Understanding What Keeps Employees Engaged
Engaged employees ultimately are satisfied employees. When an employee believes their work is valued and is leading to their personal and organizational success, they are less likely to change jobs, and may reciprocate with not only loyalty, but also trust and perseverance in their efforts. Unmotivated employees perform more poorly than those who assign a level of well being to their daily work. In this vein, then, here are a few tips to keep employees engaged:
Reward hard work. Employees must know that you see and believe in the value of their efforts. Make recognizing hard work, successful efforts, and productive periods, a regular part of the workweek. Recognition also avoids disagreements, as employees clearly see themselves getting credit for their own work, versus it being handed to someone else. Verbal recognition is an excellent place to start. Monetary bonuses, leaving the workplace a few hours early, or a rewards lunch for a job well done—be varied but consistent in how you celebrate excellence.
Recognize creative thinking. Empowering employees to propose new ideas, changes in structure and process, and look for new approaches to problems, is a powerful engagement tool. Creative thinking reduces boring, repetitive work. It contributes to job satisfaction as they are motivated to invest in ideas that push the organization forward. Outside-the-box thinking also encourages initiative. A self-driven employee is happier as well as more productive. If the final product or service is improved as a result, you have received a double blessing through creative thinking.
Encourage advancement. Get to know your employees on at least a rudimentary personal level, so that you can encourage their personal and well as professional advancement. A successful employee moving up in the organization isn’t just about training, competencies and deliverables. It’s also about what they personally desire to get out of life. Their relationships, marriage, family, plays into this. You may find an employee’s advancement is not so much about more responsibility, but about greater input or maybe a more balanced role, because their family stability is more important to them than making it to the executive floor. Employees that know you are looking out for their total wellbeing will continue their engagement.
Foster collaboration. It’s important that employees feel part of a team, versus isolated to their “box” of responsibilities. Teamwork is not only essential for organizational success, it is a key building block for succession—who is the next person who is going to take your role when you move on? Great teams have a deep bench… many employees who through collaboration know their responsibilities as well as those of others, and can jump in to help, cross over departments, or take on a task when someone is sick or traveling. When employees have an atmosphere that is collaborative, they will feel they are working with others instead of just for themselves.