Five Tips for Improving Employee Engagement

If you’re unfamiliar with the power of an engaged workforce, take a look at our employee engagement infographic. We recognize that boosting your employees’ level of engagement can be a daunting task, but by following our five tips you’ll find it a very manageable one.

1. Recognize Hard Work, not Just Milestones

It’s easy to glad-hand an employee who secured a large contract or saved the company from a fiscal disaster. But, there are other employees who work just as hard, if not harder, than those that produce highly-visible results. There are employees in your organization who are always knee deep in the daily operations, keeping the company moving. Sometimes they’re the most vital. No order even gets out the door without the guys in the warehouse. Remind everyone that their hard work is recognized and appreciated. That will take more than a companywide email – think personal.

2. Create a Culture

What do your employees think of when driving to work each day? Is work a grind, or is it a chance to bond with a second family? Employees may spend more time with co-workers than they do with their actual family. Host team-building events, create business plans, and foster business processes that encourage employees to work together. Solitary cubicles can deal a death blow to engagement. The more employee interaction the better!

3. Promote Employee Feedback and Use it

Everyone claims to love feedback, but how often does it fall on deaf ears? Create channels for employee feedback and integrate it into your decision making processes. If an employee suggests a change, and they see it implemented, their idea will be a source of pride.

4. Create a Charity Program

There are hundreds of worthy local causes and thousands more nationally. When it comes to employees with homes, children, and other financial responsibilities in this tight economy, there isn’t much left in the home budget for donations. That’s where your business comes in. Have a charity selection event, where every employee has a vote. As a company, match your employee’s donations up to a set amount. Or, start a program that allows employees to volunteer – on your time. Employees will take pride in their employer doing good for the community and feel great that they are a part of it.

5. Encourage Process Improvement

We’ve all had a ‘light-bulb’ moment. Don’t stifle your employees’ moments of brilliance, foster them. Turn the light bulb into a tool the company can use. You may find that your employees are your best innovators. Alternatively, some employee ideas may not be a stroke of brilliance, and that’s OK. The important part is modeling the company to listen and encourage employee input to improve your business processes.

Ideas and improvements will flow from your employees when you take the initiative to improve employee engagement. Also, your ability to spin up new processes, products, and services will be much quicker and more efficient. Employee engagement will be one more engine driving your financial performance.

Use an employee engagement survey to measure your current engagement levels if you haven’t done so in the last year. Your success didn’t come from guesswork, get actionable data from your employees and work to improve from there.