How did you feel about coming to work today? Maybe you were excited to dig right into the day's work. Maybe you dreaded arriving at your desk and felt disgruntled and irritated. Unfortunately, the latter of these two scenarios is the most likely amongst workers today. Employee engagement is something that companies struggle with, and something many people do not understand.
Employees become disengaged for a few reasons. The longer an employee has been with an organization, the more likely they are to become disengaged. As you go down the chart within an organization, engagement scores decline. Engagement scores are the lowest among sales and service employees. These facts are scary, but true. In order to buck the trend and keep your employees engaged, try following these four tips.
Line supervisors, not HR, lead the charge. Senior executives must give line supervisors the responsibility of maintaining employee engagement. Employees must trust their immediate boss and feel confident in sharing their ideas, thoughts, and worries with such a leader. Line supervisors are essential in maintaining employee engagement.
Supervisors learn how to hold candid dialogues with teams. Developing the ability to hold constructive conversations with employees is essential for line supervisors. Talking effectively about sensitive issues such as better pay or worries of outsourcing is a sure way to gain the trust of your employees, and in turn boost their engagement in their work.
Perform regular "Pulse checks." This is most effectively done through short, focused surveys amongst employees. Find out what is bothering, encouraging, and distracting your employees, and address these issues. You can't engage an employee that you know nothing about.
Teams rally around the customer. Rely on those on the front line to report back to the team about what the customer truly wants. Those who have direct contact with the customer possess the knowledge to increase the customer's satisfaction, so tap into this knowledge and create a better experience for the customer. In doing so, you will engage multiple employees in creating a better customer experience, build the strength of your team, and ultimately create a unifying company culture.
