Ensuring your employees are connected and engaged is impactful for your business. But employee engagement isn’t almost office perks and bonuses. It’s about leaning into what matters most to your employees, in order that they want to remain , refer others to your organization, and provides their best effort a day .
Read on for seven employee engagement strategies we’ve learned from powering Top Workplaces, the nation’s most credible employer recognition program.
What is Employee Engagement?
There are plenty of definitions for engagement. And sometimes, the terms employee engagement and job satisfaction are used interchangeably. But it’s important to understand that employee engagement differs from job satisfaction, which is how happy employees are in their role.
At Energage, our definition of employee engagement is simple: Employee engagement is individual passion working for shared success. It’s a measure of how strongly employees feel connected to their work and their employer. to live engagement, we glance at three specific things:
Commitment: An employee’s intent to remain .
Referral: An employee’s willingness to recommend their organization to others.
Motivation: An employee’s drive to offer their best at work.
Employees who possess all three of those have passion, energy – and they’re less likely to go away your organization for a special opportunity. They’re engaged, and they’ll go above and beyond for your organization.
Successful Employee Engagement Strategies and Examples
Choosing the proper employee engagement strategies is important to achieving the specified outcome. So, let’s dive into seven of the highest employee engagement strategies and the way we’ve seen them improve employee engagement with Top Workplaces winners.
Start with an employee engagement survey
Top Workplaces, the employer recognition program that gives year-round regional and national awards, is predicated entirely on the worker feedback captured by a research-backed employee engagement survey. Top Workplaces know that effective employee engagement strategies start with leaning into employee feedback. From alignment to connection to the relationships employees have with their manager and performance effectiveness, an anonymous employee engagement survey is how Top Workplaces leaders know what truly matters to their people. It’s how they know where they excel, where they will improve, and where they stand against the competition.
Encourage transparent communication and employee feedback
A successful communication strategy helps to make sure employees are connected and engaged. Top-down, one-way communication could also be easy. But it’s two-way, transparent communication that’s key. And when the workforce is remote, it’s especially important to determine guidelines for remote work. Here are three best practices employed by Top Workplaces:
Make two-way communication possible. Use your annual employee engagement survey to capture anonymous feedback and guide your decision-making. Consider shorter, more frequent pulse surveys to check-in and know if messages have landed correctly.
Encourage two-way communication in meetings. Set guidelines and encourage employees to participate, especially when they’re remote. If employees are hesitant to interact, ask them for input.
Set aside time for causal dialogue. Leave time at the beginning of every meeting to check-in with people. Allow them to catch up and share what’s happening .
INCOE Corporation, a family-owned, global business, experienced recent growth that threatened communication. To avoid this, they initiated a multifaceted approach to making sure two-way communication, including:
Capturing anonymous feedback via the Workplace Survey.
An open door from the highest down.
Rewards for employee suggestions.
Anonymous call-in line.
Free, confidential counseling services.
Education sessions to elucidate benefits programs.
A year later, INCOE earned a spot on the Detroit press Top Workplaces list for the primary time. For Tim Chisholm, Director of Human Resources, the highest Workplaces award took a back seat to increased employee engagement. “As employees saw us integrating their ideas, it opened it up for even more employees to return forward and share their thoughts,” he concluded. “People have many ideas. You’ve just need to stop and listen.”
Create a transparent path for employee growth opportunities
One way to stay employees engaged in their role is to make sure that they understand their role and see a company’s path forward. At Top Workplaces, this includes investing in professional developing, facilitating mentorships, and promoting from within. It’s also key to improving the hiring process.
Employees value companies invested in their personal development and – not surprisingly – employees are more likely to stay around once they believe the corporate wants to take a position in them instead of hire new talent with the required skills. consistent with LinkedIn, 94% of employees report they might “stay at a corporation longer if it invested in their career.”
Professional development is a stress at Tutton Insurance, a multi-year winner Top Workplaces winner. “Not all companies like ours will encourage or buy an industry designation,” said Katy Portfolio, Executive vice chairman and Controller. “Our president, Bill Tutton, seems like the simplest strategy for us to differentiate ourselves from others within the industry is to be more knowledgeable. He can pay for the education. He’ll buy the designation. So, once we show up with the designation behind our name, it does give some credence to us being a touch better than our competitors.”
Skill development improves employee performance, so it’s essential to form employees conscious of internal growth opportunities. It shows your investment within the team and helps promote internal recruitment and retention by providing employees a concrete example of how they will progress their careers at the organization. And when employees see a path for growth, the corporate gains employee retention benefits.
Compensate and recognize employees for his or her work
Top Workplaces don’t distinguish themselves with more significant benefits or higher pay. Yet, in an increasingly transparent and competitive market , it’s important to structure your compensation structure to draw in and retain employees.
When employees perform above and beyond their expected role, show them how their work is valued and the way it benefits the organization. Whether through bonuses or non-financial incentives like public shout-outs or an additional PTO day, appreciating your employees for his or her diligence goes an extended thanks to ensuring that they stay engaged in their role.
Leaders at Fellowship Community, a multi-year Top Workplaces winner, a culture of employee appreciation is at the guts of satisfaction for both residents and employees. “We’re proactive about arising with things to let employees know they’re appreciated,” said Donna Conley, Chief Operating Officer.
Consider your office layout
Creating an environment that encourages engagement is that the office layout. An open office concept crammed with safe meeting rooms and customary areas enables employees to speak better and more frequently. It promotes collaboration, strategic brainstorming, training, and mentoring.
Outside of work-oriented activities, having a neighborhood for workers to require breaks, eat lunch, celebrate together, and usually spend time can support an engaged company culture of customer service training.
In light of COVID-19, being during a shared space isn’t always possible, so companies have learned to facilitate remote employee engagement to take care of or build relationships between employees. albeit your workforce is remote at this point , ensuring that employees can interact during a meaningful way is critical to employee engagement.
American Integrity Insurance has built a Top Workplaces culture with an innovative approach to recruiting, “extraordinary experiences,” and attention on gratitude. consistent with Michael Goodman, Human Resources Director, “It seems counterintuitive to consider a contemporary workplace as an area of tranquility, but that’s exactly our approach. we would like to form these eight hours precious, valuable, even joyful.”
Encourage PTO and employee offsites
Creating a culture that embraces a healthy work/life balance ensures employees can live the lives they need while remaining fresh, engaged, and productive at work. Promoting workplace flexibility (especially during a remote environment) helps people manage their time consistent with what works best.
Ensuring you’ve got established guidelines and protocols to follow helps mitigate any risk of allowing employees to line their schedules. You’ll find that they will take breaks, recharge, and return to figure focused.
Another way to make sure your employees achieve work/life balance is to permit them to disconnect from day-to-day work tasks with activities like company retreats or volunteer opportunities. confirm to settle on an activity that aligns together with your company values.
For president Marty Kaufman, president of Accent Computer Solutions Inc., encouraging work-life balance may be a priority. “My catchphrase is: We don’t want to torture our employees or our customers. But seriously, what meaning is that if you’re working your employees too hard and you’re not delivering exceptional services to the client, then both are unhappy.”
Another way to embrace work/life balance is to encourage employees to use their PTO. Ensuring that employees can specialise in their work while they’re in-office but have room to travel, pursue their passions, or take time to recharge is critical, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion
Before we discuss the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), let’s clarify the definition of every term within the workplace:
Diversity is that the collective composition of teams and organizations.
Equity refers to representation and acknowledges the various needs of employees.
Inclusion relates to value and presenting civil right to participate and contribute.
DEI plays an important role in employee engagement also as business success. When employees believe there’s a scarcity of diversity and inclusion within your culture, it hits hard on employee engagement – and consistent with one study, this is often very true for millennials. In fact, 83 percent are actively engaged once they believe their organization fosters an inclusive culture, compared to only 60 percent of millennials who are actively engaged when their organization doesn’t foster an inclusive culture.
As you craft your employee engagement strategies, be sure to incorporate and prioritize your DEI efforts.
Employee Engagement Roles: Who Should Be Involved
The right employee engagement strategy may be a catalyst for performance – and therefore the bottom line. It requires alignment and buy-in throughout the organization, from managers and human resources to senior leaders, the C-suite, and even the IT team.
Managers are mission-critical for the day-to-day understanding of progress through employee engagement strategies. Communication is one among the foremost important qualities of an honest manager. they’re liable for communicating company priorities and helping the team to ascertain how they will make a positive impact. Managers also are liable for communicating with senior leaders about areas of opportunity where the team can contribute.
HR must help secure buy-in and communicate opportunities for growth and transparency into organizational changes.
Senior leaders and therefore the C-suite bring a strategic vision to the table. they have to know the importance of an engagement initiative, how it can strengthen the organization, and the way they impact buy-in throughout the organization.
IT is critical to making sure communication lines are effective and efficient, ensuring the team has proper access to the technology they have to speak .
These aren’t the sole team members that ought to be involved within the development of a strong employee engagement strategy. Tap into employee leaders to realize their feedback and ensure they assist gain buy-in from the team. If employees are resistant, you’ll fight an uphill battle which will impact your initiative’s success.
Measure and iterate on your employee engagement strategy
Once you’ve got created and launched the worker engagement strategies you would like to use, make certain to capture feedback on what’s working – and what’s not. Measuring and iterating on your employee engagement strategy is critical to long-term success. Here are two suggestions:
Regular 1:1s between managers and employees create two-way communication and dialogue.
Annual employee engagement surveys capture candid, anonymous feedback at the strategic level. The results also provide you with a dataset that’s measured against benchmarks across the organization.
Short, targeted custom pulse surveys make it quick and straightforward to check-in and track your employee engagement strategies’ progress.