But let's remember, every employee matters. If they did not, we would not have hired them. It is therefore crucial to invest in strategies and actions that make every team member feel significant.

Our research reveals a strong correlation between high employee engagement and a clear sense of purpose. How does this insight resonate with, and impact, The Stepstone Group's approach?

Today, more than ever, individuals need to relate not only to their organization's mission, but also to its societal contribution, and to the relevance of their specific role within it. The Stepstone Group's commitment is to make societies work better. We unlock opportunities for people to join great teams and for companies to attract the right talent. With shrinking workforces becoming the norm, our mission is more critical than ever – securing 'the right job for everyone'. This isn't just a goal, it's a responsibility that our leader's shoulder, ensuring that this powerful purpose reverberates throughout our organization, resonating with every employee, each and every day.

Following our broader mission, we delve into the essence of our organization - our values. At The Stepstone Group we have shaped our values through participative processes, embedding them at the core of our daily operations. One example is our commitment to foster a culture with a revolutionary heart. We firmly believe in the power of challenging work and personal growth that arises from overcoming these challenges.

Inclusion is another fundamental tenet we stand by. We radically include fostering a sense of belonging, where individuals can bring their whole selves to work, regardless of gender, age, or other characteristics. This is not only essential for engagement but also enriches our organization with diversity of backgrounds and perspectives.

Still, all our values and actions are underpinned by a crucial factor: meaningful work. This sense of purpose, which I spoke about at the beginning, is what binds our employees to the broader mission and the societal impact we're striving for. Our employees need to feel that their contributions are significant and that they are part of something bigger. Without this sense of purpose, everything else falls flat. This is why we, at The Stepstone Group, continually strive to ensure that our strong sense of purpose is not only understood but truly lived by every member of our organization.

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