How to Improve Employee Engagement
Increasing employee engagement is a real challenge for every company, but it becomes easy if you only understand human psychology. Recognizing their efforts and involving them in your company culture is one of the finest ways to improve employee engagement.
When employees feel recognized, included, and heard, they consider themselves important to the company. It motivates them to work harder to achieve personal and organizational goals. Here are some of the best ways to engage your employees and create a more welcoming and productive work environment for them.
Integrate Recognition into the Workflow
A daily dose of recognition and appreciation can uplift the employees’ overall productivity. So, make recognition a main part of your company’s structure and policies. Use already existing technology and systems to integrate recognition into the workflow such as sending regular emails, customizing apps being used in the company, and most importantly, verbal appreciation from the managers or team leaders.
Implement a Personalized Recognition System
A generic appreciation like ‘good job’ is not enough to motivate your employees. You need to personalize each recognition to make them feel special. For this, you can send personalized emails and verbally appreciate each of their tasks. Giving them personalized shields on special occasions is another great way of appreciating their hard work.
Offer Customized Awards
Organizing special events like monthly or annual recognition programs highly inspires your employees to work harder and get recognized formally in front of everyone. Rewarding your employees with customized appreciation awards with unique wording like ‘Employee of the Year’ or ‘Employee of the Month’ can motivate them to work harder to achieve these awards. This motivation increases the urge in employees to work better and creates an overall competitive work environment.
Implement a Public Recognition System
Most of the employees love it when their hard work is appreciated in front of the public, especially their colleagues. They get highly inspired and motivated to work even harder. Public appreciation is a great way to inspire and make your employees proud. However, don’t forget to take into account the personal preference of each employee as some prefer one-to-one meetings with the manager rather than a public appearance.
Involve Employees in Decision-Making
Involve your employees in decision-making, such as taking their suggestions in making new policies and respecting their suggestions. The suggestions and involvement can be individual or collective depending on the type of decision. Involving employees in decision-making is an effective way of making them feel valued and important. This involvement makes them find innovative solutions, fosters creativity, and also prepares them for future leadership roles.
Encourage Teamwork
Encouraging teamwork and collaboration is a great way of making them feel involved and develop a sense of belonging. When employees work on important projects together, not only do they share knowledge but they also take responsibility for the company’s growth. When employees feel encouraged in teams, they get highly motivated to work even better and it creates a healthy competition within the employees to lead and perform better.
Encourage Innovation and Creativity
Innovative and creative employees are your best assets. Encourage innovation and creativity by appreciating their ideas and implementing them in the company’s policies and work routines. Recognize their creative roles by rewarding them through different ways such as salary bonuses or throwing a party. Such recognition motivates all employees to think out of the box and plays a creative role in increasing company growth.
Recognize All Employees
When it comes to employee recognition, you need to have a balanced approach. Many companies ignore their second-tier or remote-working employees which is not the right approach. Do not forget to recognize and appreciate their services to the company. They are as important as others to achieve organizational goals. This creates a sense of being equal and important in all the employees and increases the employee engagement to a great extent.
Create a Satisfying Work Environment
Creating a peaceful and satisfying work environment directly signals to the employees that the company takes care of them and comforts them. Implementing the recognition program develops a good bond between managers and their team members fostering a relaxed and friendly working environment.
Implement a Regular Feedback System
Implementing a regular feedback system develops good communication between everyone in the company and makes it easier for you to analyze employee sentiments and accordingly recognize their work for the company. By providing regular feedback, you can show your employees that you recognize and appreciate their work. Also, they can always be in touch with you and they are as important to the company as you are.