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Having a tailored engagement strategy ensures employees are motivated to deliver results for themselves and for the Organization.
Study found that nothing engages workers more than making progress in meaningful work.
Numerous surveys have shown that only a third of UK workers feel engaged with their job, a figure which places us ninth for engagement levels out of the twelve largest economies. Experts believe this contributes directly to lower levels of productivity in the UK, where output per worker is 15% lower than the rest of the G7.
Employee engagement starts at the top Most studies show that a key employee engagement driver is the actions of senior leaders. Leaders must demonstrate support for an engaged company culture by personally living their company’s values.
Communicate clear goals and expectations The majority of employees want to be a part of a compelling future, want to know what is most important at work and what excellence looks like.
Build Real goals Set actual goals using direct language and be sure employees understand them. Ask employees if they have any specific goals of their own.
See Your Employees as People Not as a Number Feeling valued, confident, inspired, enthused and empowered are the key emotions that lead to employee engagement. These emotions can’t be fostered unless you build strong relationships with your employees and by seeing them as human beings.
Trust Employers should provide openness and transparency when dealing with workers.
Recreation Demonstrate appreciation. Mixing in the occasional opportunity for families and their employees to gather and enjoy a company-sponsored event can add a deeper touch in that the expense.
Listen If you give your workers a forum for feedback, you may not always like what you hear but it’s important you listen and then act to show your commitment to improving engagement.
Create office competitions Sometimes, simply making performance public knowledge can be enough to motivate your employees. Taking a metric like deals closed and simply display it in a public place. The person with the best numbers at the end of the period gets a prize. Watch your employees go the extra mile to reach the top of that list and earn their gold star.
Recognise & Reward Everybody likes a pat on the back every once in a while, so make it a point to recognise employees for their successes, both big and small. Rewards such a gift card, a voucher, etc.
Actively engaged Employees are fully aware and secure in the knowledge that their managers really know them and care about them as human beings.
Get the facts and be open to them
The more a leader can see the world through their employees’ eyes, the greater the opportunity for honest two-way communications.
Weekly one-on-one’s
Meet with each of your employees once a week for 30 minutes. During this time, ask employees to raise concerns and provide feedback on their job satisfaction.
Flexibility Flex-time allows employees to modify the hours they work and a compressed workweek allows them to accomplish weekly work in four days instead of five.
Give people autonomy Help people understand the goal you’re working towards, and inspire them about why that’s the goal. Then give them the trust and ownership to determine how they can help you achieve it. You can offer support and advice, and the opportunity to demonstrate their talent and value they can offer.
By aligning employee and company goals, and providing real-time visibility so employees know whether they are achieving them, both employee and company performance will benefit.
So how do you keep staff happy?
