Employee Engagement - Need of the Hour

Most businesses globally were impacted in one way or the other by Covid-19 and almost everyone had to deal with some level of disruption in both their personal and professional lives.?

A lot more has shifted than the physical location of the workplaces—and companies around the world are exploring, optimizing, and redefining how to provide the best employee experience.

Covid has taught us that putting a strong emphasis on employee engagement has never been more critical.

But what is Employee Engagement?

Each person has some unique needs that motivate him/her to do their best work. And employee engagement is the sum of these needs.?

Research has shown us what needs are associated with higher levels of engagement, job satisfaction, productivity, retention, customer experience, and other business outcomes. Things like having the sense that their work has a greater impact, having opportunities for growth, having clear goal setting, being recognized for a job well done, having access to their manager for guidance, feeling a sense of belonging and inclusion, and so on.

Different needs, on the other hand, have a greater or lesser impact on different people. It's critical for managers to understand what each member of their team requires in order to be empowered to do their best work, and to assist in bridging that gap.

According to facts, businesses with engaged employees outperform those without by 202%, and highly engaged businesses see a 10% increase in customer ratings and a 20% increase in sales.

The bottom line is that we spend the majority of our days at work, thinking about it, talking about it, and, for many of us, living it. We must do our part to ensure that each individual is engaged - and set up to succeed in this new way of working - for the sake of our employees' well-being, fulfillment, and our own business objectives.

Today, engagement is more than just ping pong tables and free lunches.

It is about creating an environment and a culture where engaged employees thrive.

Beth Kempton (content strategist at Hireology) says, “To stand out and attract qualified employees, consider offering flexible work arrangements. For example, you can allow employees to work remotely some days per week or adjust their work schedules to come in a little late or leave early if they don’t have any important meetings or deadlines at the time.”

Keeping employees engaged is not a difficult task if organizations view employee experience as a continuous and holistic process. Year-end appraisals, bonuses, and incentives have all been used in the past to keep employees engaged; however, the times have now changed.

For organizations to succeed in ”post-COVID times”, they need to focus on keeping their employees engaged and motivated. Companies, therefore, need to customize their approach for managing employees accordingly.

Here are three tips that can help increase employee engagement and motivation in the post covid times:

1. Acknowledge, Recognize challenges and Be Supportive

The first one is to just acknowledge what your colleagues may be going through and understand that everyone's situation may be impacting them to different degrees and therefore they might need a bit more support from you than usual.

In the future, we will find a return to normalcy in many aspects of life. But there’s no question that many things will change, possibly forever. COVID-19 has altered the experience of being a customer, an employee, a citizen, and a human. Expect to see behavior shifts for some time to come.?

Your employees might not feel like working on some days or they might be worried about the security of their jobs and family. It’s your responsibility to support them on those days and motivate them to get back to work.

UK-based research showed that 73% of respondents believed they were more efficient when working from home during the pandemic. So, they might feel uncomfortable coming to the office directly for 5 days weeks. It’s your responsibility to take it slow and let them take their time to adjust.

You should also encourage your teams to take a human-first approach. That means putting people first before any obvious business benefits if you're working on a team project or any other project.

Treating employees as humans first will help develop a feeling of care and respect among employees and will increase their trust in the organization. Apart from treating employees as humans, the future of employee engagement will see more flexibility to improve work-life balance for employees.?

COVID-19 has made companies realize that most job functions do not require employees to be physically present in the office. And it is time that flexible timings/shifts, remote working become a part of the organizational culture.

A recent survey by FlexJob shows that 75% of workers feel more productive at home. Employees with a better work-life harmony will feel more satisfied with their work and are more engaged with the company.

Although the concept of work-life balance is not new, the want to increase work-life harmony has increased multiple times.

2.?Rewards & Recognition

COVID-19 has changed the expectations of employees from their organizations. While health insurance, yearly raise, and paid leaves were considered satisfactory benefits by employees, the same has changed with time.?

Many employees consider recognition more valuable than gifts or rewards and are more likely to be actively engaged with the company they work for if they feel as though the work they do is genuinely appreciated.

The Gen-Y & Gen-Z workforce is not just looking for better pay, but they want to be recognized for their efforts as and when such outcomes are demonstrated. Recognizing an employee's efforts goes a long way toward keeping them motivated, engaged, and focused on achieving higher goals. However, rewards and recognition need to be holistic, personalized, and agile.

The great thing about showing recognition for the work done by your employees and offering praise in return for it is that it costs no money and takes very little time. Consider the achievements made by your remote workers during the pandemic and when your workplace reopens, be ready to start expressing gratitude and issuing praise for their efforts.

3. Opportunities for Career Development & Growth

Employees want to be a part of organizations that provide a clear and visible path for advancement. Career advancement does not only refer to timely promotions; it also refers to an employee's personal and professional development.

Stagnant growth in an organization will prompt the Gen-Y & Gen-Z workforce to leave for better opportunities.

Organizations must foster an environment of continuous learning and development for employees. They must consciously identify new skills, skill gaps, and provide learning opportunities for their employees that are in line with the organization's ability to perform efficiently and effectively. Companies that invest in their employees' development in this way are more likely to engage and retain them.

A bonus tip here to engage your employees remotely is:

Simply be visible to your teams if you're a manager, keep conducting those one-to-ones and hold team meetings regularly.

According to studies, remote workers' relationships with their colleagues are typically weaker than those who work in-house.

Managers should regularly engage in team socializing in order to foster a human connection and foster trust and inclusion among all team members.

Through team-building activities, you are fostering healthy work relationships which leads to better retention, higher productivity, and better overall employee satisfaction and happiness.?

I have seen companies do some of their regular activities remotely with things like multiplayer online gaming or having a team meal and chat over an open video session.

Make the best use of technology to make your employees feel valued and let them know that they can reach out to you if they need any help. Tell them to use Microsoft teams, slack, zoom, and all these other great tools that we have today at our disposal.

Employee engagement isn't easy to achieve, especially when considering the return to the office after extended periods of remote work. It's critical for your business to take the simple steps outlined above to encourage this mindset and attitude toward your company in order to ensure that employees are motivated, dedicated, and engaged.

When employees feel valued, engagement improves, and productivity goes up too. The more ways you can make employees feel connected and engaged as we navigate employees returning to work, the better for your company's long-term success.

The methods for keeping employees engaged have evolved along with the times. Organizations that are able to stay on top of the latest trends will be successful in attracting and retaining top talent. And those who do not will be left behind.