4 Ways To Increase Employee Engagement At Work

Article first appeared in www.forbes.com. Here is the link to the original post.

Productivity = f(Engagement)

The concept of employee engagement has been around for a while. It is built around the idea that employees should have a personal connection to their employers and their work. This ties into workplace morale, motivation and productivity, but with one big difference.

It is more than just a mental commitment. Employees should see and feel that their work directly improves their own job and the workplace and helps drive company-wide success.

If employees believe their efforts don’t have any impact or they don’t possess the power to improve their environment, why bother trying or working harder?

A recent Harvard Business Review article cites a study which states that employee engagement consists of commitment to the organisation (increased productivity), job satisfaction (higher retention rates), and feeling energized at work (greater innovation and creativity).

Basically, it’s the value-added product, the cherry on top, the above-and-beyond factor that will distinguish your company in a competitive market. Despite the benefits of creating an engaging work environment, it remains a challenge.

Based on Gallup's State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report, 21% of employees are engaged in their jobs. That's 1 person out of 5! Additionally, research indicates that one out of every two employees has left a job at some point during their career to escape their managers or to improve their quality of life.

After countless books, conferences and training on the subject, why do we still struggle to create an engaging work environment for our employees? Why do so many smart leaders make terrible decisions when it comes to engaging their teams?

To make things as simple as possible, I boiled it down to four building blocks for employers to create workplace engagement:

1. Demonstrate clarity 

In the best of times and worst of times, always provide a clear direction—clear roles and responsibilities, clear objectives, clarity about the financial situation, etc. People will talk no matter what, and when they don’t know, they often speculate or become indifferent and disengage. They can feel like they do not matter or have no control.

2. Develop your team 

Employees are more likely to stay when they feel like they are developing, so provide on-the-job training and coaching. By going the extra mile and investing in your people personally as well, an employer can improve results, and create a better environment for success. My favorite boss is still the one who cared enough to help me develop as a professional as well as on a personal level. You can hit two birds with one stone: Increase your team’s productivity and become a legend in their eyes.

3. Let your people influence 

Empower your team to have an influence on the outcome. If you want to retain smart, talented people, you need to let them make decisions. People want to have skin in the game—get them onboard with the decision making so they see how their work impacts the outcome. Let them influence the outcome, so they become the future leaders of your organization.

4. Provide authentic recognition 

Recognize employees’ good work on a daily or weekly basis, provide feedback often, and deal with non-performers. As Perry Belcher is credited with saying, “Nothing will kill a great employee faster than watching you tolerate a bad one.”

For more information, contact: alp@boraconsulting.ca