Retention – this is a keyword if you want to build and maintain a stable and effective team. Companies that want to succeed are concerned about their team and must avoid a tremendous turnover rate.
Training new team members can require time and resources. Having experienced employees leave the company is a loss, especially when the team is not so big.
So how can you use employee engagement to make your team cohesion more solid and avoid the loss of precious human resources? And what are some employee engagement strategies you can practice right now? Let’s learn.
What is employee engagement, and why is it so important?
Engagement of your employees is a powerful tool you can use to retain them. This involves helping them be more aligned with the company and its vision, mission, and values. This increase significantly their satisfaction with their work. And as work is a massive part of life, this makes them happier.
Happier employees are contributing more eagerly, and their performance is better.
Each company needs to prioritize inspiring and motivating their employees so they feel a vital part of the business. They need to see how their hard work is rewarded and highly appreciated—especially those who are contributing big time to the company.
High achievers must be rewarded, and under-performers must be inspired and motivated.
Creating Positive Employee Experiences Build a Foundation of Trust
To be a good leader, you must care deeply about the employee experience. If you are constantly working to create a positive employee experience, this builds your relationship with them and forms the foundation of trust and confidence. It is strategical for employee engagement and retention.
This way, even when there are sometimes difficulties and hardships, the employees do not use that as an excuse to slip away from the company, but they want to work through them for the success of the common goals.
How to Engage your Employees Effectively?
There are different types of engagement you can use. So the engagement happens on a physical, emotional, and mental level.
Physical engagement
It relates to their work environment and creates good conditions for them. They need to feel the work environment is healthy and there are no hazards. On the contrary, they must feel you are taking care of their well-being.
Emotional support
We all know the surge of positive energy we feel when we realize how meaningful our work is. We feel inspired and motivated by the company’s mission, and our work is pure joy.
This is what we want to achieve within our team. We do not desire people only to go through the motions of working, watching for the time to go by and the shift to end, at last!Â
Cognitive level of engagement
They must feel that the work they do is meaningful. They also need to realize the value of their contribution and feel the recognition of their skills and talents. This realization of cohesion and integrity is crucial for the engagement and retention of the team members.
You must combine the three levels of engagement to maintain their trust and confidence in the long term. This involves strategic planning.
Now let’s see ten practical tips you can use right away to make employee engagement within your company better and stronger.
Ten practical tips for employee engagement
#1 Make the working process clear and streamlined
Nothing is worse than confusion. It can create stress and burnout. Make the working process clear, especially for the newly onboarded team members. The expectations and the results need to be clearly stated.
The ways to reach these goals must also be transparent. There must be a shared standard of accomplishment for the results to be evident to all. The path must be clear, and success must be celebrated.
#2 Make Communication your Focus
When you hire your employees, you do that with the awareness that they can contribute to your company. This is a powerful reason you must make good communication your priority. You must engage with your employees and listen to them intently.
You must create formal and informal occasions where your team can feel free and at ease expressing their opinions, ideas, and contributions. When they see their voice has been listened to, they can feel integrated within the company and appreciated.
When you have a freelancing and offshoring team, ensure your communication channels such as Slack, Zoom, Teams, or Skype run efficiently!
#3 Make company values a solid base for your team
The core values of a company are what make it stand. If the company does not have a robust value system, it will collapse sooner or later. Values are the core of the company culture. It is essential to create a positive environment based on your core values and ensure everyone knows and abides by them.
The sense of belonging to the company culture and values increase employee engagement and the importance of your team’s security.
#4 Prioritize and Award Goal setting and accomplishment
It is crucial to help your employees understand how goal setting and accomplishment work for their personal development and career advancement.
Establish well-trained leaders within your team to monitor each member’s progress and help them grow. There are many systems of goal setting – PDCA, SMART, and so on.
Make a ritual of sharing and celebrating the accomplishment of small and big goals within your team – for the encouragement and upbuilding of the whole team. Reaching a milestone should be acknowledged and rewarded! This will help them feel motivated and inspired.
#5 Hire Inspiring Team Leaders
You need to have people within your team with the drive and the quality to empower and inspire the rest of the team. They need to know the processes and the people and have strong managerial skills and attitudes.
They must be individuals that are working for the common good. Their contribution should have a positive and constructive impact on the group. They should not be not dictators that are micromanaging the team.
In Conclusion
These are just a few ways for you to increase employee engagement. You can pick them as a starting point and create your own.
There are many ways you can engage your team on a physical, emotional, and cognitive level. But at the core of them, all is your attitude.
The caring and concern for their well-being must be genuine. Otherwise, it will show in your mood and energy, and your team will feel it is just a pose. So from your heart, wish your team be happy and fulfilled, and your actions will follow!
