Whichever industry you are working in, having happy employees is good for business. There are so many different benefits, from improved customer service to higher levels of productivity, when employees are more engaged. Gallup’s research into the power of employee satisfaction revealed that highly engaged business units achieved 21% greater profitability.
Employee engagement is definitely worth investing time and effort into, so here are some ideas that could help you to boost these levels in your business.
1. Ensure employees see the value of their input
Employees will feel like they are adding value when they see that their opinions, ideas, and efforts have a real impact on the business. One solution is to use software that provides a framework for collecting and implementing ideas such as the product offered by Qmarkets. Their management software can be used at every step of the transformative process and incorporates crowd-voting tools and collective intelligence in order to increase employee involvement and engagement.
Some of the best cost-saving and process improvement ideas are generated by employees as opposed to top-level management, so this is a win-win in terms of engagement and business efficiency.
2. Provide development opportunities
Employees get greater fulfillment in their job when they feel that they are progressing, so supporting their development through training opportunities or giving them new responsibilities can be really effective. Start by crafting a personal development plan with each employee that identifies a goal they are working towards and then building steps that will help to achieve it. Forbes gives an example, suggesting that customer service reps should have an allowance of up to 20% of each customer’s yearly fees to devote to that same customer’s satisfaction. That way, “you enable the rep to solve a problem without consulting a manager (and slowing down the service provided).”
3. Set up a reward and recognition scheme
When employees deliver high-quality work, rewarding them will encourage them to strive to reach that same level. It also provides an example to other employees of what good quality work looks like. Rewards can be anything from leaving work a few hours early to gift vouchers. It is important that reward is provided where employees go above and beyond their role, rather than doing the rounds (if each employee gets rewarded at some point, it might feel ingenuine). As highlighted by Jamie King, recognition awards should be reflective of an organization’s values and could focus on enthusiasm, effort or integrity.
4. Use feedback to take actions
Depending on the size of the business, you might want to introduce an employee engagement survey to measure engagement levels and collect feedback regarding what employees think would make them more engaged. Unless you have information that gives insight into how employees are feeling, any engagement activities that you bring in could be wide off the mark and not very effective.
If a high percentage of staff shows that they are unsatisfied with the amount of communications they receive from leadership, your action plan should introduce leadership Q&As, department visits and comms such as videos and updates via email or intranet.
5. Value employee wellbeing
An employee’s wellbeing has a huge impact on their ability to perform their job well and feel engaged. Providing wellbeing-related facilities like an onsite gym, meditation room, or space to store a bike so they can ride to work are all ideas for being more supportive of your staff. Other factors to consider are improving the work/life balance through more flexible working hours, or opportunities to work from home.
There is no magic wand when it comes to improving employee engagement but by using some of these ideas as a foundation and adding your own research, you can develop a highly effective employee engagement strategy to boost engagement levels in your business.