You Have a Problem
How do your employees feel when they come to work in the morning?
According to surveys the most likely answer is ‘not very good’. In the most recent Gallup State of the Workplace poll only 13% of employees feel engaged by their jobs. The UK figure is marginally better at 17% but that still leaves 83% of employees not feeling engaged or feeling actively disengaged. What will really motivate your business teams?
You Can Revolutionise Your Workplace
Are you fully aware of the benefits of positive employee engagement? Clearly as an entrepreneurial business leader you are driven and motivated – why isn’t it always easy to get the same from your teams? You will find it far easier to meet your goals if your employees are actively engaged and onboard with your ideas. Your accountants will be happy too. A recent survey showed that increasing employee happiness can reduce turnover costs by 46% – but this isn’t the full story. Happiness isn’t engagement!
Whilst most would agree that boosting employee engagement is key, few would say that they understand how to improve employee engagement. The evidence clearly shows that current methods are not working, so what other ways are there of improving employee engagement?
The Solution to Employee Engagement
Get your Managers engaged first: People take a lot from their managers. If your managers are withdrawn, angry or plain bored by their jobs then it is likely that the staff they manage will be too. Make sure your managers understand the importance of being engaged themselves, before they work on engaging the people they manage.
Understand your Employees: Staff work better if they feel their work matters and that they are able to do their job. No-one likes feeling a failure when they go to work. Observe your staff, understand their skills and, wherever possible, reshape their job to take full advantage of their talents. Not only will you get better quality work but you will have more motivated and more engaged employees
Give Employees A Purpose: It’s easy for staff to become beaten down and demotivated if they feel there is no purpose or meaning to their jobs. Employees who understand the Crazy goal for your business are more engaged employees. They feel they have real control over the work they do, how they do it and why they do it. Obviously some oversight is essential but wherever you can, cede control to your employees.
Make it a Long Term Process
You can only improve employee engagement with these methods if it is a long-term process such as the performance programme we have at Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?. If these solutions only last for a few weeks or months then you’ll quickly see employee engagement drop back to their previous levels. You need to include a Concrete goal of increasing employee engagement as an intrinsic part of your company goals, and ensure that all of your managers and other staff understand how they will take the first step towards increasing it.
