Having a winning workplace culture is now, more than ever, vital to having a successful business. With increased transparency about what it’s actually like to work somewhere (think Glassdoor, other review sites), workplace culture isn’t just an HR issue anymore—it’s a company issue. In short, if your company has a vibrant culture, prospective employees are going to seek you out. If your company doesn’t have an employee-friendly culture, people will turn the other way.
Even greater pay and benefits might not compensate for poor workplace culture. According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, employees’ top three determinants of happiness on the job are appreciation for their work, good relationships with their colleagues, and a good work-life balance. These factors all rank above pay and job security, which underscores the importance of culture.
So now that we know how much employee engagement counts, here are 3 key ways to keep your employees engaged:
1—Recognize Your Employees’ Accomplishments
If employees consider being appreciated for their work more important than every other factor as a determinant of happiness, going out of your way to recognize your employees is a no-brainer. If people aren’t getting recognition, it’s easy for them to feel like they aren’t an important part of your team. Of course, you can recognize employees with monetary benefits, or promotions, but recognition doesn’t have to cost anything.
Things like recognizing someone with an award or commendation, increasing the scope of an employee’s work, or giving positive performance reviews are all memorable forms of recognition, according to Gallup. The same study found that a plurality of respondents preferred recognition from their immediate supervisor (even over a high-level employee or CEO). This gives a lot of people the power to make their employees feel appreciated!
If we haven’t already drawn out how important it is to recognize your employees, consider this: employees who aren’t recognized are twice as likely to quit.
2—Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Onboarding and Training
A comprehensive employee engagement plan should start on day 1. Employees who understand their work well are bound to be more engaged than employees who don’t. A third of people have left a job within the first 90 days and a third of those individuals quit because of company culture. Starting your employees off on the right foot can have tremendous benefits for retention. If you train your new-hires effectively and allow them to integrate well into your company, you are setting yourself up for success.
3—Consider Investing in an Employee Rewards Platform
As companies realize how important it is to recognize their employees, HR Tech has come up with an answer. Employee rewards platforms allow you to reward and recognize your employees from a single location. Some of the best employee engagement platforms even allow you to keep tabs on performance management and employee engagement all from the same place. Implementing these personalizable platforms can save you time by automating your employee rewards efforts. These programs are sure to pay dividends in improved employee retention and engagement.
These are some of the most important ways to keep your employees engaged. Have you tried any other interesting types of employee engagement that have worked in your office? Let us know in the comments!