Greater happiness, productivity, and durability on the job are among the benefits experienced by highly engaged employees. Because of shifting job expectations and increased remote work, motivating and inspiring employees has become more complex.
It doesn't just happen that you have is a motivated workforce. Only one out of three employees feels “highly engaged” at work. Reversing these trends requires careful planning and an insistence on effective strategies, considering your staff's unique requirements and aspirations.
Understanding Employee Engagement at its Core
Engaged employees experience more than just happiness while at work. They feel valued and are driven to achieve company objectives. They know they matter.
Motivation is an individual’s drive to do a task. It can be intrinsic, such as feeling satisfied after completing an assignment or empowered by using one’s skills, or extrinsic, like bonuses, recognition, or flextime benefits.
Research by the National Institute of Health (NIH) shows that organizations lower workplace absenteeism by 27.5% when employees are engaged.
Engagement can save money by reducing the need for hiring and training new hires. When you have engaged staff members, they are more likely to stay put in their current positions. Experienced employees take valuable knowledge with them when they leave for greener pastures.
Effective Methods for Inspiring Employees
Organizations wisely use engagement methods compatible with their company culture to keep their people engaged.
Implement a Skill-First Strategy in Talent Management
Skills-first management means putting skills ahead of titles, experience levels, and educational qualifications.
When you do that, your organization becomes more adaptable because you assign people to tasks based on their abilities whenever a need arises instead of being constrained by bureaucratic job structures, which could make employees focus on tasks they aren’t good at rather than capitalizing on their strengths. It also provides opportunities for upskilling staff instead of losing them when they seek new challenges.
Foster a Flexible Working Environment
During the pandemic, most workers who switched to remote work wanted to continue doing so as much as possible; however, there are instances where physical presence is required; hence, you should strike a balance between virtual and in-person work with an open mind, even towards hybrid or fully remote work opportunities.
Prioritize Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being
86% of surveyed employees believe mental health support is critical to a healthy company culture. Implement mental health days, mindfulness workshops, access to counseling services, and stress management for a more positive working environment.
Strive for Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
A lack of inclusion and diversity in your workplace means you miss out on talent pools and different perspectives. Companies realize this and run DEI programs that widen the talent pool while enhancing employee inclusion and engagement at work.
Monitor Yourself Towards Success
In a recent Gartner survey on employee engagement, 60% of respondents said they did not know what their companies were doing to improve engagement. Others called them irrelevant.
Ensure you keep track of how far you have come by using feedback mechanisms like surveys, which let employees air their views about the company, thus allowing you to gauge your impact on them by checking in regularly.
Technology can also track productivity and engagement. One way to do this is to observe the effect of introducing a different method on absenteeism rates and productivity.
Next Steps
Knowledge is only valuable when applied. Communicate with your employees to learn more about what motivates them in the workplace and what engagement strategies would be useful to them. Implement your strategies and keep evaluating their success, sticking with what proves most efficient in the end.
About Pixentia
Pixentia is a full-service technology company dedicated to helping clients solve business problems, improve the capability of their people, and achieve better results.
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