7 Effective Ways for Cultivating an Engaged Workforce

Employee engagement is the extent of devotion, passion, and emotional connection which the employees feel towards their workplace and job. It serves as a positive force that directs an organization on the path of success. Thus, absolute employee engagement is a must for every organization aspiring to achieve heights of success. But, according to the State of the Global Workplace report by Gallup, only 15% of the employees are actually engaged in the workplace. This implies that there is a strong need for business organizations to work on cultivating an engaged workforce.

Given below is a list of 7 effective ways by practicing which business organizations can take progressive steps towards cultivating an engaged workforce.

Being Empathetic Towards the Employees: 

Empathy is defined as the ability to understand the emotions of others and relate to what they might be going through. The cultivation of this ability is necessary for employers who aspire to establish a culture of absolute employee engagement. This is because employees strongly desire to receive an empathetic treatment from their organization. According to the 2017 Businessolver Empathy Monitor- 78% of the employees would leave an employer for equal pay if the other company was empathetic. Not only this, but it also highlighted that 92% of the employees would be determined to stay back with their organization if they received proper empathetic treatment. 

Both these findings clearly showcase how important it is for the employees to be treated em-pathetically. So, being empathetic is a necessary step that the employers must take for the cultivation of an engaged workforce.

Giving the Employees a Say: 

As highlighted by the Salesforce report- ‘Employees who feel that their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to strive for performing their best at work’. So, giving the employees a say in the organization is the key component for the establishment of a workforce which is extremely efficient, dedicated, and devoted towards the well-being of the organization. 

When the employees feel free and safe to voice out their concerns and they know that their concerns will be resolved, they bask in the joy of being valuable for the organization. It is with the presence of this joy in the hearts of the employees, that they bubble up with the spirit to yield the best results for the growth of the organization. Thus, organizations can successfully promote employee engagement by giving the employees a say.

Recognizing the Employees for Good Work: 

According to a report presented by Gallop – ‘Organizations will achieve 24% improvement in quality, 27% reduction in absenteeism and 10% reduction in shrinkage only if they double the number of employees who get recognized for their good work on a weekly basis’. The occurrence of all these positive changes is attributed to enhanced employee engagement which gets induced in the organization, with the increase in recognition of the employees. Also, when the employees are recognized for the good work done, they get motivated to perform even better. This implies that the employers can keep the employees motivated for improvising their performance, by simply recognizing their efforts. Thus, recognizing the employees for good work is something that all employers should do at priority. 

Further, extending public recognition to the employees is more beneficial as it gives a greater boost to their self-confidence. Along with this public recognition also ignites in other employees a desire to gain recognition too. Thus, they also strive for improving their overall performance at work.

Conducting Wellness Programs for the Employees: 

Employee wellness programs are aimed at enhancing the overall well- being of the employees. Yoga classes, stress management programs, health screening, nutritional education and exercise programs are some examples of employee wellness programs. Further, it has been highlighted in a report presented by the American Psychological Association that 89% of the employees working at companies that conducted regular wellness programs claimed that they would recommend their employer and their organization to others. This implies that the employees working in organizations which conduct wellness programs, hold a positive view of their employer and their organization. As a result, they feel determined to ensure the overall well-being of their organization and thus, perform their duties at work with absolute engrossment. So, conducting employee wellness programs is certainly a good way to bring a huge increment in the employee engagement rates of an organization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building a Healthy Work Environment: 

A survey conducted by One4All indicated that 39% of workers will work harder and increase their productivity if they are happy at work. This clearly highlights that a healthy work environment plays a crucial role when it comes to employee engagement. A healthy work environment promotes the workers’ happiness level which gives a boost to their energy level, resulting in them giving their best performance at work. On the contrary, a dull work environment makes the workers feel low at energy and negatively impacts their performance at work. This way, the workers’ productivity and engrossment in work are significantly dependent on the environment of their workplace. So, employers across the globe are required to put in their best efforts to build a healthy work environment.

Letting the Employees Work in Their Own Way:  

Micromanagement is defined as a management style wherein the employers closely monitor the actions of their employees, try to manipulate their way of working, and constantly keep reminding them about their work. Although this style of management seems appealing to most of the employers, it lays a huge negative impact on the employees. 

In a survey conducted by Trinity Solutions, 71% of the employees said that micromanagement interfered with their job performance while 85% said that their morale is negatively impacted. Both these metrics, clearly point out at one thing that micromanagement eats away at the productivity of the employees and disrupts their engagement in work by negatively impacting their morale. So, for the accomplishment of absolute employee engagement, it is necessary for employers to refrain from micromanagement. They should simply assign the respective tasks to the employees, and let them work in their own way, without any manipulation.

Promoting Transparency in the Organization:

 According to a report presented by Harvard Business Review, 70% of the employees said that they are most engaged in work when senior leadership continually updates them about business strategies and communicates openly. This clearly highlights that transparency plays a key role in promoting employee engagement in an organization. So, for aspiring employers, who endeavor to accomplish an extremely engaged workforce, being transparent is a must. Involving the employees in decision making, transparently making financial data available to them, and openly communicating any changes in the company’s goals and missions, are some effective ways of promoting transparency in the organization.

To conclude, the above-mentioned practices have the potential to help employers across the globe in fulfilling their endeavor of accomplishing absolute employee engagement in the organization.