Did you know that employee disengagement costs the UK £340 billion every year? It’s a serious problem that needs to be addressed. It doesn’t only affect daily productivity but also the overall morale in the office, causing employee attrition rates to spike, as well. If you’re a business leader, you can do this by improving employee engagement through the following strategies:
1. Improve leadership in your organisation
What kind of leader are you? What kind of managers do you have?
Research shows that 49% of UK employees left jobs because of poor relationships with their managers. If the same thing happens in your organisation, you can rectify the problem in many ways. First, you need to ask for feedback from the employees and be ready to accept it. If you have managers that are unwilling to change, it may be time to demote or terminate them. You can also improve leadership training for managers so that they are better equipped to handle the people they lead. Once you improve leadership in your organisation, your employee engagement rates will likely to rise.
2. Bring some fun into the workplace
What kind of workplace do you have? It doesn’t hurt to create a fun, exciting work environment. This helps engage employees and inspire them to be more passionate about what they do. Consider gamification. That involves the use of game elements to improve the way people work. Studies show that 90% of employees are more productive when they use gamification to perform their tasks. You can use tools to implement this strategy across the entire company.
Through gamification, you can train employees, motivate them to work on more projects, attract innovative talents and optimise workflows. You can also use gamification in recognising employees’ efforts. It’s a good idea to reward high-performing workers with virtual currency, points and badges. The competitive element in such reward programs is enough to spur your workers to perform better and be smarter in getting things done. Everyone likes to win.
3. Put in place an employee benefits scheme
What kind of employee benefits do you have in place for your workers? Is there anything else you offer them other than their regular wages?
When you run a good and dynamic employee benefits scheme, your workers will be more engaged. That’s because they will feel well taken care of and appreciated. Some of the benefits you can offer are health insurance, life insurance, retirement accounts, paid time off, gym membership and childcare vouchers. You don’t have to implement them all — just a few good options that provide financial security for your employees will work.
An employee who enjoys coming into the office and feels appreciated is likely to work harder and better for their employer. So, if you would like to increase your employee engagement rates, run people-first programs in your organisation. Make your employees feel they are not merely rank-and-file members but are assets to the company. By gamifying tasks, providing good leadership and incorporating a good employee benefits scheme, you are off to a good start.
