How to boost engagement at work

Your most valuable asset in a company is the people. A 1% increase in engagement increases the profitability of the company with around 20 %. This correlation is often not known to the management team.

You usually have action plans for expanding the business but not that often do you see strategies for increasing engagement in an organization.

Leveraging actions towards increasing employee engagement will pay off.

Here are some things you can do to increase engagement.

Appreciate the employees

Everyone needs to be needed - significant. Appreciate others is one way of showing that you value your co-workers and that you recognize them. If you don't show appreciation, they will most likely leave the company or perform below average due to disengagement.

Showing appreciation and gratitude will prevent negative emotions from occurring and stimulates collaboration instead of competition.

Grateful leaders inspire trust and signals that they have integrity.

Grateful people are more satisfied, healthier, and happier.

Develop the leaders

When you develop yourself, you increase your value. You will be able to create new leaders, and they will develop the people. In the end, people will grow the business.

The level of leadership skills trough-out the company is in direct proportion to the result and performance of the organization.

The best companies, over time, have the best leaders.

Focus on competence development

One might think that the salary is the employee's most pressing issue, but studies show that's not the case. The most important thing in general that employees value when it comes to engagement is personal growth.

Foster a culture of personal development and encourage initiatives in that direction.

Supporting a healthy work and home life balance

Facilitating free fruit, water, training facilities, etc. that support a healthy workplace shows that you care. Being part of different healthy events and leaving the office on time are examples of you promoting a healthy work/life behavior.

People do what people see. Be the change you want to see.

Clear communication and feedback

Especially the millennials are asking for transparent feedback. It is miles away from when I started working, and my first boss said – If you don't hear anything from me, everything is okay.

I have learned a lot since then and focusing on giving and asking for feedback regularly.

Feedback and self-reflection is the mother of learning.

Develop good on-boarding programs

Having a good on-boarding program is key to engagement. The highest turnover rate at a company is often due to the people who have been working for 1-3 years. The reasons can, of course, be many. Most likely they feel a lack of appreciation or recognition from their boss or coworkers.

Involve employees in recruiting

Involving others in the recruiting process can be a way of establishing a better on-boarding procedure. It fosters trust and accountability and signals that others matter and the outcome is dependent upon the team's ability to generate results, rather than having the best players.

Establish a culture of trust

Trust is the foundation of leadership and enables people to take responsibility. Even if they fail to achieve the result, try finding the positive things. Use the opportunity as a learning experience.

Clarify different career paths

Having clear and diverse career paths is an advantage if you would like to drive engagement. Often the only way to have a career is through applying for different management positions and work your way "up the ladder."

Another way is by adding a career path for the specialist as well. A corporate specialist today is considered to be at the same level as an executive director

Celebrate

After every outage at the Power plant, we celebrate with cake. A small token of appreciation and it doesn't cost much. The effect is that people feel important and that they have done an excellent job together.

Celebrate the behavior you want to see more off. Everyone wants to feel important. Appreciation and thankfulness make a big difference in an organization.

Mission

If people sense that they are valued, they will develop themselves in a way that helps themselves ans the company forward. The business's overall objectives must be clear. Every individual should know how they can contribute to the higher cause.

Create clear company values that are easy to comprehend and follow. Many organizations have too many keywords that quickly can become buzzwords that no one takes seriously.