We as humans want to be comforted, valued, and respected in whatever we engage. It matters to us when our ideas, opinions, and thoughts are taken into account and considered significant. It feels good when our hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. It gives us pleasure when rewarded with a fair reward or recognition. It feels comforting when we can remain who we are and work on our strengths rather than changing and confusing our best abilities.
When we feel comforted, valued, and respected in a workplace, that is when we want to work with our whole hearts and minds and that is where Employee Engagement comes in. Given below are 7 strategies to maintain in the work environment to boost employee engagement:
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES
1. Create a flexible environment:
No employee wants to become a robot and work exactly according to the instructions given. Every employee wants some amount of freedom of choice and decision when they are working.
Employee engagement can, thus, be increased by creating a flexible environment for the employees where they have the freedom to make certain decisions that can improve their work. Flexibility can also be provided by removing fixed timings to come in and leave their workplaces. This does not imply that employees come in and leave at whatever time they want, but can decide for themselves, which work pattern works for them.
Work flexibility allows the employees not to feel tied up or burdened and gives them a sense of relief and the ability to choose the best for themselves which leads to them wanting to engage with their work in the best possible way, increasing employee engagement.
2. Let employees build on their strengths:
Authenticity is the most important factor when it comes to an employee’s personality and skills. Each person is different and brings different sets of strengths and weaknesses to the table.
Most of the time, companies look at every employee from the same glasses and treat them equally on the scale of what they can and cannot do, which hampers their authenticity. E.g. An employee is told to work on analyzing reports and finding loopholes in them. There is a possibility that the employee who is not innately very good at analyzing, improves, but still isn’t able to work properly on that task. The same employee might be very good at communication and is innately a good communicator.
Therefore, to increase employee engagement, companies should focus on the strengths of the employees, along with improving what they aren’t that good at, rather than making the employee lose their authentic selves.
3. Emphasize mental health:
“Your mental health is everything- prioritize it. Make the time as your life depends on it because it does.” – Mel Robbins (American Lawyer)
A person’s daily functioning depends on their mental health. An employee’s productivity, efficiency, quality of work, and overall performance are hugely impacted by the state of their mental health.
Companies should emphasize the need to have good mental health. They should make it very clear that mental health wouldn’t be compromised in any sense. This would provide the employees with mental and physical safety which would increase employee engagement.
GoodLives conducts various workshops ranging from Zumba and Yoga sessions to Music Therapy and Expressive Arts workshops which are specifically aimed at improving the mental health of HR professionals.
4. Cater to the basic needs of the employees:
When we talk about wellness, we usually forget about the importance of spiritual wellness in our lives. Spiritual wellness is something intangible and cannot be seen but can be felt.
- When an employee comes to you and talks to you about an issue or a task that they are struggling with, listen to them carefully and understand where they are coming from.
- Sometimes genuine reasons sound like excuses. An employee might be telling the truth, but it comes across as a lie, and therefore, the benefit of the doubt should be given to every employee.
- Personal growth is equal to professional growth, and therefore, companies should work towards every employee’s personal development too, which would motivate the employees and increase employee engagement.
- Many companies are allowing their employees to get power naps between work which boosts their mental and physical strength.
The points mentioned above would make the employees feel cared for and would, in turn, increase employee engagement.
5. Listen to their ideas and opinions very carefully and act upon them
Each employee would have different beliefs, ideologies, opinions, and varied thoughts. They will have different solutions to one problem. Companies should pay equal attention to the inputs of each employee so that they feel that their opinion is very important and the company is benefiting from their input.
When the employees know that their work is benefitting the company and they hold importance in the company’s achievements and successes, they would be motivated to engage more, leading to increased employee engagement.
6. Create rules and regulations that are logical:
Most of the time, employees do not agree with the rules and regulations of the company they work in. As a result, it disinterests them from paying much attention to the overall performance of the company.
Therefore, companies should create rules mindfully which hold onto their employees as well. When the employees are on board with the rules and regulations of the company, they find it reasonable, both for themselves, as well as the customers.
A small suggestion: Ask for feedback from your employees about the rules and regulations of your company. Collate the feedback and analyze them. Finally, conclude every rule. This really would increase employee engagement.
7. Provide them with additional perks:
When a company provides its employees with additional perks, it shows that the company cares about its employees. It shows that the company, along with focusing on their mental and physical health, also focuses on their current lifestyle and future needs.
Additional perks can include useful gifts during festivals like Diwali, and Christmas; coupons for various luxury brands; free spa and massage once a month; great lunch and dinner facilities; longer vacations and monetary support for the same; bonus once in a while; medical and educational reimbursements, etc.
When employees receive various perks, in addition to their salary, they tend to stick to their jobs because of extreme gain. This results in increased employee engagement.
Companies that have employees who are immensely engaged in their work are leading from the front.
Some major examples include Microsoft Corp which focuses on building community through communication, professional development, team-building activities, etc; Mastercard which focuses on diversity and inclusion, continuous feedback, etc; and Apple which focuses on the culture of collaboration, competitive benefits, and compensation and wellness in the workplace.
One of the main reasons for their success is highly engaged employees. Therefore, companies need to understand that how they treat their employees has a direct connection to their successes.
Increased Employee Engagement = Increased Success.
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