Table of Top 8 Employee Engagement Strategies
1.How will you measure engagement metrics
2.Define your company values
3.Define individual roles
4.Improve your leaders
5.Create a constant stream of staff engagement ideas
6.Act on employee feedback and data
7.Make employee development a priority
8.Invest in the latest tools and tech
Despite understanding the critical role it has in organisational success, many leaders do not prioritise employee engagement or take the time to measure it and think about how improvements could be made. In fact, research has found that a shockingly low 13 percent of employees are engaged at work.
Before you get started on a strategy, it is important to understand the difference between employee engagement and job satisfaction. Employee engagement is the connection and emotional commitment an employee has to their work and the company as a whole. Just because someone is happy or satisfied in their job doesn’t necessarily mean they are engaged with it.
Improving your employee engagement is so important because it helps reduce staff turnover, creates an appealing workplace culture and increases productivity, all of which can positively impact company profits. The good news is there are a number of simple employee engagement strategies managers can implement to make a significant change in their workplace.
With that in mind, here are 10 simple staff engagement ideas to boost levels of employee productivity, retention and commitment at work.
1. How will you measure engagement metrics?
Before you launch your new and improved effective employee engagement strategies, you need to first evaluate recent engagement data in your workplace. Measuring something as intangible and far-reaching as engagement can be tricky. But if you really take staff engagement strategies seriously, it’s essential you choose the metrics you’ll measure and decide how you’ll report on them carefully. A combination of formal employee engagement surveys and ongoing sentiment measurement generally works well.
Some key metrics to include are:
- Absenteeism
- Employee retention rate
- Employee satisfaction
- Employee performance
- Customer/client happiness
2. Define your company values
A clear set of overarching company values can be a great way to achieve high employee engagement. Chances are you may have already thought about which values define your brand identity, now you just need to let your team know.
Engaging all of your employees—instead of just the higher ups—with these core company values gives your team a sense of shared purpose. This allows your employees to actively buy into your brand identity and help exude these values. Ultimately, this will be why your employees show up to work every day.
3. Define individual roles
Clarity at the individual level is just as important as having a clear shared purpose in your company. How are you supposed to have a truly engaged employee if they’re not sure what their role in the success of the company is? For example, you can better define employee roles by being clear with job descriptions when hiring new employees. This tells potential employees exactly what’s expected of them, then you simply need to ensure you follow through with what you promised the role would be once they start.
However, don’t be afraid of reassessing the skills or performance of your employees in the future—this can reveal insights into how certain people can be best utilised in your company. If you both decide their job description should change, just ensure you clearly redefine what’s expected of them
4. Improve your leaders
Research has shown that having trust in their leaders is the principal driver of staff engagement. While some leaders may be excellent performers, not all are competent in the fundamentals of employee engagement. Building trust, communicating clear expectations, managing healthy company culture and enlisting feedback are all simple lessons leaders can learn to improve how they approach employee engagement.
Training current employees to become successful managers has a multitude of benefits for the company. It not only means your leaders will have more confidence in their role but also leads to higher retention rate and more engaged employees.
5. Create a constant stream of staff engagement ideas
Make sure leaders have an accessible flow of resources for learning and development that discuss fresh employee engagement strategies. Ensuring your team leaders are constantly growing and communicating with their teams is a great way to keep employee engagement at the forefront of their minds.
Keeping communication open is key here. Regular staff engagement meetings work very well to flesh out new ideas and discuss ways to best implement each new strategy. It’s important employees know you care about their happiness and wellbeing. For instance, simply ask employees what they think is working well, and what staff engagement ideas need improvement. Doing so can boost their motivation and morale.
6. Act on employee feedback and data
There’s no point putting time-consuming and potentially expensive methods of data collection and feedback generation in place unless you act on those findings. Failure to do so will only make trust and morale worse and promote employee disengagement.
Setting up clear channels of communication between your higher ups and lower-tier employees so everyone feels heard. For example, if you decide to introduce regular meetings to discuss employee engagement strategies, ensure you make a plan to introduce the most popular strategies into the workplace by a specific deadline. This will show your employees that you want to listen to them and ensure they are not only enjoying their job but are engaged at work. You could also initiate an open door policy or publish an internal monthly newsletter to create an air of easy communication in the workplace.
7. Make employee development a priority
A poll found 87 percent of millennials and 69 percent of non-millennials see career development as an important aspect of their jobs. Providing regular opportunities to further their careers and develop new skills should be foremost among your staff engagement ideas. However, don’t expect immediate results. While companies that exhibit the highest levels of engagement make culture a priority, it takes time to transform the culture of a company.
8. Invest in the latest tools and tech
Nothing can be more demotivating for employees than feeling they don’t have the necessary hardware and tools to perform their job at their best. If budgets are tight, hiring the latest tech—including iPad and laptop rentals—on short-term and long-term deals will show your employees you’re committed to investing in their performance.
