It has been estimated that businesses lose $1 trillion every year due to a lack of employee retention. It is more expensive to replace employees that have left than to create incentives to keep the ones you have.
On top of the costs it takes to hire a new employee once one leaves, it also takes time to find a replacement. While searching for replacements, work from said position may get left undone or other employees have to take on extra roles and responsibilities – ultimately burning themselves out.
It is both economically and psychologically smarter for companies to invest in the retention of current employees rather than continue to let people quit and have to find replacements. One of the best ways to keep employees is by increasing engagement with the company. Keep reading to find out what employee engagement is and our best tips to increase it!
What is Employee Engagement?
Employee engagement can often be described as involvement and enthusiasm from employees about their work and workplace. Are your employees interested in getting to know their co-workers, wanting to consistently grow and improve within their position? Or do your employees simply clock in, do what is told of them to do, and clock out? If that is the case, your company may be experiencing a lack of employee engagement.
By no means should employees make their whole life about their work but by putting in just a little more care into their job could increase morale around the office. With an increase in morale also comes more positive interactions at work and better productivity. Not sure where to start? Here are our 10 best tips to increase employee engagement!
10 Ways to Increase Employee Engagement
- Mentor program for new hires – Pairing a new hire up with someone who is already working for your company to get direct training and feedback can help to create a more inviting and welcoming environment for the newcomer.
- Internal mobility – Providing employees the chance to move around within the company, either via a promotion or switching departments, can help bring new ideas to the table and keep the company feeling fresh
- Creating career goals – Having clear goals can encourage employees to go above and beyond and help them feel more confident in their work
- Heavy focus on company values and mission – Employees should know what the company’s values and mission are and be able to integrate that in their work life. Watching leaders focus on this will inspire them to follow suit.
- Reward employees whenever possible – Whether it is employee of the month, holiday bonuses, or just a random shoutout from a manager will go a long way in improving engagement from employees. The recognized employee will feel motivated to keep going while other employees will feel encouraged to get the same recognition.
- Provide volunteer opportunities – Giving back can help make employees feel they are doing something good for others. This works best when it aligns with your company’s mission and values as it brings it to life.
- Get social outside of work – Encourage employees to get together after work through happy hours or group trips to sports games! Creating connections outside of work are just as important as connections at work.
- Offer flexible schedules – Allow employees to work the hours they perform the best at. When employees can decide their work schedule it gives them the opportunity for better work-life balance which will then create better engagement in the long run.
- Provide employees with the right tools – Make sure all technology and other tools are up to date! When employees are spending half of their work day working with slow technology or broken tools they will just try to get their work done as fast as possible with no engagement in mind.
- Measure engagement – In order to increase engagement, you need to know where your employees are currently at. Create surveys for your employees to take asking them questions about their current level of engagement and what they want to see for future ideas of engagement. Knowing their voices are being heard will ultimately increase engagement along the way.
All of these tips may not work for every employee or every company. It is about knowing your employees and what they need to work to their best potential. There may be trial and error trying to figure out what best practices are for increasing engagement at your company. However, once you figure out what works best, employee engagement and retention will quickly increase!
hug can Increase Employee Engagement
With hug, employers can provide channels for anonymous feedback from employees for a variety of topics, engagement being one of them! Figure out where your employees feel satisfied in engagement and what they think needs improvement with the hug demo today!