How committed and satisfied are your employees with their overall stay in your company? Are they engaged or disengaged?
Employee engagement is quite difficult to understand mainly because it’s an intangible concept. It can be defined as the degree to which employees are motivated by, passionate about and invested in their work and the company as a whole.
Engaged employees believe in your business. They want to improve their work and are willing to do what it takes to help your company succeed. On the other hand, the disengaged have little passion for their jobs and come to work primarily to get their pay.
Having a thorough employee engagement program that is tailored to your employees’ unique needs is crucial to your long-term success.
Let’s look at some of the most widely used and effective employee engagement strategies that your company can adopt.
1. Promote your core values and build a positive culture.
Your core values are the heart of your company culture and they should be explained fully to every employee on the very first day of work.
Do you know the emotional climate of your company and how your employees feel in general? Is your workforce warm, friendly, and smiling? Or is it tight-lipped, stressed, and whining?
You can assess the general morale through an employee satisfaction survey, stay interviews, and direct observation. Encourage collaboration between teams and support making social connections.
HR must explain to employees your company’s vision and mission, and let them understand how their individual work helps to further that mission. This gives your employees a sense of purpose and belonging that are essential for a culture of engagement.
2. Create career paths and provide opportunities for growth.
Employees are most likely to stay at their job longer if they see that the company is investing in their career. Various surveys show that providing employees opportunities to cultivate their talents and skills through learning and development initiatives keeps them engaged.
3. Reward good performance and behavior.
Regularly showing employees that you appreciate their efforts is a simple gesture that goes a long way in making them feel valued. Employees become engaged when they see that their work is valuable to the company, more so when they are rewarded for good performance and behavior.
Managers must recognize top performers for their achievements and may opt to reward them with cash, free day off, gift certificate to their favorite restaurant or department store – whatever that makes sense for them and aligns with the company’s core values. We can also provide a platform for them to be acknowledged by their peers, making them feel respected by their team mates.
Rewards and recognition program makes your employees want to work harder and can solve a lot of your pain points, including high turnover, low morale, or a negative company culture. Make it a priority and make the act of recognizing a social event where everyone in the company can get involved in. Recognition is the leading driver of employee engagement.
4. Foster employee participation.
Develop your employees’ trust and confidence in your management by bringing them into the loop as frequently as possible. They should know what’s happening behind the scenes and be informed about decisions that directly affect them in a timely manner.
Allow employees to share their ideas with all levels of the organization and to have open conversations about work and other social matters.
Lastly, encourage employees to recognize each other’s accomplishments. This will make them feel that they are empowered to give praise and express their thoughts and feelings. The more you encourage them to express themselves, the more they will feel valued and engaged.
5. Provide strategic compensation.
A proven strategy to retain and motivate your high performing employees is to use Pay-for-Performance programs that give incentives to deserving employee and the whole team. You can also adopt competency-based pay to encourage your employees to keep on acquiring new and additional knowledge and skills to enhance their performance.
6. Practice good management.
Good management leads to healthy employer-employee relationship. Employees need managers they can respect: competent and motivated by a desire to help their subordinates reach their full potential; managers who have detailed knowledge about the company and the industry they are in; managers who possess a growth mindset; managers who are honest and who lead by example.
Who Should Be in Charge of Employee Engagement?
So who is responsible for implementing employee engagement in your organization?
To promote a culture of engagement, HR should take the lead in designing, measuring and evaluating proactive workplace policies and procedures that help attract and retain talent who possess the competencies necessary for growth and sustainability.
Managers play a key role in employee engagement, creating a respectful and trusting relationship with their staff, exemplifying company values and setting clear expectations for the day-to-day business transactions.
HR can engage in coaching sessions with managers on employee engagement strategies, ensuring that they monitor employee progress while constantly giving feedback.
HR and managers must work hand-in-hand to ensure the success of your company’s employee engagement initiatives.