Employee Engagement

WHAT IS EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?

Employee engagement is the consistent effort made by organisations to deliver its value proposition and purpose to its people. Employee engagement is essential for business success – especially today, as business teams adapt to be remote workforces. If effectively launched and communicated well, it results in a greater commitment to business goals and values, and increased self-worth.

Rather than thinking of it as a corporate “strategy” engagement should come from within, it is a sense of developed commitment that an employee feels towards a company as well as an emotional connection that fundamentally instils a sense of worth, and a link with an organisation that goes beyond a monthly salary and encourages increased efforts to ensure the organisation is successful.

By developing a strong Employee Engagement plan the likelihood is that employees will gain a stronger emotional connection with an organisation and establish a positive and driven mindset.

Companies should be committed to providing the right conditions for all their employees to work within their organisation.  Employee Engagement is an employer’s approach to their staff which should result in everyone employed feeling they can give their best each day and that they feel motivated to contribute to an organisations overall success.  They can do this by understanding the goals and core company values, but also by being confident in the knowledge that their efforts to do so will be rewarded in some way and not be taken for granted.

As Employee Engagement is fundamentally based on the integrity of a company it must be part of a company’s ongoing practice in terms of commitment and communication between an organisation and its employees.  Nurturing an environment which seeks to increase wellbeing, trust, and dedication can only enhance the chances of overall success, productivity, and staff retention all of which can be easily measured.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?

• Boosts Productivity
• Increased Employee Retention
• Promotes Better Brand Building
• Increased Profitability
• Encourages Excellent Talent
• Enhances Reputation & Customer Loyalty/Satisfaction
• Decrease in Absenteeism.
• Job & Career Satisfaction
• Higher Performance Workforce
• Strong Leadership

WHAT IS EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT FOR THE COMPANY?

Overall, the purpose of an Employee Engagement plan is to ensure you have a team of people who are passionate about working for you and guaranteeing you are successful.  This comes by creating a solid working environment that produces employees with positive attitudes and behaviours that lead to excellent working practices and exceptional business results.

You know you have got it right when your employees feel a sense of loyalty and pride to work in your organisation.  Remember your employees are one of your strongest assets in promoting your company ethics and values, a happy employee will go the extra mile to promote your products and services due to their strong connections.

A company who consistently shows dedication to their staff will promote a greater enthusiasm for their product, services, and a much stronger personal commitment by their employees.  This in turn will encourage improved knowledge, ideas and innovations that will increase productivity and improve company performance.

By increasing your Employee Engagement and listening to your employees needs you will gain commitment from them, resulting in fewer leaving, reduced absence, and grievances, resulting in productivity increase.

WHAT IS EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT FOR THE EMPLOYEE?

We all have different reasons for getting up for work in the morning, but most of us would prefer to wake up and feel great about the job we are going to do and look forward to working with a company that meets our needs and values.

Employee Engagement is about fully understanding our role in an organisation and being energised about our purpose and objectives.  Employees need a clear understanding of the overall company objectives and the part their role will play in its success, so they can offer their ideas and express opinions.

Employee engagement is about feeling included as a team member, being able to focus on personal and company goals effectively, receiving regular and constructive feedback, supported in developing new skills, trusted, and empowered and overall recognised for achievements.

A SIMPLE WAY TO START WITH AN EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT PLAN

If you do not already have an Employee Engagement plan or if you feel it needs updating an easy way to start is to ask your employees.  It is essential to remember the most important factor here is your employees, so it is time to ask questions, listen, learn, and engage with them.

Take time to put together a coherent and relevant Employee Engagement survey that will provide you with a wide spectrum of responses to gain you relevant data and reactions.

Once you have gained the information you can use the data to create a plan.  It is essential that once you have selected to send the survey and have given an indication of change that you follow through in one way or another, many companies fail to make the necessary changes, and this has a detrimental effect on your employees as they feel you have not taken them seriously.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IDEAS

CREATE A GOOD IMPRESSION FROM THE START

From the moment a new employee enters the building they will form an impression.  It is essential to create a comprehensive on boarding plan, with relevant training and information.  This is an opportunity to make new employees feel welcome, and clearly communication expectations, as well as introducing them to the wider team.

ENCOURAGE INDIVIDUALITY & CREATIVITY

Remember why you employed people in the first place, what stood out to you? Why did you recognise them as an ideal fit?  Encouraging your employees to be their authentic self at work allows for growth, as you can learn what drives and encourages them to perform to the best of their ability.  Being seen is as essential as being heard to all individuals, so consider the variety of personalities and styles within your team and look to bring out the best in everyone.

 INTRODUCE RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES

An effective way to increase Employee Engagement at work is to look at Team Building activities outside the office.  This can be a great way to encourage effective communication, working relationships as well as break from the everyday office duties.  A schedule of events throughout the year is a great way to motivate your team to work hard as there are often rewards to compensate.

RETHINK DAILY OFFICE ROUTINES

Especially since the pandemic we have all had to think outside the box, with so many people working remotely.  It is a great idea to change things up, so the general 9-5 slog is not continuously the same week in week out.  Things like bringing in a YOGA teacher once a month, or scheduling walking meetings to help engage and re-energise the team.  Generate a regular schedule of ideas to drive excitement it will make the working environment much livelier as well as productive.  Listen to your staff, ask them for ideas too.  Remember your people are your best asset and they will speak well of you as employers if they recognise the effort you go to engage and support them.

CELEBRATE SUCCESS

It is important to recognise that at the heart of any successful business are its people.  So, celebrating individual or team successes is a great way to highlight what they mean to you.  It does not have to stop within the office, for instance if one of your employees has completed the Marathon or raised money for charity, why not highlight these accomplishments too. Self-Worth grows confidence and boosts moral.

MOTIVATE

It sounds like an obvious point, but everyone needs motivation.  Whatever, their role within your organisation it is essential to provide motivational feedback to your people, encouragement, congratulations, development skills – All these ingredients promote a forward thinking and caring culture and can only lead to overall growth.

TRAIN YOUR TEAM

Ensure you have ongoing training schemes for continued learning and support purposes.  If you have introduced new tools or processes making sure team members are up to speed and aware of how things work is fundamental to moving forward and overall success.

COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE.

To ensure a successful adoption of core values, strategic plans and company goals communication is critical. Employees need to understand what, where, when, why, and how. Communicate before, during, and after so every single member is involved, updated and fully aware of the company’s performance and future plans.

The above are just a few ideas, each company will require variations on the above, so it is important to recognise the corporate ambitions alongside short- and long-term company goals.  What will work for both employer and employee? If you are a smaller company then why not think about nominating someone to do this.

HOW TO MEASURE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

1. REVISIT AN ENGAGEMENT SURVEY

By starting with a survey to understand your employees needs and wants better, you are then in a good position to revisit the original survey and seek performance reviews on how the new plan is going and whether improvements are required.

2. IDENTIFY WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOUR EMPLOYEES

• Teamwork
• Trust
• Career Development
• Personal Needs i.e., Benefits / Salary
• Value & Recognition
• Management Performance
• Confidence in The Future of The Corporation

By identifying what is important to your employee you can consistently gain feedback from individuals and team members via 360-degree reviews.  Reviewing plans and goals throughout an annual plan is key to success, nobody wants to find out they have not achieved specific targets too late to do anything about it, this works for both the employer and employee.

3. ANALYSE ALL RESULTS

Analysis will help you identify which drivers have the biggest impact on your organisation. Through this analysis, you might discover that employees who rate a certain driver more favourably are likely to be more engaged.

Your best strategy is to understand what is driving engagement in your organisation, identify weak areas within your Employee Engagement plan and implement programs targeted at improving those drivers. Your findings will help you make smarter decisions and better strategies that impact employees.

4. DEVELOP A CONTINUOUS STRATEGY 

Do not start something you will not finish or implement correctly.  You will immediately lose trust if you offer something and then either withdraw or discontinue.  Wouldn’t you rather be recognised as a great employer who truly values their people, than someone who breaks a promise.

ALWAYS REMEMBER THERE IS HIGH VALUE IN YOUR PEOPLE, SO ENGAGE WITH THEM AND YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY SEE THE BENEFITS.