Driving Meaningful Employee Engagement
If you’re in HR, you’ve probably heard the words “employee engagement” thrown about quite often. This concept is of great interest to a lot of people now.
Why is employee engagement important? Because it’s increasingly obvious that it plays a part in organisational success.
It feeds into everything from a company’s culture to its productivity. Engaged employees tend to be more motivated as well as more productive.
But now the question appears: what helps an employee become engaged?
We answer that and more below. Here’s our guide to employee engagement and how to drive it within your company.
What is employee engagement?
Broadly speaking, employee engagement is the degree of commitment an employee has to an organisation.
Employee engagement isn’t employee satisfaction, even if the two are often related. The latter measures to what degree an employee is content with his role and rewards in a company.
By comparison, employee engagement is closer to a measure of how far an employee will go to perform the duties of his role (and possibly more) in the company.
Employee engagement is honestly a little difficult to define, never mind measure. Even if employee engagement surveys exist, there are often debates about what should be in them.
Nonetheless, to give you a better idea of what it’s about, here are some questions that you can ask when talking about employee engagement:
- How invested is the employee in positive outcomes for the company?
- How deeply does the employee believe in the company’s mission and values?
- Does the employee find meaning in what he does at the organisation?
- How enthusiastic is the employee about what he does in the company?
What drives employee engagement?
There are many things that can drive employee engagement. Here are a few of the most important ones:
Direction and Purpose
This refers to how well an employee understands and identifies with the company’s mission.
When they see that the company exists and has goals that seem attractive to them, employees are more likely to see their work as valuable. In the same way, clarifying how their work affects other parts of the organisation helps them see purpose.
Employee Development
Upskilling employees, giving them new skills and competencies, is a great way to encourage their engagement.
That’s because it shows them that the company is genuinely invested in their improvement, and that things that benefit the organisation can benefit them too.
Work-life Balance
It’s harder to get an employee invested in your organisation when they’re already struggling to juggle several responsibilities at once. Why should they prioritise you over their personal lives?
Acknowledging that employees have a life separate from the one they lead in the office shows respect. Consider requests for flexi-time, be open to requests for maternal or paternal leave, and the like.
All of these gestures show that your organisation is capable of treating employees like human beings. That’s an excellent way to build up goodwill in your workforce and make them more open to your other engagement-building initiatives.
Autonomy and Flexibility
Granting employees the ability to make certain decisions is great for engagement. It tells them that you trust them to determine how some aspects of their jobs are best carried out.
Flexibility often comes allied to this. Giving an employee leeway to manage his own time, for instance, is an example of how you can use autonomy and flexibility to show trust in workers.
This can not only help with productivity but also employees’ perceptions of the company. It encourages them to see the organisation as one that allows them to be heard and make key choices for themselves.
Company Culture
This refers to the shared beliefs and values of members of an organisation. Some people have defined it as an expression of how you do you what you do in the workplace.
So many things go into company culture: the rules in the office, the dress code, the general attitudes, etc. The most important components here are perhaps the values, however.
Does your company value transparency? Courtesy? Compassion? Environmental awareness? Diversity?
All of these things go into company culture. The goal is to build a company culture that resonates with your workers and unites them in its expression. That’s the ideal foundation for engagement.
Among other things, you want managers and supervisors to take the lead here. If you want to promote a company culture based on transparency, for instance, your managers should be first to show it.
In Summary
The impact of employee engagement – its ability to increase productivity and lower turnover – makes it an attractive goal for a lot of businesses. However, achieving employee engagement is sooner said than done.
Getting engaged employees is a continuous task. As you can see from the drivers listed above, the things that help you get it are ones you have to maintain throughout your business’s lifespan.
To learn more about employee engagement and other HR concepts, contact us.
