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Employee Engagement Benefits to Business

27 Mar 2012 · Connect

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The following is reproduced from http://www.hrinzblog.org.nz

This guest post was provided by University Alliance on behalf of the online programs from Villanova University. Villanova offers an HR masters online as well as other HR management courses.

It is an interesting perspective on employee engagement and the benefits to business.

How to encourage employee engagement

When employees are engaged, they are positive about their jobs, their employer and their role in the company’s success. They believe that what they are doing is important; this empowered approach carries on to their interactions with customers and co-workers.

During economic difficulties or other challenging periods in a company’s lifecycle, employees may become anxious about the firm’s future. They worry about job security. Stress levels increase and customer service can be negatively affected. These are the times when employee engagement becomes even more important.

Committed employees are your company’s best asset.

Committed employees have a significant influence on business performance, productivity and profitability, as well as customer satisfaction and retention. How can you tell an employee is committed? By the positive qualities they demonstrate, such as:

• Appreciation
• Satisfaction
• Motivation
• Ownership
• Trust
• Realistic expectations
• Self-confidence
• Collaboration

 

If you’re a manager with disengaged staff members, you should work toward increasing their engagement. Making the effort can result in positive impacts on customers and other team members.

It can also result in a greater effort from other employees. In addition, since employees who consider themselves disengaged are more likely to leave, increasing engagement encourages employees to stay with the company.

It’s clear that fully engaged employees make a big difference in a company’s success, and that learning how to increase engagement can really pay off.

What can supervisors do to motivate staffers? Draw on your leadership skills to get insight on what motivates your employees. Encourage communication and keep them involved in decision-making.

Try these proactive tips:
Conduct a survey to gather data and understand the drivers behind employee engagement.
Help employees formulate goals and set objectives.
Provide feedback on performance and discuss ways to improve.
Ask employees to assess how their skills match up with their job responsibilities, where they excel and where they fall short.
Encourage employees to contribute to the team’s goals by learning new skills.

Provide mentoring opportunities for employees who would benefit from them.
You can create a company culture of employee engagement by increasing your efforts to foster open communication, employee appreciation and value.

Engage employees through open communication and appreciation
. Engaged employees feel comfortable asking questions, offering suggestions and providing feedback. But to keep them engaged, communication must flow in both directions.

Management can contribute to open communication in a variety of ways. Providing clear expectations: Employees want to know how they can contribute to the organization, and what “doing a good job” looks like.

Giving timely feedback: When employees have to wait for feedback – or don’t receive it at all – morale suffers.

Sharing financial information: Knowing how their efforts contribute to the company’s objectives gives employees a sense of ownership.

Using social media to create community: More firms are using social media to engage employees and improve communication.

Showing appreciation is another important component of engagement. While your staff will enjoy monetary incentives and rewards, other forms of positive reinforcement can be just as effective.

Simple ways to show appreciation include saying “thank you” more often, sending staffers notes of encouragement, or hosting an employee appreciation event.

Open communication and appreciation tell employees that what they are doing is important – in short, that they are valuable. And all employees want to feel valued.

Showing employees they are valued
Once you’ve worked toward encouraging engagement through open communication and demonstrating appreciation, you can take your efforts up a notch.

Developing employees to become more valuable to the company is the final step in building a fully engaged staff.

Investing in employees demonstrates their value to the company. Start by encouraging them to take ownership of their positions. Share your resources with employees who want a future with the company. Provide opportunities for career advancement. And finally, be the example of a committed, engaged employee yourself. You may be surprised at how your efforts will motivate your staff to engage and perform.

Who do you want working for you: dismal, disinterested or bitter employees? Or happy, appreciative employees who contribute ideas and produce great work? The difference between these two options is engagement. Engaged employees improve a company in every way – from customer loyalty to profitability.

Follow these tips, and you can be on your way to enjoying the many advantages of an engaged workforce.