Let’s face it, we all want our employees to be engaged and productive. According to research, employees who feel engaged at work are nearly 17% more productive. But how do we achieve that?
Employee engagement is more than just having a ping-pong table in the break room. There are many ways to increase engagement at your workplace, from letting employees take on new responsibilities to improving communication with team members.
Here are a few tips for creating a culture of engagement at your workplace:
Encourage Collaboration
If you want your employees to work together, you must make them feel comfortable doing so. You can encourage them to collaborate on projects or share knowledge and experience. Collaboration helps employees learn from each other and develop new ideas. It also helps them find solutions to problems that may be holding the company back from reaching its full potential.
Also, provide resources for team building activities. Team building activities help your employees develop a strong work ethic that will allow them to get through difficult times together without getting stressed out or frustrated with each other too quickly.
They also create an environment where everyone feels valued, which is essential in today’s workplace, where many people feel like their contributions aren’t appreciated enough by their managers or coworkers.
Prioritize Communication
With many of your employees spread out across different offices and time zones, ensuring everyone is on the same page can be challenging. A survey suggests that only 32% of people find their business communication excellent. One way to address this issue is by prioritizing communication in your workplace.
As we mentioned above, communication is key to building trust between colleagues. In addition, it’s also vital for creating a solid company culture and brand identity, two things every business strives for. By communicating with employees regularly about what’s going on in their department or team, you’re helping them feel more connected with their workplace.
Recognize Great Work
Recognizing employees for their hard work is one of the most important things an employer can do to increase employee engagement and productivity. It doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming, either.
A simple thank you note from your manager can be enough to make an employee feel valued and appreciated. Or, if you want to go big with your recognition efforts, throw a party for all your employees.
The critical thing about recognizing great work is that it should be done frequently and publicly (if possible). You don’t want your employees feeling as though they’re being singled out every time they do something right. It will only make them uncomfortable and perhaps even like they’re just doing what’s expected instead of going above and beyond.
By recognizing everyone in the same way regularly throughout the year, you’ll help ensure that everyone feels appreciated, no matter how big or small their contributions may seem at first glance.
Get Rid of Unnecessary Meetings
A survey reveals that in the US, around 41.8% of employees spend an average of 30-60 minutes in every meeting. Meetings are a significant source of wasted time and money in the workplace.
The average meeting lasts less than an hour, but it takes an average of 7 hours to prepare for it. If you have ten meetings a week, that’s 70 hours spent preparing for meetings where people discuss things that could just be written down or said over the phone or email instead of talking about them face-to-face.
To avoid wasting this time:
- Try scheduling your next meeting after lunch so people can be more creative when they’re not hungry (or if you want them to focus more on their food).
- Create an agenda beforehand and send it out before the meeting, so everyone knows what needs to be discussed.
- Make sure everyone understands why they need to be there. If someone doesn’t add value, either exclude them from future meetings or find another way to contribute to your department’s goals without having them attend this particular meeting every week.
Plan Fun Employee Events
Plan fun employee events that are relevant to the company. These events aim to create a culture of fun and excitement at work. Your event must be relevant to the company itself and something that employees will enjoy.
If you want to make your employee engagement strategy even more effective, plan events centered around employees’ interests or families. Both are proven ways of increasing job satisfaction and helping people feel part of something bigger than themselves.
You can plan office happy hours for your employees in the office itself or at a neutral venue like a nearby restaurant. Invest in happy hour catering to provide your employees with easy-to-eat and delicious food and beverages.
Events like these let your employees unwind and recharge over food and drinks with their coworkers. You can also use the office happy hour to host awards and recognition events for your employees.
Conclusion
Employers need to do more to increase employee engagement and boost productivity. Employees are more productive when they feel valued, engaged when they feel like their work is meaningful, and motivated by opportunities for growth.
You can help your employees achieve this by making them feel like they’re part of something big and that the business isn’t just about making money but also has a higher purpose, such as helping customers or improving society.
The bottom line is that employees want to be engaged and feel like they’re a part of something bigger than themselves. If you can implement these tips, it will go a long way toward improving productivity and morale at your company.
