Employee Engagement results in high performance which equals profits!
If you think the Human Resources department is about pay role, rules and regulations your living in the past! Viva the Revolution it is about a whole lot more. High on our radar is employee engagement.
Today’s business leaders, directors and Human Resources people need to make staff engagement a number one priority to achieve a better bottom line.
Managers must ensure everyone is embracing the company mission or purpose. That they also share and embrace the company values. They feel they are a valued contributor to the whole team and business success.
Part of being engaged is feeling that what we do is worthwhile. Being safe and cared about, appreciated and recognised.
Gallop Inc wrote an excellent article on employee engagement and its effects on business performance
The Gallup Inc article explains the measure-ability and quantifiable evidence to support the significance of employee engagement. The statistical analysis and number of companies, industries and individuals that went into this white paper speak volumes to back up this point of view.
The Gallup group have the credentials and history to be a group worth listening to.
Their paper demonstrates a very thorough, detailed and historical analysis of many companies and individuals. In places, the analysis is very detailed, but well worth the read. If you have any doubts about the relationship between staff engagement, business profitability and overall performance read their article.
This is the white paper which can be downloaded from the Gallup website: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENGAGEMENT AT WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL OUTCOMES
On Page 4 there is this very neat equation:
Per-person productivity = Talent x (Relationship + Right Expectation + Recognition/Reward)
The how of employee engagement
If employee engagement is the key, then how do you achieve it? There is no one thing there are multiple factors involved.
The company culture and employee engagement are comprised of:
- values
- purpose
- attitude
- environmental conditions
- mate-ship
- leadership
- safety
- quality
- communication
- reward and recognition
- genuine care for its people
The items listed above are measurable and quantifiable as Gallup demonstrates in their article. There are specific steps an organisation/business can take to ensure they engage their employees. Businesses/Organisations must ask their employees to what degree they believe each of these items is present.
Obviously, it is in a business’ best interests to improve employee engagement
To increase a company’s results, that is profitability and overall performance, review the culture and staff engagement levels. There is a significant and measurable correlation between results and engagement. For example: if you have an engaged sales person paid $50,000 you can expect at least 2.5 x the salary in results. Likewise, if you have a disengaged sales person you can have half those results.
Here is what Google does to incorporate ideas and engage their team:
Google provides 20 % time for their employees to be creative, to explore ideas and come up with solutions. That is one of the reasons they are so innovative. They encourage it from all their employees.
You may have a small team, however, there is no reason you cannot listen to the team’s ideas. You may be pleasantly surprised at the ideas and solutions they come up with. Reward the ones that come up with outstanding solutions that provide remarkable results for the business.
Become a leader the team trust to increase employee engagement
Create and environment where the employees feel they can trust you as their leader. This means you need to listen to them and value their input. You need to demonstrate you have listened by implementing some of their suggestions.
Collaborate with the team on setting goals and direction that they also have input to. Setting goals and direction for the team without their agreement and understanding is not likely to produce the best results.
Communicate to increase employee engagement
Share the vision, mission purpose and values with the employees. Get some feedback on the level of agreement and engagement from them. Listen and really hear the feedback without judgement. Embrace any suggestions for improvement with a willingness to hear and acknowledge.
Create opportunities for input from the employees on improvements. Ask for input and listen to all ideas no matter how seemingly impractical. Whiteboard, brainstorm and give the employees a voice. They are often the foundations of innovation if you give them half a chance.
Criticism from your employees is a valuable tool to innovate and find ways to do things better. Listen to their criticism and ask them for their ideas on how to improve. Encourage conversations on improvements and ideas.
Provide feedback on performance to improve it and gain employee engagement
Reward and recognise success and a job well done. Provide opportunities for employees to sharein their success with the team so they can also learn from it. When an employee is not doing so well talk to them about it. Make it clear what the goal is and where they fall short and what they need to do to rectify it. Discuss how you will support them. Follow up on the discussion at a prearranged, reasonable time for the improvements to take effect. Recognise them for their efforts and reward them for any improvements.
Remove road blocks to improve performance and employee engagement
If an employee tells you something is getting in their way remove the obstacle or give them the tools to get over, under or around it. Allow them to feel safe to tell you if they do not know how to do something. This will also build more trust. They may just need further training and support. Some things that seem simple to one are a huge challenge to another, be careful of making a judgment just because others find things easy.
Do not talk to an under performing employee when you are feeling frustrated and emotional. Talk to someone outside of work to let off steam with someone you can trust to keep it to themselves.
Conclusion
These are just some, simple ways to create and encourage an engaged workforce. There are so many, more. All you need to do is be open, be patient, listen without judgement and allow the employees to have a voice.
If you liked this article you might also like:
√ Culture is the Key to success
√ Workplace procedures for hazard identification
King Consulting HR supports small to medium enterprises with products and services in human resources management and employee engagement plays a big part. Please get in touch if you would like to know how we can support your business.