Committed and happy employees are motivated employees who will do their best to expand your company’s bottom line and to make your business a success. Employee engagement is an approach to workplace management that reaches into all aspects of company operations. The key to effective employee engagement is to develop a working environment that ensures employees feel valued, and to develop a working environment that fosters pride in the job, loyalty to the employer, and commitment to going the extra mile.
Employee engagement is worth investing in, and worth taking the time to do right, because when employees are committed and motivated, there is reduced turnover, lower rates of absenteeism, reduced workplace accidents, and happier workers and clients. While many companies are interested in employee engagement, some businesses are also not sure where to start with the process. These ideas for employee engagement activities can get your company on the right track towards fostering happy relationships with employees who are dedicated to helping making your organization a success.
Ideas for Employee Engagement
Consider these top ideas for employee engagement at your organization:
- Plan fun events for staff to get to know each other. A happy hour at the end of the work day, a trip to a local sports event, a company charity run, and other fun activities can all help staff members to get to know each other. Many co-workers work side by side without ever making personal connections, which can leave staff members feeling disconnected. When employees bond with co-workers, they’ll feel more like a team working together to accomplish business goals. Positive relationships with co-workers can also make a job more fun, which means employees will like their workplace more and will be more committed to staying at the job for the long-haul.
- Establish a mentorship program. Employees who believe that they have the potential to learn new skills and to advance in the workplace are going to be much more interested in their jobs than workers who think they have nowhere to move up. By establishing a mentorship program, you can train emerging leaders and ensure you have plenty of skilled employees to promote from within. Staff members will also feel more valued and appreciated, and will have someone to turn to with questions and concerns, when they have a relationship with more senior staff members.
- Encourage wellness within your organization. Consider offering gym memberships and stocking healthy snacks in the company fridge. You may even want to bring a yoga instructor to the office for weekly sessions. Employees who feel good and who have healthy outlets for reducing stress are more focused on doing their jobs well.
- Ask for feedback. Employees should be given the opportunity to speak up about their work environment and to offer suggestions for making their own jobs easier. Employees need to know they are free to offer suggestions and comments without fear of reprisal. Staff members who do the work on a daily basis may have creative ideas for increasing productivity that could help your overall bottom line and make the workplace better, so asking for feedback can offer many benefits both in terms of making employees feel appreciated and in terms of actually improving working conditions.
- Offer employees insight into how their job affects company success. Employees who know what they are working for and who feel their contribution makes a real difference in business success are more likely to be motivated and focused on helping your business to succeed. Workers don’t want to just do a job- they want to know that their hard work and efforts are having a real world impact that they will be recognized for.
- Make praise meaningful. Don’t offer empty platitudes or praise everyone. Ensure that when praise is offered by managers or supervisors, it actually recognizes a specific helpful contribution that employees have made. It can be demoralizing and have an adverse impact on employee engagement to offer generic praise that makes workers feel as if you aren’t really recognizing the unique contributions they have offered.
- Help employees to achieve a positive work/life balance. When possible, consider offering flexible time to staff or even perks like on-site daycare. Employees who know that they can meet family commitments are more likely to put in longer hours when they are needed and are better able to focus on their work goals without worrying about what their kids are doing.
- Celebrate successes. When someone on your staff finishes an important project or when your staff as a whole meets a monthly quota, recognize the success and celebrate it as a team. Order pizza to the office, plan a fun outing to celebrate after work, or do something else special to make sure the big win is noticed by all.
- Offer unusual perks, including those employees can take advantage of at home. When your business wants to offer something different, consider helping your staff save money and energy at the same time. greencents™ provides LED bulb subscriptions and air filters which are designed to help reduce energy use. As part of subscription services, subscribers will have access to a dashboard that makes it possible to see how much energy is being reduced and how many trees are being saved on a daily basis. Employees will feel good about their efforts to save money and save the earth, will immediately be able to see the impact they are making, and will appreciate your company for offering such a unique employee benefit.
To learn more about offering energy-saving solutions as an employee benefit, contact greencents™ today for details about our subscription services. Do something good for your business, for your workers, and for the world.