Support
This is important at all stages of an employee's career but it is especially critical every time an employee gets a new job. The best managers acknowledge that providing their team members with a strong support network is one of the primary ways of developing high levels of employee engagement. Without it, employees can feel disillusioned and neglected. There are a multitude of techniques that you're able to incorporate into your work practices that will enhance the strength of the support you provide your employees. The main ones are listed below.
Training
An induction training program is crucial for all new employees. This program should include a tour of the workplace's facilities, the organisation's goals and mission, and procedures. A solid induction program will make the transition into your organisation much easier for the new employee.
A professional induction also creates a good first impression. A creative and interactive induction program will make it less daunting and will aid in knowledge retention. Even get your existing employees involved in conducting the training so that they start to build relationships with the employees early on.
Ongoing training is the key to developing a highly skilled workforce. Whether it's via an online course, face-to-face training, an external course, or a self-paced training manual, the benefits of a regular focus on ongoing training will ensure that your employees are knowledgeable. This enables them to perform better and when employees feel that they're learning and developing, their engagement levels rise at the same time.
Resources
Engaged employees have managers that make sure they have the resources they need to be able to perform in their roles. These resources include stationery such as pens and writing pads; manuals, particularly in regards to troubleshooting, product information, and process maps; and access to reliable and user-friendly systems, for example, computers and log-ons.
Providing your employees with the resources they need aids employee engagement. For example, it takes away the stress they face when they have to constantly look for stationery, and it also alleviates the feeling of helplessness when they're trying to source information or access a particular computer system.
Feedback
Feedback can be provided formally and informally, but importantly, it must be provided regularly. Provide both positive and constructive feedback so that it's balanced, and focus on the employee's behaviours and not on him as a person. How you give feedback can drastically undo a lot of great employee engagement work that you've previously achieved, so be prepared, be clear, and have an effective feedback structure in place.
Masters of employee engagement also seek feedback from their employees. Ask your team members to tell you what you're doing well and which areas you need to improve. Ask for this feedback in face-to-face meetings as well as via anonymous staff surveys. Then take action to correct the areas for development so that your employees see that you've taken their feedback on board. The best feedback you could ever receive on how your employee engagement strategies are progressing is by seeking feedback directly from your employees.
Rewards and recognition
Managers are usually good at providing rewards but they often forget about the importance of recognition, which in many instances is more meaningful to the employee. Simple gestures such as "thank you", "well done", or visible praise to an employee's peers and senior managers will go further than standard rewards such as movie tickets and gift vouchers.
This doesn't mean that we should relax the amount of rewards we provide our employees. It's imperative that these continue but that the right behaviours are rewarded consistently. Provide rewards not only for your employees' accomplishments, but also for significant improvements they make, ‘personal bests' they achieve, and any other actions that result in a positive result for the organisation.
Pay and benefits
Employees will never be totally satisfied with their salary. In employee engagement surveys, you will always see salary satisfaction rate poorly, despite how competitive an organisation's salary schemes may be. So then how do you improve this area? It all comes down to the delivery of the pay review. Try the following techniques when delivering a pay review and see how much more positively the review is received by the employee:
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Provide the employee with the salary market average and the salary market range for their job in the marketplace. This will highlight how competitively they're being remunerated. If this analysis shows otherwise, you need to consider increasing the salary if you'd like to attract and retain the best workers.
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Provide detailed reasons to explain the rationale behind the employee's salary. Previous experience, qualifications, and most of all, the employee's recent work performance, are a great place to start.
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Situations arise where employees are remunerated at the maximum possible level for their particular job. If this is the case and increasing their salary further is unreasonable, perhaps provide them with a larger bonus.
Investigate whether there are any other benefits that you can provide your employees. These can include discounts with various retailers and manufacturers, such as banking institutions, computer companies, association memberships, magazine subscriptions, etc. These are attractive incentives which can help propel your organisation as an employer of choice.
Communication
Transparency is the key when it comes to communication. Do it frequently, openly, and verbally. Use one-on-one development sessions, team meetings, and quick catch-ups with your team on a daily basis. Whenever you come across any information that your employees may find useful or which may help them perform better in their roles, pass it on. Such a constant flow of communication increases the trust between you and your employees; it also makes them feel as though they're important, and reduces the chances of them not knowing what's going on.
The most engaging form of communication is via face-to-face channels, so use this method as often as you can. Resort to impersonal forms of communication, such as e-mails, in times when it's not possible for you to communicate face-to-face or over the phone. So long as the channels of communication are always open and working, your employees will be kept in the loop and consequently engaged.
Work/life balance
Employers who encourage a work/life balance for their employees acknowledge that an employee having a fulfilled personal life is just as important as being fulfilled at work. They're generally flexible with their employees' hours and days of work to accommodate their employees' personal commitments, such as family, study, well-being, etc. Employers are increasingly embracing work/life cultures because they can see the benefits to the business in terms of employee engagement, reduced turnover, lower absenteeism, and greater morale.
Change management
Most employees are highly resistant to change. So in a world where business is changing more rapidly than ever before, employee engagement can be hampered if a sound change management process is not in place.
The most effective change managers involve their people every step of the way. This includes seeking their feedback during the initial idea formulation stage, involving them in testing, training, and even implementation.
Communicate the reasons for the change and the benefits arising from it, outline why other alternatives weren't chosen, and provide regular (at least weekly) updates on how the implementation of the change is progressing. This approach will make them advocates of the change, rather than opponents of it.
Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation is when you do something just because it feels good, such as a hobby. If a manager can make a job intrinsically motivating for an employee, the chances of that employee being strongly engaged increase dramatically. To find out precisely what it is that intrinsically motivates your employees, simply ask them.
Most managers use extrinsic motivation to get the best out of their employees. Extrinsic motivation refers to incentives such as pay increases, bonuses, rewards, etc. These are short-term solutions that don't have a lasting effect on employee engagement. No amount of extrinsic motivational techniques can replicate the enjoyment employees get from truly loving what they do. Naturally, this has definite flow-on benefits to the organisation.
Read the article 'The First Key Element Of Employee Engagement - Recruitment'
Read the article 'The Third Key Element Of Employee Engagement - Relationships'
Read the article 'The Fourth Key Element Of Employee Engagement - Opportunities'
Buy James Adonis’ Audio Seminar CD from the Resource Centre:
Employee Engagement: Solved!