According to Gallup, employee engagement has stagnated recently, with only 33% of employees engaged at work. That leaves 67% of employees who are potentially not engaged or not happy at work. And chances are, these disengaged workers are also less productive and loyal to your business.
Employee engagement is a major contributor to your business’s success. If your employee engagement is on the rocks, learn how to develop and sustain employee engagement at your business.
Employee engagement strategies
Employee engagement can work wonders for your small business by bringing employees out of their shells. It can also:
- Decrease turnover
- Boost productivity
- Improve profitability
- Reduce shrinkage (e.g., theft)
- Improve the quality of work
- Decrease absenteeism
If you want to see these positives become a reality at your business and improve employee engagement, try the following six strategies:
1. Recognize achievements
You’ve heard it before: location, location, location. The location of your business is critical to your business’s success. But here’s a new one for you: recognition, recognition, recognition.
Like how location is essential to your company’s success, recognition is key to employee success and engagement. Recognition can make or break your employee retention and engagement.
If you want to increase engagement, recognize employees for a job well done. Say “congratulations” to employees when they reach a goal. Give employees a card for their work anniversary to show that you appreciate them. Take them out to lunch as a thank you for landing that big client.
Don’t let employees’ hard work go unnoticed. Instead, keep an eye out for employees going above and beyond to make your business the best it can be.
2. Create employee-led committees
I think I can speak for many fellow employers when I say that growing your employees into leaders is essential. After all, they are the future of your business. But what does growing leaders have to do with employee engagement?
According to one study, only 19% of organizations are effective at developing leaders. If your business is falling flat in the leadership area and needs a way to improve employee engagement, I have a solution for you: employee-led committees. Committees led by employees are ideal for encouraging camaraderie and showing employees you value their input. Plus, committees can help employees develop valuable leadership skills and keep them involved in your company.
Create an employee-led committee and ask employees to sign up and participate. Chances are, employees are looking for an opportunity to lead. A committee is the golden ticket. Depending on your business, you might even need to create multiple employee-led committees (thus spreading the opportunities for employees).
At my accounting and payroll software company, we have various committees to discuss improving our software, operations, and marketing strategies. We implemented our committees about a year ago, and in only one year, they’ve produced great ideas, boosted engagement, and strengthened teamwork.
3. Host social events
One surefire way to improve employee engagement and foster connections is to host social events in or outside of the workplace. There are endless possibilities for social events. Think food trucks, potluck meals, or raffles at work.
If you want to go above and beyond, think outside of the box when coming up with ideas for activities. Give employees something to talk about by doing things you wouldn’t normally do. Try to do a different activity each time you have an event to keep employees on their toes.
At my company, employees never know when the next surprise is right around the corner. We’ve had a roller rink party, free smoothie day, and chili cook-off, just to name a few. Social events are a way to show employees you appreciate their hard work and dedication to your business. Events give your employees a chance to socialize. Not to mention, it’s important to have a little fun every once in a while.
4. Ask employees for feedback
When customers give you honest feedback, what do you do? Do you just smile and nod? Or, do you use that feedback to better your business? Most businesses answer with the latter. Shouldn’t the same go for employees’ feedback?
If you want to improve and sustain engagement, you have to take your employees’ opinions seriously. Otherwise, your employees could start dropping like flies.
Have employees fill out regular surveys about your business. Some businesses may prefer doing annual surveys. Personally, I like hearing employees’ thoughts and feedback more than once per year. Consider having biannual, semi-annual, or quarterly surveys or reviews. That way, you can stay up-to-date on how your employees feel. And, you can find out how to improve in the future.
When crafting your survey questions, don’t be afraid to find out the truth. If you truly want to pinpoint problem areas and boost employee engagement (don’t we all?), you have to ask the right questions. Ask questions like, What’s your favorite part about working here? Least favorite part? How can we improve in the future?
5. Provide thorough training
If you want to build a culture of trust and improve employee engagement, set your team up for success. To do this, you have to provide employees with proper training to thrive.
From day one, you should have a process for training employees. Your new employees should feel welcome and mesh well with your company culture while learning the ins and outs of your business. An employee’s training and how well they get along with coworkers helps lay the foundation for employee engagement. If workers find themselves struggling to keep up or feel left behind, it can spell doom for engagement going forward.
6. Give individual attention
Paying attention is critical in all aspects of business. You have to pay attention to your competition, threats, finances, and—you guessed it—your employees. If you want employee engagement to be prominent in your small business, pay attention to your employees.
Think of your employees as plants. If you give them attention and feed them the right resources, they will flourish. But if you don’t accommodate their individual needs, they may start wilting.
Each employee has different needs and motivators. Keep up with your employees’ needs and find out what makes them tick. You can use performance reviews, meetings, or even small talk to learn more about an employee. Take advantage of performance reviews to see where each employee stands and whether you’re meeting their individual needs. Be sure to use their feedback to better engage going forward.
The more you get to know an employee individually, the better engagement you will have.
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