What is employee engagement and why is it important?

25 of February, 2021

The most successful businesses have a high level of employee engagement. This means their employees are actually passionate about working for their company. In consequence, they do their best to ensure it maintains a high profitability rate. If you want to bring your business to the next level, you might want to look for ways to improve your employee engagement.

What is meant by employee engagement?

Employee engagement is the level of enthusiasm that employees have with regard to their job. It defines how passionate employees are about their work and how much energy they are willing to put into their company’s projects. Engagement is also about what employees think about the company they work for, and whether they feel loyalty towards their employer.

Engaged employees take an active interest in the company. They will do what they can to ensure its growth and success. However, employees who are not very engaged will not feel particularly attached to the company. They might still work in a perfectly professional manner but will not be compelled to go the extra mile, nor will they care much about the company’s future.

Why does employee engagement matter?

Companies should strive to reach high levels of employee engagement. Indeed, engaged employees demonstrate higher motivation for their work. Thus, improving employee engagement is one of the best ways to increase productivity in the workspace.

Moreover, a high employee engagement rate means that employees are satisfied with their position. This results in a lower turnover rate, since they are much less likely to quit their current job. It also has a positive incidence on your employer brand. Indeed, engaged employees think highly of their company and tend to promote it among their acquaintances, building you a solid reputation.

How do you build employee engagement?

Building employee engagement means developing a work environment that encourages employees to get involved and take an interest in the company’s future. Improving engagement means working on your employees’ motivation, increasing the trust between the board and the workers, and improving communication. You have a few methods at your disposal to boost employee engagement at your company.

Methods of employee engagement

Measure employee engagement

Employee engagement is one of the employee KPIs you should measure regularly. Indeed, you want to know how well you are faring compared to the other businesses of your industry and how much you have to improve. As you take steps to boost engagement, keeping track of it will allow you to know if your strategy is actually working.

Clearly state your values and missions

In order to engage themselves, your employees have to know what they are signing up to. Redact a document where you explain what your company’s values are. Also include what goals it is seeking to achieve. Make sure to actually enforce these values in the way you run your business. That way, your employees know that it’s not just empty words.

Listen to your staff’s suggestions

If you want your employees to be more involved in the company, you have to give them a voice and listen to it. Take into account the opinions expressed by your staff and try to accommodate their needs as much as possible. You want to create a workspace where they feel valued.