Employees are the core of a company – they keep it functioning, they build client relationships, and their attitudes can even affect the retention and hiring of new employees. This is why employee engagement is so vital to a company’s well-being. Unfortunately, in 2020, 47% of US employees were not engaged with their company, while another 13% were actively disengaged, possibly miserable in their job. These are alarming statistics, considering that more than half the workforce is not actively engaged with their employer, and disengaged employees are more likely to have higher absenteeism, lower productivity, and lower profitability. In other words, if you are not working on employee engagement strategies to move your employees beyond complacency into engagement, you cost your company time, money, and resources.
Employee Engagement Isn’t Just One Thing
Employee engagement, often conflated with job satisfaction, is an intangible idea that affects the employee’s productivity and emotional well-being. Employees can enjoy the type of work they do without being engaged with their coworkers or their company, so it is essential to understand what employee engagement is and how to accomplish it.
Employee engagement includes a myriad of ideas and feelings, such as:
- a sense of purpose in their job and their role within the company
- feeling invested in their everyday work life
- feeling invested in the success of the business
- a positive emotional connection with their company
- a sense of belonging and loyalty
A company that is aware of its need for employee engagement can open the dialogue through employee engagement surveys and establish employee engagement strategies that positively affect the staff and the company.
What is a Holistic Employee Engagement Strategy?
A holistic approach is based on the idea that the whole is more than the sum of its parts – ] a workplace is more than just the CEO, management, employees, and clients or customers. Holistically, your company is a group of individuals that are interconnected. They should share similar work values and be working together to achieve the business’s mission and goals. Therefore, a holistic approach to employee engagement should see not just employees who are there to provide a service or create a product but should consider ways to offer multidimensional support to staff so they can feel valued and work productively.
No two companies are the same. Your employee engagement strategy should be specifically designed to reflect your company’s needs and support your staff throughout their employee lifecycle and throughout the year.
Onboarding
One of the most important things you can do to support your staff is to give them the onboarding they need. This includes appropriate training and mentoring and clearly outlining their role and expectations within the company. When an employee’s role is clearly defined, there is better communication and a more respectful environment because they understand their role in their team’s and the company’s overall success.
Core Values
Your core values, or what is supposed to matter the most to the company, should represent your company culture. Every employee should understand your company’s mission statement and core values from the very beginning. When these values are defined clearly, employees understand the company and how they align with it. When a company truly promotes and exemplifies its core values, it can create a more positive work environment, help employees feel more connected, and become engaged on a deeper level.
Employee Surveys
Your company can use employee experience surveys in different ways to measure your employees’ overall satisfaction and motivation. Do you want to know what your employees think about management and the organization as a whole? Do your employees’ points of view align with the organization? Are your employees engaged? Three common types of surveys can be used to answer these types of questions:
- Employee Opinion/Satisfaction Surveys
- Employee Culture Surveys
- Employee Engagement Surveys
Periodically issuing employee surveys can help you develop and modify your employee engagement strategies. The key to administering employee surveys is to be prepared for honest feedback and being prepared to take actionable steps to improve employee satisfaction, engagement, and company culture. When employees see actual results, they will feel heard and valued.
4 Employee Engagement Strategies That Work Together
Your employee engagement strategy should focus on the overall culture of your company and your employees’ well-being.
1. Get To Know Your Staff and Let Them Connect With Each Other
Your staff should know their boss by more than their name. Even frontline workers who interact more with middle management want to know that the company cares – and that starts at the top. While it may be impossible for the CEO of a large company to truly get to know every employee at multiple locations, regional managers and other corporate leaders should also step into this role. Take time to schedule check-ins, walk the floor with staff, and get to know them professionally and personally. When management takes the time to familiarize themselves with the different roles in the company and the people behind those roles, it makes employees feel like more than just a number.
2. Employee Recognition Programs
Showing recognition to employees is essential for helping them feel appreciated. Employee recognition programs can come in different forms.
Recognize Top Performers
Top performers do more than help your company achieve financial goals. When employees are recognized for their achievements, it makes them feel valued and can continue to motivate them. In addition to top-performing employees, management should also remember to recognize employees who have exemplary attendance records and a significant length of employment or other dedication to the company.
Peer-to-Peer Recognition
A peer-to-peer recognition program gives all employees the ability to recognize and acknowledge their peers for leadership, teamwork, attention to detail, compassion, or other traits or accomplishments. It also opens up more opportunities for more employees to be recognized for less tangible contributions to their team. Being acknowledged by your coworkers can foster a feeling of mutual respect and appreciation, which can increase engagement.
You can recognize employees in a weekly meeting, in an email blast, with a bonus or cash prize, a small gift, or in another way that aligns with your company and its core values.
3. Offer Opportunities for Education and Career Growth
Continuing education is vital for career growth at any level but is particularly valuable to entry and mid-level employees. Investing in your employees and helping them expand their professional skills will help them feel supported. Opportunities to help your employees develop their skills or advance their career trajectory could include any combination of the following:
- Peer Mentoring Programs – Top performers can coach and train new employees, or you can implement social learning with job shadowing.
- Professional Development Seminars – Invite industry leaders and experts to share their knowledge and expertise.
- Educational Stipends – Providing stipends or reimbursement for approved courses and training can help your employees advance their knowledge and stay informed on best practices.
- Cross-Training Programs – Foster engagement between teams that do not regularly interact by allowing employees to intern, shadow, or work on special projects outside of their specialty to build employee connections and engagement.
- Management Training Programs – Create programs where you train your own employees with the skills you desire to see in advanced roles, rather than hiring external candidates.
When you enact learning, development, and career growth initiatives, your employees will see that you value them and not just a specific skill set. As a result, they will not feel as easily replaceable if you are investing in them and will be more likely to feel engaged with the company.
4. Develop Wellness Programs
When you make employee well-being a priority, you are letting your employees know you care about them. Health and wellness opportunities should be available for employees at all levels. This includes physical and mental health. Gym memberships or an onsite wellness center is a nice perk. Another wellness initiative is access to mental health care or reimbursement for mental health appointments. Creating a culture that truly promotes a healthy work-life balance is vital. For example, when you have employees who work in different time zones, it is important to allow them to prioritize their private life without work constantly interfering. If you recognize and promote the health and happiness of your employees, they will be better equipped to manage their personal wellness, be less stressed, more engaged, and perform better overall.
Need Help With Your Employee Engagement Strategy?
Developing an employee engagement strategy is not a quick fix. Instead, it is an ongoing process that requires attention to detail, assessment of employee feedback, and careful examination of your company’s core values. As you develop your employee engagement strategy, it is important to understand your current and future goals for your employees and your company. Whether you need to issue employee engagement surveys, develop an employee recognition initiative, or engage more employees in your company culture, Refresh offers modern and dynamic solutions to the workplace and the employee experience. Contact us today to learn more about our innovative platform and to schedule a free demo to see Refresh in action.