Making Employee Engagement a Priority

A 2019 HR.com survey revealed that employee engagement before lockdown was less than 44%. Lockdown studies have shown that the people entering the workplace will possibly have lower engagement levels due to emotional and mental issues like negativity, anxiety, sense of loss, confusion, financial stress, to name but a few, as a result of the changes that they have had to live through. This does not bode well for the need for organisations to have their employees perform like never before. Leaders must focus on aligning the needs of the organisation with the needs of the employees. Leaders have to re-ignite their people before they can re-ignite the profitability of the organisation.

Things to do:

Make Employee Engagement a top priority and align it to business outcomes.

Know what “they” are thinking by using shorter more frequent surveys that have clearly communicated feedback and action timeframes.

Seek meaningful connection around performance, priorities, attitude and how these connect to business outcomes.

Create a culture of looking forward. A growth mindset.

Introduce the concept of 2-way coaching conversations. Make it easy to give and receive feedback. Make it easy to understand feedback. Make it easy to action feedback.

Focus on teamwork and shared outcomes. Define what this looks like and then celebrate when it is achieved.

Get creative with virtual team building initiatives.

Develop a forum for well-being check ins.

Focus on team and individual gratitude to create a positive work culture.

Offer guidelines and tips for efficient remote working.

Is your Organisation positioned to do this?

Watch this clip from Simon Sinek on how to be a leader and make people the priority.