Let's get one thing straight: you can have happy employees but not necessarily engaged employees. Engagement is about having employees who are satisfied with their work environment and culture. It's essential for companies to keep employees motivated and engaged especially with today's competitive markets. Surprisingly, Gallup Daily: U.S. Employee Engagement polls states on average 70% of American employees are disengaged and a disengaged employee can have a negative effect on the company on all levels. Identifying a problem with employee engagement in the workplace is the first step. Here are three ways to create a motivational culture in your office.
1. Encourage Open Communication
- Establish a transparent atmosphere with a well-defined company vision to keep employees at ease to work on common business goals.
- Set clear company goals and keep your team updated so employees can focus on their tasks.
- Generously reinforce and reward positive performances and creativity.
- Consistently provide constructive feedback.
2. Become Employee Centric
- Individualize employee engagement so employees will want to put more effort into their work.
- Ask about workloads and find out if employees need assistance. Support short work breaks throughout the day.
- Consider your company's work-life balance. Offer flexible hours and/or work from home opportunities.
3. Give Opportunity
- Encourage new responsibilities, offer training, promote from within whenever possible and provide career path development plans.
- Make sure salaries are slightly above and competitive to the location and industry.
- Provide ownership to employees and customer service leaders when possible.
Taking these three first steps to improve employee engagement and morale is essential and will go a long way to establishing and maintaining company loyalty. Great companies and leaders understand that engaged employees are their best assets. When employees are engaged they work harder, work smarter, collaborate and are committed to company business goals. As companies and leaders, it is in our best interest to provide the best possible work environment for employees.
