5 Strategies for Increasing Employee Engagement

Keeping employees engaged at work can sometimes be a difficult task. But it doesn’t have to be! Karen Crone, Chief Human Resource Officer at Paycor, defines employee engagement as the extent to which your employees:

* Talk positively about the company
* Stay with the organization
* Offer discretionary effort

When employees are engaged, they become advocates for your company. Time and time again research has proven that happy and engaged employees work harder and work better. In a Paycor webinar, Karen explained the importance of employee engagement and suggested five employee engagement strategies simple to increase the effort your associates invest in the workplace.

1. Communicate how performance aligns with the business

When there is a clear connection between an associate’s work and business strategy, a line of sight is created that gives them a reason to come to work and put in their best effort. By being open and acknowledging the dedication of your employees, you make their work more fulfilling.

2. Offer work challenges & a chance for input

Neither managers nor their employees can do their best work on their own. When your managers are willing to collaborate with associates and delegate some tasks, everyone is able to do their job effectively and hear a variety of points of view. If employees feel trusted and that their work is important, they will naturally feel more inclined to do it well.

3. Personalize career development

The workforce, especially with the addition of the Millennials, is becoming more focused on how on-the-job experiences can improve an employee’s skill set and their company’s future. Some great ways to foster personal development within the workplace include:

* Creating affinity groups
* Having employees self-assess their strengths and weaknesses
* Using subject matter experts within your company as teachers

4. Develop great managers

Developing great managers is especially important, because the three previous tips all depend on having managers who are invested in their associates. By keeping managers informed and engaged, their job of encouraging employee engagement becomes much easier.

5. Re-recruit employees

These days, recruiting new talent is a major focus, but there needs to be an emphasis on engaging existing employees as well. Periodically check in with your employees to assess their “flight risk” and make sure their concerns are being addressed to assure them that they are being heard and appreciated.

In today’s business world, only one in three employees is engaged and skilled workers are always in demand. The fact is, your dissatisfied employees can and will take their talent somewhere else. The average cost of turnover is $20,000 per employee, so making sure your employees are fully invested definitely pays off.

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