Category All, Best Practices 20 Employee Engagement Tips Employers Shouldn’t Ignore Higher employee engagement leads to more productive workplaces. Moreover, employers with highly engaged employees attract new talent and retain existing employees much easier. October 25, 2019 By Kristina Martic Our employee engagement tips will help you build a healthy workplace in which your employees will love working. We will go over the benefits of highly-engaged employees as well as 20 tips to increase employee engagement. The New Definition of Employee Engagement Employee engagement is the most popular topic in the world of human resources. This fact is not surprising at all as employee engagement is closely related to employee productivity and, therefore, business success. However, according to research by Gallup, only 33% of employees in the USA were engaged in 2016 – “involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their workplace” Moreover, employee disengagement costs the USA alone over $500 billion annually. Before, it seemed to be much easier to engage employees in the workplace. Today, however, this is one of the most common challenges employers across the world face. Millennials and younger generations expect completely different things from their employers. They want their work to be meaningful, they want to be appreciated, they want feedback on their work and they want to have good relationships with their peers and leaders. Let’s take a look into 20 tips for improving employee engagement. 20 Ways to Increase Employee Engagement Set clear goals and expectations Employees who understand their goals are much more engaged to achieve those goals. Therefore, managers should always set clear goals and objectives to their employees. Research shows that setting clear goals drives employee engagement. Unfortunately, it also shows that only 13% of employees strongly agree that their leaders help to set clear performance goals. Hold your employees accountable Setting clear goals, however, is not enough to keep your employees engaged. Managers should also hold their employees accountable for achieving those goals. 72% of employees whose managers help them to set goals are fully engaged, and those rates increase by 2.5 times when managers hold staff accountable for their performance goals. Develop a sense of belonging Employees who create a sense of belonging, pride and respect towards their employers and managers, they have higher rates of engagement. When employees feel like they fit into an organization, they automatically move on to feel a sense of belonging towards the organization. They begin to feel that this is a place which shares their values. These employees enjoy their work and are much more motivated. Give feedback The benefits of giving feedback to employees are numerous, and one of them is higher levels of engagement. However, when we talk about feedback we don’t mean annual performance reviews. Employees now want continuous and instant feedback on their work. They want to be able give and ask for feedback from their peers and managers. Gallup survey found that 67% of employees whose managers give positive feedback were fully engaged in their work. Check our FeedBck, our solution that helps employers build a culture of feedback in their organizations. Start creating a culture of feedback with FeedBck Read more Recognize and reward good work Besides getting feedback, employees also want to be recognized for their work. Yet, 68% of employees did not receive recognition for their work in the past year. Employees said it themselves. According to research on employee engagement, 58% employees say that the leaders could drive more engagement with employee recognition. Remember however, that rewards and recognition can be non-monetary. Here, it is not about money but the feeling of being valued and appreciated. In one employee satisfaction survey 55% of employees said that praise and attention from their supervisor would make them feel cared for and valued in the workplace Check out JobPts, our software solution that has helped employers such as SAP and JTI transform their cultures and significantly increase employee engagement with rewards & recognition programs. Create a culture of appreciation with JobPts Read more Improve internal communications Internal communications can drive employee engagement as they are responsible for keeping their employees informed at all times. 68% of employees said the frequency of communications by their employer directly impacts job satisfaction. 33% of them said that they would like their employer to communicate more. Give them meaningful work Engaged employees are the ones that feel like their work is meaningful. One of my favorite sayings ever is: Moreover, meaningful work has been continuously recognized as a key employee engagement driver. A report in Deloitte surveyed 560 employees across virtually every major industry and global region showed that meaningful work is one of the top 3 engagement drivers. Provide necessary tools and technology There is nothing more frustrating than not having the right tools and technology to be productive. Still, many employers neglect their employees’ needs for the right resources to achieve their goals. If you want to increase the level of engagement in your organization, make sure that you provide necessary tools for your employees to be successful and productive. Support work-life balance Burnout is what causes low employee engagement levels. Therefore, employees that have a better work-life balance are also more engaged. The Corporate Executive Board which represents 80% of the Fortune 500 companies, found that employees who believe that they have good work-life balance work 21% harder than those who don’t. Offer opportunities to grow Career growth opportunities have become the biggest factor that attracts and keeps employees within companies. Obviously, this is something that drives employee engagement and satisfaction. According to Deloitte, employees who are planning to switch companies cited the lack of career progress (37 percent) and challenge in their jobs (27 percent) as the two top factors influencing their career decisions. Offer fair compensation Even though money alone is not a good driver for employee engagement, fair compensation is important. Remember that 66% of employees still value competitive compensation at work. However, according to Glassdoor and Gallup, 80% of employees would prefer new or additional benefits over a pay increase. Let’s now take a look into what else they are looking for in their employers. Focus more on additional benefits Even though many of these are already mentioned on this list, take a closer look into what employees are expecting to get from their employees. Support creativity and innovation Creativity and innovation can neither be imposed nor can it be driven by disengaged employees. Just like employee engagement, creativity and innovation in the workplace have become increasingly important determinants of organizational performance, success, and long-term survival. A great research shows that there is 83.1% relationship between employee engagement and staff creativity and innovation at the workplace. This outcome seems to suggest that when people positively evaluate their experiences in their organization, they are more likely not only to feel psyched, satisfied, committed and proud, but also feel to engage in creative and innovative behavior Build trust Trust and relationships with leadership is crucial for employee satisfaction. Also, lack of trust is one of the biggest reasons why employees leave their organizations. Deloitte research shows that more that 62% of employees who plan to stay with their current employees reported high levels of trust in their corporate leadership, while only 27% of employees who plan to leave express that same trust. Empower employees Employees who feel empowered to make decision and who feel like they have a say in their companies are more engaged than employees who don’t feel empowered. The feeling of empowerment helps to make employees feel more important. Therefore, empower your employees and give them opportunities to make their own decisions. Increase alignment with personal interests When employees can apply their personal interests in their jobs, they are much happier and engaged. Moreover, 96% of working Americans say that being able to apply their personal interests in their career would make them happier in general. 68% of them said that they would accept salary cuts if their work would allow them to apply their persona interests in the workplace. Create a dynamic work environment Interesting and dynamic work are the two most common characteristics of attractive and engaged workplaces. This is especially true for Millennials and younger generations who are looking to grow their careers and constantly learn new things. Support team collaboration When companies manage to develop a sense of teamwork, it is much easier for them to engage their employees and become better teameworkers. In contrary, when companies support individualism and individual work without collaboration, the result can be unhealthy work environment and lower employee engagement levels. Be flexible As mentioned earlier, offering flexibility to your employees has many benefits. Flexible workplaces have much higher employee satisfaction rates. Their employees are much healthier, have better work-life balance which also results in higher employee engagement scores. Work on your employer brand Employers who are seen as undesirable employers are the ones with unengaged employees. These employers are not the ones that put people first and that still see people as any other assets. Therefore, if you want to have more engaged employees, you also need to work on your Employer Brand. 14 Benefits of Highly Engaged Employees The benefits of highly engaged employees are numerous, and we have put them all in one place. Higher employee satisfaction In most cases, satisfied employees are engaged employees. Therefore, job satisfaction is the very first prerequisite to employee engagement. That is why employee satisfaction is one of the most common measurements of employee engagement. Higher employee productivity Engaged employees are more productive than disengaged employees. Employees that love their jobs and feel aligned with their company’ culture work much harder towards achieving their goals. In fact, Gallup’s research on employee engagement states that engaged employees are 17% more productive than disengaged employees. Lower employee turnover The cost of employee turnover is extremely high. Exactly this is the reason why companies are now putting much more effort into retaining their employees. Moreover, one research shows that US companies spend $11 billion annually on employee turnover. The best way to do so is by increasing employee engagement and satisfaction. Since disengaged employees are 3.6 times more likely to leave, imagine how much resources companies can save on turnover by engaging their workplace. Better employee loyalty Employers who are engaged in their work and satisfied with their employers are much more likely to stay loyal. Loyalty is not reflected only in employee retention but many other activities satisfied employees can do. Loyal employees, for example, are much more likely to be brand ambassadors. Lower employee absenteeism Similar to turnover, the cost of employee absenteeism is significant. It is no secret that disengaged employees are much more likely to take days off and be away from work more often than engaged employees. To back it up with numbers, highly engaged workplaces saw 41% lower absenteeism. More innovation and creativity Engaging workplaces are the ones that enjoy more ideas and creativity. In the world of digital transformation and constant change, having employees with new ideas is extremely beneficial to employers. Therefore, if you want more creativity in your workplace, make sure you understand your employees’ engagement levels. Improved employee safety Another benefit of employee engagement that not many people talk about is improved employee safety. Because engaged employees are more connected to their workplaces and employees, they’re more aware of their surroundings. Research has shown that 70% fewer safety incidents occur in highly engaged workplaces. Lower healthcare costs Engaged employees are less likely to be obese, less likely to suffer from chronic disease, more likely to eat healthier, and more likely to exercise than engaged employees. In addition, Gallup research found that engaged employees were 21% more likely than actively disengaged employees to be involved in wellness programs offered by their company. Why is that so? With various benefits such as flexible work schedule, health food in the office and gym membership, engaged workplaces seem to show more respect for employees’ needs, encouraging employees to appropriately care for their health. Check out Healthain, our app that helps companies drive better employee health. Drive better employee health with Healthain Read more Increased customer satisfaction Happy employees lead to happy customers. As most businesses today, both B2B and B2C, strive towards increasing customer satisfaction and retention, they are realizing how crucial employee engagement is. Moreover, businesses with engaged employees see 10% increase in customer rating. More employee referrals Most companies struggle to attract new talent to their companies. Employee referrals, as many of them are aware of, are the best source of new hires. So how can we get more high-quality referrals from our employees? By investing more in employee engagement. Engaged employees who are happy with their jobs and employers are much more likely to refer friends to that employer. More attractive Employer Brand Engaged employees are much more likely to be employer brand ambassadors therefore helping their employers become a more desirable employer to work for. Having a strong employer brand is a big competitive advantage and your employees are the best advocates you can get. Higher business performance and profitability Higher profitability is the ultimate goal for every business. For that reason, there has been a lot of research done on the influence of employee engagement on business profitability and performance. One of them shows that work groups in the top quartile of engagement are more present and productive; they average 17% higher productivity, and 21% higher profitability. Another research by Gallup states that actively disengaged workers cost the US between $450 billion and $550 billion in lost productivity per year. Better relationships with peers and managers Engaged employees are much more likely to develop good relationships with their peers and managers. This leads to better team collaboration and creates a spirit of teamwork. Better company culture At the end of the day, it is all about your company’s culture. If you are trying to create an engaging and high-performing culture in your organization, you need engaged employees. Drive Employee Engagement With SemosCloud Semos is all-in-one Human Experience Management suite designed to help employers deliver experience that employees are expecting. Semos cloud is the most complete HR tech solution covering the most important stages of employee lifecycle. Our focus on user interface and ease of use has resulted in remarkable user adoptions by employees at enterprise companies across the world. Check out our 6 products and schedule a demo to see how we can help you improve employee experience: JobPts– employee rewards & recognition FeedBck– employee feedback SurveyRocks– employee surveys Healthain– employee health & well-being BoardFlo– employee collaboration & productivity WorkVibe– complete HXM solution
