Ways to Increase Employee Engagement

Employee engagement needs to increase and it needs to increase now. According to Gallup, only 13 percent of employees worldwide are engaged. Every HR professional knows low engagement numbers are bad for business. That’s why so many are focused on finding ways to increase opportunities for employees to connect with the company, its mission and its brand.

Flexibility

Offering employees an opportunity to set and design their own schedule feels counter intuitive at first glance. Most HR leaders are conditioned to believe giving an employee the ability to set their own work hours will cause a decrease in productivity. A fair amount of research suggests the opposite is true. Employees given the freedom to set their own schedules are often more productive and happier employees. They are also more engaged in the workplace.

Required Tools

When an employee starts working for a new company, he or she will expect to have the needed tools to complete their job responsibilities effectively. If the employee has access to those items and can work as expected, employee engagement will flourish. Without the necessary tools, employees will disengage. 

Feedback

Employee feedback is important. Even more important is the need for leaders to listen to the feedback and act on that information. This isn’t to say every leader has to do or put into practice every employee suggestion, but they do need to consider the feedback. Additionally, the leader must be transparent about the feedback and whether it will be put into action. According to an employee engagement report , this approach to feedback helps an organization quickly address problems, but more importantly it makes the employee feel valued. Thus, it increases engagement.

Manager selection

It’s been said before: employees don’t leave companies. They leave bad managers.   The right leader knows their success and the organization’s success is linked to the engagement of the employee. Hiring the right external candidate or internal candidate for a manager role; one whom possesses the ability to manage people effectively can have a positive impact on engagement rates.

Training and Development Opportunities

Provides the atmosphere for workers to become more engaged. A lack of these opportunities typically translates to the employee not feeling valued by the company and will thus negatively impact the chance for engagement. Employees who are not invested will not support the company in any way other than making sure they can protect their job. At least until they can secure other employment.