Employee Engagement?

What’s all this talk about employee engagement? Why is it important? Employee engagement is the extent to which employees are fully involved and committed to their work, care about their organization and colleagues, and are willing to go the extra mile for their company to ensure its success. Managers with an engaged workforce understand that commitment outranks control.

In our last blog we discussed those employees with the “can do” attitudes. These are your engaged employees. Although some employees are naturally more motivated than others, there ARE some things you can do as a manger to improve engagement.

Remember a common sentiment most of us share; if I don’t matter, you don’t matter. If employees don’t feel that they are noticed and important in their company they are not likely to be “engaged.” We all want basically the same things. We want to be included, respected, and involved. Employees must feel that their jobs matter AND their opinions matter. Great leaders make everyone feel that they matter. You make them FEEL as if they matter by making them matter! There is no room for pretending here. Take time to listen to their opinions and ideas. Sometimes your way may not be the best way if it results in unmotivated and disengaged employees.

Managers should also offer challenge and, where possible, freedom. A challenge makes life interesting. Challenging work assignments have been directly linked to positive employee engagement. Without an occasional challenge, boredom and complacency set in. Studies have also proven that engagement increases when employees are given freedom to learn and choose how to best accomplish their assigned goals. Offer this wherever possible. Engagement pays off in the end!

Learn more about motivation in our course “Clocked In But Checked Out” at www.workforceechoes.com.