The Most Important Employee Engagement Strategies

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Every company wants their employees to be engaged. The fact of the matter is that engaged employees tend to be more productive, motivated and efficient. What’s more, they tend to perform better in general. However, employee engagement isn’t something that can happen overnight just because you want it and it’s definitely something that shouldn’t be expected from employees as well.

As a matter of fact, employee engagement is something that should be encouraged and as an employer, it’s your job to motivate your employees to become engaged, in the first place. There are various strategies you can leverage to ensure engagement and the choice is entirely yours.

A lot of employers believe that they can ensure employee engagement with proper salaries. However, even though money is always a good motivator for people, it’s not, in fact, always a top priority or the top factor that will ensure engagement, to begin with.

The Most Important Employee Engagement Strategies
Image by Shallu Narula on Dribbble

With that in mind, here are a few of the most important employee engagement strategies.

#1. Onboarding

Onboarding is the foundation for employee engagement, especially for new employees that start working at your company. This process is designed to help employees acclimatize to your company culture, work environment, and conditions, among other things.

This process is also designed to encourage employees to become engaged, as well as to encourage them to stay. As a matter of fact, 20% of employee turnovers happen within the first 45 days.

In addition, employee trial periods usually last for 90 days while it takes around 8 months for a new employee to reach full productivity. The majority of companies have an onboarding process that lasts only one month while 37% of companies have onboarding that lasts more than that.

However, an exceptional onboarding process is vital. The main reason is that 69% of new employees are more likely to stay for three or more years and are more likely to become engaged if they experienced a seamless onboarding process.

#2. Keep an open-door policy

One of the most important factors in employee engagement is communication. More precisely, your ability to listen to what they have to say. If your employees cannot rely on you to help them sort out any problems or difficulties then you can’t expect them to be engaged.

That’s why you must keep an open-door policy and encourage employees to come to you and voice their opinions, as well as their concerns when they need to.

If you show that you listen and that you’re more than willing to help your employees out, they will eventually become more engaged and more motivated. This is especially true when your employees can see that you’re acting upon their feedback instead of just claiming you will.

#3. Reward their efforts

Employee engagement depends on many factors. It’s your job as an employer or a manager to determine the best way to encourage your employees to become more engaged. Oftentimes, you don’t have to go too far to achieve such an engagement.

In most cases, a bit of appreciation for everything your employees do can go a long way in securing their engagement, motivation, and productivity, among other things. A good example of this is rewarding your employees for their hard work.

Even a simple, yet meaningful reward, such as a convenient universal gift card, can do wonders in terms of employee engagement. Such rewards show that you not only appreciate what your employees do every day but it also shows that you’re willing to recognize their accomplishments.

When your employees see that everything they do doesn’t go unnoticed, they’ll be more encouraged to do their best in the future. What’s more, rewarding employees for their efforts won’t cost your company much but it will definitely help you strengthen your relationship with them.

#4. Give them opportunity to grow

Striving for growth is in human nature. According to a study, even 87% of Millennials consider career growth and professional development opportunities very important in a job.

In the workplace, this doesn’t only mean financial growth or climbing the corporate ladder, but also having the opportunities to learn, develop new skills and improve the existing ones.

While giving raises, bonuses, and promotions can be an effective way of increasing employee engagement, make sure to also provide educational opportunities for your employees. Organizing seminars and financing specialization courses can help your employees not only improve their skills and knowledge but also feel more content and motivated.

Also, make sure that you leave enough room for personal growth. Your employees should be able to maintain a healthy work-life balance and have enough free time to pursue their passions outside of the workplace.

Employees who spent enough time with their families, have enough time for hobbies and travel and have overall fulfilled personal lives will be more productive and engaged in the workplace.

#5. Involve them

Most of the time, you don’t have to make an extra effort to ensure your employees are engaged. As a matter of fact, you can easily do so by giving them more responsibilities. However, that doesn’t mean giving them extra work to handle.

Instead, involve your employees in the important decision-making process and allow their voices to be heard. There are two major benefits of involving your employees.

The first one is that you may get a fresh perspective on things thanks to your employees’ innovative and creative way of thinking. They may come up with fresh new ideas that differ from a corporate mindset but may also be more effective.

The second benefit is that your employees will be encouraged to do their best, which ultimately makes them more engaged. After all, their responsibilities shift from mundane tasks to important and more strategic decisions that impact the entire organization and not just themselves.

In other words, you give them an opportunity to shine and show their fullest potential. Nobody would pass on such an opportunity that will allow them to make a difference.

Your Turn

It’s safe to say that employee engagement is vital for your business success. However, engagement doesn’t fall from a tree and makes your employees more productive. Instead, you must be the one that will encourage and motivate your employees to become engaged. That’s why you should consider various strategies that will help you achieve that and more.

About the Author!

Jacob Wilson is a business consultant, and an organizational psychologist, based in Brisbane. Passionate about marketing, social networks, and business in general. In his spare time, he writes a lot about new business strategies and digital marketing for Bizzmarkblog.com.

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2 Comments
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  2. […] By understanding these preferences, employers can tailor their management strategies to suit different generations, allowing them to attract and retain the best employees. […]

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