How to boost employee engagement
Uncover the key facts behind workforce engagement and how to implement an effective engagement strategy within your organisation.
Every organisation is susceptible to shifts in employee engagement. However, savvy employers who recognise the value of a committed workforce and actively implement strategies to keep employees engaged at work can unlock considerable benefits.
In this article, we unpack the importance of employee engagement and explore tactics employers can leverage to maintain optimised levels of staff engagement.
What is employee engagement?
Employee engagement encapsulates the emotional dedication that employees invest in their organisation and its objectives. It serves as a metric for gauging the depth of connection and motivation felt by employees in their roles.
In simple terms, employee engagement reflects the extent to which employees are invested in both their day-to-day tasks and their employer.
Engaged employees don’t just show up and go home. Instead, these individuals are more likely to demonstrate characteristics like:
- Energy
- Effort
- Dedication
- Concentration
- Pride
Why is employee engagement important?
People are a crucial asset to any organisation. In the absence of a highly motivated and engaged workforce, employers face challenges in harnessing the productivity, innovation and work ethic essential for achieving their long-term goals.
This significance is underscored by the staggering impact of disengagement. Employees who lack engagement or are actively disengaged contribute to a global loss of productivity equal to $8.8 trillion or 9% of global GDP. As a result, it should come as no surprise that 85% of business leaders say employee engagement is a strategic priority.
The benefits of an engaged workforce
According to Harvard Business Review, engaged employees feel committed to and identify with their organisation, fostering heightened satisfaction and energy in their work. Beyond creating a more harmonious workplace, successfully enhancing employee engagement unlocks a range of benefits, including:
- Increased employee retention: High turnover and continual investments in recruitment and onboarding can negatively impact organisational performance. Sustaining engagement ensures employees stick around longer and contribute to prolonged success.
- Higher productivity: Employees personally invested in their roles tend to be more efficient and produce high-quality outcomes. Their alignment with their employers’ goals, coupled with a sense of pride in their performance, fosters productivity and contributes to organisational success.
- Lower absenteeism: Engaged and satisfied employees exhibit higher attendance rates, with teams in the top 20% for engagement seeing absenteeism reduced by as much as 41%. This commitment often translates to a more reliable and consistent workforce.
- Improved profitability: With engaged employees more likely to be present, productive, attuned to the needs of customers and observant of processes, organisational performance can also increase. Research shows that these behaviours can boost profitability by 23%.
9 strategies to boost employee engagement
Recognising the significance of employee engagement and acknowledging its potential benefits is just the first step. To make a tangible impact and increase engagement throughout the workforce, employers need to establish comprehensive strategies and policies.
Let’s explore some of the employee engagement strategies that employers can implement to optimise performance and drive positive business results.
1. Ensure clear communication
Effective communication is vital for employers aiming to enhance employee engagement. Employees want to understand their employers’ goals, values and expectations, so organisations withholding information or sharing details on a “need-to-know” basis risk creating isolated teams and fostering disconnection.
Clarity and transparency in organisational communications not only reduces uncertainty, a crucial factor in keeping employees engaged, but also cultivates trust and commitment, contributing to an enhanced employee experience.
There are a variety of strategies employers can use to ensure clear communication throughout their organisation, including:
- Regular check-ins with employees and team meetings
- Utilising a variety of communication channels, such as email, intranet, and social media
2. Encourage employee feedback
While effective communication is a must for any organisation looking to cultivate a highly engaged workforce, disseminating information is not enough. For communication to contribute to an increase in workplace engagement it needs to go both ways.
Employers should actively encourage employees to share their thoughts and concerns with leaders and managers. This not only provides a concrete starting point for measuring improvements but also offers insights into addressing workforce-wide needs, such as additional training requirements.
Various methods can be employed to gather feedback, with pulse surveys being one of the most effective. These regular sets of questions enable continuous insight into employee perspectives on their job, workplace communication and environment.
3. Focus on empowerment and autonomy
Empowering employees with a sense of autonomy encourages them to be more emotionally invested in their work. Employees who feel like they have a say are more likely to take initiative, generate creative ideas, and contribute to positive outcomes.
This empowerment can involve giving employees the freedom to work in a way that suits them, allowing them to decide how they work and the order in which tasks are completed.
In essence, autonomy acknowledges that individuals work differently and entrusts them with the responsibility of determining the approach that suits them best.
4. Accommodate flexible working
Empowering workers with more flexibility in their schedule is another method employers can use to foster more engagement, with 81% of employees placing value on flexible working.
The ability to work flexibly is particularly important for parents juggling childcare responsibilities with work. Our research found that flexible work is the most desired benefit for new mothers returning to work following maternity leave.
Given employees shifting priorities, employers able to accommodate flexible working patterns can better meet the demands of today’s workforce. This not only helps keep existing members of staff engaged but also makes it easier to appeal to top talent in the recruitment process.
5. Promote a healthy work-life balance
In addition to giving employees more autonomy and accommodating flexibility in working patterns, employers can promote a healthy work-life balance that keeps employees satisfied and therefore engaged in their work.
- Encouraging employees to take breaks during the workday and to take their full vacation days
- Discouraging employees from working outside of normal work hours
- Offering employee assistance programs (EAPs) to help employees with personal and professional challenges
6. Implement rewards and recognition
Only 34% of employees say their employer has a recognition program in place, and only 13% of those would rate it as excellent. However, to feel fully engaged within an organisation, employees need to know that their colleagues, managers and leaders appreciate the work they do.
As a result, implementing a reward strategy can be a great way to foster a culture of recognition. Remember, recognition is what motivates workers to deliver their best, so a reward strategy should be seen as a way to invest in employee engagement.
Rewards and recognition can take various forms, including:
- Financial
- Educational
- Health & wellbeing
- Perks
7. Provide professional development opportunities
Without a clear path for growth and development, employees are more likely to become disengaged and look for opportunities elsewhere. According to Gartner, 40% of departing employees cite a lack of future career development as a dissatisfying factor.
Knowing that there are opportunities for them to grow and that there is support available to help with their future career development are among the key drivers of employee engagement in the workplace.
By outlining a path towards growth and development for individual team members, employers can demonstrate how much they value their employees and keep them engaged. This can be achieved by providing training and upskilling opportunities and implementing succession planning and mentoring programs.
8. Cultivate an inclusive workplace
With 56% of workers stating that increased focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at work is a good thing, employers looking to keep their workforce satisfied and engaged need to demonstrate their commitment to an inclusive workplace.
The importance of this looks set to increase with the next generation of workers. Almost 50% of Gen Z students say they’d be unlikely to accept a job that matches their skills but not their values, highlighting the value of DEI to future recruitment and retention efforts.
By proactively fostering an inclusive workplace, employers can create an environment that dismantles the barriers hindering growth and engagement, and thereby allow their entire workforce to thrive.
9. Organise team-building activities
Enhanced employee engagement can also be achieved by making workers feel like they are a valued part of a team. As a result, team-building activities can be an effective way of creating a positive and productive culture.
Employers looking to leverage team building to improve engagement should consider:
- Trust-building exercises: Activities that help team members build trust and support each other at work, like trust falls or human knots.
- Communication challenges: Tasks that require team members to effectively communicate with one another, thereby enhancing collaboration at work.
- Problem-solving: Putting teams in a situation where they need to work together to solve a problem or riddle, like escape rooms.
Activities can also be as simple as a team meal or a local volunteering day. Asking employees themselves for feedback on what type of team-building activities they want to take part in can be an effective way to source ideas.
Improve employee engagement to retain your workforce and boost organisational performance
In today’s dynamic workplace, prioritising employee engagement is imperative for organisations looking to foster a motivated, loyal and productive workforce. That’s because a more engaged workforce can translate to tangible benefits for employers operating in a competitive landscape, including increased profitability and lower staff turnover.
As a result, the path to organisational excellence lies in recognising the link between employee engagement, retention and heightened performance. Employers who invest in proven strategies like those listed above can build a community dedicated to shared success, making the journey towards organisational goals both fulfilling and rewarding.