Employee Engagement Strategies That Work In Today’s Business World

Employee engagement has become a very critical aspect of running a business. According to Gallup, a research-based, global performance management consulting firm, just 31.5 percent of workers in the United States were engaged in their jobs in 2014. The firm defined engaged employees as those who are involved in and committed to their work.

While the number of engaged employees in the country were up by 2 percentage points from what was recorded in 2013, it still underscores the fact that more engagement employee programs have to be introduced to instill love and passion for work among the workforce.

Learn How to Increase Employee Engagement

Role of Engaged Workforce

Business leaders know how important an engaged workforce is in this rapid cycle economy. Employees who are enthusiastic about their work can contribute immensely to the bottom line of the company they work in. They can also increase innovation and productivity at the workplace. Companies that have engaged employees, meanwhile, can reduce costs related to hiring talents.

Several studies support the theory that engaged employees contribute to a better bottom line. According to a 2009 Towers Watson study, businesses that have a higher employee engagement enjoy 9 percent higher shareholder returns. In 2008, Towers Perrin reported that companies with engaged employees got a 19 percent increase in operating income in a year while companies with disengaged employees got a 33 percent decrease.

Given the value of engaged employees in an organization, it is not surprising that a lot of HR executives are on the lookout for engagement employee strategies. Here are five engagement employee tips that you may want to apply in your own firm:

1. Company Leaders Should Set the Tone

Senior executives should be the primary mover of any engagement employee program. Leaders should demonstrate support for an engaged company culture by exhibiting the values of the company.

CEOs and other top company officials are not only expected to personally live the company’s values. They are also to work with their employees in identifying and hurdling barriers to engagement, as well as recognizing opportunities that can bring about positive change.

2. Choose the Appropriate Engagement Survey

There are different employee engagement surveys that you may use, from attitude surveys that assess emotions of your staff within the workplace to employee satisfaction surveys that determine root cause of dissatisfaction issues. You can also conduct 360 surveys to examine an employee’s behavior and performance from multiple viewpoints like coworkers, supervisors, subordinates, and customers.

Whatever survey your organization decides to make use of, the data culled from it should be specific, relevant, and actionable. More importantly, the data must be proven to induce key performance metrics.

Moreover, never conduct a survey unless the leadership team is committed to listening and acting on feedback gathered.

Survey results should be reviewed by a cross-sectional committee composed of an equal mix of executives and employees. This diverse group should reinforce an engaged culture in the company.

The committee will then evaluate results and make recommendations to the management. The team should be together for a while to monitor the progress of key survey initiatives.

3. Tap the Right Managers

Initiatives borne out of the survey results should be implemented by the right managers.

Good managers know that the success of the organization relies heavily on its people. As such, they care a lot about the success of the workforce. They see to it that every person can contribute to an organization by unleashing his strength, and providing him or her with every opportunity to use maximize this strength at the workplace.

Good managers not only empower their employees, but also recognize and appreciate their contributions. They actively seek the opinions of their staff members. This way, good managers contribute a lot to making employees more engaged.

4. Keep Things Simple

Many organizations fall for the trap of making too many promises after conducting an engagement employee survey. Although there is the intention on the part of management to engage the workforce, there is still the risk of under delivering or worse, creating a skeptical work atmosphere. An ambitious action plan borne out of a survey can also cause organizational fatigue.

Keep things simple by following these four words—discuss, prioritize, plan, and review.

Discuss the survey results with the employees, prioritizing matters that managers can influence or handle. Then come up with an action plan that clearly lists don what will be done by whom and by when.

Review and follow up to make sure that people are completing their tasks as agreed upon. Remember that improvement is a constant journey and not a one-time event. Regular reviews should result in actual improvements in the next engagement employee survey results.