Keeping your employees engaged and motivated is a challenge worth taking up. It isn’t just a business philosophy anymore, but a real deal. As affirmed by Gallup’s recent report, you can expect a 21% hike in your profits with an engaging team of employees.
Unsurprisingly, another Gallup survey reported that a mere 36% of the employees in the United States are found to be engaged at work. However, business organizations globally and especially in the U.S. are finally getting hold of employee engagement’s unswerving importance.
#StatCheck: It’s known that employee disengagement dearly costs the American economy around $500 billion per year!
As an executive representative of your company, you must be looking to up your game and enhance employee engagement. Here are 5 effective ways in which you can elevate your long-term employee engagement strategies:
1. Introduce Employee Programs
Employees with clear career development opportunities are 20% more likely to stay with the same company. Guiding your employees on a pathway towards professional growth definitely gives them a reason to engage more. In addition, you can simply contribute to their advancement by funding their higher education or helping them with other skill development programs. This is a win-win situation as their engagement will rise knowing that the company values their professional interests. On the other hand, your company will be glad to retain such growth-driven talents.
You can introduce employee development programs with incentives to reward your employees for their achievements in the long run. The key here is to induce a sense of satisfaction in them towards company.
2. Ensure Flexibility at the Workplace
Flexibility works in different ways. Be it the nature of work, office schedules, timings, or even remote work opportunities – for employees, it matters!
Let’s face it – working from home is something that employees crave! Ultimately, they just wish for a better work-life balance, and that should be pretty understandable. But, unfortunately, stress spares no one, and in this case, it’s the employees. As per a data report, over 60% of employees already feel burnt out while at work.
Flexibility provides a much-needed balance to the employees’ professional and personal life. It encourages them to engage passionately and dedicatedly perform their tasks. No matter where they’re working from (home or office) – what truly matters is that they get the job done. As a company, their engagement should be prioritized over superfluous regulations, which can hinder their progress.
#StatCheck – 87% of employees expect employers to value their personal commitments too.
So, how can providing flexibility result in greater employee happiness and engagement?
- Allow them to decide their own working hours.
- Let them choose to be ‘target-oriented’ over ‘time-oriented.’
- Facilitate them to work from the comfort of their home.
- Don’t hesitate to approve their leaves for reasons truly critical to them.
The more support they get from the company, the more they’ll strive to engage and increase efficiency.
3. Make Your Employees Feel Important
Feedbacks work both ways and revolve around the ‘give and take’ ideology. For example, employees working in teams expect genuine reviews from their team leaders. Moreover, even managers wish for their work to be noticed and evaluated. The outcome? Motivation and engagement. 89% of HR managers believe that a consistent workplace feedback system can yield positive results.
Providing feedback means the employees become aware of their shortcomings and the factors that make them unique. As a result, giving reviews encourages them to go the extra mile! However, how about receiving feedback? Should you make your employees feel heard regarding all the facets pertaining to the workplace?
Yes, of course!
A Salesforce report shows how you can increase employee engagement by nearly 5 times if you let your employees have their say.
Internal communications at the workplace are like underlying business principles – they might not be performed extensively but still, matter the most. Effective interactions, including constructive criticism and honest feedback, can motivate up to 85% of your employees!
4. Value Employees’ Mental and Physical Well-Being
A healthy work environment does wonders for an employee’s state of mind. Prioritizing the mental and physical health of the employees is essential for the company as well. Fitness of the mind, as well as the body, is pivotal for achieving efficacy. In the end, only a fit and healthy employee will be determined to engage and work harder for the company. Here’s what you can do:
- Launch an intra-organizational fitness initiative.
- Allot work-out time slots for employees.
- Recommend Yoga on the weekends.
- Initiate a mental health awareness campaign in the office.
- Maintain a positive aura at the workplace.
- Think business, but as a family.
Furthermore, don’t forget to keep the office pantry loaded with delicious food items! Binge-eating can be the best stress reliever.
5. Initiate New Challenges and Provide Employee Recognition
Everyone likes being appreciated! As for the employees, they cherish and relish the idea of receiving compliments and positive appraisals from the management. Obviously, their engagement levels are bound to rise once they’re told how productive and proficient they’ve been. 37% of employees credit recognition as their most significant motivating factor!
Acknowledging their speed, accuracy, good work, loyalty, punctuality, and any other attribute makes them wish for:
- More tasks to work on;
- Better performance the next time; and
- Greater challenges to accomplish;
Speaking of which, challenges, as well as recognition, have a considerable impact on employee engagement. These elements bring a sense of adventure and excitement to the workplace and keep your employees as indulged as ever. On the downside, 33% of employees might switch to another company if they find their workplace boring, monotonous, or simply non-rewarding.
The Key Takeaways
- Let your employees excel and become better versions of themselves.
- Make things easy for them so that they respond with a stronger engagement.
- Hear them out!
- Be thoughtful towards their health and well-being.
- Appreciate them wherever and whenever possible.
Try out these 5 ways and see your employee engagement shoot-up!