The phenomenon of employee engagement is a major concern within HR management across the globe. Recently employee engagement has been heavily marketed by human resource consulting firms that offer advice on how it can be created and leveraged.
Employee engagement is a distinct and unique construct that consists of cognitive, behavioural components and emotional states that are associated with individual role performance.
As it is commonly mentioned across different academic journals that: engagement takes its rightful place at the core of any organizational success. Others argue that engagement is the main indicator for leaders and managers across the globe as it is a vital element that could affect organizational effectiveness, innovation and competitiveness.
With this being said it is hard to disagree that employee engagement is not an essential part of the organisation. If you are concerned with your employee engagement and you want to know how to increase your employee engagement you are in the right place because we can help you!
Table of Contents:
- Difference between engagement for you as an employee and for your employer side
- Why is Employee Engagement Important ?
- What are the Components of Employee Engagement?
- Methods, how to increase employee engagement in the workplace.
- 5 Powerful Steps To Improve Employee Engagement
- In conclusion
- Qandle: All-on-one solution !
Definition of employee engagement
The engagement has various terms attached to it such as: personal engagement, work engagement, job engagement or employee engagement. Initial employee engagement was defined as an engagement as the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively and emotionally during their work roles
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The modern definition of employee engagement is a bit different which has conditions and well being attached to it. It is defined as a workplace approach that results in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give them a chance to perform better every day. All of that should cause more commitment to the organisation’s goals and values through motivation that contribute to organisational success and the enhanced employee well-being.
With all of that being said, refer to David MacLeod. Employee engagement is “All about how you create the conditions in which employees could feel comfortable and perform efficiently and offer more of their capability and potential”. Additionally, employee engagement is usually based on integrity, trust and communication within the organisation.
Difference between engagement for you as an employee and for your employer side
Before moving to the methods and components of the engagement it is important to justify that engagement has a different meaning for your employer and for you as their employee.
From the side of employee
-Engagement is when you can’t think about anything else apart from your work and you feel focused and grateful for what you do on a daily basis.
-It is also about understanding your role within the company and being engaged and being focused to fit within the organisation’s purpose and objectives.
-Furthermore, it is about being energised and enthusiastic in areas where it fits in the organisation’s purpose and objectives.
From the side of the employer
-Employee engagement is about positive attitudes to your work and good behaviours which could lead to improving overall business productivity
–Employee engagement is about developing your employee loyalty and positive feeling associated with working for your organization, which should result in them being able to go the extra mile to finish a piece of work.
-It could also enhance the use of your employees’ knowledge and ideas to improve your company services or products and become innovative in terms of the work process.
Why is Employee Engagement Important ?
It is especially important now when a lot of researchers suggest that the honeymoon period of remote work is coming to an end. In the post-covid world keeping employees engaged is one of the biggest challenges for future employment and without learning why it is important, many organisations could struggle to work inefficiently very soon.
As we have found that staff with whom we are engaging on a daily basis tend to be happier, more motivated, less likely to leave, more focused on the company visions and more willing to go above and beyond with their tasks which should cause overall benefits for both parties of the organisation.
Employee engagement could be much deeper than that !
- Working relationships could need some more intense attention to reshape them. Good working relationships could ensure to make the overall workflow more enjoyable. As we have discovered already, happier employees are more productive and more focused on the tasks which they perform.
- Through the online working nature and challenges associated with it, staff can surprise employers with their commitment to work and productivity if they feel engaged in the online setting. But, as the research has shown, the honeymoon period for remote working habitats is close to the end. Since that fact, ensuring the right support in place within your office environment will be vital for future business success and overall employee engagement.
- Lastly, being focused purely on output and performance is some of a kind of dictatorial leadership style. If you as a manager think only about the performance of your employees without thinking about the environment and healthy working relationships it is almost impossible to achieve high performance for your organisation. It is important to bear in mind that your leadership style is directly related to the outcome of your company.
What are the Components of Employee Engagement?
Wellbeing
Within this component, you should think about making sure that your employees feel healthy in terms of physical and mental activities throughout their work.
Communication
Communication could be a key to engagement if you use it appropriately. As the employees should know what is expected from them to work towards the targets and managers should support them through employees tasks achievement.
Additionally, it is always important to listen to your employees as sometimes they could be the best people to consult with for your future strategic actions, in order to do that, communication flow should be established well and clear.
Leadership
Almost half of the professionals were forced to leave their job because of a bad boss who has a bad attitude and a horrible leadership style. As it is usually due to the fact when people leave because of the manager not a business.
Leadership is about being able to motivate your team, knowing your team requests, listening to them and setting good examples.
Personal and Professional Development
It is not always the case that your employees do their job, get paid for it and return home safely. As some of the employees might want to see their personal development and the progress which they cause for an organisation.
Due to this fact it is important to listen to your employees about what they want and their ambitions. The employee survey could help you understand your employees better and develop a challenging engagement strategy for whom it is needed.
Feedback
Feedback was always an important part of communications within the leadership style, but it deserves its own category.
Your honest feedback usually is a key component of employee engagement. It’s required to design feedback processes which will be directed to explore and improve working conditions.
Overall work environment
Do people want to be in the office? Do they feel safe there? Is it a comfortable environment? Can they concentrate? Is it too cold or too hot? These are some of the questions which should be answered to ensure a good working environment.
Additionally, after Covid-19, now as people are starting to return to the company offices their workplace should be well-ventilated, spotlessly clean and be set up to allow social distancing for those employees who do not feel comfortable returning to public spaces.
Methods, how to increase employee engagement in the workplace.
Encourage flexibility
When you give flexibility to the employee it should increase their engagement. Usually you can allow your employees to adjust their work schedules or location to better suit their needs. In return you should get a happier employee who will be more committed to your organizational goals.
Volunteer as a team
When you do something good for others no one feels bad about doing this as we are all nice in our nature! When you lend a helping hand, you generally feel good about yourself because you managed to make someone’s day better than before.
As a result of that, a good idea for you as an employer will be to work with charitable organisations and get involved with the community.
Always be authentic
The sincere relationship between the manager and employees could cause motivation, trust and better teamwork within working conditions.
As an employer, it is advised to not falsify your relationships and develop a real trusting workplace environment.
Promote taking breaks
You can remind your employees to take short 10 minutes breaks which could help them be more healthier and committed to their work. It is a great way to take your mind off the work for a while which should increase your working abilities and focus which often requires complicated task compilation.
Asking for feedback
Employers are often the one who gives their feedback to the employees, about their working styles, office environment, workload and others. However, this is not always an ideal practice. You should try to ask for some of your employees’ input on a certain proposal or a design concept.
Hold regular social gatherings
Regular gatherings with your team or colleagues are a great way to get to know them personally.Having fun together not only breaks up the routine but also encourages teamwork, creativity and collaborations.
Clarify goals
Every employee has a set of goals and responsibilities they need to focus or work on. There are times when employees simply get mixed up or confused with what their role is in the organisation, which is very common. Regularly clarifying goals and responsibilities is vital if you intend to increase employee engagement.
Provide a nice environment
Returning to your workplace could be a tiresome experience after a while, if the condition of the workplace is not satisfactory for your workers. From the employer’s side it is important to ensure that all of the employees’ needs are satisfied throughout their working day.
Show gratitude regularly
It could be as simple as sometimes saying: ‘Thank You’ to your employees. This is when you appreciate all of their effort and work commitment. It is a small thing, but it is often forgotten, especially within large organisations.
Build authentic relationships
When you are creating or building relationships with your colleagues it is important to have them authentic and not spoiled. Bear in mind that all of us are built differently and there are no two people who are exactly the same when it comes to work ethics, customer service or even being fair with their colleagues.
5 Powerful Steps To Improve Employee Engagement
Step 1 – Everyone should work within the Right Role
Getting the right people in the position and making sure they are in the right place was always a challenge for human resource practice. This means all of the decisions associated with that should be taken with an understanding of company goals and strategies to build an ideal environment for employee engagement.
Step 2 – Give Them the Training
Always the key to success begins with preparation and accurate training. No one was born with the ability to count numbers. With that being said it is important to spend some time on proper training and development while removing obstacles for your employees.
Step 3 – Task Meaningful Work
Firstly, not everyone could be fit for important meaningful work. When you are doing meaningful work at a high standard and have a clear understanding of how it will contribute to the company. Employees will have a nice feeling of being valuable to your organisation. On the other hand if you would not challenge your employees with important meaningful tasks it is a high potential that they could leave your organisation in the future.
Step 4 – Check in Often
In the past when we rely on mid-year reviews for feedback evaluation. Today’s workforce requires regular feedback — which could lead to higher efficiency and reduce waste. When you use both formal and informal check-in strategies on a weekly basis this could drive your employee engagement.
Step 5 – Frequently Discuss Engagement
Successful managers are transparent in their approach to improving engagement — they talk about it with their teams all the time. They hold “state of engagement” meetings and “engage” everyone in the discussion — and solutions. These principles are not complex but must be prioritized. Companies that get this right will drive greater financial returns, surpass their competitors and easily climb to the top of “the best places to work” lists.
In conclusion
All and over, given where we are today, and considering the past 10 years of the development and establishment of employee engagement. And with the growing demand for employee engagement and newer techniques that evolve each year. If you as an organisation will not pay attention to all of the mentioned aspects of employee engagement soon you will have even more challenges to solve within that area. With that being said, if we don’t address these concerns now, it will be difficult to move forward and grow as an organisation, without employee engagement strategies. We hope this article helps you to make the right decision and understand the significance of engagement in the workplace.
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