If you’re looking for employee engagement strategies, chances are that you have unengaged employees who withdraw from their work. You may have a quiet quitter problem–and you’re not alone.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
Jim Harter, chief scientist for Gallup’s workplace and well-being research, said workers’ descriptions of “quiet quitting” align with a large group of survey respondents that he classifies as “not engaged”—those who will show up to work and do the minimum required but not much else. More than half of workers surveyed by Gallup who were born after 1989—54%—fall into this category.
The good news?
Companies can help their employees re-engage with their work to create a more productive, creative, and collaborative work environment. Here are 6 employee engagement strategies you need to know to skyrocket your labor ROI.
1. Build an authentic relationship with your employees.
You’ve heard of the golden rule, but are you truly using it? If you didn’t really like your manager, you likely wouldn’t feel motivated to go above and beyond.
The best remedy for this is to build a genuine bond with your employees that exists outside of the “workplace-relationship vacuum.”
How?
Get to know them!
Learn about their lives–their family, their passions, their hobbies, and how their day-to-day is going.
Start with Murthy’s Exercise, which I discuss in-depth here.
2. Give your employees more purpose through your company’s mission statement.
Purpose is a driving motivator for many employees, and one of the simplest ways to recognize this is to realize that your brand has motivators, also.
Doesn’t it make sense to link them together?
Find a way to express your company’s values to your employees in a way that feels good.
One popular trend that’s making a difference is employee resource groups (ERGs). They’re an invaluable way to inspire authenticity, inclusion, and purpose in your employees.
Encourage initiatives like these to foster loyalty and connection among your employees while engaging them through their senses of purpose and belonging.
3. Inspire your employees by letting them off the dang leash.
Have you ever had a manager who coddled you through every task like you were a child? Even worse, have you had a manager who couldn’t resist “backseat driving” you through something you could do yourself?
It’s time to drop the ego, have some faith, and take off the leash.
You or your company hired every employee for a reason: competence and capability in their role. Showing them that you agree with this assessment and trust their abilities is a great employee engagement strategy, especially because autonomy is a crucial motivator for top talent.
I know it’s hard, but believe me, your employees will thank you–and that gratitude will surface in their work and the workplace.
4. Figure out an effective feedback schedule and stick to it.
If you read the previous employee engagement strategy, you know that micromanaging doesn’t cut it.
So, how do you check in to make sure everything is going smoothly?
Set a schedule that makes sense with the project and its scope, and stick to the schedule.
For example, maybe you meet every Tuesday and Thursday at 2 PM and have a 30-minute chat.
Again, autonomy and freedom are massive motivators–use them to your advantage!
5. Have career development conversations so employees can visualize their growth path.
Top athletes visualize their plays and movements before a game, and that helps them to achieve peak performance.
It sounds strange, but it’s true.
The reasoning is that visualization helps to make our goals more tangible–and therefore, more achievable.
If your employee is motivated by growth and promotions, you can skyrocket employee engagement by helping them visualize their career.
Make their goals tangible. Don’t just tell them, but show them how to achieve them.
Then?
Watch them knock their next assignment out of the park.
6. Recognize your employees in a way that matters.
Withholding praise from your employees can have a number of negative effects, including:
- Poor confidence
- Feeling unappreciated
- Lack of clarity
- Apathy
Naturally, we want to avoid these things!
Start by recognizing your employees in a way that matters.
Keep in mind that different recognition methods work differently for different employees. As an example, you may have an employee who would be grateful for a press release about their recent accomplishments, but another who would feel embarrassed–and would much prefer a handwritten note instead.
This is yet another employee engagement strategy where knowing your employees and how they operate is crucial.
Further–and hear me out on this one–do you know your employees’ love languages?
Though they’re traditionally used for romantic relationships, it’s a simple framework for identifying how people feel appreciated that translates to countless areas of our lives.
Empathy + Knowledge = the best employee engagement strategy
One of the best things about working with other people in our fields is that there are so many wonderful, talented people with similar interests surrounding us.
Use that to your advantage by making actual connections with people who could very well become lifelong friends.
It sounds sappy, but it’s so true! Even more so (or should I say, even more sap?), have an understanding of what makes your employees tick. What do they love? What motivates them? Why are they working at your company instead of a different one?
Making these connections will make it infinitely easier to develop effective employee engagement strategies for each individual person.
You’ll be changing the company in a positive way, but one of the most crucial aspects of leadership isn’t the big picture–it’s the details. Imagine how big of an impact you can have in one person’s life with just one employee engagement strategy.
A happier life? Lowered stress levels? A renewed sense of purpose?
And all of that will translate to their home life, where they’ll maintain better relationships with their loved ones.
You are lucky to be in a position where you can have such a massive positive impact on the people around you. Don’t forget to use that power!
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Happy employees are the best spokespeople for attracting new hires! Their energy is contagious. I’m here to help you with recruiting strategies and interview plans. Start a conversation with me here.
