9 Powerful Ways to Improve Employee Engagement

 What is employee engagement and why is it important?

Employee engagement can be defined as the level of intellectual and emotional involvement each of your workers has with your company. This directly affects its performance. In fact, the most engaged employees will work harder to achieve organizational goals because they provide them with opportunities that they want to take advantage of. For this reason, you should invest in increasing employee engagement.

What are examples of employee engagement?

Some examples of employee commitment in the work environment are:

Punctuality

Positivity

Show kindness

Sense of belonging

Commitment to their work

Willing to work in shift and public holidays

What are the 12 elements of employee engagement?

The 12 elements of employee engagement according to Gallup 12 will be based on the following questions:

1. Do you know your role expectations?

2. Do you have the necessary resources?

3. Are you doing in knowledge?

4. Did you receive recognition for a well-prepared job?

5. Are you valued as a person?

6. Do you feel that your development is encouraged?

7. Do you appreciate that your opinion is valued?

8. Do you feel that your work is important?

9. Do you feel the level of commitment of colleagues?

10. Do you experience social life at work?

11. Do you appreciate being recognized for your progress?

12. Do you have growth opportunities?

What are the three key elements of Employee Engagement?

If you want to increase employee engagement, you should pay special attention to the key elements that influence it. This is honesty, integrity and responsibility. On the basis of these values, it is possible to build an ethics, climate and work community aimed at success.

Why is Employee Engagement Strategy important?

Employee engagement strategies help achieve high productivity, high satisfaction, increased workplace connectedness, a good work environment, and increased employee retention. Engaged employees are more likely to give back to the company what it gave them.

How to increase employee engagement in your company?

Now that we've seen what employee engagement is, it's time to look at how you can increase employee enthusiasm and motivation so that their specific wishes are fully aligned with those of the company. In this way, they will not feel that they are working to receive a salary at the end of the month, but to fulfill their own and, at the same time, shared dreams.

With all certainty, the development and implementation of an employee engagement strategy is an investment that will pay off in the medium term. It generally deals with creating a positive environment for engagement to flourish. Such determination pays off, because committed employees redouble their efforts and thus contribute to a clear increase in productivity . This ultimately favors increased profits.

Do you want to find ways to increase employee engagement? Don't lose detail!

1. Communicate clearly and transparently

One of the major problems affecting employee engagement is poor communication. For example, poor information about the tasks to be performed and the goals to be achieved, or inadequate collaboration between middle managers and executives and other workers. When an employee does not receive enough data to successfully perform their tasks, they feel underappreciated and quickly lose motivation.

For this reason, it is imperative that as the leader of your organization make sure to promote smooth two-way communication. A culture of open communication is one of the foundations on which commitment is founded. It favors the rotation of information, the consultation of doubts and the exchange of opinions without discomfort among employees. To do this, the implementation of communication tools such as those offered by Bitrix24 can be very beneficial for your company.

2. Commitment to reconcile work with personal life

The days of "living to work" are over. Today's employees want to " work for a living."This paradigm shift points to a clear reconciliation between work life and personal life. Any company that wants not only to survive but, and more importantly, to succeed in this competitive world must find a way to provide good work-life balance options, adapting to different employee profiles.

If you achieve a balance between work and life, you will notice how stress decreases on your employees, while the work environment becomes healthier. For this purpose, you can bet on the flexibility of the workforce; that is, by working based on objectives with flexible schedules instead of fixed schedules. Another good option is to enable telecommuting. Also, you should offer a comfortable space for employees to rest, with snacks and drinks available.

3. Know your employees

Employee commitment is not always obtained in the same way. There will be employees who need more work-life balance, while others will need greater opportunities for growth or recognition. The only way to get it right is to invest time and attention in getting to know each person who works for you deeply.

Team leaders can often describe each employee as a professional; however, in most cases there is no true knowledge of the individual behind the worker. Taking the time to find the person will give you valuable information to increase your level of motivation. You will be able to find out if he likes his job, where it is possible to improve and even help him take advantage of his potential.

4. Know your employees

Meritocracy is the way to go if you are looking to increase employee engagement. Without a doubt, recognition should be at the core of the corporate culture. In fact, experts say that more satisfied employees tend to be more engaged. With this objective in mind, it is time to implement a differentiated recognition system in your company.

5. Give to receive

More and more employees are looking for companies in which they feel comfortable and are also represented. The new generation, especially the so-called" millennials", do not want a job that only pays their bills, but they want a place to show themselves as they are. In this desire, there is also the need to feel involved with the company and this is achieved through corporate social responsibility.

Of course, this is not a new concept, but it has become more famous in the last decade thanks to the real interest of employees in working in socially committed companies. In this way, your company must "give to receive". Creating a social responsibility program that anyone who wants can be involved in can be a great way to increase employee engagement.

6. Give autonomy to increase the commitment of your employees

Everyone is a thinking being and thus constantly looking for challenges that motivate them. An employee whose duties are clearly repetitive will inevitably lose motivation in a short time. Give your employees the opportunity to test their ideas and let them run free to reach the goal. This is one of the best ways to increase employee engagement.

Clear goal setting with transparent assignment of responsibilities and resources and the necessary autonomy to carry out tasks as you see fit will make your employees enthusiastic about their work. 

7. Provide the necessary resources

To ask for commitment, your company must be the first to commit. This means that it is impossible to demand excellence if the necessary resources are not available to the worker to carry out the task efficiently. These resources include desks, computers, software, and necessary training.

Seeing the seriousness and transparency on the part of the company, employees will feel more likely to offer the same on their part. A good addition to your company can be collaborative work platforms that support information exchange, file sharing, task and time management, quick creation of necessary documents and correct management of contact centers, among others.

8. Share company vision

Employee engagement involves aligning business goals with personal goals. This can only happen in companies that advocate transparency through open communication of the vision and objectives of the business. But, in addition, one should bet on the free circulation of information.

When data moves freely from above to employees, it creates an environment of trust that stimulates motivation and commitment. Far from separation, transparency in terms of goals, the way forward, the current situation and the advantages favor the feeling of belonging on the part of the employee. This can lead to higher engagement.

9. Build a good brand image

Some employees not only seek recognition for their own work, but a broader recognition that is obtained externally and derives from the prestige that the company has. These people are not satisfied with working in a company that allows them to make decisions or bet on their growth: they seek to be part of a recognized company within their sector.

To improve employee engagement and retention, you should invest in your PR and Marketing departments to build a great brand image. Likewise, investment in R&D will allow the creation of better products that will also contribute to the prestige of your company and, in turn, to improve employee commitment.