Quick Wins for Employee Engagement
An engaged workforce is what every business owner dreams of– passionate, productive and committed to their organisation and role.
Higher engagement levels leads to improved customer service, better employee retention and increased productivity. All of this has a positive effect on the bottom line.
Engaged employees care about their work and so achieve better results.
Implement pulse surveys
Implementing a pulse survey isn’t an employee engagement solution as such, but it’s a key first step. It doesn’t matter how many online studies you’ve looked at or the number of blogs you’ve read, your strategy won’t be truly successful if you don’t know what’s going on in your business.
2. Make employee engagement a priority
Everyone’s busy right now and there’s nothing wrong with looking for quick, easy solutions to employee engagement problems. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Here are a few tips on how to keep on top of this:
Schedule dedicated time each week to focus on employee engagement
Make a plan to follow
Enlist help – you could either get a colleague to divide tasks with or just to ensure you’re staying on track
Be transparent with your employees and show them what you’re doing. This shows them that action is being taken and keeps you on track
3. Schedule one-to-one meetings
There’s a reason so many businesses use this approach. One-to-one meetings give your employees the chance to air any concerns in a confidential environment. Make these meetings a ‘safe space’ for anything to be discussed.
The needs of each employee will vary wildly. One team member could feel overwhelmed working remotely while tackling childcare and a busy household, while another might live alone and be struggling with loneliness. Use the time to give their issues space. It’s important to build this time around those individual needs, showing the employee that their needs are being met.
4. Show your appreciation through reward and recognition
The power of a simple ‘thank you’ can be seriously underestimated. Has Sally done a great job on a recent project? Tell her. Has Tim supported his colleagues despite a busy home life? Thank him.
5. Extend your employee perks offering
Employee perks sometimes get a bad reputation. In this instance, we’re not talking about Zoom cocktail hours or ping pong tables. Those things are great but the key to developing employee perks that count is finding out what your employees actually need.
When looking at employee perks, as well as the ‘nice to have’s, make sure you’re covering all the essentials too. Does everyone have the technology required to work from home? If not, put that at the top of your to do list.
6. Focus on wellbeing
Wellbeing is something we’ve covered in other blogs, from caring for your own wellbeing while working from home to promoting positive mental health for your staff. You can check out those blogs, but it goes without saying that in times of high stress and anxiety, you should be looking out for the wellbeing of your team.
7. Team bonding exercises
We won’t be catching each other to build trust any time soon and honestly, we’re not that sorry. There are plenty of ways to encourage team bonding without being in the same room.
8. Listen and learn
It sounds cheesy, right? The most important thing you can to do to inspire engagement from your employees is listen to and act upon their concerns. Making them feel understood and truly cared about is a key driver in boosting their engagement in your business.
Here are some things you can do today to start work on your culture: read another company’s culture code, ask three colleagues for their suggestions for improving the culture, book a half-day workshop to brainstorm your own culture code.
references:
https://www.welovesurveys.co.uk/blog/quick-wins-employee-engagement-2021