Good leaders proactively promote employee engagement. They invest their time and resources to get to know their employees personally, recognize their strengths, and find ways to support and motivate them. Considering employees’ needs with each business decision.
Use these quick employee engagement hacks to inspire your team and wake up your workforce!
1. Strengthen Workplace Culture
Does your company culture need work? Maybe start by eliminating visible hierarchies if there are any. When the “higher-ups” are behind closed doors in their corner offices while everyone else is in a cubicle, it can create an atmosphere of “us vs. them”. This stops the free flow of ideas and communication that could make a difference in the company’s bottom line.
Is everyone on the same page and following the same guidelines? Having one standard for upper management and another for regular employees does not help. For example, if your company promotes a flexible work environment but only senior-level employees can work from home, it will create the dissatisfaction you are trying to avoid.
2. Improve Supervisor-Employee Relations
Poor communication, limited interactions with employees, and lack of knowledge all contribute to toxic team relationships.
Fortunately, you can energize the atmosphere in the office or of the team by improving the ways you all work together. If the team practices positive emotional connections with each other, honors their promises and commitments, and shows a willingness to mentor others, it will promote an atmosphere of trust and respect that employees may value more than money.
3. Provide Mentorship and Training Opportunities
If an employee doesn’t see any opportunity for growth in their role, they’re more likely to feel uncertain about their future there and possibly leave. If you can’t afford to pay them more, presenting them with mentorship and training opportunities can provide them with encouragement and make them more likely to want to stay.
4. Give Employees the Tools to Succeed
Tools for success can be job-specific, employee-specific, or both. Does your website designer need the latest version of their design software to produce high-end results? Does your accounts receivable person need a quieter workspace so they can focus on their numbers? If you’ve been wondering how to motivate employees, these concessions can cost little but make a huge difference in how they view their contributions.
5. Recognize a Job Well Done
Many companies operate on the premise that everyone is replaceable. Not the most positive vibe to promote.
Appreciation and recognition make employees feel valued. Instead of taking the attitude that doing a good job is simply what you’re paying them for, offer sincere praise when an employee exceeds expectations. Honest praise is a big motivator.
Some ideas:
- Acknowledge them at a staff meeting.
- Take them coffee or out to lunch on you.
- Offer a small but valued perk like an afternoon off.
- Offer sincere thanks to them directly or on a personal note.
6. Encourage Workplace Camaraderie
The camaraderie with co-workers encourages them to stay even when financial rewards are not possible.
You can maintain this important feeling of unity and connection with your team by encouraging them to enjoy teamwork, are open communicators, and can both accept accountability and share praise.
7. Distribute Workload Evenly
Your first clue that there is a problem is usually when someone leaves, then it is too late. Nothing is more demoralizing than being one of the only people on the team who is overburdened with work while everyone else has the time and availability to complete their tasks on schedule. Many won’t say anything… too worried about being labeled as a complainer.
To protect your team from burnout, invest in business planning software with a shareable calendar or project management organizing, which is web-based and can be accessed from anywhere by anyone with an internet-enabled device. This allows you to see what your employees are working on at any given time, so you don’t inadvertently add to someone’s workload that is already overflowing.
8. Provide Energizing Challenges
While a promotion or raise probably ranks at the top, chances are that they’re not the only items on your employees’ wish lists. If you’re unable to reward them financially, is there something else you could offer?
Most employees in particular love challenges that help them excel at their job and make the further progression into their careers. Find out what they want to learn or what special tasks they might be interested in. If someone loves to write, can you ask them to produce content for the company newsletter or website? If there is a ‘people person’, why not task them with introducing new hires to the team or oversee company reward events?
9. Make It Possible to Learn New Skills
When an employee does the same tasks every single day, a sense of monotony will eventually set in. This can lead to low motivation levels and job dissatisfaction. You can prevent this by rewarding your team with professional development opportunities to be undertaken during the workday, so they don’t have to sacrifice personal time.
These opportunities could include:
- Opportunity to attend an industry conference.
- Access to online learning courses.
- Providing self-care/improvement ideas and books or videos
- Help employees identify mentors, sponsors, or teammates willing to provide shadowing or resource opportunities.
10. Provide Added Perks
Perks don’t always have to be financial. Employees today value a healthy work-life balance and when you make that possible, they’ll find their workdays more enjoyable and rewarding.
You could offer flexible schedules or opportunities to work from home one or two days a week if they are not already, other viable perks include:
- Longer lunch breaks
- Working a half-day on Friday
- Provide opportunities for “recharge breaks” between zoom meetings and after a hectic routine to regain that energy.
- You can arrange mindfulness sessions for your employees and introduce a reward system for fitness.
- Host an after-work game competition.
- Any one of these can create more job satisfaction, which in turn enhances productivity. This will allow your employees to come back to work fully committed.
11. Foster a Sense of Community
When there’s a strong sense of community at the office, your employees will feel more connected to each other and to the company. Make opportunities for peer-to-peer interaction.
For example:
- Gift lunch to everyone when a particular goal is accomplished and encourage all employees to enjoy it together even if it is over zoom!
- Hold an annual picnic and invite employees to bring their families.
- If your company is primarily remote – have an in-person team retreat together for a few days.
- Allow water cooler break – 15 min weekly, same day and time of the week – can be remote too!
- Book Club – 15 min weekly – same day and time of the week – gift the book (choice by you) to all who want to join.
12. Give Them Autonomy
Everyone wants to have control over their own work: few things deplete a workplace more than micromanagement. Give your team the chance to make some decisions regarding how they will accomplish an objective or complete a task.
The biggest compliment you can give them is to empower and trust them to make the right decisions.
Even if an occasional mistake is made, the risk is far outweighed by the benefits. When your team understands that they are an essential part of the organization’s success, it will motivate them in ways that money cannot.
In conclusion, companies that go out of their way to create a workplace with a strong culture, sense of community, and appreciation for its employees will motivate and retain their team a lot longer than organizations that treat them like they are easily replaceable. Treat your staff like they matter, and they’ll return the favor with their loyalty.
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