The corporate world is a race where every organization is running towards reaching its own finish line. The support and hard work of the employees are the most important things for any brand to survive and thrive. After all, the employees are the backbone and the driving force behind the success of a company, which is why it is vital to maintain employee engagement in the company. When employees feel connected to their company, they work harder, stay loyal and motivate others to do the same. From corporate gifts to team-building activities, organizations experiment with everything to keep their employees engaged. Let us get a better understanding of employee engagement and its strategies.
What is Employee Engagement?
As the term suggests, employee engagement refers to how committed employees are toward their organization. An employee who feels engaged and connected to the brand will feel a sense of purpose in their jobs. Employee Satisfaction is often misunderstood to be the same as employee engagement, but the latter is a vast concept that depends on many factors. These factors are prone to change from time to time, so measuring employee engagement is crucial to staying up to date with your staff’s needs.
Here are 5 awesome ways for you to improve employee engagement in your organization–
- Recognize & Appreciate Good Work
As we said, the success of any organization is fuelled by its employees’ hard work and persistence. Therefore, it is important for any brand to recognise the good work of its employees and appreciate them for the same. Well, appreciating in this case is more than just saying a thank you; there’s always more to be done – at all levels of an organization. There are many ways to employee appreciation, from corporate gifting to milestone celebrations, incentive-based schemes, and award programs.
- Encourage Feedback
After you appreciate all the hard work and efforts put in by your employees, it is also important to hear from your employees about their views. A part of employee engagement also includes enabling an employee voice. The technological advancements allow employers to regularly seek and collate employee feedback. The truth is employees crave feedback, and having a window to share all their thoughts directly influences their level of engagement.
- Cultivate Team Building
Team Building Activities in the corporate world foster a sense of belongingness among the employees. It helps the employees to get to know each other – their interests, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they communicate. Some of the best ways to encourage employee engagement through team building are as follows –
- Introduce a compliment circle – A compliment circle encourages employees to appreciate each other’s work. This motivates individuals to work better and with confidence. Or you can go around and have each person address the coworker to their right so that everyone gets a chance to shine.
- A Scavenger Hunt – Scavenger Hunts are a perfect opportunity for new hires to familiarise themselves with the company and get to know their team. This helps in building employee interaction which is a baby step towards building employee engagement. This is also a great way to encourage team members to work together.
- Potluck Lunch – Hosting an office potluck lunch is a great way to bring people together and increase employee engagement. When employees talk to each other and exchange ideas, it helps to increase employee satisfaction.
- Fitness and Dance sessions
Organizing a fitness and dance session is one of the best ways to involve employees in the work culture and generate employee engagement. Fitness programs are not only fun, but they also improve the physical and mental health of employees. Fitness and Dance programs are a great initiative to increase workplace socialization, employees’ loyalty toward the brand, and improved internal communications. Dancing makes people happy, and the general outlook towards work changes.
- Focus on Mental Health
One thing that anyone rarely talks about is Mental Health. However, it is as important as your physical health. Encourage an environment where employees feel comfortable in sharing their mental status and well-being. Communicating face-to-face with your employees on a regular basis is a personal approach towards building employee engagement and a healthy environment for the employees to sustain. Companies can initiate a one-on-one session or a group discussion about the importance of employee mental health. A healthy mind works better than a mind that has been clouded with thoughts and doubts.
Increasing employee engagement in the workplace can be a little tricky but is totally doable. Employee engagement improves work culture, reduces turnover, increases productivity, builds better work and customer relationships, and increases profits.
