As the economy begins the long process of recovering from supply chain problems and inflation, it’s more important than ever to keep employees engaged at work. Engaged employees perform better, stick around longer, and ultimately generate success for their organizations. Keeping employees engaged, however, can prove difficult. Offering flexible schedules, plenty of perks, great benefits, and opportunities for growth are only the tip of the iceberg. But the best course of action to take is crafting a positive company culture. In order to keep employees engaged, employers need to continually evaluate their needs and find new and innovative ways to help them succeed. Here are five strategies to increase engagement in the workplace.
Transparency
Transparency and expectations are important vectors for being successful. Please like to know what they are supposed to be doing, where they fit in the company structure, and what’s expected. It may surprise you to realize that employees want to know what they’re expected to do at work. Giving them the rundown on their job roles and supporting them in doing the work can make them feel like they’re part of the company and that their voice matters. Transparency and clear communication is critical to engaging employees and helping them realize their contributions matter. When expectations get laid out clearly and concisely, employees then understand the value of their role. Transparency Works handed hand with communication as well, empowering them to provide feedback or suggestions on what to do within the job role. Ultimately, two way communication and transparency creates an atmosphere of high morale where everyone is invested in the company’s success.
Recognition
Recognition is one of the most powerful and effective tools you have to promote engagement, improve retention, and shape culture at your company. Building a culture of frequent, timely, and specific recognition is much easier than you might think. It begins with facilitating your team to recognize each other on a social level. This might be in the form of a quick message acknowledging amazing work they performed or a brief check-in with a member of the team for some feedback. Recognition can also come in the form of rewards and rewards programs. Employee recognition platforms can do it all. They allow you to reward employees with things like gift cards, meals out at restaurants, or even cash prizes once in a while. They ultimately help everyone stay motivated at work and build each other up with regular use. Recognition is easy with tools from companies like Workhuman, who offer a comprehensive array of recognition programs suitable for any business. Whether you choose to go with their vast array of business tools or not, instituting recognition is critical to your continued success as a company.
360 Degree Feedback
When you want to improve engagement, it can help to tweak the feedback process at your organization. Instead of doing a biannual review or a performance evaluation, consider using 360 degree feedback. This feedback’s style is a process where everyone who works with the employee provides feedback. This includes coworkers, managers, direct reports, stakeholders, and leaders. It works well because it helps employees understand the perception they give to others. That way, they can identify improvement areas, understand where they’re doing incredibly well, and find Opportunities to improve their skills. Ultimately 360 degree feedback empowers people to grow and learn, making it a useful method of improving employee engagement across the entire organization.
Pulse Surveys
Most organizations spend a great deal of time and resources looking for ways to improve their operations and better understand their customers. But part of that process should involve striving to understand their employees as well. Using short surveys, administered at regular intervals is an effective method to do this. Colloquially known as pulse surveys, these short questionnaires can provide keen insights. Pulse surveys are a great way to show employees that you care about their opinions. Use them to track engagement, determine the efficacy of existing policies, and pave the way for future policy decisions at the company. These surveys should only take a respondent about ten minutes or so to complete, so keep them short and sweet (maybe five to fifteen questions at the most). And be sure to keep your questions appropriate, easy to answer, and avoid leading questions as much as possible.
Anniversary Celebrations
Another tried and true method of boosting engagement is celebrating anniversaries. Employees will often decide if they’re going to stay with a company within the first year. Many good employees leave within that time frame. By that time, they’ve already built an impression of your organization and may decide to leave for some reason. Celebrating and highlighting their anniversary, however, might encourage them to stay. Anniversary celebrations can build team morale, create a more solid team, and make employees feel like their work is valued by upper management. Anniversaries and milestones can often be connected to a broader employee recognition initiative and most recognition software solutions incorporate the process into their platforms. For an anniversary recognition to be meaningful, managers need to do it authentically and mean what they say. A simple dinner invitation, a plaque, or some other type of recognition to mark the anniversary can go a long way toward retaining employees. Be sure to celebrate milestones and anniversaries often and consistently across the entire organization. That way your employees and team know that you care about them and want them to work with you for a long time.
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