It is especially important in modern work environments to boost employee engagement since they undergo changes at a tremendous pace. Lack of an engaged workforce can lead to serious productivity and performance issues for most organizations today.
Engaged employees are emotionally invested in committing their talent, energy, and time for the growth and profitability of their organizations. Such employees help their organizations outperform their competitors and help businesses make a faster recovery from market-induced setbacks.
Engaged employees also play critical roles in solving problems, driving innovation, and establishing connectivity between the management and the workforce. When employees are engaged, they are more creative and they often go above and beyond to ensure fulfilment of goals.
Despite the benefits of an engaged workforce, more than 70% of employees are either disengaged or indifferent towards their organizations. In fact, a majority have to literally drag themselves to work everyday and lack passion while performing their tasks.
This tends to hamper the productivity of an organization, reduces overall employee motivation and causes a rise in turnover rates. That is why boosting the engagement level of the workforce has become the top priority for modern organizations.
Thankfully, there are some simple strategies as discussed below that organizations can implement to boost employee engagement:
Most employees feel trapped in a rigid work environment. This makes them feel detached and uninterested in the growth and success of the organization. Whether is the rigid work schedule, or inability to utilize their skills and creativity, an inflexible work environment can cause lower engagement.
A flexible work environment provides employees with a sense of empowerment, and increases their engagement with the organization.
Appreciating employees for good work or even desirable behaviors without delay can go a long way in boosting their engagement. Cheering the success of employees and highlighting their achievements helps in assuring them that the organization values them.
It fills them with a sense of belonging and deeply impacts employee loyalty towards the organization. This low-cost strategy is, in fact, considered to be one of the most effective ways of boosting engagement.
Employees are concerned about their professional growth; providing them with such development opportunities can boost engagement.
Assigning projects for skill development, understanding individual career aspirations, and appropriate training programs are steps that organizations can take. Additionally, managers should hold regular career discussions with employees and offer them necessary help and support.
Employees today do not like to be in the dark and despise the communication policy of “need to know”. They prefer to work for organizations where honest and transparent communication forms an integral part of the work culture.
However, such communication should not focus only on sharing the decisions of the management. It should be based listening to the views and opinions of employees before any decision-making that impacts them.
Helping employees understand their role in the organizational growth and success is important to enhance their sense of belongingness. Establishing clear connectivity between employee responsibilities and organization objectives boosts employee productivity by filling them with a sense of purpose.
When employees feel that their work really matters, they tend to give their best and participate in various initiatives.
Implementing the simple strategies above can positively impact employee engagement and create a progressive work environment.
Even though these ideas are not exactly new, they need commitment and initiative from the organization to drive desired results.
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