13 superlative tactics for radiant employee engagement
The performance of the employees within a business organization is the truest measure of its advancement and success. After all, the key performance indicators are to be delivered upon by the people in an organization and not the infrastructure that an organization has. Having said that, the key to business success is to promote high employee engagement and motivation in the workplace.
Ian Hutchinson once said, “employee engagement is an investment that we make for the privilege of staying in business.” This quote very well explains that more than an idea, employee engagement needs to be at the core of various business strategies that companies undertake. How to improve employee engagement is a question that should often be taken into consideration.
There would always be a scope of improvement in engagement levels and the higher the engagement in employees the greater will be their contribution to an organization’s success. To substantiate, as per an employee engagement survey by Gallup, companies exhibiting greater levels of employee engagement are 22 percent more profitable than others.
So, as you can see, employee engagement has a direct correlation with the pace at which your business will thrive. In other words, your people are your greatest power and you need to ensure that this power only gets bigger and better. Besides, employee engagement also plays a pivotal role in determining employee retention and employee turnover rates in your organization.
As a seasoned business leader, you would already have a fair idea of how high costs of employee turnover can potentially lead a business to its doomsday. As per Forbes, employee attrition and replacement costs can be as high as 33 percent of an outgoing employee’s annual salary. Needless to say, no business would want to incur such heavy losses, especially in its initial stages.
For small businesses, even the smallest of financial losses can trigger an existential crisis. So what can businesses do to promote high retention rates and hence keep employee turnover costs under check? Of course, the answer lies in employee engagement. What exactly is employee engagement but? What is the basic concept of this latest buzzword in the corporate realm? Just to be on the same page, let us for once pay heed to the definition of employee engagement.
Elucidation on employee engagement definition
Given the slight subjectivity around the idea of employee engagement, different people may have different perspectives and hence varied definitions of employee engagement. To put it in the simplest terms, employee engagement is a measure of an employee’s commitment and allegiance to an organization. When employees are driven by greater loyalty towards their organizations, they invest more diligence, zeal, persistence, and conviction in their work.
Moreover, highly engaged employees view the challenges and the accomplishments of their organizations as their own. Having said that, employee engagement can also be construed as a facilitator of effective alignment of objectives of individuals in an organization to achieve common goals. In a lot of ways, engagement can also be synonymous with the magnitude of happiness, motivation, comfort, exuberance, and positivity that employees feel in a workplace.
To understand the subjectivity around employee engagement better, let us look at some slightly contrasting definitions of employee engagement as presented by different entities or individuals.
- As defined by Gallup, employee engagement is about employees being involved, enthusiastic, and committed in their work and workplace
- As per the definition of employee engagement laid down by Quantum Workplace, it is based on how strong is the mental and emotional connection that employees feel for their work and organization
- As explained by Aon Hewitt, engagement is the level of an employee’s psychological involvement and investment in the workplace
As you can see, there are multifaceted perceptions around the comprehension of employee engagement. However, despite these variations, the central idea of engagement is based on commitment, loyalty, and the investment that an employee makes in an organization.
The state of employee engagement in contemporary times
We have seen above how the effectiveness of employee engagement strategies determines the success and profitability of a business. With time, more and more business organizations are realizing the need to work on upscaling their employee engagement levels. This is the reason why business strategies have undergone some paradigm shifts in recent years. The focus is now on keeping employee engagement at the core of what organizations do for greater success.
In fact, organizations are also digressing more funds from their operating costs to employee engagement activities and ideas. The purpose is to get the best of employees and have them aligned to the ambitions of the organization at all times. As per Deloitte Review, companies in the US spend over USD 1 billion annually for upscaling employee engagement levels.
To add, the global employee engagement software market is anticipated to reach USD 2.15 billion by 2027. Clearly, businesses are spending whopping amounts of their money and resources for the sake of high employee engagement. The question is, are these colossal investments paying off? Have spending hefty amounts of driving high employee engagement yielded the desired outcomes?
As per the latest finding of extensive research carried out by Gallup, the employee engagement levels in 2021 are dismal despite organizations trying every possible trick in their armor. Gallup reveals that in the US workforce, the percentage of engaged employees is a mere 36 percent. Among these, only 15 percent of employees in the US are actively engaged in their work.
The global standards are even worse as only 20 percent of the global workforce is engaged in their work. Needless to say, such low levels of engagement imply that a large fraction of the workforce is disengaged from work. Here it is also imperative to draw attention to the heavy losses inflicted by high disengagement in the workplace. As per The Conference Board, high disengagement in employees costs enterprises USD 400 to USD 500 billion per year.
Isn’t it baffling that companies are spending billions on employee engagement ideas and still bearing losses worth billions of dollars due to deficits in engagement? Why do you think companies are not being able to attain their employee engagement goals despite proactive strategies backed by handsome budgets?
The following are some possible reasons behind the failures of employee engagement strategies being undertaken by companies.
- Companies do not have a clear understanding of employee engagement and the quintessential driving factors
- Companies are working around the various myths related to employee engagement
- Companies are not aligning their employee engagement strategies with the latest developments in the business world
- Companies lack execution or supervision of their employee engagement ideas
- Companies do not have long-term action plans for sustaining employee engagement
Now that we have mentioned myths around employee engagement, it makes sense that we debunk these common myths before we move to some unique and promising ideas for high engagement.
Debunking the common employee engagement myths
1. Employee engagement is all about employee motivation
The common perception around employee engagement is that it is synonymous with employee motivation. However, that is not the case. Employee engagement is a broader spectrum of employee attitudes and motivation is one of the many dimensions of employee engagement. In fact, employee engagement is not purely about cultivating motivation in the workplace. It is rather about channelizing the motivation of employees in the best interest of the organization.
Motivation is more of a feeling or an expression that employees already have when they walk into the workplace. However, employee engagement is about giving the right direction, guidance, and purpose to that intrinsic motivation.
2. Employee engagement is not about work satisfaction
Employee engagement goes way beyond the limiting idea of satisfaction. Even doing the bare minimum and getting a paycheque at the end of the month can make employees feel satisfied. However, that does not render any value to the organization. When we talk about employee engagement, it takes into consideration the coherence between individual goals and organizational objectives. Such coherence is inspired by strong feelings of belongingness, happiness, and loyalty.
Employees should be happy to go the extra mile for their organization. Given the strong sentiment of mental and emotional connection, employees feel that they are a valuable part of their organization and their organization too is an imperative part of their lives. This is what the significance of employee engagement is and as you can decipher, that is a lot more than mere satisfaction.
3. Engagement can exist without empowering employees
In the contemporary corporate world, the key to employee engagement lies in empowering employees. In fact, ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that gave a major boost to the culture of remote working and freelancing jobs, flexibility is the latest workplace trend. Having said that, to inspire the greatest magnitude of engagement in employees, organizations need to empower their employees with more flexibility and autonomy.
It is true that most employees want to stay in remote or flexible working arrangements even after the pandemic is over. Moreover, employees expect autonomy from their employers to work as per their own working styles and with their preferred tools. The bottom line is that employers cannot expect the highest levels of engagement in their employees without empowering them with great flexibility, autonomy, and trust.
4. Employee engagement is driven by micromanagement
Some leaders and managers may be of the view that to drive high employee engagement, they need to supervise and guide their employees at each step. However, that is not true for sure! Micromanagement is not a facilitator of high employee engagement but rather one of the biggest killers of it. Micromanagement is perceived as an expression of mistrust by employees. It makes them believe that their employers or managers do not trust them enough or do not have faith in their abilities.
To substantiate, as per Forbes, 71 percent of employees reported that the acts of micromanagement from their supervisors have affected their job performance in a negative way. To add, 85 percent of employees reported that they felt massive downfalls in their morale because of micromanagement. So, if you still believe that micromanagement is the best way to get the most out of your employees, you might want to reconsider that! Trust is the foundation of high engagement and not step-by-step supervision.
5. Employee engagement is all about big financial investments
Yes, we discussed above how companies invest exorbitant amounts of their financial resources in their employee engagement strategies. However, that does not mean that you cannot upscale employee engagement with limited investment. More than the amount of money that goes into employee engagement strategies, it is the creativity and innovation in ideas that are more important. Besides, of course, the final outcomes depend on the execution of strategies and how consistently an organization works around them.
The gist of the matter is that even small businesses and startups can achieve excellent outcomes in employee engagement without allocating large sums of money. As long as their strategies are innovative and inclusive of the basic employee expectations, they can attain exemplary levels of employee engagement. Ultimately, the effectiveness in the implementation of tactics is the key!
Having debunked the most peculiar and common myths around employee engagement, let us now look at some out-of-the-box employee engagement strategies that are best suited to the modern business world.
Here, it is also important to pay heed to the fact that the future of work belongs to telecommuting and remote working environments. To elucidate, as per a Gartner CFO survey, 74 percent of employers are planning on offering permanent work from home to their employees in the coming years. In fact, the likes of Amazon, Twitter, Microsoft, Google etcetera already have plans for extended remote work policies with a vision for telecommuting even in the post-pandemic era.
Clearly, remote work is here to stay and its expanse will only get bigger in the coming years. So, it is quintessential that some credible virtual employee engagement ideas are also looked at to effectively engage the ever-increasing remote workforce. Having said that, the list of engagement strategies given below is a culmination of employee engagement tactics for traditional workplaces as well as remote or hybrid organizations.
Worthwhile and Innovative employee engagement strategies
1. Fostering trust in the workplace
Trust is the launchpad of all great things that happen in the workplace. When different people have to come on the same page to accomplish common goals, trust becomes indispensable. How will people collaborate and coordinate with each other in the best interest of the organizations if there are trust deficits in the workplace? Having said that, you need to foster overwhelming trust in the workplace as a business leader.
It begins with you and you need to lead by example. The virtue of trust will be promoted in the most effective way when you start investing trust in your employees. You need to trust the managers working under you and give them the authority to back their subordinates with great trust. That is what will get high employee engagement going in the workplace. Based on trust, there will be positive workplace relationships, greater self-belief among employees, and effective collaboration.
Do you think the impact of high trust in an organization can be quantified? Well, it surely can be! As per the Harvard Business Review, in companies that function on strong dimensions of trust, employees show 76 percent higher engagement and 50 percent higher productivity. Moreover, in such companies, employees exhibit 106 percent more energy. Isn’t it incredible how trust can drive some colossal outcomes?
2. Establishing a robust culture of recognition
How will you feel about your consistent and extraordinary efforts if no one cares to appreciate them? Of course, it will at least pull down your exuberance and motivation by a few notches. After all, we are all humans and we seek genuine recognition of our work, skills, and talents to keep the momentum going. Having said that, there is absolutely nothing wrong in anticipating recognition where due, isn’t it?
The bottom line is that employee recognition is one of the most crucial factors for high employee engagement. To keep going and to upscale their commitment, employees seek appreciation, recognition, and rewards in lieu of their hard work. As cited by HubSpot, 69 percent of employees feel that they will work much harder if they receive genuine appreciation. Besides, as per O.C Tanner, for around 40 percent of employees, recognition is the most vital determinant for high engagement.
So irrespective of whether your organization is functioning in the remote mode or in a traditional workplace setup, you need to create a robust culture of employee recognition and appreciation. Moreover, this culture needs to be facilitated with monetary and non-monetary rewards of various kinds. The more appreciated the employees feel the greater will be the amplification in their engagement levels.
3. Creating a mechanism for continuous feedback
One thing that you need to decipher before delving into the significance of feedback in the workplace is that feedback is not all about performance reviews. For effective performance engagement in these highly competitive times, organizations need to create continuous feedback sharing mechanisms in the workplace. Feedback supports continuous knowledge sharing and learning in the workplace. Moreover, it enables employees to identify the areas of improvement and set goals for working in the direction of these areas of improvement.
Probing further, continuous feedback sharing has a direct correlation with employee engagement. To substantiate, as per HubSpot, 40 percent of workers tend to disengage in the absence of regular feedback. Besides, 98 percent of employees witness a downfall in their engagement levels when they receive minimal or no feedback. To add, 43 percent of actively engaged employees receive their manager’s feedback at least once a week.
Hence, as you can see, your effectiveness in engaging your employees has a lot to do with the frequency of feedback sharing in your organization. You should now have a clear idea of why continuous feedback sharing is one of the most pivotal tactics for performance management and active employee engagement.
4. Offering greater flexibility to employees
As mentioned above, flexibility is one of the most popular trends in modern-day workplaces. As per Zenefits, 73 percent of workers see flexible working arrangements add immense value to their satisfaction in their jobs. More importantly, 78 percent of employees have reported higher levels of productivity in flexible working arrangements. What you also need to know is that 36 percent of employees are willing to quit if their employers do not offer flexibility.
Therefore, it is quite evident from the above insights that to attract the desired levels of engagement in your employees, you need to offer them at least some sort of flexibility. This flexibility can be in terms of more days of remote work, flexibility in working hours, and so on. Ignoring to do so can impact both employee engagement and employee retention in a negative way.
5. Promoting creative liberty in the workplace
Creativity is an expression of unmatched excellence and this excellence can take an organization to new heights. Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group once said, “A business has to be involving, it has to be fun and it has to exercise your creative instincts.” But can powerful and charming creative instincts exist in a workplace that does not allow room for creative freedom?
You have to promote creative liberty in the workplace to inspire the highest class of creativity in your employees. The World Economic Forum concluded that creativity is intrinsic to nine of the top ten futuristic professional skills. This explains the direct relationship between creativity and work efficiency. Given that, you need to back your employees to come up with creative perspectives, ideas, and dimensions to add more value to the organization.
By encouraging creative liberty in your employees, you will also be expressing your faith in their creative potential and this will inspire greater confidence in them. By setting your employees free to express their creativity, you will be empowering them and they would love such emancipation.
Moreover, with brimming creativity in the workplace, the overall problem-solving abilities of the workforce will also be enhanced. This is how you can lead your business in a direction where creativity and innovation will be the greatest competitive advantages. That is exactly what businesses are vouching for in this reimagined corporate space!
6. Cultivating a sense of belonging in the workplace
In order to be highly engaged, employees should feel that they are valuable to their organization. Similarly, they should also feel that the organization is of great value to them and an imperative part of their professional identity. In other words, a strong sense of belonging is a crucial facilitator of high employee engagement. This sense of belonging is what will determine the mental and emotional connections between employees and the organization.
To add, as featured in a study by BetterUP, a strong sense of belonging in the workplace optimizes job performance by 56 percent. This proves how crucial this sense of belonging is to motivate employees to have their goals aligned with the ambitions of the organization at all times.
The real question is, how can you promote a greater sense of belonging among employees? How will you make them believe in the notion that they are highly valuable to the organization? Well, the following are some of the ways in which you can foster a better sense of belonging.
- Celebrate your people and their individualities: Celebrate special moments and events that your employees associate with. From their birthdays to their contributions to the organization, let there be never-ending reasons for celebrations.
- Embrace diversity in your workplace: Diversity is the new norm in the business world and you ought to create a work environment with vibrant dimensions of pluralism and inclusiveness that cares for all. You also need to set fine examples for your employees to be respectful to everyone and look at diversity as a core strength of the company.
- Promote gratitude in the workplace: Do you make it a point to thank your employees for their persistence and contributions? Well, in case you do not, you should definitely start doing that. As per PCMA, 81 percent of employees feel that they will work much harder and with better engagement for a grateful boss. So, when are you starting to be more grateful?
- Have an inclusive decision-making policy: Let decision-making in your organization be inclusive. Let each and every employee in the organization have a say or keep forward their perspective about organizational decisions. Irrespective of whether you incorporate their ideas or not, the fact that you asked them for their opinion will trigger an overwhelming sense of allegiance and belonging in them.
7. Investing in employee wellness
Employee wellness is a vertical that has received a lot of emphasis ever since the unfortunate COVID-19 pandemic came into the picture. The pandemic of course has changed the way the world used to function and it has changed our priorities forever. We are now more concerned about our well-being than ever before. This sums up the reason why wellness has become a crucial part of the employee engagement framework.
Besides the health issues highlighted by the pandemic, employees’ stress levels are also reaching unprecedented levels. As per the American Institute of Success, more than 80 percent of the workers in the US find themselves reeling under constant work stress. Among these, the employees in the age group 30 to 49 are the most vulnerable to high stress as per Gallup.
Given the massive levels of stress in the workplace, employee burnout rates are also reaching alarming levels. As per a study by Indeed, 52 percent of employees have reported burnout experiences in 2021. Of course, a larger part of this burnout can be attributed to the anxiety and isolation brought in by the pandemic.
Now, it is understandable that you cannot expect a workforce that is battling burnout instances to be highly engaged. Having said that, the more you support your employees in their wellness the better productivity you will be able to derive out of them. Besides, of course, when you show care for your employees’ health, you will also be able to capture their fidelity in the most effective way.
Would you not be loyal to someone who cares for your health? Obviously, you will be and the same is the case with your employees. Listed below are some of the ways in which you can express your care for the well-being of your team members.
- Health insurance covers
- Mental wellness initiatives and seminars/webinars
- Stress-management assistance
- Yoga, aerobics, and Zumba sessions in the workplace
- Overall wellness programs
- Annual health checkups
8. Facilitating incessant learning in the workplace
Learning in the workplace should not be limited to a few training modules including onboarding and change management. What you need to realize is that workplace learning and development opportunities are sacrosanct to employees especially when it comes to millennials and Gen Y employees. Thus, learning and development in the workplace have to be more incessant and progressive.
It is interesting to note that as per the 2021 Workplace Learning report by LinkedIn, the three most vital areas of workplace learning in contemporary times include the following in decreasing order of significance.
- Reskilling and upskilling
- Management and leadership
- Virtual onboarding
Besides, as per the same report, when it comes to learning and development in the workplace, resilience and digital fluency are the skills of the highest priority. In fact, even you would want your employees to be upskilled and capable of working around all the latest developments in the corporate world, isn’t it? When your employees have more skills in their armor, their productivity and agility would of course increase.
Moreover, when employees feel that an organization is investing in their professional development and skill-building, they will commit more allegiance and dedication to the company. This is for the simple reason that learning and development prospects are among the top expectations that employees have from their employers.
Having said that, some excellent mentoring programs and learning modules based on the latest developments would be a great strategy for encouraging higher engagement in employees. Furthermore, you can also leverage the massive learning infrastructure created by the rampant digitalization that is taking place.
You should look forward to leveraging the Learning Management System (LMS) and some excellent learning and educational apps to help your employees learn more effectively. Their worthwhile development is a win-win situation for everyone after all!
9. Delivering on the expectations of career advancement
Apart from learning opportunities, career advancement prospects make another key determining factor for employee engagement. It is obvious that everyone wants to see themselves grow and advance in their careers. When an organization provides the right amount of growth prospects to its deserving employees, employees stay engaged and motivated. Besides, with every ounce of growth, an employee’s allegiance and connection with the emotions too increase manifold.
On the other hand, when employees tend to feel that their employers are not sensitive to their career advancement goals, they begin to disengage. Of course, no one would want to give their all to an organization that does not reward them with career growth prospects. No one likes to be stagnant in their careers and growth is a common aspiration that everyone has. In fact, lack of growth opportunities is one of the biggest reasons behind disengagement and high attrition.
As per a report by SHRM, not more than 29 percent of employees are content with the growth opportunities extended to them by their employers. Besides, as per ClearCompany, workers who receive a decent amount of professional development and advancement opportunities show greater engagement by 15 percent. Also, 94 percent of employees assert that they would stay at a company for longer and with greater engagement if their employers value their career goals.
So, you need to keep creating advancement opportunities for your employees. Better job titles and delegation of authority and responsibilities can be great supplements for this pursuit. Let your employees feel that they too are growing along with the organization.
10. Endorsing empathy in the workplace
One of the most worthwhile ways to win someone’s emotional commitment and fidelity is to give them the impression that you value their emotions. This is why empathy is an essential virtue that needs to be reinforced in the workplace. The need for empathy in the workplace has in fact grown exponentially ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having said that, to attract the perennial loyalty of your employees such that they are willing to go the extra mile for the organization, you need to endorse empathy and emotional intelligence in the workplace. Employees will be more engaged in their work when they know that their employers and colleagues understand and respect their emotions.
What we also need to look at are the findings of the State of Workplace Empathy Report. As per the report, 72 percent of workers opine that empathy is imperative for their motivation. Also, 84 percent of CEOs believe that empathy in the workplace leads to better business outcomes.
So, the matter of fact is that empathy in the workplace not only helps employees get over their emotional insecurities but also renders considerable business benefits. Caring for your employees’ emotions and feelings will certainly pay off!
11. Ensuring strong connections within remote teams
A survey by Flexjobs concludes that 48 percent of remote workers experience a sheer lack of emotional support in remote work. It is quite understandable that eventually, this feeling will also impact their motivation and engagement levels. So, to keep remote teams engaged, it is essential to extend emotional support to them and give them opportunities to stay connected with their team members. The following are some great ideas to promote better, cordial, and exuberant connections between remote teams.
- Virtual coffee breaks
- Corporate online games for employee engagement
- Virtual home tours and office tours
- Virtual movie nights
- Themed workdays
- Virtual onboarding
- Virtual celebration of birthdays
- Virtual appreciation
The list is inexhaustible and you can come up with multifarious creative ideas to offer emotional support to your remote employees and to help them prevent burnout situations. To keep them engaged, it is necessary to not let them feel isolated and disconnected from their co-workers. Positive workplace relationships are equally imperative even in remote cultures.
12. Investing in the right tools for virtual collaboration
As working cultures continue to change at a swift pace, remote working cultures are blossoming. If we look at the benefits of remote working, there is a plethora of them for both employers as well as employees. However, you need to ensure that shortcomings in virtual collaboration and digital communication do not become threats to the organization.
As cited by SalesForce, 86 percent of executives, managers, and employees feel that ineffective collaboration and communication are majorly responsible for project failures and lack of direction. Now, it is quite understandable that a lack of direction and instructions will eventually impact the engagement of employees.
Hence, it is necessary that organizations invest in the right tools and software for virtual collaboration, team communication, and remote project management. For companies working remotely or planning to switch to hybrid working cultures, investing in the right technology for communication and collaboration should be among the top priorities for sustaining engagement.
Also, you do not want to keep changing the communication tools for your teams time and again based on their shortcomings. That will be baffling for your employees and will lead to unnecessary delays. Given that, make sure you do enough research and development to ensure which tools are the best for the specific communication needs of your company. Make a prudent choice so that you do not have to regret your investment later!
13. Communicating strategic goals with clarity
According to GoVitru, only 6 percent of enterprises convey daily goals to their employees. How are employees expected to stay engaged at all times when goals and objectives are not communicated to them effectively? Strategic communications are salient to high employee engagement and they need to take place as per a well-defined framework.
Probing further, as per IBM, 72 percent of employees do not have a clear understanding of the strategic plans of their organizations because of communication gaps. These communication gaps do not only lead to workplace failures but also lead to disengagement in employees.
It is noteworthy that as per McKinsey, employees’ efficiency increases by 25 percent when there is effective communication in the workplace. Also, as per Expert Market, 97 percent of employees report that strategic communication has an impact on their daily productivity and engagement. How will employees align with organizational objectives if they do not have clarity on them?
So, to keep your employees engaged and to keep them motivated, it is important that you set communication goals for the organization that are to be met on a daily or weekly basis.
Some additional measures for high employee retention
Do you know that as per HR Cloud, the actual cost of replacing a seasoned employee with a great magnitude of training can be as high as 200 percent of their yearly salary? Well, that can surely be a blow for any organization. Hence, you need to work on the objectives of driving higher engagement and higher retention at the same time.
Now that we have seen some amazingly unique and pragmatic employee engagement strategies and tactics, we would also love to suggest some effective measures using which businesses can boost their employee retention rates. Though most of the worthwhile measures for high retention coincide with the above strategies for high engagement, listed below are some additional schemes.
1. Reinforcing strong cultural values
The core values of an organization play an important role in employee retention. Employees tend to serve those organizations longer that reinforce core virtues and principles in the workplace.
To substantiate, as per Deloitte, 66 percent of millennials would switch their jobs if they feel that their organization does not have any objectives beyond profit-making. Moreover, as per a survey by Fast Company, millennials are more interested in working for organizations that staunchly believe in sustainable business practices.
So, as you can see, to retain your top-notch millennial talents, you have to put some strong virtues of collective welfare, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility at the center of your business strategies
2. Offering competitive salaries
Yes, money is not the only motivation for people but for sure, money is one of the most important considerations for people. So, to attract new talents capable of adding immense value to the organization and to retain your existing talents, you need to offer competitive salaries to them.
It is imperative to pay attention to the fact that as per Glassdoor, 45 percent of employees tend to quit because they do not find their salaries or perks are competitive enough. Clearly, monetary compensation is one of the most crucial factors for employees to decide if they want to stay in an organization or not.
3. Creating a positive workplace culture
The work environment that an organization provides to its employees is a crucial factor for a large proportion of them to decide if they want to stay or not. This holds even greater relevance in the context of millennials as they are quite particular about the kind of workplace culture they want to be a part of.
To augment, as per Built-In, 24 percent of employees are highly likely to tender their resignations if they are unhappy with the culture of their organization. Moreover, 26 percent are likely to quit in the absence of mutual respect within the organization. As you can clearly see, creating a strong and respectful culture with virtues like integrity, support, empathy, gratitude, and so on is essential for retention.
4. Maintaining transparency within the organization
Transparency is another imperative factor for employees to decide whether they want to stay in their present organization. The chances of retention are much higher in organizations that share information with their employees on certain company matters. Employees anticipate genuine transparency from their managers and superiors to stay updated on the various developments and strategic plans within the organization. To make the environment more fun you can send halloween emails, or organize a collaborative learning evening. When using communication methods like email, you need to ensure technical elements such as an spf record check for overall security
In fact, as per the inferences of research carried out by TINYpulse, companies that have a fairly transparent management structure have 30 percent higher chances of retaining their employees in comparison to companies that do not share information with their employees.
5. Switching to a hybrid model of working
Do you know that companies with remote working arrangements experience lower levels of employee turnover by almost 25 percent? This vital insight from Owl Labs explains how remote work has emerged as much more than a safe and viable alternative amid the pandemic. People want remote work to continue and they gravitate towards the organizations providing remote work arrangements.
Having said that, going completely remote may not be a feasible idea for every organization and that does come with its own share of concerns. However, having a hybrid or blended working model in place will be a smart move to save on operating costs as well as to boost employee retention significantly.
6. Having zero-tolerance for breach of workplace ethics
Having an ethical and safe working environment is one of the most basic expectations employees have. No one would like to be a part of an environment of bullying, harassment, or discrimination. As a business leader, you have to ensure that people in your organization feel safe and do not find themselves vulnerable to any unethical behavior or occurrences.
Statistically speaking, 79 percent of employees are not fine with working for an organization that did nothing about sexual harassment instances. Similarly, 71 percent of employees do not want to work for organizations that pay women lesser than men. These statistics indicate that an organization’s best chance to achieve higher retention is to have no tolerance of molestation, abuse, racism, or any other form of inequality. Create a fair workplace where such conflicts do not exist and even if they do, there has to be a worthwhile resolution of the same.
7. Assisting employees in achieving a positive work-life balance
Attaining an ideal work-life balance that brings happiness and peace of mind is something that employees struggle with constantly. However, if organizations can lend a helping hand to enable their employees to achieve this balance, for sure, it would attract overwhelming allegiance.
Therefore, through various thoughtful initiatives, you should find ways to support your employees in their quest for an optimal balance. Employees would love to have their hearts and souls invested in a workplace that helps them lead a better life financially, mentally, physically, and emotionally. This could well be the masterstroke you have been looking for to upscale employee retention.
To encapsulate, in contemporary times of massive innovation and competition, the most successful companies are those which pay significant attention to employee engagement. Employee engagement is the prerequisite for various factors that are responsible for business success and ignoring the need to drive high engagement can prove to be a hefty mistake. Speaking of the tactics for boosting high engagement, all ideas revolve around happiness, allegiance, motivation, and delivering on the expectations that employees have. As long as you are paying enough attention to these expectations, your business has a long way to go!
Most importantly, during the implication of all the above-mentioned steps, it should be made sure that the factor of trust is given utmost importance. The company should ensure to practice exercises that exhibit that its employees are highly trusted and valued. This would infuse more confidence and faith in them for the company, and they would now devote their talent of full ability towards the achievement of the vision and goal of the employer. To add more, our website assignment help 4 me has many resourceful blogs which can be helpful to the users.
If you have some other ideas to produce a fully engaged workforce, then we would be obliged to hear your experiences at info@thespeakingpolymath.com or post your valuable comment in the section below.
Also, if you feel that our content is relevant and worthy, then do like and share it on your social sites.
Frequently asked questions
- What is employee engagement?
Employee engagement is the practice of engaging the employees in a rightful manner. It also includes the act of motivating, inspiring and enrolling employees in the right tasks so that they stay connected with the goal of the organization.
- How to improve employee engagement
Employee engagement can be improved by employing them in the right tasks of their interests. Further, with right coordination and achieving a balance between the personal and professional growth, the employees can be kept connected with the company for a longer period of time.
- Why is employee engagement important?
Employee engagement is imperative for the growth of any organization because it keeps the employees happy and focussed towards the goal of the company. It is with positively engaged employees that a company can aim for higher profits in the future.