With any change you are looking to make in your organization, it can be difficult to know where to start. Tackling employee engagement is no different. The statistics are clear. You have likely heard by now that nearly 70% off the workforce is disengaged costing the US over $450 billion dollars per year. Improving employee engagement is a must for any business facing issues with employee attraction, retention, morale and productivity. A recent article in Inc. give five simple things you can do as a small business leader each day to improve employee engagement at your organization without making any major changes to your budget or company practices.
Show your enthusiasm
Have you been feeling like your workforce is a little low energy? Is employee morale lower than you would like? Model the behaviors you value in your employees by showing your enthusiasm for the work you do. You passion for your work will be contagious.
Smile more
Being happy and showing other that you are happy is a conscious effort. Happy people are more productive and generally more pleasant to be around. Smiling, like enthusiasm is contagious. Smile more and you will see that your employees do the same.
Listen to your employees
Active listening builds trust among your team and which is key to employee engagement. Listening will also allow you to learn more about your employees, so that you can build genuine relationships with them.
Communicate often
Make sure to communicate with you team often, particularly face-to-face communication. Also make sure to balance positive and negative feedback. Sometimes all our employees hear is bad news. Make sure to focus on positive communication as well.
Recognize great employees
This goes along with the communication piece above. Make sure to recognize the efforts of your employees as often as possible, even if it just a simple Thank You. Make recognition part of your company culture so that it is approachable for your leadership team. Download our free Employee Recognition Toolkit to help you get started.
Overhauling employee engagement doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Write these five daily activities on your whiteboard in your office and check them off each day.