Planning some cool employee engagement strategies is a requisite for the existence of every organization. The employee engagement strategies offer a high growth rate to the companies because they generate happy employees. If a company fails to spawn happy employees, its competitors consequently win its workforce. Therefore, losing human resources should never be an option for a good company. This renders the need for some effective employee engagement strategies in place.
Multiplying job engagement in employees
The organization-employee relationship begins the day organization hires the employee. So, the organization takes the initiative of implementing the employee engagement strategies when it welcomes the new hire prior to his formal joining. Here begins the game. The warmer the welcome, the stronger is the first knot of this association. Winning your employee at this stage is the easiest and most significant. Later, as he works with you, assure that you maintain opulent employee engagement and job satisfaction levels.
Job engagement goes beyond employee satisfaction. Job satisfaction measures how pleased is your employee working with you whereas, employee job engagement refers to the fact that he is so contented and pleased that he wants to stay with your organization for the long term. Instead of short-term job elements like job satisfaction, opt for long-term employee engagement because this decides for how long your employees are going to be productive for you. More job engagement leads to more employee retention. So, the most challenging target for an organization is to retain its employees by keeping them satisfied. If they stay with you for a long time, it means you are ahead of other employers in competition.
Best employee engagement strategies
Here are a few employee engagement strategies which prove to be the best source of employee retention too:
1) Plan a warm on-boarding
Among the top employee engagement strategies, first comes onboarding. A warm welcome to new hires shows you care for them. On-boarding concept goes beyond the routine orientation process. Introduce him to the mission, vision, goals, strategies & culture of the organization, and his job responsibilities. Clearly communicate the expectations of the company and ask about his expectations too. Involve him in mapping his goals and strategies.
As a part of potent employee engagement strategies, the onboarding program continues for one year. Researches suggest that an employee usually takes a minimum of 90 days to get familiar with the culture, job roles and begin working on his goals. Make sure you meet him at least once a week to discuss his progress. So, an effective on-boarding process results in enhanced employee motivation, employee engagement and job satisfaction.
2) Offer autonomy
The second among employee engagement strategies is the freedom you extend to your employees. Giving your employee the right freedom to take decisions at his job is crucial to developing job engagement. A new hire requires close monitoring and mentoring. However, as time passes, it is the best approach to gradually lift off every-step guidance cap and allow him to work with autonomy. In this way, he will enjoy the space offered to him, with a good relationship built with his manager over time. Autonomy holds that he still reports to you and you are the authority, but he has the right amount of liberty at the job.
Offering autonomy is a wonderful way to motivate employees because it makes them breathe with confidence at workplace. This is nowadays one of the most influential among good staff engagement strategies.
3) Set smart compensation
While developing your compensation plans, conduct thorough market research on what other organizations are paying for the same job. Compensate your workforce with a smart approach, considering that it is the primary reason people quit working with you. Competitors use this tool to attract your workforce so make sure this compensation package includes the right amount of all ingredients to retain and engage the employees. Focusing on this aspect will enhance an employee’s job engagement as he will intend to grow and stay with the organization.
4) Address growth needs
Address the growth needs of employee by assessing the areas of improvement. Conduct trainings, offer development in areas of his interest and offer him rotations. Make every effort to inculcate enrichment in his job. This makes work not only exciting for him, but he will savor every moment staying with your organization.
5) Set SMART goals
Goal setting with employee involvement is one of the recommended contemporary engagement strategies in successful organizations. This strategy is accompanied by the consideration of the nature of goals i.e. they should be SMART; specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound goals. If the manager and the employee mutually agree upon the goals, the employee owns his work more and therefore, puts in more efforts to achieve his goals. This will lead to an increase in employee engagement and job satisfaction.
6) Fringe benefits stand-alone
Even though fringe benefits are a part of the total compensation plan, their significance makes them stand separately. These benefits may range from a thriving work environment to a satisfied personal life. Offering numerous workplace, medical, family, conveyance, bills or entertainment benefits give your employee the freedom from worries, so he concentrates more on his job.
Some of the benefits can be tailored to the specific needs of groups. For example, due to an increase in the female workforce globally, organizations are setting up kids’ daycare centers as part of the latest employee engagement strategies. This not only facilitates working mothers, but the company also gets rid of the stressed human capital. Hence, the working mothers are able to focus more on their work, resulting in enhanced job engagement and productivity.
7) Create a thriving culture
A thriving work environment for employee growth is imperative. Researches show that most of the competent employees who have been performing well in their previous organizations are unable to accomplish their new jobs. This happens because of the difference in cultures and organizational values. A culture with respect, integrity, and tolerance sown in it proves to be a source of more employee satisfaction and retention. All the conditions need to be suitable for hitting the target of employee retention.
Employee retention is an end-product of all these employee engagement strategies. If followed well, an organization never fails to retain its competent employees. Ultimately, these strategies contribute to the achievement of organizational goals. This leads to a good market reputation and eventually becoming the employer of choice.
