5 ways you can boost employee engagement

Employee engagement is critical to productivity and retaining/attracting employees, and engaged employees increase motivation among the entire workforce and enable others to feel as though they have a stake in a company’s strategic direction. That’s why so many companies are prioritizing the employee experience.

But what does engagement look like in the digital era and how can you improve it in your organization? Here are five important employee engagement insights we discovered from surveying more than 400 internal communicators at organizations with 1,000+ employees.?

1. Measure your communications engagement

One thing is crystal clear from our survey: it is no longer sufficient to send out an email to your employees and hope they’ll read it. You need to take steps to find out how many employees are reading the messages you send.?

Many communicators are behind on this. A full 64% of respondents in our Internal Communicator Index say they don’t have a good way to know whether employees have seen or read their published content. Meanwhile, 57% of our respondents stated that being able to?measure the impact of communications on employee engagement was the most important aspect to the success of their communications strategies.?

This means internal communicators need the right technology that can measure the impact of their communications. Look for tools that can track engagement, click-through rates, and other actions.?

2. Personalize your content

Workers are more likely to engage with content if it is targeted to them. Personalization drives?more frequent use and higher?retention rates. People also engage more with content when it is relevant; nearly double the click-through rate when communicators use targeted channels.?

Our survey found that users of a workforce communications platform who personalize their own content feeds are four times more likely to be using a company app after 90 days. (This results in what we call highly active “power users.”) Personalization and targeted content is integral to retaining employees and keeping them interested in engaging with internal communications.?

3. Video keeps employees coming back

Employees are used to getting emails from the communications team. Try switching it up and sending a video instead. Our survey?found that video contributes to 53% more employees staying active after 30 days.?

Video also has three times higher click-through rates than any other form of content. This could be due in part to the fact that videos provide both a visual and audio component; whereas print or email requires the employee to take the time to read and analyze the communications.?

4. Vary your messaging and content

If you want to engage employees, make sure to switch up your content routinely. Don’t fall into using the same, stale messages, information, and language over and over; otherwise, your employees may become apathetic about engaging with you. Use a variety of visuals (consider GIFs, photos, videos, and infographics) to increase employee engagement.?

In addition, try different types of content to keep employees interested. For example, you can try contests and trivia, executive CEO messages (video), personal and professional growth tips,?polls and surveys, and employee recognition and awards. Employees may become more engaged when the content is varied and the information is unique.?

5. Increase your communications budget to invest in new technology

More than half of respondents (53%) said their CEO, executives, or board expects the communications team to get employees aligned with organizational and strategic changes. This signals an imperative to adopt technologies that facilitate communication and enhance employee engagement.?

Leveraging technology is vital to creating a?digital workplace centered around collaboration and communication. Our report found that 75% of respondents are spending more budget on employee engagement than they were two years ago. Organizations are increasingly acquiring agile, up-to-date technology.?

Conclusion

Keeping employees engaged is critical to creating a positive employee experience and maintaining organizational performance. According to Firstup research, organizations are now prioritizing spending more budget on employee engagement. On the whole, embracing new technologies is important in keeping employees motivated and enabling them to leverage different digital skill sets.?

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