Intelligent People
Written by Laura Richards
Marketing Director
23 Sep, 2021

Engaging your team might not be at the top of your priority list, but it is an essential part of human resources management in your company. In other words, if your employee engagement is low, it could have an impact on your entire business.

Likewise, if you do get your employees to be more engaged in the day-to-day processes within your organisation, you can expect to get much better performance from your team. Hence, here are the five tips to engage people in your team.

Why Is Employee engagement important?

Before you even start working on improving your employee engagement, you should first realise why you need to do so at all. Here are some of the biggest reasons why you would want to increase your employee engagement:

  • Your employees will be more satisfied with their jobs which can, in turn, improve the work culture at your company.
  • Your employees will be more motivated to perform well and will strive to do all their tasks as quickly and efficiently as they can while paying close attention to quality.
  • Your employees will feel more connected to your brand and company values which will increase their loyalty and reduce turnover rates.
  • Your team will be more successful which will translate into increased revenue, business expansion, and so on.

Employee engagement statistics

To further drive the point about the importance of employee engagement, here are some statistics that show the overall state of employee engagement and how this impacts businesses in different ways:

As you can see, employee engagement is directly related to productivity and job satisfaction, but it can also significantly influence your revenue.

Best practices to increase your employee engagement

Analyse your team’s strengths and weaknesses

By far the best way to engage your team is to understand who your employees are as people and as professionals. You need to analyse your team to find its strengths and weaknesses, but also dedicate time to get to know each member of the team individually. When you know what your team is like, it will be much easier to organise them to act as one body and to tackle even the hardest of tasks.

A good way to utilise the strengths and weaknesses of your employees is by detecting their positive capabilities and focusing on them. Their knowledge, experience, and education are all valuable resources for your company which is why you should be actively seeking out opportunities for your employees to use these resources.

Provide opportunities for growth and realising potential

Speaking of opportunities, it’s not enough to simply let your employees do what their jobs require them to do (i.e. daily tasks). In addition to that, you need to provide them with opportunities for personal and professional growth so that they can realise their potential. As your team develops, so will your business expand. What are the benefits of training your employees?

Giselle Cross, an expert in human resources, explains it this way, “Diversity and inclusion are key to a strong team. You need to seek out professionals with different skills and backgrounds and then empower them to use their knowledge and experience. It’s a win-win situation for you and for them.”

Give them power and recognise their success

Empowerment can come in different forms, and one of these comes as power itself. When you give your employees power or put them in positions of influence, they will feel more capable and will strive to perform better. Encourage them to take ownership by letting them host a meeting, lead a project, and so on.

Likewise, you need to recognise their success and their achievements. By showing them that you value what they do, you give them a sense of fulfilment. This, in turn, makes them feel more satisfied with their jobs and motivates and inspires them to keep on moving forward and finding new ways to make the most out of their work.

Organise social events and let them have breaks

Another important aspect of a strong team is bonding. The more connected your employees feel, the more organised they will be in everything they do. This is why it’s so important to organise social events for your team to bond. In fact, when you participate in these events yourself, they will bond with you too.

Keagan Beasley, an expert in human resources, puts it this way, “Social outings can be great for bonding and bringing your team members closer. Moreover, you can get creative and find other opportunities for bonding. For example, you and your team could volunteer for a cause you all want to support.”

Be honest and transparent to build trust and loyalty

Last but not least, you need to be honest and transparent with your employees at all levels. Honesty and transparency allow you to build trust and loyalty. These, in turn, can motivate your employees even more and make them more engaged. At the same time, with more loyalty, you could potentially decrease the turnover rate at your company.

When you don’t disclose important information to your team, you could be unknowingly creating tension which could lead to conflicts. Instead, be as transparent as possible. Moreover, go out of your way to show that you always have your employees’ backs and you will always be there to support them in times of need.

Final Thoughts

To summarise, employee engagement is an essential aspect of managing your team successfully. This is why you need to dedicate enough time and resources to increase engagement within your company. Use the tips in this article to help you create your own strategy for employee engagement and employee recognition and start working with your team more closely.

If you are an employer looking for help with your next hiring process, contact us today and we’d love to help.

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