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Employee engagement is essential to business success. While feel-good initiatives like office perks and team-building have value in their own right, true employee engagement strategies go far deeper—it’s about making teams feel valued and empowered. Let’s explore tangible actions that fuel a thriving workplace where workers feel motivated and fulfilled.
How to improve employee engagement
There are many ways to engage employees, and every company must experiment to find the employee engagement strategies that work best for their workforce. Here are a few ideas for how to improve employee engagement.
#1 Recognize the role of mental health
Despite the growing need for mental health care, people still face barriers like stigma, high costs, and lack of access. Stress, burnout, and untreated mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety can be a barrier to employee engagement—and vice versa. You could have robust opportunities and training, but if employees are struggling with mental health issues and feel they have no support, those employee engagement strategies may fall short. Research shows:
- Workplaces that promote mental health are more likely to reduce absenteeism and increase productivity and profitability.
- In one year, 60% of workers reported mental health symptoms and 20% willingly left a job for mental health reasons.
- 60% of employees said they’d feel more motivated and more likely to recommend their company if their employer took steps to support mental well-being.
Mental health benefits can be part of employee engagement strategies and propel an organization forward by helping employees feel their best, allowing them to be fully present and engaged at work. Once you have a robust mental health benefit in place, regularly communicate how to access those benefits and take proactive steps to combat stigma so your employees can feel comfortable talking about mental health and asking for help.
#2 Start with assessments
To understand what’s needed to boost employee engagement, you need to understand what’s already happening. That could take the form of employee engagement surveys or reviews that measure engagement in a standardized way.
How to measure employee engagement
Measuring employee engagement helps monitor progress, build trust, and identify strengths and challenges. Taking action based on your employees’ feedback shows you’re listening and committed to continually improving employee engagement and company culture.
Surveys are useful for measuring employee engagement through soliciting employees’ opinions. You can also glean valuable insights through one-on-one meetings between employees and managers, satisfaction surveys, talent review metrics, employee lifecycle surveys, goal tracking, and pulse surveys. Companies can also evaluate direct indicators of engagement like attendance, work quality, and employee retention.
#3 Focus on work design interventions
Addressing issues raised by assessments usually involves adjusting work design. This may include employee engagement strategies such as:
Skill utilization – Identify employees’ strengths and ensure their work allows them to use their skills and talents. One survey found only 4 in 10 employees believed they have the opportunity to do what they do best.
Resources – Provide employees with the materials and equipment they need to do their jobs. Only 3 in 10 employees in the same survey said their employers provided the necessary tools.
Recognition – Most employees feel energized by doing valuable work and being recognized for it, yet only 3 in 10 employees in the survey reported being recognized in the past week. Recognize your employees’ efforts through regular feedback and praise that ties back to the company’s mission, which fuels meaning and purpose. Employee recognition ideas include:
- Saying “thank you” often, focusing on details that show you see the employee for their unique abilities, talents, and personality—not just their performance
- Giving kudos on team or company calls or other communication channels, if the employee prefers public recognition
- Expressing gratitude in 1:1 meetings, if the employee prefers private recognition
- Offering monthly or quarterly awards
- Hosting a special lunch or event
Growth opportunities – Involve employees in important decisions and organize education or training opportunities to help them develop skills that will advance their careers. This shows employees they’re valued and you’re willing to invest in them.
Social connection – Employers can help employees build strong work relationships through collaboration tools, employee resource groups, team-building activities, facilitated group discussions, social outlets, and other employee engagement strategies.
Inclusivity – Learn how to create psychological safety so employees feel comfortable sharing opinions and ideas. Employees who feel heard are more effective and engaged at work.
#4 Support remote workers
Remote work options can improve employee engagement, attraction and retention, productivity, and satisfaction. But remote work also comes with unique engagement challenges. Here are a few virtual employee engagement strategies:
- Counteract isolation by scheduling social events such as video chats and virtual activities
- Set healthy boundaries around work schedules and assignments
- Ask for and provide feedback
- Provide regular updates on company goals and news
- Provide a stipend or equipment to help people work effectively at home
- Show you care about your employees as people by spending a few minutes on weekly calls talking about their interests, mental health, and workload
#5 Invest in managers
Whose job is it to improve employee engagement? Many organizations look to human resources, but it’s a massive undertaking—and one that should be a priority at every level of the organization. Managers play a key role, too. After all, people leave managers, not companies. When organizations invest in training managers, they give them the tools they need to do the day-to-day work of keeping employees engaged.
Unleash the full potential of your workforce
Most people want to work hard and do quality work, given the right environment and support. By starting with the essentials, such as programs to support employee mental health and well-being, you’ll have a strong foundation for improving employee engagement and helping your organization thrive.
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By
The Lyra Team
6 of June 2024 - 4 min read
Mental health at work
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