Ensuring positive employee engagement is an important challenge for many companies and organizations. Research shows that engaged employees are more productive, take fewer sick days and have a positive impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Achieving a high level of employee engagement is an ongoing strategy and should therefore be an overarching goal for all organizations.
It is not only the individual’s role and tasks that affect the engagement but also the actions of colleagues, managers and top management.
In this article, we give a mini-guide to the best tools you can use as an employer to increase employee engagement in your organization.
Tools to Measure Company Culture
The organizational culture and leadership of top management are important factors for a committed work environment. The management must drive the organization in the right direction and at the same time create a good culture where employees thrive and feel good.
When it comes to increasing engagement among employees, a good tip is to start by taking stress-related issues seriously. Employees who often experience stress are less loyal to their employer and are more likely to change jobs.
Focus groups and individual meetings are some of the tools you can use to better understand and assess the company’s culture. After being informed, you can reinforce what is working and change the things that aren’t working at all.
Organizing Virtual Events
A lot of companies have embraced working remotely and moved their operations online since the start of the pandemic a couple of years ago. When a person works remotely, it can sometimes lead to a drop in productivity, motivation and engagement which can, in turn, slow down business growth. This is why you should always try and make employment satisfaction your number one priority.
As a business, you can use remote working to your advantage to try and attract customers through online events but also increase engagement among virtual teams.
For instance, an excellent idea for your remote employees to come together is to host virtual events and celebrate the company’s successes and milestones. They’re vital to stay connected, keep morale and engagement at a high level and they can also show your employees that they’re valued and appreciated. As a bonus, you’ll also be able to create positive and happy memories together as a team.
Survey Tools to Uncover Employee Experiences
Employee surveys are a great tool to measure employees’ motivation, commitment, and sense of purpose for their work and organization. As an employer, you should not only consider an annual engagement survey, but also engagement tools that include pulse and lifecycle survey options.
Plenty of things can take place between annual engagement surveys and pulse surveys allow you to get speedy, mass feedback in real-time which can lead to increased communication, transparency and trust.
Lifecycle surveys, on the other hand, which include hiring, stay, and exit surveys, are also beneficial but target problems that are unique to certain stages of an employee’s journey. Such surveys help organizations understand what is going on at key moments in an employee’s working life so you can optimize their experience and engage them.
Tools to Set and Track Important Goals
When employees know what to do and why they do it, it is easier to see how they are involved and contribute. Clear goals and visions that are accessible to everyone in the organization are therefore an important factor for a high level of engagement. How clear and transparent is your organization in communication about goals and changes?
To be successful and achieve the set goals, everyone in the company should be pointed in the same direction. You should therefore implement tools that can help align all employees and teams to your organization’s goals, vision for success and values.
Tools to Help Managers Become Better Leaders
The person who has the greatest impact on the employee’s level of engagement in the workplace in addition to the employee himself is the closest manager. It shows how important leadership is.
An engaged manager is good at motivating his employees, is clear with his communication and sets clear goals. They also provide regular feedback in the form of constructive feedback and shows appreciation for their employees’ work efforts.
That’s why you should look for an employee engagement tool for managers to prompt best practice ideas so managers can be educated in real-time and take action on creating employee goals, preparing for one-on-one conversations, and recognizing employees for a job well done.
Final Words
When you combine all these employee engagement tools, you’ll be able to create a good company culture, create a positive work environment, make your employees feel appreciated and maximize engagement opportunities.
Also Read: The 6 Golden Rules of Effective Management
