Five Employee Engagement Ideas

U.S. employees are quitting their jobs in droves. The government started tracking the quit rate (the rate at which employees voluntarily quit their jobs) of employees back in 2000. Gallup data shows that the quit rate is the highest it's been in fifteen years. The rate has been unchanged from June 2018 through May 2019, making this the longest static period for the rate record at 2.3%

Gallup data also shows that 67% of U.S. employees are disengaged at work. 51% of employees state they are looking for different work or are open to going elsewhere. 47% say now is a good time to find a quality job elsewhere.

Engaged employees are professionally and personally invested in their work. They are connected to the organization. Employee engagement translates into retention of talent, increased productivity, improved culture and ultimately a more profitable activity where everyone wins.

But where do you start?

Here are five simple actions any organization can take to boost employee engagement:

One – Use employees as symbols for company values.

Every employee should know what the company values are. These values give your company an identity. Values should be published in a concise document.

Review your company values and try to put your own unique spin on them. Ask yourself, what makes your values different than your competition? Publish and distribute them to all staff newly. This will help build agreement on company culture.  Employees will feel the company has a more human element.

Now that your company values have been brought to the forefront, you can use your employees as symbols to promote them. Set up a monthly peer-voting process using simple software like Google Forms. Employees can vote for which employee most exemplifies a chosen company value. The person who gets the most votes can be set as an example and publicly acknowledged for their work.

This action cost next to nothing to implement, promotes engagement and gets employees to “buy-in” to company values.

Two – Give Back

A sense of social responsibility is an inherent in all people. We all want to give back and help our communities. Giving opportunities to your employees to give back is a wonderful way to promote employee engagement.

A huge cause of employees being disengaged is apathy. Apathy and boredom are things we all experience at work from time to time. When an employee experiences more apathy than joy at work it can be difficult to engage them. Breaking this apathy by getting employees to contribute to society can be effective and rewarding.

Research local volunteer activities. Survey employees to see which ones interest them the most. Establish a time at the end of the work week for employees to take off early and go volunteer. This can generate good feelings all around, be an awesome team building opportunity and also garner positive public relations.

You can also encourage donations to popular charities and if feasible it can be arranged so the company match's employee donations.

Three – Encourage Feedback

Employees often feel like small cogs in the giant corporate wheel. Does their work really matter? Do their thoughts and feelings have impact? Does management care what they think? 

Even if the majority of employees don’t act on such dim thoughts, that all have them occasionally. Creating a simple way for employees to communicate feedback to management can work to curb negativity.

Create a simple feedback form with specific questions that you want to know about such as:
“Are you enjoying your work...why or why not?”
“What did you accomplish this week?”
“How can work conditions be improved around here?”

The answers might surprise you. You can use the answers to improve company culture, address delicate HR problems and communicate with your employees. Conducting feedback surveys and making it safe for employees to answer honestly can boost employee engagement and make them feel heard.

I suggest doing these surveys at least once a month. You can monitor changes in the answers to see if things are improving or getting worse. If you do these surveys make sure it doesn't just turn into paperwork. Take real action against the feedback to improve the situation.

Four – Assign a buddy or mentor to every new comer

Joining a new company can be intimidating. Think back to a time when you joined a new group. Everyone has their circle of friends, routines and questions answered while you awkwardly try to navigate the social scene without making a fool of yourself. It’s easier for some than others, but I don’t think anyone has completely mastered seamlessly sliding into a new company.

The manager is not always the easiest person to talk to. They are your boss. Employees often hesitate to ask their boss certain questions. A manager can be the kindest person in the universe, but their status alone can make them unapproachable.

Assigning a buddy as part of the on-boarding process eases the tension. It gives the newcomer a person to learn the ropes from and also shows that management wants them to be looked after. What often works better is implementing a Mentor Program that pairs up veteran staff with new ones. Mentor Programs are best run using software (like the platform provided by Mentor Resources) as it puts powerful tools into the hands of HR and management. Mentoring software has built in algorithms and systems to ensure pairs are compatible. This makes for a smooth on-boarding process that engages employees right from the start.

Five – Provide time for personal projects

This might sound kind of silly...but do you have a passion project you never seem to get around to working on? Is there a novel bubbling inside you? Maybe a poem or piece of music you’ve always wanted to write? How about a drawing or new skill you’ve wanted to hone?

The odds are, a large majority of your employees have an artistic itch to scratch. A study conducted by the New York Times discovered that 81% of Americans feel they have a book in them.

But the project doesn’t have to be artistic. It can be a piece of software, a new blueprint, a hobby...anything the person wants to work on. Providing a 1-2 hour window of time a week for employees to work on a project of their own choosing is a very creative way to create engagement. Employees can introduce their projects to each other, collaborate and share. These projects also encourage creativity which will filter into other ares of routine work increasing productivity.

Takeaways

The competition for talent is higher than ever. The basic HR procedures of hiring, career development and standard on boarding are not enough to create a cultured environment. To create employee engagement, companies need to think outside the box and find new ways to facilitate communication between employees, management and peers.

Give some the above tips a shot and start boosting employee engagement in your organization today.

Mentor Resources can help any company to leverage technology to create tailored career development programs that are cost-effective. Our mentoring software - Wisdom Share is a cloud-based program that is simple and comes with guided workflows. Included are tools for administrators to attract, enroll, connect, and guide participants. We also provide analytics to ensure you can monitor your employee development program and easily see ROI metrics.

Reach out to us today for a Free Demonstration of our software.