If you’re a manager, you’ve likely heard a lot about employee engagement. There’s a reason for that. Employees who are motivated, excited about their jobs, and enthusiastic about their companies are more productive and can help boost the bottom line.
They also stick around longer. Example: DHL enjoyed a 27 percent decrease in turnover after implementing employee engagement and recognition programs.
But “engagement” is a squishy term and can mean different things in different corporate cultures. And if you think it’s hard to actually define employee engagement, it can be even tougher to measure. Surveys are one option. Or, you can score and benchmark certain areas of engagement. Then there are formalized scales and questionnaires, such as Gallup’s Q12 measure.
Despite the challenges, focusing on employee engagement has become de rigueur in today’s business climate, so it’s smart to put it on your list of management priorities. As a starting point, evaluate which key areas known to foster engagement are lacking in your organization, and take steps to shore them up.
Some drivers of employee engagement include:
- A competitive compensation and benefits package
- Employee perks (Google learned that messing with perks causes backlash)
- Managers who respect and appreciate their employees
- Support of career development
- Strong yet connected leadership
- A culture of engagement characterized by commitment, pride, passion and excitement
- Two-way feedback
- Clear goals and expectations
While most of these engagement-boosting items apply to all business cultures, it’s important not to adopt a one-size-fits-all strategy to improving employee engagement. Rather, decide what works best both for your company and your employees and adopt changes that make the most sense for both of you.
And as your employee engagement increases, you may discover an unexpected side benefit: You’re getting more engaged yourself.
