Employees are a business’ most valuable asset. This is something that rings true for companies in every sector, and for SMEs in particular it is especially important.
It’s essential to create the right conditions for your employees to thrive within your organisation. Engaging with employees at all levels is a vital part of success but something that is often overlooked.
So what is employee engagement? Well the definition is:
Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give of their best each day, committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being.
Employee engagement is based on trust, integrity, two-way commitment and communication between an organisation and its members. It is an approach that increases the chances of business success, contributing to organisational and individual performance, productivity and well-being. It can be measured. It varies from poor to great. It can be nurtured and dramatically increased; it can lost and thrown away.
Mike Edwards Head of Learning and Development at business electricity comparison site Love Energy Savings discusses how an employee engagement programme not only shows your staff you care and develops individual goals but offers much more, contributing to wider success and growth.
1. Retain the very best
Workforce retention is an issue for many businesses. Having a suitable employee engagement programme in place will ensure you retain the employees that are key to your business. Engaged employees have greater job satisfaction and loyalty, which significantly lowers the risk of them jumping ship and taking up a position elsewhere.
2. Attract qualified employees
Your happy workforce won’t just be admired from within. Prospective employees will take note of how appreciated and engaged your existing workforce is. Businesses that put employee engagement high on their list of priorities tend to find it easier to attract new employees that are qualified, passionate and enthusiastic, making recruitment a breeze.
3. Provide a better service for all
The quality of service offered to customers is a primary focus in everyday business activities for all companies. The motivation, enthusiasm and commitment shown by your engaged employees will make all the difference to your customer service success.
4. Create a harmonious work environment
The negative atmosphere created by those who are disengaged can have a detrimental effect on your work environment. As the saying goes, one bad apple is likely to spoil the whole bunch, but with better engagement you can keep team morale high.
5. Develop your workforce
Employee engagement doesn’t just work wonders for company success. Individual successes will also become apparent. Your employees will have the rewarding opportunity to develop new skills and enhance their existing ones, a prospect that will only add to their self-confidence and enthusiasm.
6. Outperform your competitors
The employee engagement experts at Best Companies revealed that firms with highly engaged employees financially perform as much as 3.5 times better than FTSE 100 businesses. Success for you, your business and your employees is an all-encompassing benefit of introducing an employee engagement programme.
And if that’s not enough then another way to boost employee engagement is by showing appreciation. As this article shows it can be as easy as praising your employees publicly, have frequent recognition programs or recognising all staff when they have done well instead of singling out just one person.
About the author: Mike Edwards is the Head of Learning and Development at business electricity comparison site Love Energy Savings. He has dedicated his career to it and is very lucky that he loves what he does. He has a strong passion for the full learning and development cycle and he enjoys bringing learning to life.
