Tired Of Dealing With Disengaged Employees? Time to Put these 5 engagement Strategies to Play

Employee engagement isn’t something that happens overnight. It is a conscious choice that requires serious investment in terms of time, resources, and energy. An engaged workforce is a company’s greatest asset but people engagement has hit an all-time low during the pandemic. Poor engagement leads to increased turnover, low employee morale, and poor customer service, which ultimately affects your bottom line. Covid-19 has disrupted every facet of people’s live, and how your company responds to this crisis will go a long way towards defining your success.

Engage Managers before Employees

When we talk about employee engagement, the first thing that comes to mind is to equip the managers with all the pertinent tools and resources needed to foster employee engagement. However, nobody pays any heed to the necessity of engaging the managers first.

The truth is, an employee’s level of engagement and performance is a reflection of that of their manager. This is why, organizations need to be diligent in selecting the right person for the job who possesses great leadership skills. At the time of hiring, assessment tools can give us deep insights into a person’s behavioral traits, thinking style, ability to lead through stressful times, and a capability for keeping employee morale high.

Sustaining Employee Well-being

The pandemic is adding to people’s stress, worries, and burnout, as well as social isolation, which is why it is getting harder and harder to stay focused at work. Especially, people with kids are finding themselves incessantly juggling the responsibilities of parenthood, household chores, and homeschooling, while trying their best to meet all their deadlines amidst an endless stream of emails and zoom meetings.

At a time when people are finding themselves unexpectedly working and parenting simultaneously, the workplace has a critical function in sustaining employee wellbeing – more so than ever. This is when leaders need to step up to foster workplace connections, equip managers to individualize to each person’s situation, adjust workplace policies to allow increased flexibility, and show people that you care. People will always remember as the leader who leaders responded at a time when they needed you the most.

Be the Coach; Not Than Boss

You can’t really hope to engage employees if you keep up the traditional, run-of-the-mill ‘authority, reward, and punishment’ approaches. Tapping into the full potential of your people demands learning how to build partnerships. Remember that breathing down the necks of your employees and instilling a constant state of fear and apprehension, especially in the midst of a pandemic when people are already on edge, doesn’t inspire loyalty or enhance productivity. Workplaces that promote managers as coaches do their utmost to establish respectful and trusting relationships of mutual benefit.

In order to create a high-performing team, leaders should align individual work with business goals, create career-building and learning opportunities for employees, and leverage people’s strengths to allow them to shine. True leaders cultivate a workplace environment that provides employees flexibility, space, and autonomy to respond to priorities and responsibilities.

Foster Communication

Remote working can wreak havoc on workplace communication. However, remember that employees look to leaders for expectations, instructions, and directions. Leaders need to articulate expectations clearly so as to leave no room for ambiguity, and give people new channels for communication.

In addition, leaders need to engage in one-on-one conversations with employees, take time to listen to them and ask them about any issues they may be having pertaining to work. Observe the team dynamics in zoom meetings to spot any underlying tensions and rectify them on the spot. Since the pandemic has chucked everyone into an unprecedented situation leaders need to reimagine teamwork and allow people to choose where they work, whether it be at home, in the office, and when they work.

Encourage Growth and Development

According to Gallup data, 43% of employees would consider leaving their company because of career advancement. Looking at the significant number, it makes sense to offer growth prospects to your remote employees, in order to enhance job satisfaction and employee motivation and reduce turnover. When we talk about career growth, we don’t necessarily mean a title change, a promotion, or a pay raise. Sometimes, it can be as simple as allocating 30 minutes to map out employees’ career paths, acknowledging them for their accomplishments, or offering rewards for new skills learned, as well offering cross-functional training, career development workshops, or even weekly performance check-ins.