A recent survey highlighted that with engaged employees, a company has 21% more profitability and suggests that employee engagement increases productivity by 17%.
With the average UK engagement rate of 49%, 51% of employees therefore not engaged, these statistics should definitely not be ignored!
In my previous article, I set out the 5 successful employee engagement strategies that an employer should follow to increase engagement with their business:-
- Investing in their employees’ careers
- Recognising achievements
- Involving employees
- Give employees a voice
- Ensure a healthy work environment
These are simple but very effective strategies and this article will cover the third strategy in more detail- involving your employees, and I will be sharing some ideas on how to involve your employees in the business and its direction, in order to increase employee engagement.
Involve your Employees
This is more than just employees being asked for the occasional idea, but involving employees ensures that, through a collaborative decision making process, both the employee and employer are responsible for the overall success of the business. Employers can’t just simply wait for employees to come forward with their insights, they need to have a specific strategy and structure in place to encourage employees to share their thoughts and ideas, as well as follow up on any proposed and agreed actions.
Communication – this is an excellent example to create successful employee engagement. If a company is transparent in their communication with their employees, it builds trust between the employer and employee and as a result, the employee is more likely to be emotionally invested within their work and the overall success of the business.
There will be some constraints in what an employer is able to share and communicate, however if employees understand some of the challenges their employer is facing, this can often drive employees to perform and deliver the business goals.
Examples of this could be communication briefings from the CEO or leadership team, monthly newsletters or sharing company performance stats and figures and future plans.
Planning and Decision Making – By creating an environment that involves employees in planning and work decisions, shows employees that their opinion is valued and trusted. Create a process in which employees are involved in setting work goals that use their skills, in their area of interest, to contribute to the success of the business. This could include a number of areas such as creating or setting their KPI’s, planning of projects or creating or even amending company values.
With decision making taking up as much as 70% of a C-suite member’s time, delegating some of these decisions to others in the business, can help to free up of their time for more impactful work.
Strategy Days
Who doesn’t love a brainstorming session?! Giving your team the opportunity to brainstorm initiatives to help the business reach its goals, will increase employee motivation. By allowing employees to think creatively in smaller groups, knowing that they are involved in solutions or future plans of the business, is likely to enable them to feel more invested in carrying out the work and achieving the results.
In my next article I will be covering the fourth of the key employee engagement strategies – giving employees a voice.
Please contact me if you would like further information regarding the range of services I provide at Saxon HR Consultancy Ltd, including Team Building Away Days, which are a great way of increasing morale and building teamwork, in turn increasing employee engagement and retention.
Maria Wilson
Saxon HR Consultancy Ltd
Email: maria.wilson@saxonhrconsultancy.co.uk
Tel: 01795 390010
First published in July/August 2023
