Engaged employees are energized, passionate, and committed to their work and organization. Building a highly engaged workforce requires a multi-faceted strategy spanning culture, empowerment, development, rewards, and more.
Cultivating an Engaging, Inclusive Culture
Employees who feel a sense of belonging and purpose are more engaged day-to-day. Culture lays the foundation, and several elements help promote engagement. For example, fostering diversity, equity and inclusion means that employees are seen, heard, and valued for their unique backgrounds. Make sure underrepresented voices feel welcomed and respected.
Promote transparency and open communication. When information flows freely, people feel informed and trust leadership. Hold regular town halls, Q&As, and skip-level meetings. Role model collaborative, ethical behavior. Leaders set a cultural tone. Demonstrate the values you want to be emulated across the company. Encourage creativity and idea-sharing. Let people inject passion into their work through flexible policies, discretionary time, and forums to share suggestions.
When people love coming to work, they bring discretionary energy that supercharges performance. Culture establishes a common purpose and fuels intrinsic motivation.
Empowering Through Autonomy & Growth
Engaged employees feel empowered in their roles and development. Increase autonomy within clear guidelines. Allow employees to manage how and when they get work done. Offer flexibility in scheduling when possible. Provide growth opportunities. Support employees’ career goals through lateral moves, stretch assignments, mentorships, and training. Upskilling boosts engagement.
Seek input on decisions that affect employees. People want their voices heard on processes, technologies, and policies impacting their work. Minimize bureaucracy and complexity. Simplify workflows and guidelines as much as possible. Empower teams by removing unnecessary constraints.
Strengthening Connection & Purpose
Relationships and meaning also influence engagement. Share your purpose, mission, and values. Ensure employees see how their role contributes to creating customer and social value. Invest in onboarding and mentorships. Help employees build connections and understand cultural norms when joining.
Facilitate informal interactions through chat tools, clubs, networking events, and more. Relationships thrive on dialogue beyond formal work. Recognize contributions to purpose-driven goals. When you celebrate achievements tied to mission and values, purpose resonates more.
When employees feel connected to colleagues and the mission, engagement follows. These intrinsic motivations separate good jobs from great ones.
Optimizing Benefits and Perks
While not a cure-all, attractive benefits help boost engagement, as do meaningful perks, say the experts at VertiSource HR. Consider health insurance plans with reduced premiums, lower deductibles, and expanded coverage. Support mental, physical, and financial well-being. Financial benefits like employer retirement plan matching and student loan assistance. Use benefits administration to help reduce money stressors. Offer paid time off and flexible schedules. Allow balance and recharge time to prevent burnout.
Consider unique perks like gym memberships, electric vehicle charging, and childcare stipends tailored to your people. Get creative supporting lifestyles. While compensation is important, benefits and perks sweeten engagement. Go beyond the bare minimum to support satisfaction.
Listening & Responding at Scale
The strategies above only work if you listen to employees and respond appropriately. This means regularly surveying employees to capture engagement levels, needs, and concerns. Anonymous feedback elicits candor. Analyze results across segments. Dig into any gaps in engagement across roles, locations, functions, levels, or tenure. Identify root causes of declining engagement. Engage front-line leaders and managers to pinpoint issues. Listening to employees and responding empathetically keeps engagement initiatives targeted and effective over time. Don’t lose sight of the “why” behind each effort.
Conclusion
The war for talent makes employee engagement more critical than ever. While there is no silver bullet solution, organizations that build cultures of empowerment, purpose, development, inclusion, and trust create an environment primed for engagement. Listen closely, respond appropriately, and watch productivity, performance, and retention rise across the organization.
