Introduction
Employee engagement in HR is termed as the commitment towards the work of the employees, boosting employee’s emotional attachment, employees’ communication and connection. However, the word is often mixed with satisfaction or happiness, but in reality, it talks about human resource psychological investment in the company and the will to generate an extraordinary result. Employee engagement strategies are way beyond whether an individual likes their work or not.
The engaged employee is invested in his work that believes in taking initiative. They work for their peers, job, and the company. The human resource receives a sense of fulfilment from the work because of which the eagerness reflects the company’s growth.
What is employee engagement strategy?
Employee engagement strategies refer to the ways or methods through which an employee’s emotional commitment to the workplace or work is maintained.
Why is employee engagement important?
The importance of employee engagement in HR and the overall company cannot be ignored. Examples can be Gallup with highly engaged teams showing 21% more profitability while the company HR Dive costs $550 billion a year with disengaged employees.
- Engaged employees are proactive and try their best to go beyond what is expected.
- Visionary organisations can channel the energy in the right direction for better performance.
- Moreover, employee engagement is contagious, since the excitement and motivation of one arouse others to join which can be a CEO or a normal fresher.
- So positive engaged employees are a key differentiator of innovation.
- This can also create a vice-versa scenario where a disruptive employee at work may affect others negatively.
Levels of Employee engagement
Employee engagement depicts how human resource feels about the company which can differ from person to person. Therefore, based on their perceptions employee engagement can be categorized into four levels.
Highly engaged
These employees play the role of active ambassadors of the company. Human resource looks at themselves as part of the company’s future and believes in its mission. They are passionate, problem solvers, innovative and keep a deep connection with what they do. Moreover, highly engaged employees are motivated enough to work for the long term in the organisation.
Moderately engaged
This kind of employee has a favourable outlook on the mission and like their company. Still, something holds back in them for which there are opportunities to improve engagement. Unlikely to ask for newer responsibilities although they spend a good day at work but just briefly underperform.
Somewhat disengaged
Here the employees are a bit indifferent towards the company. Lack of motivation and are not connected to their work. With this kind of human resource, there are high chance that they are looking for other jobs. As a result, posing a high turnover risk.
Disengaged
These employee engagement strategies level hold a negative opinion about the company. Often make dissatisfaction clear and actively doubt the missions of the company. Can undermine the company culture and be disruptive towards the workplace creating a negative impact.
Therefore, it becomes to take measures to handle disengaged employees or affect employees’ productivity in the organisation.
Components of employee engagement
Employee engagement has two major common components. One is the employees engaging with their managers and the other human resource engaging with the organisation as a whole. Knowing these two helps to understand how employees connect at work.
Engagement with Manager
This category measures if the employees or the human resource can relate to their immediate managers. Employee Engagement strategies include factors such as the skills of the managers to build a relationship with their employees, managers’ expectations for the team, a sense of mutual fairness and respect, and lastly the motivation provided to employees to deliver their best. Focussing on the above aspects drives efforts in the right direction.
Engagement with the organisation
This step reflects a broader view of how employees connect with the organisation as a whole. It explains the employee engagement activities perception of the top leadership.
It covers the areas or factors like employee confidence and trust in leadership, employee motivation and feeling of empowerment in the company and work culture with challenging phases for the employees. This also accounts for whether employees are willing to contribute to the company’s mission or not.
12 Employee Engagement Strategies
Poor employee engagement creates a serious concern. Where a bundle of companies are failing to resolve the problem leading to high turnover. The company needs to foster good workplace relationships to avoid the thoughts of employees switching jobs.
As a result, to retain the top performers, the following actionable Techniques must be incorporated to increase HR employee engagement activities.
Ensure ‘People First’ culture
A people-first culture keeps the centre in an engaging working environment. The culture is adaptive and prioritizes the employees. Human resource feels like an essential asset of the company. To create people-first culture, a company can :
- Employee voice is heard and respected
- Providing scope for work-life balance
- Comfortable while sharing concerns
- Opportunities for growth
- Use people-centred technology
Employee engagement strategies have an emotional connection that concerns putting them first.
Start with Onboarding
Employee onboarding is termed as introducing newly hired employees to the organisation which turns out as the best way to drive their attention as they join. So, Employees get to know their colleagues and the company developing initial thoughts. So a good onboarding can be enthusiastic with team-building activities and ice-breaking sessions.
Decentralize power structure
One major driver of employee engagement strategies is the decentralized power structure. When high-performing employees are given executive powers, they feel valued. Human resource has a sense of responsibility making them accountable which further allows applying new innovative ideas.
Encourage freedom of Opinions
Sharing ideas and opinions make employees more productive. Conducting regular one on one meetings with workers results in a better way to listen to their views. Knowing the workplace helps to drive engagement activities in the right way. Also, pulse surveys work as a powerful tool to use.
Strong communication
Lack of communication ends in pushing deadlines and misunderstandings. Open communication is a vital concept between the members of the company. Employees open up to discuss problems they face and build trust. So there must be two-way communication. Offsite training and team outings create coordination and team bond which results in brainstorming sessions.
Encourage Growth and Development
The urge for growth and learning is an essential element for every job seeker. But failing to provide such scope leads to dissatisfaction amongst the human resource. However, this can be resolved by organising upskilling sessions and training. A manager must encourage healthy competition and reward the best performers for boosting morale.
Recognise and Reward Efforts
Employees feel satisfied when they know their worth. They take pride in knowing that their efforts benefitted the company. Despite the portion of the contribution, the company should recognise the employees. While an unrecognized contribution hampers both passion and enthusiasm for a company.
Ensure inclusion and diversity
Diversity in the work culture goes better with HR employee engagement activities. With an inclusive environment, there will be more ideas available.
The concepts of women empowerment or equality must not be considered as just trends but present in a natural way that can start with the recruitment process. The employee must not feel segregated on basis of region, language, gender, culture or age. This will encourage everyone without fear of bias.
Work-life balance
Continuous work may exhaust employees and the issue of employee burnout becomes real. This explains that the term work-life balance becomes important. When people are fresh having an equilibrium between careers and personal lives adds to employee engagement.
The facilities like flexible work, childcare services or parental leaves can be introduced for an optimistic environment. Due to this employees see that the company understands workers’ needs.
Focus on coaching leadership
One major role towards employee engagement strategies is leaders. The top management should invest time and attention towards the workers which makes them accessible to the team. If leaders show a paternalistic kind of attitude then the employees feel engaged.
This happens because leaders are the mentors that employees look up to. For example, an HR manager acts as a bridge between employees and higher management.
Gen Z friendly Employee Benefits
The old employee engagement strategies need to be revamped to meet modern needs. Therefore, Gen Z and millennials are tech-savvy generations that need to be introduced. Moreover, their priorities are different from traditional ones. A flexible work schedule or Work from home motivates employees to commit more. Few options to turn the Gen Z workforce happy:
- Tech support
- Ecommerce coupons
- Mental health support programs
Prioritize Employee Well-being
Employee engagement and well-being are reciprocal to each other. The future aspect of one influences the other but is additive in nature. Therefore, it explains focusing on employee well-being enhances engagement. Asking the right questions at right time in the right way turns out as improving both mental and physical wellness to build a happy workplace.
Benefits of Employee Engagement
The benefits of employee engagement are immense. Therefore, the following are a few ideas about why employment engagement activities should be incorporated into the work culture.
Higher retention
Employees can leave their current jobs due to the lack of a culture of engagement. High employee retention meaning generates when employees or human resources are attached to their work and workplace. They are willing to commit more if the efforts are recognized which helps them to grow.
Increased productivity
Engaged employers are creative, put in the discretionary effort and are the best performers. Hardworking and enabling extra inputs to fulfil responsibilities. Therefore, employee engagement activities with higher productivity directly ensure positive business outcomes.
Decrease in absenteeism
Employee turnover or more leaves impacts the productivity of the business leading to delays in projects, and damage to customer satisfaction, and work relationships. However, the passion or zeal of employees rarely lets them miss work. therefore, enjoyment results in greater efficiency.
Rise in profitability
When employees are productive, efficiency and effectiveness rise. Research reflects engagement activities produce 26% higher revenue. As a result, the higher involvement of employees results in an increase in company performance as a whole.
Enhanced customer satisfaction
Employee engagement strategies may directly impact the customer base of the company. Involved employees treat their customers optimistically which in turn results in better customer relations and loyalty. Where delighted customers become key for profit generation.
Improves employee satisfaction
Employee satisfaction is somewhat related to employee engagement when they feel good about their work. Appreciating human resources for good efforts boosts their morale creating positive vibes in the atmosphere of the company. As a result, managers must focus to design a fulfilling employee experience.
Conclusion
Employee engagement strategies are not a time affair. It needs to build in an ongoing process to make employees attached to the organisation willingly. Therefore, man strategies are explained along with their importance for greater productivity and a healthy environment in the organisation to prevail.