Are your employees engaged? What does that even mean?
Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organisation and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company.
A recent survey titled “Employee Engagement: How British Business Measures Up” took responses from over 2000 British employees, where they were asked a series of questions regarding their productivity and engagement levels while at work.
Research uncovered that only a third (36 per cent) of employees are highly engaged at work. This disengagement has been calculated to cost businesses £2,048 per employee.
DTM Legal is here to offer employers some top tips to improve employee engagement and business performance.
Keep Your Employees in the Loop
It is important to keep employees updated with what’s going on within the organisation; not only does it keep everyone on the same page but it is a motivation tool. Updating staff on internal announcements or taking the time to update them on positive news for the business can inspire the team and make them feel like an integral part of the company.
Used correctly, good customer relationship management (CRM) software will eliminate issues such as duplicated work and mixed messages. Everyone will be on the same page, connected and able to see how what they are doing affects the overall success of the business.
Allowing communication to falter could result in any number of unfortunate outcomes for the business.
Strengthen Relationships
The relationship between employees and management is extremely important. The management team should appear accessible and be engaged with the organisation which will help employees to feel closer to the business and creates a restored sense of involvement.
Encourage Feedback
Employees who receive little or no feedback are actively disengaged. Employee engagement will increase if you tell your employees about their strengths and weaknesses, on a regular basis; this will also help with personal development.
Champion Innovation
Employees can become disinterested if they feel as though their work is not valued. Openly reward creativity throughout the company and make it clear that it is okay to try something new when they are seeking ways to improve performance.
Set Goals with Achievable Rewards
Most businesses set goals or targets for their employees based on the performance of a team. Unfortunately, a lot of these are little more than a simple challenge to meet an impersonal reward.
Set meaningful goals; show your employees how achieving them will benefit both them and the business, and how the target fits in with what the business as a whole is trying to achieve.
This focus will strengthen employees’ purpose at work and scheduling regular meetings to ensure progress is tracked and rewarded will keep them motivated and show that it is important for you that your employees reach their goals.
Focus on the Good, not the Bad
In an effort to raise overall standards, many managers end up focusing on whatever weaknesses an employee has.
Instead, those seeking to improve engagement should focus on the strengths of their staff, and on developing the areas where they are naturally strong. Where there are weaknesses managers should encourage the team to give support where needed.
Strong employee engagement in the workplace results in employees offering more of their capability, effort and potential and the companies who are more effective in engaging their employees, are proven to be more successful.
If you need advice on how to improve your business’ employee engagement, get in touch with Employment Associate, Tom Evans, on 0151 230 1217 or email tom.evans@dtmlegal.com.
