With only 15% of people saying they’re engaged at work (according to a 2017 study), figuring out how to improve employee engagement is crucial. Employee engagement is where your staff are highly absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and employer.
Engaged employees are crucial to a positive work environment and a successful business with strong company values. They will produce high-quality work and want to further the organisation’s interests and reputation.
Here are three strategies you can implement to improve employee engagement in your workplace.
1. Recognise good work
It sounds basic, but you’d be surprised how many companies try and improve their employees’ performance by focusing solely on the negatives. This can demoralise your staff and make them feel like their contribution is worthless. Having a system in place to recognise good work will have a positive impact on your employees’ motivation and improve their engagement.
Merely encouraging your line managers to praise their delegates isn’t enough because they’ll all have a different take on what it means to recognise good work. Creating a uniform system whereby good work is recognised across the board is a great strategy for implementing strong company values and improving employee engagement.
2. Give everyone the right role and training
Your staff won’t be able to perform at their best if they’re not in the right role or don’t have the correct training to do their job properly.
In order to make sure your employees are in the right positions and have what they need to give their best:
• All your talent acquisition and employee retention strategies must align with your company values and business goals.
• No leader can build trust and employee engagement without first being taught how to lead, so invest in training your managers.
• Provide proper development opportunities for your employees so they always feel motivated to learn more. If you don’t, they may leave for a company that does provide training and improvement possibilities.
• Enjoying your job has a positive impact on your engagement. The same goes for your staff, so encourage them to talk about where they want their careers to go in the future and try to make it happen for them.
3. Invest in a wellbeing programme
Wellbeing is key to keeping your staff happy and improving employee engagement. A harmful work environment causes high stress levels in your staff and eventually burnout, leading them to need a lot of time off work to recover. It will also deter top talent from joining your company and create a high employee turnover rate.
Creating a positive workplace by implementing a wellbeing programme is a great way to look after your employees’ physical and mental health. Healthy, happy employees are more engaged in and passionate about their work. Therefore, creating a wellbeing programme will have a positive impact on employee engagement.
A strong wellbeing programme can also support your branding strategy – find out how by reading our blog on how team wellbeing impacts your brand.
