Get to know the SES – Squad Engagement Scale, a tool designed by Datum to measure the level of engagement of tech teams
Globally, employee engagement levels have been a cause for concern. According to a Gallup research, nearly 85% of professionals are not engaged at work. This means that collaborators are no creating bonds with organizations that go beyond aspects foreseen in their contracts. The report also reveals that companies with a high turnover rate – such as those in technology – would have 59% less turnover if their employees were engaged.
In other words, not worrying about engagement rates and allowing yourself to lose good professionals without thinking about preventive actions causes technology companies to lose their main differential: the human factor. For those reasons, the evaluation of the survey’s data leads us to a few questions: what characterizes, exactly, an engaged team and what are the attributes that can be evaluated to help this analysis?
Measuring team engagement
We have talked about the challenges that companies – and leaders, especially – face when it comes to engaging their teams. Most of the time, the responsibilities of a routine based on ever faster demands and deliveries makes it harder for people management to be a priority. Thus, the ones primarily responsible for the results – the employees – end up in the background.
So that leaders don’t have to always look at the rearview mirror and make decisions based on data that doesn’t necessarily reflect the present (as staff turnover indexes), they need to, first, think of methods to measure engagement. However, defining what it is, in fact, an engaged team, may seem a little abstract and end up making management even harder.
At Datum, to help leaders on this mission, we have created a model that aims to determine categories that configure an engagement index. Here they are:
- Agile methods and responsiveness
- Cadence and continuity
- Team motivation
- Communication
- Added value
- Quality and delivery
- Sustainability
- Purpose
Get to know the Squad Engagement Scale
From these categories, we improved our method and developed a tool to determine how engaged tech teams are. The SES – Squad Engagement Scale is a questionnaire applied monthly to the employees by our mentoring team.
But, so that you can also apply it to your squad, we elaborated a shareable version. To access it, click here!
