What is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement is a strategy in a business organization following the appropriate circumstances for all employees in an organization to give their best every day. Employees need to be dedicated to their organization’s core values and goals. They must be motivated to make effective contributions to the success, of the organization with an increased understanding of their own self-worth.

Employee engagement is founded upon confidence, coherence, commitment and communication on both ends: the organization and its employees. Engagement is a methodology that maximizes the opportunities of successful business, promoting performance, productivity, and individual well-being. It is measurable. It differs from mediocre to fantastic. Engagement can be fostered and increased to a great extent.

Why is Engagement Important?

The hallmark of a high yielding and well-performing job setting is not only contingent upon placing the best team players but also their engagement. Leaders ought to ensure that their employees are on to a team as a significant member, be a part of their organization’s vision, find value in their job, and be ready to take new initiatives and confront new limitations.

Engaged employees are more effective, depict higher job contentment, and have satisfied customers. Organizations with better employee engagement account for more profits making a very distinct difference. Nevertheless, the engagement of your employees needs a lot of determination. Even the best employees may give up on their optimism and fail to meet the company’s objectives if they feel trivialized, inconsequential, or unacknowledged.

There was a time when leaders would have total command and control over their team members but in the current scenario with the rapid transformation in workplaces, leaders must ensure that members feel tethered to their business and organization’s mission.

So, here are seven strategies that one could follow for better engagement of your employees:

1. Regular team meetings

Looking for meaning at a workplace is contagious, and it unites team members together. However, that aim is frequently concealed because members tend to become achievement and result oriented. There is heavy work pressure that way. For better engagement of employees, they must view how their tasks relate to the overall productivity of the business and analyze that challenges are faced by everyone and not just them.

Leaders in the organization must conduct team meetings at regular intervals that delineate the short term and long-term goals of the organization. Team meetings make sure that assignments are divided evenly and enable a more crystallized vision and a psychologically secure environment. To create an engaging work culture, it is important to make sure that the tasks are aligned with the aims and objectives of the organization. 

Understanding how individual tasks play into the company’s objectives and helps employees relate to the purpose of their work. 

2. One on one discussions

Talk to your employees on a habitual basis to go over plans on results and scope for further enhancements. Provide your employees with an opportunity to take part in decision-making, even if they do it secondarily. You don’t have to take continuous feedback inconclusively but the mere fact that sometimes it is also important to listen to your employees and their ideas. The point here is to make them feel included and acknowledged. This is a healthy engagement.

Every leader has a unique way of soliciting and responding to ideas, so they can do this during team discussions or even during one on one meetings. Aim for an emotionally secure environment, where viewpoints are welcomed and valued. Employees like to be heard even though they may not be the sole person behind executing an idea. This is just one way of engagement and it makes them feel more included.

3. Challenge the best ones

Leaders could engage the best performers by allocating them more stimulating assignments than the others, such as inter-divisional roles or supervising tasks. This will not only provide them with a scope for opportunities to enhance their range of skills and abilities and drastically increase their motivation levels—it will prepare them for the success of the business.

4. Diagnosis and Treatment

Studies have been conducted on how motivation levels differ between the most and the least engaged employees. This calls for the leader to approach each employee differently because there is no one solution that fits for all. In order to do this, leaders must identify the source of the problem-reasons for disengagement. Employees may have different kinds of issues private or work related that might cause that gap. 

This is where a good performance management software comes in for people management. Nothing speaks like it. For instance, Synergita is a cloud-based, continuous Employee Performance Management Software that has an important function in assisting Managers and HRs for better engagement of employees.

The leader needs to diagnose this problem by using a trial and error method and choose what is best for each employee. Sometimes, they may need to get training in certain skills they are lacking. As a leader, it is difficult for you to deal with employees who hold a very pessimistic attitude towards work and there is no way you could fix their incompetence. At that time, you need to be bold enough to take decisions even if it does not serve the employees’ best interests.

5. I care about my team!

Always remember that your employees are not machines that complete your given tasks. They are human beings with their own unique skills and abilities and voices. They need to feel acknowledged as people and not just as employees. Be completely outspoken. Be frank and talk to them about things that are not pertinent to business. This is just one way of knowing their personality.

How about this? – How was your weekend? What kind of books do you like to read? And so, on and so forth. Communication needs to be both ways. After establishing that personal connection with your employees, you can now go ahead and give them your honest opinion about the work that they do. Remember this is a conversation and not an interrogation. This way you show them that you care about them and build their trust in you.

6. United We Stand-Bring the team together

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. So how about not just adhering to business meetings and team discussions for conversations. Try group outings such as picnics, trekking, luncheon, community service, etc. This is fun and people get together. Engagement is all about keeping them rooted in the company.

7. Gratitude- Great Attitude

Acknowledge your employees after their work is done. Something as simple as, “Way to go man!” “Good Job Little Buddy!” Nobody likes to be taken for granted. Employees always need that recognition for their work. So, these generous gestures can go a long way. The most constructive forms of appreciation are concise, time-bound, spontaneous, accurate and reliable. When you say, ‘thank you’, the employees will feel recognized and it will reinvigorate healthy relationships in a work setting. 

Employee engagement is a vital aspect for the wellbeing of an organization, at it is your job to ensure that your employees feel acknowledged, respected and empowered in your organization.