Key Points:
- Employees make decisions and take actions every day that directly affect their organization.
- Engaged and focused employees are proven to be more productive, leading to better financial results and better quality work.
- Employees want to be shown that they have a direct link to the success of your company.
Many employers don’t realize that the term employee engagement doesn’t actually refer to employee happiness or employee satisfaction. Employee engagement is the dedication and excitement staff members feel towards their work. Engaged employees are more interested and focused on the success of the company rather than their paycheck, and they often correlate success with overall wellbeing.
The engagement of your employees has a substantial impact on company success. In this blog post, we highlight the importance of employee engagement and how it can be improved.
Why is Employee Engagement Important?
The ideal team member cares about the work they are doing as well as the success that results. But, why exactly does that matter?
Employees make decisions and take actions every day that directly affect their organization. A more engaged employee is going to make decisions that ultimately lead to business success. The following are more detailed benefits that come from increased employee engagement.
3 Main Benefits of Increased Employee Engagement
1. Better Customer Service
Customer service is one of the most important factors of a business, as the way customers are treated by staff can be the main difference between gaining or losing a sales opportunity. Engaged employees experience a happier and more satisfying atmosphere in the workplace, directly affecting the quality of customer service that they provide.
2. Greater Profitability
Engaged and focused employees are proven to be more productive, producing more sales and better quality work. They are more focused on their job and they care about the outcome. With more productivity and higher quality output, engaged employees can increase your company’s profitability.
3. Increased Employee Loyalty
Employee loyalty can be difficult to come by. Just because an employee isn’t actively looking for another job doesn’t mean they wouldn’t accept an offer if it were presented. In fact, about 45% of employees would accept a job offer if given the opportunity. But employees who are engaged in their work tend to stick around. An employee is unlikely to leave if they deeply care about success within their company.
How Can You Increase Employee Engagement?
There are a few ways that employers can work to improve the engagement of their employees. The following are some of the most common:
1. Give Individual Attention to Your Employees
70% of employee engagement is the responsibility of the manager. Ask yourself questions like:
- What work needs to be done?
- Do you advocate for your employees?
- Do your employees feel confident in their role?
Meeting individually with employees is one of the best ways a manager can connect with each one. When a manager shows interest in their employees, it shows that everyone is important to the business. Employees want to know that they have a purpose in the company, and giving them individual recognition can do just that.
2. Give Credit Where Credit is Due
Utilize a shoutout board or clearly recognize the progress and successes of your employees. Give them personalized feedback and be available to answer questions quickly and thoroughly. As mentioned above, employees want to be shown that they have a direct link to the success of your company. By providing them recognition and positive feedback, they are reminded that they have a great purpose in the company.
3. Listen to Your Employees
As much as managers give employee feedback, it is important to allow employees to offer feedback as well. Be open to listening to what employees have to say about the company and their part in the business. Listening to your employees shows that you care about their opinions, issues, and what ideas they may have in the interest of the business.
4. Increase Staff Communication
Just as it matters how management engages with employees, it is vital that your workers have positive relationships with each other. The way your employees are treated by coworkers affects their engagement, and engaged employees produce better outcomes. How much an employee thrives depends on the environment that they are in, so make sure you are creating a tight-knit team through communication.
5. Supply the Correct Tools
No employee is going to be successful if they are not given the correct tools to do so. Providing your employees with everything they need is a great way to increase engagement. It is smart to distribute office computers, and keep a storage closet containing supplies like notebooks, pens, highlighters, post-it notes, etc. It can also be useful to have a company coffee or water station to cater to the happiness and success of your employees.
Improve Employee Engagement with SentricHR
A company can’t be successful with employees that aren’t interested in their work. There are a lot of routes employers can take in improving employee engagement. For more ideas on ways to engage your employees, check out the SentricHR blog!
