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Research has shown that employees who are engaged in their work tend to be happier and healthier, which can lead to greater employee retention and productivity – those who aren’t are 60% more likely to make mistakes in comparison with their engaged colleagues. They are also more likely to be less productive.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic when thousands of employees found themselves working remotely for the first time, it’s been challenging for employees to feel connected to their organisation, leading to record rates of employee disengagement. A recent survey cited more than 40% of employees are considering leaving their employer this year, so what could this mean for the engagement levels in your business?
There’s no denying that feeling engaged is good for your people, and it’s also good for business. Levels of engagement can be measured across many important metrics including customer satisfaction, productivity, innovation, staff retention, and efficiency. In today’s predominantly virtual environment, it takes more than the basics to create an engaged culture across your business.
Designing and implementing an effective people engagement strategy to support job satisfaction and overall performance and productivity is a step in the right direction.
Create an organisational mission
An organisational mission communicates the current objective that a company strives to reach each day across the business. Having a clearly defined mission can help your employees better understand your organisation’s collective purpose. According to a study conducted by Gallup, ‘67 per cent of millennials are engaged at work when they strongly agree that the mission or purpose of their company makes them feel that their job is important’.
Promote company values
Incorporating core company values into your mission can create a connection between your employees, your customers and your organisation. They are also an ideal way to attract and retain talent, providing greater insight into the culture of your business.
If you don’t currently have established company values, ask your employees what they need. Seek feedback to understand what’s important to them. Gathering input from employees can increase engagement. Planning training sessions or inviting guest speakers to talk about the company values can help bring them to life.
Rewarding behaviours that embody company values is a means of positive reinforcement. In fact, research from HubSpot shows that 69 per cent of employees say they’d work harder if they felt recognised and appreciated. Recognition programmes, shout outs in meetings or private messages or cards are a great way to recognise people’s efforts.
Incorporate a benefits programme
When communicated well, an employee wellbeing and benefits programme can be an excellent way to reward people and demonstrate your business cares about its people, which can increase morale, loyalty and performance. What might be perceived as an expensive outlay, can be a very affordable investment in people with a longer-term return.
A very relevant example is instant access to healthcare. It can reduce health risks and sick days for your people, fewer trips to the doctor, and provide the support for your people to return back to work more quickly, bringing their best selves to the business.
The pandemic has shone a spotlight on the correlation between employee engagement, their health and wellbeing and the overall success of a business. As we emerge into the post-Covid workplace, it makes sense to consider positive people risk solutions that can help people manage their health, boost their engagement and, ultimately, improve their motivation and performance.
Talk to an adviser
If you would like to discuss your people risk strategy, and how you could maximise your people performance with a wellbeing, engagement and benefits programme, please get in touch with Dan Cockram.
* https://www.clearreview.com/15-employee-engagement-statistics/
** https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index
