A worldwide study by Gallup determined that engaged employees are far more productive, profitable, and dedicated to customers than those who aren't engaged. Gallup also determined that companies with more engaged employees are far more profitable. This report is based on an unprecedented study of engagement among more than 47,000 employees in 120 countries around the world during 2009 and 2010. We agree but with a difference, just don’t engage your employees, engage them holistically. And here are few ways to do that:
- Rewards and Recognition (R and R) – Appreciation goes a long way, begin with it. Conduct an R and R initiative where you acknowledge your top performers every quarter with an elaborate brief on how they have excelled. Do not limit yourself to a quarter, if an employee does exceptional work, acknowledge the work by sending an email out immediately. It is mandatory for your R and R initiative to have a personal connect, ‘Good Job’ or ‘Well done’ leads to amazing results, it’s already been tested and proven.
- Mentor Training Opportunities - By 2025, 75% of the workforce will be millennials, and these millennials and Generation Z are choosing jobs where they get a chance to work and grow under a leader. Work style today is a blend of growth, value, and appreciation. Give these opportunities where selected employees are able to work with the managers that they take inspiration from. This besides boosting the employee’s morale will help with the company’s overall productivity. Leadership first begins with mentorship, we know about that through Steve Jobs, Ratan Tata, M S Dhoni, Indra Nooyi, and many others.
- Create Intrapreneurs - Gifford Pinchot III coined the term intrapreneur in 1978 and defined it as "dreamers who do" but they do need resources from their parent company to execute their dreams. Companies who have started developing an ‘Intrapreneur’ culture are known to be ahead of time as compared to conventional businesses and it has also led to a stronger internal collaboration and more productive output. 3M, Lockheed Martin, Google, and Dreamworks are prime examples of how intrapreneurship culture is delivering exceptional results.
- Open Communication – ‘An open door’ policy establishes a culture of mutual respect; you can conduct skip-level meetings and form mentor/friend equations here which will give you the employee’s complete point of view. Also, regular feedbacks reduce the employee turnover as it gives you the track of your employees’ goals, responsibilities, way of working and also helps in identifying and filling the gaps. Create a structure for this policy, make sure that the reporting managers are available but at the same time ensure that there are boundaries as well so this can be capitalized in the right way.
- Digital Engagement – 1,00,000 plus employees across the globe or 20,000 plus employees across the country; an employee in Mumbai would not know his colleague in Bengaluru. This is where digital engagement plays a substantial role, develop programs that connect your employees with each other. For e.g. An MNC recently ran a digital soccer game where the teams were a mix of employees from different cities. Besides the fact that it will give your employees a chance to know each other, it also creates a sense of belonging towards the organization.
- Benefits and Balance - Give ‘Out-of-box’ benefits, these could be ESOPs (An employee stock ownership plan), maternity and paternity leaves, sabbaticals, etc. You can also run fitness tracking and diet plan programs to help cultivate a healthier lifestyle for your employees. Give the employees a work-life balance as well with incentives like remote working, flexible hours, compensatory leaves, etc. This is along with the vacation leaves that include birthdays and marriage anniversaries.
Best Buy discovered that a 0.1% boost in employee engagement was worth $100,000 per year at one store. Deloitte’s 2018 Human Capital Trends report identifies Well-being: A Strategy and a Responsibility as one of the top ten global human capital trends for 2018, and examines the ways in which companies can integrate their rewards offerings into a holistic wellbeing strategy to increase worker productivity and meet new social expectations. Need we add more?