A few years back, the Gallup Organization revealed businesses that ranked in the top 24% of their industry saw significantly better customer loyalty, profitability and revenues if they had engaged employees.
Click here to read more about this Gallup study.
Additional studies by several other consulting firms saw similar connections between employee engagement and employee productivity. All this adds up to one undeniable truth: Employee engagement is crucial to any business' success.
Employee Engagement Starts At The Top.
Employee engagement isn't something you can just wait around for and hope to happen on its own. It requires initiation, a catalyst. And that catalyst is the leader or leaders at a business. Higher-ups have the most influence with their employee force, and as leaders, your job is to inspire and take the first steps for others to follow. Below are five ways to start flexing your leadership muscle and create an engaged employee workforce.
5 Ways To Achieve Employee Engagement:
#1. Provide Employees The Tools They Need: Few things can be as stressful as feeling though you are working at a disadvantage. One of the first steps any business leader should take in engaging their employees is to make sure everyone has all the tools they need to perform their job at one hundred percent. Take this one step further by checking in at least once a year to make sure employees still feel properly equipped. Needs grow and change over time, so checking in helps you stay on top of things while simultaneously showing genuine interest in your employees.
#2. Get To Know Employees Better: At the core of employee engagement is motivation -- what drives them to come to work each day and perform their duties. Employee motivation runs a vast spectrum, from simply earning a paycheck to attaining a personal sense of fulfillment from their job. By getting to know your employees better, you can learn how to help shape their work experience so it accommodates their purpose for employment, improving work conditions for them.
#3. Acknowledge Good Work: Nobody wants to make a mistake, especially in the business environment, but mistakes happen. However, not only will employees beat themselves up about it, but they also know you will call them on it. Which is fair, as mistakes require acknowledgment, but so does good work. Without a proper balance between positive and negative commentary, most employees will become disengaged.
#4. Respect Your Employees' Positions: Employers should strive to be inclusive, to include their team in planning and decision-making. You hired your employees for their unique strengths and particular skill sets. So defer to their expertise when making a decision. Employees who feel employers respect their role in the company remain engaged.
#5. Trust Employees To Get Their Work Done: In other words, be flexible. You will find most employees are willfully productive rather than slackers by default. By allowing employees to exercise "free time" throughout the day - to hop online to check the news, check their e-mail, read a favorite webpage or even step outside for five minutes between assignments, their attitudes will improve drastically, leading to more engaged employees.
Executive Summary: The importance of employee engagement is more than common sense -- it is a statistically proven fact. As previously stated, businesses with higher percentages of engaged employees enjoy higher percentages of success, be it in sales or customer loyalty. As a leader in your industry and at your business, it is up to you to make the effort to engage employees individually. Using a variety of different means to do so will guarantee the highest rate of success.
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