To what extent do your employees feel passionate about their jobs, and how committed are they to the organization? That is the vital question companies are asking themselves today. Employee engagement is of great importance to any business. Engaged employees are hard-working, innovative and the driving force of your business. Therefore, employee engagement cannot be overstated. Hence we are answering the important question: how can you improve your employee engagement?
What is employee engagement?
Although there exist different definitions of employee engagement, it is best explained as the emotional commitment that employees feel towards their job, the company and the company’s mission. It is important to note that employee engagement is not the same as employee satisfaction, which is the extent to which employees like their job. Employee engagement is rather an employee mindset that motivates them to behave in a certain way in the workplace that is beneficial to you, your company, goals and the overall customer experience.
What is it built on?
Employee engagement is based on trust, integrity and communication, and the employee mindset. When your employees wake up in the morning feeling energized and motivated to start working for you, that’s when you know your employees are engaged. On the other hand, employee engagement can only flourish when you feel the same way about your employees. That means, prioritising a positive employee experience. Find out what your employees want and need and provide them with that – from the first day they start working with you. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers.
Why is employee engagement important?
We already touched upon it briefly: happy employees means happy customers. For any future proof workforce, employee engagement is the key to success. Research shows that 92 percent of business executives believe that engaged employees perform better, and therefore, boost the success of their teams and the overall outcome of the organization and goals. High level of engagement supports the employee experience, customer retention, customer loyalty, stakeholder value and finally, the customer experience. Increasingly, companies are turning to employee engagement as a strategy to establish a competitive advantage. A strategy that has proven to work as engaged employees are 17% more productive than their peers, have 41% less absence and provide for 20% higher sales.
Start today, rather than tomorrow
If you’re looking to build a future proof workforce, the best time to start with employee engagement was yesterday. When it comes to employee engagement, starting now means you’ve got a head start over your competition. To implement a successful employee engagement strategy, you have to consider the employee mindset and employee experience. That is something closely related to the sense of belonging. This means that employees will feel more engaged when they feel that their work is meaningful and makes a difference, feel valued in the workplace and they feel secure and self-confident.
The best strategy is to think bottom-up rather than top-down. Show your employees that you’re listening to them, identify and address issues in the workplace, praise innovation and stimulate people to share their ideas and display their best work. Additionally, employ effective learning strategies and training in which you let the whole team be involved. And last but not least, align your company goals, values, mission and vision in everything you do. Only then, employees will feel more connected and achieve a sense of commitment to your organization.
Improved employee engagement
After reading this article, we hope you’ll have a better understanding of employee engagement, what it is, why it is needed in your organization and how you can implement it starting today. As of today, workplaces are experiencing significant changes for example by moving to remote work. For any future proof workforce, focusing on employee engagement is of great importance to deliver high-quality results and improve customer experiences.