Can you imagine what it would be like if most or all of your employees enjoyed training, asked questions, joined in work-related discussions, attended office parties, and seemed excited about work? Would a highly-engaged workforce not transform your organization? Sure, it would. A high level of employee engagement not only helps create positive company culture; it also increases performance and employee satisfaction/loyalty. Also, some companies having an extremely engaged workforce report TWICE the annual income of other companies. Clearly, employee engagement is a big deal!
Implement THESE Tips to See a Change In Your Workforce’s Level of Engagement
Employee engagement, desirable as it is, tends to be elusive. Some employers put their heart and soul into workforce engagement strategies without getting the results they want. This is understandably frustrating. However, implementing the following tips can bring about a real change:
1. Offer opportunities for advancement – Does your organization give its employees room to grow? Does it encourage them to have professional goals? Are you and/or other leaders available to talk with employees about their desires for advancement? If not, you won’t get very far with your employee engagement efforts. Zeynep Ilgaz, writer for The Huffington Post’s business blog, says, “It’s difficult for employees to maintain motivation when they feel like their positions are stagnant. There should be a clear path by which employees can climb the ranks to greater responsibility and higher compensation.” Your employees will start to bloom when you focus on creating or emphasizing advancement opportunities.
2. Show appreciation – When was the last time you wrote one of your employees a thank you card or offered them a small token of appreciation (for example, a gift card or a couple of movie tickets)? If it has been a while, it’s possible that your employees feel unappreciated. Showing appreciation is an underused, low-cost, low-effort method of drastically boosting employee engagement. Some simple ways you might show your workers gratitude include having a casual dress day, making arrangements to have an employee’s car cleaned and offering verbal affirmation. If you aren’t routinely showing employee appreciation, this should be the first strategy you implement.
3. Keep things lighthearted – What words describe your company’s culture? More than likely, ‘lighthearted’ isn’t one of them. Most employees don’t associate work with fun, but those who do are probably a lot more engaged with their job. Although your employees have important, perhaps even crucial, duties, it is still important for you to create a fun workplace atmosphere for them. You’d be surprised how doing small things like acknowledging birthdays with cake and ice cream, decorating work facilities for holidays and having exciting company-wide contests can make a big difference to your staff members.
Employee disengagement will bring your company and workforce down. Implement one or two of the strategies listed in this article to incite change in the way your employees feel about your organization. Things will only get better from here!
Share this Post