Get those employees engaged. Because you and they are more than worth it!

 

Employees engaged with their employer and role are more productive and happier. That is becoming a clearly accepted benefit of business to those that dig in to the subject to better understand it. Still some leaders and managers may not be quite clear yet as there are so aspects of running a business to consider at the same time it’s not surprising to some it can seem an overwhelming potential initiative to undertake.

It can be a difficult subject to decipher, particularly if you don’t quite understand the value or recognise the overall importance it can have on your company yet.

Firstly, getting employees engaged, or even the term employee engagement, what does that mean anyway? Engaged employees is not just a phrase or metric to report on, and it’ s not just about making your staff happy or satisfied with their role or the company overall.  An engaged workforce is one which encourages employees to commit to you as an employer and to commit to their colleagues too and the purpose that you are all trying to collectively deliver to your customers, whomever they may be.

Secondly, successful and sustainable employee engagement can increase productivity dramatically, if you get it just right!  With that as an incentive, why wouldn’t you want to jump on board and have your employees jump on board too!

Giving employees one-way periodic surveys, beanbags, an extra hour off at the end of the day or cakes in the kitchen, does not counter for an engaged workforce.  In fact, it shows employees that you probably don’t fully realise (or worse don’t sincerely care) to truly value their role and views in the company or the relationship that you have with them. Employees engaged with the business want to tell you as leaders and influencers their thoughts and ideas to improve the business for everyone  inside and outside the business not just for themselves or their own personal gain.

Employee engagement builds a working environment which encourages employees to stay in their current role, or even move to another one within the same company because the company fits emotionally, mentally and physically. It sits with the head, heart and hands if you will. Where purpose and belonging meet development and personal growth.

It is a culture where all employees whichever level are encourage and invited to communicate openly, respectfully and effectively with colleagues and managers about the big and even little yet just as important things that make a difference to the top and bottom line for the business and the employees within it.

A culture that fosters employee engagement represents the opportunity for their voice to be heard and their views acted on.  A positively engaged workforce is one which gives employees more than just a job; it creates a trusting and supportive environment in which employees can work, communicate and operate, effectively and transparently.

According to Gallup, only 32% of American employees feel engaged in their workplace, leaving a whopping 70% of staff feeling disengaged!  Chartered Institute of Personal Development, a professional UK HR body, showed that almost one in four workers in the UK were looking to leave their jobs because of managers failing to engage and retain staff.

With technology advances, employee expectations of an engaged environment are greater than ever, and the demand for tools and systems that allow them to do their jobs well and up to their own expectation in their workplace and from their employer has intensified.

If improving employee engagement is on your radar, (which if you are reading this article we hope it is) think about how you can bring much more than role satisfaction to your employees; consider learning and development, growth opportunities, your reward and recognition framework and culture, how you currently or could demonstrate that you care about their wellbeing and health as well as their opinions and insight about ‘the way things are or could be done around here’.  Demonstrating that you too, can provide an engaged environment and culture that they want to be part and also have a responsibility in shaping, they are a huge part of it after all.

Some things to think about:

• Providing ongoing and fully supported training packages
• Regular two-way communication channels including social intranets and team meetings
• Internal promotion of job openings/potential to grow their current role
• Employee recognition awards which credits small and large scale role performance and behaviours
• Measurable employee feedback & subsequent action plans
• Company alignment through value implementation and culture integration
• A centralised hub of resources including on-hand support, company values and goals.

As one of the biggest auditors in the world, KPMG, proclaims:

‘If organisations don’t need to invest a lot of money to drive innovation, how do they achieve a culture which does? And how do they know what to change to transform employee engagement?’

Provide more than a job to your employees, give them a second home (though don’t ask them to sleep there though, unless they actually want or really need to that is). Ready to go get those employees engaged? Go get ’em and make your work a better place.

 

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Engage & Prosper is a UK based privately owned Employee Engagement Consultancy and Social Enterprise, on a mission to help organisations develop a highly productive and fulfilling workplace culture, with their people, through enhanced employee engagement strategies, fabulous and effective internal communications platforms and tailored reward and recognition programmes.

For more information on Engage & Prosper or to discover how we can help you achieve your organisational and people goals please call +44 (0) 330 223 0464 or find out more at www.engageandprosper.com