3 ways to improve Employee Engagement in your organisation.

‘I’m bored in my role’

‘My team mates aren’t pulling their weight’

‘The work ethic of my colleagues doesn’t match mine and it frustrates me’

I speak to between four or five new candidates every week and these are a few of the reasons I hear of why people want to leave their current employer.

You can spot an engaged employee by the consistency they bring to their role and the fact that they feel a connection to their business they represent. These are the people who are willing to go the extra mile and do whatever needs to be done in order to complete objectives.

But what about the opposite end of the scale?

Employees who aren’t engaged can be difficult to see initially, but the usual signs are that they uninspired and do just enough work in order to coast through the day before winding down at 4.30 and then eventually heading for the exit at 5.30.

Increasing engagement should be a priority for senior leadership and there are proven studies to show that profitability increases when the workforce are all pulling the same direction.

How do you increase the levels of employee engagement?

1.   Selecting the right leaders: ‘You put the right people in the right seats on the bus’ is quote from a Jim Collins book that I first read at university nearly 5 years ago and it still rings true to this day. Whether it is promoting from within or hiring from outside of your organisation, the person who leads any team is the face of it and the values of the team stem from that person. If you get this wrong, then the results can have a negative effect on the whole business.

2.   Holding managers to account over the performance of their team: Companies should play an active role in the training of their managers and building an engagement plan with employees and holding them to account over the performance is key to retaining more highly engaged staff members.

3.  Give employees a reason to stay loyal to you: When you aim to inspire company loyalty you need to paint a picture of how they will be better by staying with you. Create a purpose that makes them come alive the moment they step foot through the office door.

As usual with my LinkedIn articles, I would love to know your thoughts especially those from a HR or senior leadership background.