Open Collaboration for Employee Engagement

One of the most talked about topics in the world of business today is employee engagement. If you picked up a business magazine, you no doubt have come across an article on the topic. Heck, you’ve probably heard about it at your own job. It’s likely you’ve even participated in an employee engagement survey at your job.

So, just what is employee engagement?

Employee engagement is a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their organization’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, and are able at the same time to enhance their own sense of well-being.

Engaged organizations have strong and authentic values, with clear evidence of trust and fairness based on mutual respect, where two-way promises and commitments – between employers and staff – are understood and are fulfilled.

That sounds all well and good, but what does that really mean? In short, it means that your employees care about their work and the company, and feel like they have an actual stake in their work and their organization.

But, why is that important? Well, if employees love their work and the environment you have created, they will treat customers better, innovate, and continuously improve your business.

And, according to a recent Gallup poll, only 32 percent of U.S. workers are engaged in their jobs. Gallup also estimates this cost to the bottom line to be more than $300 billion in lost productivity alone.

Engaged employees lead to higher service, quality, and productivity, which leads to higher customer satisfaction, which leads to increased sales (repeat business and referrals), which leads to higher levels of profit, which leads to higher shareholder returns (i.e., stock price).

All of that seems pretty important. So, what can you do to improve employee engagement in your organization?

Well, it starts with your employees. Most employees need a say in their daily job and need to feel like they are valued to be engaged. Most companies try to buy employee engagement with things such as free lunches and social events. Companies think that throwing perks at employees is the answer. That’s like a parent buying toys for the kids to stop them from crying. It will only temporarily stop the crying, and will NOT help the child grow or flourish.

Many companies and organizations have a workforce made up of younger employees. These “millennials” as they are sometimes called have grown up with the Internet, cell phones and all types of technological gadgets. They fully embrace technology, and can’t understand why the company they work for might not. So, you must provide these employees with all of the technology they need to complete their jobs in the most efficient way. This means moving away from the old way of doing things and embracing innovative solutions.

For example, just about every company uses email. And, many use it not only for communicating but for collaborating on projects. While this used to be the height of technology, it simply isn’t anymore. And, it is also no longer the best way to collaborate. Email doesn’t allow for someone who isn’t invited into the email string to comment or add their input. And, that individual might have the key piece to the puzzle.

Many companies with a global workforce use conference calls to get everyone in different locations together at the same time. However, many problems exist with conference calls. First, with a global workforce, getting everyone together at a time that works for everyone is difficult. Someone usually has to be on the call really early in the morning or very late at night. Second, many employees don’t feel comfortable speaking up on a conference call with dozens of others listening in.

When you can’t get everyone possible involved in a project or can’t get your employees to offer their opinions, you are not getting true collaboration. And, you are probably not getting the best solution to your project.

Organizations must give their employees more modern tools to collaborate on solving problems and completing projects – something like a social and collaboration network that provides a collaborative ecosystem where people can connect with like-minded individuals to collaborate and innovate. A secure network where employees are free to share ideas and solutions, and anyone within the organization can provide input, helps employees feel like they have a voice in what happens in the company.

This leads to more engaged employees, and we all know why that is important. And Zillable is here to help.

About Zillable

Zillable? is the world’s first team collaboration network for innovation-on-demand. We’re where teams can make work and innovation happen. As a secured communication and collaboration hub, Zillable provides an awesome, intelligent network that bridges minds and workflows by putting all the right tools in one place for teams of any size. With Zillable, you can chat, get more done and remember everything. For more information, please visit www.Zillable.com. Try it for Free.