“Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” – Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group
Employee engagement is a big deal in how companies talk to their workers. It's important to pay attention to trends in how engaged employees are, especially now that we're doing more work digitally. Even though it's something companies deal with inside, how it influences people to feel makes the overall difference. Engagement affects how people feel mentally, how they balance work and life, and how much they support their company. If you're someone who communicates inside a company, manages people, leads a team, or works in HR, and you want to make things better by putting people first, then this article is exactly what you need. Our list will suggest ways to encourage engagement, so your company can become better at employee engagement activities.
Offer Work-Life Balance
Perhaps the biggest revelation, which came with the transition to a remote set-up is the fact that your teams have filled their plates to the top. To rank engagement in your company, it is a must to help your people in the necessary adjustments to achieve the right balance with work and life. A study by Harvard Business School indicates that when employees perceive more control over their work-life balance, the attrition rates drop by 25%.
Buffer, a social media management company offers employees the freedom to take time off as needed. This has led to increased productivity and retention within the company. They also have an innovative vacation policy in place which is a transformative approach to promoting work-life balance, serving as a beacon for other companies aiming to create supportive environments for their employees.
Here are a few more ways to make this happen:
Efficient time management should take the lead. Make sure the work deadlines are reasonable and the resources required to complete the tasks are available for the employees to utilise in that process. As a manager, you can start by first understanding what needs to be done for the project, and then breaking it down into smaller tasks with the team. You can estimate how long each task will take, adding extra time for unexpected problems. During the project, keep an eye on progress and adjust the timeline if needed.
Ensure the implementation of clear and transparent internal communication norms for your organisation, by highlighting designated communications hours. Encourage staff to avoid sending emails or other communication outside of these working hours except in times of emergency.
Offer them the flexibility to choose when and where they work. Studies show that employees are much happier when they have control over their work.
Get your employees to take short breaks and relax a bit during the day so that the work can go on smoothly; if they are tense, encourage them to have a walk.
Prioritise Employees’ Professional Growth
“In order to build a rewarding employee experience, you need to understand what matters most to your people.” – Julie Bevacqua, president of Rise People
When employees feel that they and their future are the priority of the company and that their potential is being recognised and appreciated, they feel connected to the organisation as a whole and are more likely to feel motivated, satisfied, and committed to their work.
One of the best examples in this domain is The Cheesecake Factory. They emphasise the importance of training and recognition because the CEO of the company, David Overton said when employees feel valued, they provide better service, leading to happier customers and a stronger reputation for the company. The Cheesecake Factory celebrates outstanding performance through its Wow Stories Initiative, sharing stories of excellent service to boost morale and share best practices among staff.
Incorporating proven strategies into your employee engagement plan can foster the feeling that employees are being benefited accordingly:
Make sure your company determines the cost of professional development and builds it into the budgets. You should also support and motivate employees to join networking sessions and even look for other learning chances outside of what the company offers.
Make them participate in career development programmes to meet the objective of acquiring the necessary skills and confidence to upgrade themselves. Ensure you give guidance, input, and feedback and have proper in-demand training opportunities for them, developing a congenial work atmosphere and culture.
Recognise their milestone, appreciate them in meetings and make their work feel significant for the company’s success.
Explore Ways to Encourage Collaboration
Focusing on teamwork and coming up with open conversations, give the employees a sense of belonging and more motivation. Those people who multiply the self-expression and collaborative efforts to jointly develop ideas also become more interested in their work and there is a high chance that they positively contribute to the company's success. Here are a few things to consider regarding collaboration and employee engagement activities:
A morning meeting every day is a great way to begin. Gather your team at the same time each morning to talk about their goals and plans for the day.
Get people from different teams to work together on projects. This can help get rid of barriers between people of varied departments and create a feeling of working as a team. A company that is doing this like a pro is Microsoft. They have a “CEO connection” page where their employees can ask questions and connect on various topics.
Plan some fun activities once a month to enjoy together outside of work. It could be having a picnic or playing sports.
Try to take advantage of some software that will help employees work together. For example, collaborative work in projects can be managed conveniently through software like Trello, team meetings can be held over Zoom, and documents can be shared on Google Drive.
Be Transparent
Only when the workers are privy to the company’s objectives then they are swept up in the work of the company. Openness to the employees guarantees trust and also helps them understand their goals and areas of responsibility, which propels them to work with zeal to succeed.
Just like how the analytics company called SumAll chose to share salary information openly with all employees. They maintain a Google Doc accessible to everyone in the company. This approach has led to a decrease in turnover rates because employees feel comfortable expressing their salary concerns. Transparency, for SumAll, means ensuring that all employees are aware of what's happening within the organisation. Below are some tips on how you can do it too:
1. Review all current rules, methods, and how company policies are being managed to find any weak spots or areas needing enhancement. Put strong safeguards in place to protect both customer and employee information.
2. Create a detailed plan showing how the organisation will be transparent, responsible, and ethical.
3. Study successful examples of transparency in other companies to see how they've grown and stayed strong.
Give & Receive Employee Feedback
Employee feedback is that it doesn't only belong to giving or receiving it, but it plays a role in the feelings of engagement, productivity, and contentment of every person at work. Netflix, a popular TV-streaming service, is famous for its successful company culture centred around feedback. Another fun fact is that the "Netflix Culture" recruiting page has the word "feedback" appear 11 times, highlighting its importance within the company. Coming back to the number, 15% fewer people quit their jobs when receiving regular feedback. Here's why feedback matters:
While approximately 40% of those who are simply not getting positive feedback are already often not excited, only 1% of those who receive positive feedback, are disengaged. 85% of workers turn out to be active contributors after they know that their actions are noticed and well-respected, while 43 % of them say they feel more committed to their responsibilities.
To ensure high productivity in the workplace, you can have the managers and their teams have a meeting, once a week. These occasional meetings work as a virtual bond, creating trust, giving advice, answering questions and help making any important plans.
Conclusion
Developing a workplace where employees feel engaged demands extra effort from both the organisations and the HR team. But as the CEO of Shake Shack, Danny Meyer said “The only way a company can grow, stay true to its soul, and remain consistently successful is to attract, hire, and keep great people.” The above points in this article offer a solid foundation of employee engagement in HR to enhance the quality of the workforce in 2024.
