According to research conducted by Gallup, Just 15% of employees worldwide are engaged in their jobs. The benefits of employee engagement can have a significant positive impact of the performance of businesses which include, increased productivity, employee retention and increased profitability. Achieving a higher rate of employee engagement may sound like a huge challenge but with the right methods, engaging employees doesn’t have to be difficult! To help you along the way we have highlighted 3 of the most effective methods for businesses to increase employee engagement:
Events
An engaged employee can be best described as an individual who is emotionally committed to their company and the achievement of its goals. With this in mind, events are a great opportunity to communicate and confirm the values and goals of your organisation. The benefit of live events is the personal interaction that is created; this can be between different business functions and seniorities. Events help to break down barriers and encourage communication and knowledge share at all levels. Events can also be used to reward and recognise, celebrating employees and their accomplishments. Employee centred events demonstrate a commitment from your organisation and its leadership to develop and grow the company and all of those that work for it.
Training
A poll by Gallup found that 87% of millennials (and 69% of non-millennials) view development as important in their jobs. The personal growth and training of employees is paramount in creating an engaged workforce. Without training, employees can grow bored and become unproductive, potentially causing damage to customer and employee relationships. Investing in training demonstrates the employer’s commitment to advance employees, establishing that they care about the personal growth and development of the workforce. To engage employees it’s important to ensure that there is sufficient training and development resources available allowing employees the opportunity to hone their skills. This training does not have to cost the earth and can include internal training such as cross departmental education, not only does this fulfil the training need it also gives specific business training creating more versatile employees.
Reward and Recognition
Rewarding and recognising employees is vital to achieve engagement. Companies that use strategic recognition are 48% more likely to experience high employee engagement rates. Recognising employees for their hard work and good attitude increases employee retention and engagement: studies revealed that 79 percent of people who quit their jobs cite ‘lack of appreciation’ as their reason for leaving. This doesn’t have to be difficult; a simple ‘well done’ or ‘thanks’ can instil a huge sense of pride, imagine therefore how powerful a reward strategy could be for your organisation.
To get the most out of employees, it’s imperative that they are engaged. Engaged employees are an asset to an organisation, contributing heavily towards company goals and beliefs. Going above and beyond for a company, whilst also having a good work-life balance. Employee well being should always be a point of investment.
