Follow these simple steps to improve retention and productivity
Employee engagement is the key ingredient to employee retention and company success.
Without it, workers get burned out, disengaged, and dissociated from their goals and the organization. The results are decreased productivity and morale, which negatively affect your company’s bottom line.
But when workers really engage with their team, work, and organization, your business will profit. And more importantly, your employees will be satisfied with their work and experience a deep sense of belonging.
Engagement in the workplace fosters productivity by creating an environment where workers can realize their full potential. Here’s a look at why employee engagement is essential and how you can implement creative strategies to keep your employees engaged.
Why is employee engagement so critical?
Increase employee retention
Engaged employees are more likely to remain with your organization. In a study by Gallup, companies with high engagement experienced 18% lower employee turnover than those with low engagement.
Employee turnover is one of the significant challenges facing HR departments because it’s expensive to replace trained employees. The hiring, onboarding, and training process can cost the company more than 200% of the employee’s salary.
Not only is turnover costly, but it also results in the loss of experienced employees and demoralizes the remaining workers. Engaged employees, on the other hand, feel a deeper connection with the organization’s purpose and will stay to help achieve it.
Improves productivity
Engaged employees are 38% more likely to have above-average productivity. They are more likely to go beyond their job description and pay more attention to work. Increased productivity builds a positive culture, better customer service, and higher revenues for the business.
Offers better mental health for your employees
Highly engaged workplaces encourage work-life balance. They also foster a culture of inclusivity and value their employees.
According to the American Psychological Association, employees who feel valued and appreciated by their employers have better mental and physical health than those who don’t. Better mental health enables employees to be productive in a culture where they can thrive. Investing in employee engagement not only increases productivity but also fosters a healthy workforce.
These are three fundamental reasons employee engagement is vital to your organization. But how do you foster this in your workplace? The following covers some unique ideas for implementing employee engagement to improve your company culture.
Encourage two-way feedback
Giving feedback is an excellent opportunity for informal recognition. Additionally, two-way feedback between managers and employees builds trust, clarifies expectations, and fuels growth. Feedback also makes employees feel that you’re invested in their professional and personal development.
Consider implementing a feedback session during one-on-one meetings and giving informal feedback that you can couple with other efforts, such as peer recognition.
Conduct fun employee engagement surveys
Employee surveys promote a casual atmosphere and encourage open and honest sharing. They are also an excellent way to learn about and interact with your employees.
Fun and interesting survey questions create a light-hearted atmosphere for conversations, increasing response rates, encouraging authentic feedback, and improving employee engagement.
Come up with fun icebreakers and survey questions about company culture, employee hobbies, and other miscellaneous topics to boost engagement, such as:
- What’s your hidden hobby?
- Which song do you know word for word?
- What does a perfect weekend look like for you?
- If you could go anywhere in the world, which country would you choose?
- Share two lies and a truth
- What do you love most about working here?
- If you could remove one element from our workplace, what would it be? What would you add?
Ask your workers how they prefer to be recognized
Employee recognition is one of the most powerful ways of building an engaged workforce. It’s common for managers to choose how to recognize their employees.
However, not everyone loves being recognized the same way. While some people thrive on public recognition, others may shy away from being in the spotlight and prefer something more private, like a small note or an in-person comment about their excellent work.
Take your time and ask your employees how they prefer to be recognized. Showing you care enough to go that extra mile will motivate them and keep them engaged.
Encourage social interaction
Social interaction is one of the most effective employee engagement strategies. Lack of social connectedness hurts your employees’ ability to thrive and remain productive at work.
Encourage social interactions to help workers have fun, unwind, and build connections. You can try the following:
- Creating a social spot where employees can interact freely and decompress.
- Celebrating significant events such as holidays and birthdays. Hold virtual events to connect with remote workers.
- Organizing team-building activities such as sports, book clubs, and escape rooms
- Building team wellness challenges such as walking competitions, yoga classes, and healthy group lunches
Social interactions help minimize stress and improve both physical and mental health. Your organization will benefit from a healthy and engaged workforce.
Provide extra employee privileges
Providing extra privileges for your employees increases motivation and dedication. Perks also have a significant impact on engagement and retention.
Employee privileges are also important because they improve workers’ quality of life, prevent burnout, and help keep employees physically and mentally healthy. Consider offering benefits such as:
- Gym memberships
- Paid leave
- Company equity
- Commuter benefits
- Shorter work weeks
- Mentorship programs
- Flexible schedules and remote working
For example, Google offers impressive perks to its employees, including cooking classes, massage programs, free food on campus, and celebrity talks.
Implement unique employee engagement strategies with CrewHu
The secret to a productive team is engagement. When you implement effective engagement strategies, you will experience less turnover and burnout and more productivity.
An employee engagement and recognition platform can help. CrewHu will work with you to build a culture of recognition that makes it easy for you to engage and motivate your team. We’ll help you develop employee engagement strategies that fit your company’s values and goals.
But before we know we’re a great fit, we need to learn about your business and the goals you’re trying to achieve. Book a CrewHu demo today, and let’s see how we can help.
