Only 15 per cent of the world's workforce feel engaged with their work. All over the globe, people feel disconnected, unchallenged and unfulfilled with the work they spend 8 hours (or more) of their waking day doing.
The situation is dire. Disengaged staff are unhappy staff, and unhappy staff quickly leave a company where they are needed most. It's understandable, then, why so many businesses are putting the focus on reaching out to their staff and providing a workplace that is both productive and fulfilling.
These are just a few of the techniques that companies are using to successfully reignite their staff's passion for their profession.
Related content: The 10 Pillars of Employee Experience
1. Inspire trust
As a leader, you need a clear vision. If nothing else, for the reason that people simply need to know what to follow. Step one is developing a strong sense of purpose. If you have a mission that inspires and lights up the eyes of your staff, this will drive them to achieve.
When your success as a business derives from a mission or vision that delivers value to both your customers and all stakeholders (including staff), you will see the results. Finding a vision that delivers benefit to one and all is important and worth spending a lot of time crafting.
2. Manage well and with purpose
While the CEO is busy creating strategies, middle management are making things happen. Managers set goals, support people, coach and provide feedback for continuous improvement. A direct way to improve engagement is to invest in managers so that they can do their job better.
A recurring issue for businesses is having simple, clear goals for staff. This creates an alignment and sense of purpose of the job that needs to be done, and essentially more job satisfaction.
Look at your goals regularly and if they don't make sense to how your business is progressing, refine them.
3. Create an awesome culture
Creating a happier work environment starts with being able and willing to listen to what employees want and value. Create a place where people want to stay and hang out. A positive working environment is one that encourages people to do a great job instead of putting them down when they haven’t.
This means:
- Making work results-driven
- Providing constructive feedback
- Allowing flexibility in terms of hours and place of work
- Recognising and rewarding excellent achievers
A flexible and supportive working environment is a crucial factor given the nature of work today and will encourage employees to enjoy their place of work.
4. Create opportunities for growth
Not surprisingly, the most popular comment people make when leaving a job is “I just didn’t see the right opportunities here” (Deloitte, 2015).
Research on employee engagement shows that learning opportunities and career progression are among the top drivers of employee satisfaction. Employees under the age of 25 rate professional development as their number one driver and this is the number two priority for workers under 35 (Quantum Workplace, Employee Recognition Trends Report, 2014).
Knowing where the company is going and how each individual can contribute is a very important factor in making sure your employees stay with you.
5. Make work meaningful
People not only need to fit the role but also the vision and culture of the company as a whole.
Working in small teams has been proven to be a factor that creates meaningful work. Small teams feel empowered, make decisions faster, and get to know each other and can lend a helping hand to teammates in need (Deloitte, 2015).
Importantly, employees need time for activities that don't involve work at all. Being able to have thinking time, adequate rest and extracurricular activities is another key driver for engagement.
Make employee engagement at the centre of everything you do – and you won’t fail.
Learn more about employee engagement strategies by downloading our free ebook below!
