How employees feel about their work and their workplace can contribute significantly to organizational success. Here are 10 effective strategies for driving employee engagement that organizations can implement to enhance business success:
1. Build a great work culture
2. Make them feel cared for
3. Promote employee empowerment
4. Establish a responsive feedback loop
5. Celebrate employee achievements and contributions
6. Cultivate a sense of co-dependency
7. Promote transparent behavior
8. Organize group activities and sports
9. Establish open lines of communication
10. Promote a sense of mutual respect
Work culture impacts engagement quite significantly, which is why organizations need to work towards building a great one.
Employees love to be in an organization where there is fun at work and the overall ambiance is inclusive and supportive.
Such a work culture makes employees feel valued and makes them more willing to contribute towards business growth and success.
Building a great work culture is one of the most effective strategies for driving employee engagement.
When employees feel that their employers care for them as individuals, their engagement level increases naturally.
A simple inquiry about the welfare of the employee by the manager or even a day off without asking too many questions during a family emergency is an effective way to show care.
Finding out what matters the most to each employee professionally and personally can go a long way in driving engagement.
Making employees feel empowered fills them with a sense of ownership due to their employer’s faith in their abilities.
Empowerment can be achieved by giving employees the autonomy to complete tasks assigned to them in their way.
Providing employees with the freedom to take responsibility for their work and handle new challenges ensures their development through experiential learning.
When it comes to improving the engagement levels of employees providing and receiving regular feedback is of utmost importance.
Providing effective feedback makes employees aware of their strengths and shortcomings.
Similarly giving feedback provides an opportunity to express their views and opinions about various business processes and management aspects.
This two-way setup is essential to strengthen the sense of belonging and enhance employee motivation levels.
Employees love to be appreciated for the contribution they make towards business growth and their achievements in this context.
That is why celebrating the achievements and contributions of the employees proves extremely effective in driving engagement.
It assures employees that their efforts, commitment, and performance are valued.
Employees need to be educated about the importance and benefits of working in close coordination with their peers and coworkers.
Hence, by cultivating a sense of supporting the efforts and initiatives of their fellow workers, organizations can build a positive work culture based on trust.
Therefore, it helps to improve inter-personnel interaction and minimize any chances of misunderstanding between employees to create a truly engaged workforce.
Ensuring greater transparency in business processes and policies is the key to greater happiness and satisfaction of the employees.
Hence, trusting employees with critical information and involving them in decision-making removes the “us versus them” tussle in employee-management relationships.
Most importantly, it cultivates the feeling of being integral to the organization and promotes employee productivity and engagement significantly.
Group activities such as sports provide opportunities for employees to interact with their coworkers and superiors informally.
To maximize the effectiveness of these activities, it is important to ensure the active participation of the management.
Moreover, the activities should be planned while keeping the diverse preferences and likings of different groups of employees in mind.
The employees must be able to communicate with their superiors in an open and frank manner.
They need to educate their managers to be easily accessible to the employees to discuss both professional and personal issues.
In addition to helping build trust, such communication also promotes greater engagement.
One of the key reasons that makes employees feel disengaged is the lack of respect towards them.
It is also one of the major causes of low employee retention in organizations.
Hence, organizations need to work towards developing a sense of mutual respect among employees irrespective of their hierarchical position within the organization.
Implementing the above strategies for driving employee engagement significantly. However, organizations should adopt a patient approach and constantly make improvements to the strategies based on the results.
Lead author: Sagar Chaudhuri, the Co-Founder and CEO of HiFives. He is an HR Tech Evangelist with over 25 years of corporate and entrepreneurship experience. In the past, Sagar has worked in companies such as Genpact, Infosys, and ICICI Bank, in leadership roles. He has an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Connect on LinkedIn
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