5 Employee Engagement Trends to Bring Into Your Business
Understanding the relationship between employer and employee is a ticket to a stronger, more productive team. Long gone are the days when people stayed in jobs where bosses reigned over their wards with an iron fist. Today, the emphasis is on sensitive, caring, and professional relationships amongst all parties involved.
Making engagement your priority can help you align all employees’ goals with the common goal of the business. They say that teamwork makes the dream work, and that’s certainly true when it comes to running a successful company. Every person needs to work towards success to make it happen.
How can you keep your employees engaged? Start with these simple steps:
1. Conduct surveys to rank current levels of engagement
It can be hard to be vulnerable and allow people to anonymously tell you how they feel, but no pain, no gain. And, as difficult as it might sound, do not take it personally. You need to know how people are feeling in order to get better. Conducting surveys is a great way to do that. Look for common trends in commentary and work on those areas first. The rest will fall into place as trust and respect grows.
2. Listen to every person
Celebrate good ideas, and even good attempts at ideas. Let everyone know that they are heard and valued. Most importantly, give credit where credit is due. If every decision is handed down from “on high,” there’s little opportunity for buy-in. People want to feel like they are a part of the solution, and when they are allowed to feel that way, will seek out bigger and better ways to create those solutions.
3. You must be empathetic and compassionate
Notice that this doesn’t say “Be a pushover,” but excellent employee engagement stems from a feeling of being in the trenches together. Losing a day of work so that a father can stay home with his sick child might seem like a hit to productivity, but it will pay back dividends when that same employee is willing to put in the extra time for you when you need it most.
4. Give people the tools they need to get the job done
It may feel like there’s always a new tech trend that costs more money, but if it saves your team time, energy, and resources, it may be worth it. You can’t expect employees to pay for the tools they need to do the job you’re asking them to do. That’s a one-way ticket to resentment and unwillingness to go the extra mile to get the job done right.
5. Create a workspace that fosters togetherness
Take down the cubicle walls, create team work spaces, and lay out some snacks. It might seem silly, but if work is a place where comfort and productivity come together, you’re creating something incredible in terms of employee engagement. Ask around about the kinds of spaces that people like to work in best, then do what you can to create them.
Employee engagement is an important step in building the teams and the business that lasts for the long-haul. Create an environment where people are valued and treated as more than a means to an end, and you can flourish in ways you never thought possible before.
