Undoubtedly, employee engagement is crucial for business success. Gallup surveys indicate that a highly engaged workforce provides tangible benefits, including:

• Up to 43% lower turnover
• An 18% increase in productivity
• A 10% increase in customer loyalty
• A 23% increase in profitability

Though HR leaders recognize the value of engagement, many aren’t sure how to increase it. While there is value in employee engagement surveys, self-assessment can also be a powerful tool in keeping employees engaged and empowering them to do their best work. 

Consider the following reasons why self-assessment is vital for high engagement and discover how to implement this tool.

Why Self-Assessment Is Critical for Engagement

Self-assessments require employees to slow down for some deep self-reflection about how they’re doing. It provides an opportunity to evaluate and articulate their contributions to the company and identify their strengths and the areas needing improvement. 

When employees have to share this information with their managers, it opens avenues to discuss where they might need support or upskilling opportunities to shore up weaker areas. 

This can make them more comfortable taking the reins of their career and asking for help. It also allows them to actively participate in the goal-setting process, which gives them a sense of ownership and self-accountability for achieving them.

Ideas for Employee Self-Assessments

Developing practical self-assessments that will inspire critical thought and engagement can be challenging. Here are a few ideas to get employees to reflect on their performance and take a proactive role in their future development.

Performance and Achievements

These prompts can help employees reflect on their wins and the strategies they can use to keep working toward success:

• In light of company goals, list your most notable achievements in the past 12 months
• Describe three situations where you exceeded expectations in your role
• Name your “big goal” for the past year, three challenges you faced in achieving it, and one strategy you used to overcome each of them

In answering each, make sure employees can quantify their achievements to highlight business impact.

Role-Related Competencies

Skills-based questions help employees assess their strengths and weaknesses. They include prompts such as:

• On a scale of one to five, rate your proficiency in each key skill required for your role
• Provide examples of how you have used each key skill in your work in the past 12 months
• What is the ideal next step in your career path, and what three skills do you need to develop to get there?

When reviewing these questions with employees, keep the focus on what they can do to improve, not where they are falling short.

Team Collaboration

You can use these questions to help employees improve their ability to work with others:

• Describe how you actively contributed to team success on the last three projects
• How would you rate your ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams on a scale of one to five?
• What are three specific ways you promote positive team dynamics in your department?

These questions are critical for helping employees take responsibility for fostering a positive company culture.

Professional Development

These questions help employees set goals and dream about future possibilities:

• Review each performance goal and rate your progress in achieving them
• Set three new goals for the next 12 months and outline the action steps you need to take to achieve them
• What three professional development opportunities would you like to take this year to reach your goals?

Like the competency questions, it’s crucial to help employees maintain focus on the opportunities in front of them.

Core Values

These questions are less about performance and more about what drives employees to do their best:

• Which company value do you feel most strongly represents your work ethic?
• Name a time when you had to make a decision that conflicted with a core company value and describe how you handled it
• Provide specific examples of how you have demonstrated each core value in your work

The answers to these questions can help employees see where they’re most aligned with the company.

Keep Employees Engaged Through the Power of Self-Reflection and Accountability

When employees reflect on and take accountability for their performance, you help them take control of their careers and push themselves to meet their goals. As a human capital management firm, AssetHR understands the importance of empowering those who power your organization.

Not only can our team help you streamline routine HR responsibilities, but our expert consultants can help you navigate performance management and employee development in a way that brings results. Contact us to see how we can help you drive engagement, innovation, and organizational success.