Employee engagement is a critical contributing factor to the overall success of a business. Indeed, there is ample evidence that points to the fact that employee engagement correlates with productivity and retention, among other things. The adage rings true – a company really is only as good as its workforce.
But how do you improve employee engagement to the end of increasing productivity? How do you ensure that your people are committed to their roles, and the overall success of your organization? Here are a few employee engagement ideas and strategies that will help ensure that your workforce is both content and performing optimally.
Actively Seek Employee Input
If employees are disengaged or performing poorly, it is likely the result of discontent or other grievances. Provide a platform for employees to bring to light the issues they face – this could even identify problems you weren’t aware existed. Furthermore, you can reach out to your workforce and invite suggestions on ways to increase employee engagement. Not only does seeking employee input help you to identify and fix employee engagement issues, it also coveys to your people that you value their opinions on bettering the work environment.
Provide Constructive Feedback
If people don’t know where they stand, they can’t improve. Regular feedback is an important aspect of professional development. When an employee is high-performing, their contribution to your organization should be acknowledged. A transparent, open line of communication let’s employees know that they are important members of the team.
Encourage Collaboration and Team Building
A great way to improve employee engagement is to encourage collaboration and team building exercises that employees actually want to participate in. This could take the form of social events, regular roundtable discussions where individuals from different departments come together to chat, catered lunches, and so forth. Such initiatives help to not only improve communication among employees, but also act as a recognition of a job well done.
Invest in a Workforce Management Solution
With an effective WFM, you are enabled to track employee attendance and overtime, as well as detect patterns and trends, so that you can take corrective action if needed. This allows you to not only ensure that employees are accurately paid what they deserve (a great way to curtail employee grievances), but also to address patterns of absence and lateness that could indicate declining employee motivation. With the proper WFM solution, formerly manual processes can be automated to increase efficiency and more quickly act on real-time information.
While these employee engagement ideas are by no means a comprehensive list of initiative you could implement, they are steps in the right direction. The better able you are to invite and encourage employee engagement, the more committed your employees will be, which will ultimately benefit your business through higher productivity, better work outputs and high employee retention.
