Keeping employees engaged at work can sometimes be a difficult task. But
it doesn’t have to be!
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.
The average
cost of turnover is $20,000 per employee, so making sure your employees
are fully invested definitely pays off.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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. Be proactive and use an employee engagement survey to assess the potential needs of the workforce.
