5 Tips for Entrepreneurs to Increase Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a hot button topic for many companies and entrepreneurs across the globe. In fact, employee engagement has risen in the ranks as a strategic focus in the minds of high-level leadership.

Employee engagement has a huge impact on the overall health of a business, especially of small businesses and newer start ups. A recent poll of over 1.4 million employees found that the top 25% most engaged teams experienced lower turnover, lower absenteeism, higher productivity and higher profitability. Here are a few low cost ways to take on the employee engagement challenge and give your employees what they need and crave:

Offer Frequent & Individual Feedback

Feedback is important to all employees and it should come more often than during the performance review process. A recent poll found that 65 percent of employees would like to receive more feedback. Modern talent development research suggests that employees prefer frequent and informal feedback with their managers rather than the more stuffy formal review process.

Employees are more receptive to both positive and negative feedback when it happens in real time as they can connect more closely with the comments. This strategy also ensures you correct issues in a timely manner and provides encouragement when needed creating a more personal connection between the organisation and each employee.

Promote Learning & Development

Learning and professional development are important components of a healthy organization. Many employees are motivated by the opportunity to learn new ways of doing business and taking on new responsibilities. Many organizations will offer tuition reimbursement and the opportunity for GRE tutoring. Other companies will focus on internal workshops and certifications. Either way, an organization focused on employee engagement should invest time and dollars into the training of the staff. This ensures your team is continually learning and equipped with the tools and knowledge to take your organization to the next level.

Incorporate Community Service

Community service initiatives are a great way to boost employee morale. Workplace volunteerism provides team building in a natural way and can create a deeper connection to the workplace. Employees overall want to feel empowered and appreciated and volunteerism gives them this sense of value.

In addition, employees who are offered the chance to volunteer through work are much more likely to share it with others. This paints your organization in a positive light and can have a huge impact on your reputation.

Invest in the Right Tools

In today’s fast-paced business environment, employees are under immense pressure and stress to complete a lot of work with limited time and resources. As an employer committed to employee engagement, you want to provide your employees with the tools and infrastructure that will allow them to complete their work in the most efficient way possible. This step alone will dramatically improve the employee’s perception of the company and will maximize the effectiveness of the organization.

Communicate Laterally

Many organizational leaders make the mistake of limiting their communication with the lower levels of the organization. Unfortunately, many organizations are structured hierarchically which stifles communication flow. Important messages get lost in this communication pathway and employees on the lower end of the totem poll aren’t updated on the progress or challenges of the company. If you want engagement at all levels of the organization, your leaders need to be visible and available to all employees. This creates a sense of connection and teamwork that can’t be beat!

These are just a few of the many strategies you can implement when focusing on employee engagement. There is no doubt, employee engagement is crucial to the overall health of the organization. It may take a little time and research, but the results are well worth the investment.