Organizations need employee engagement to motivate teams to make key improvements that ultimately impact the bottom line of the business. Employee engagement can have a significant influence on the workforce and impact important metrics such as job satisfaction. According to research by Zenefits, 63.3 percent of companies say it’s harder to retain employees, especially when there’s little engagement.
Employers with superior employee engagement understand the benefits of investing in employee development. These efforts result in greater productivity, enhanced efficiency, and more innovation. Around 15 percent of employees are engaged in their work, making it a necessary metric to improve employee development.
Contrary to some opinions that employee engagement requires a significant amount of money that only the richest companies can afford, it can begin with reimbursing an employee’s fee for a course. Actions like this show employees that management cares about their development, allowing you to build loyalty across your organization.
Modern organizations are increasingly focusing on engagement, considering that poor engagement can bring about undesirable business results.
What is Employment Engagement?
Employee engagement is the means by which organizations seek to motivate employees to stay committed to corporate goals and give their best on every work-related task. It describes how much employees are committed to their job and the effort they put in to perform their responsibilities.
A workplace that encourages employee engagement produces a more motivated and productive workforce than others that don’t. Where employees are lacking in mental and emotional connection to their work, their teams, and the organization, employee engagement is low and vice versa.
However, “employee engagement” is not the same as happiness, satisfaction, or any similar-sounding concepts. For one, happiness is short-term, temporary, and not a long-term measurement. On the other hand, employee engagement is long-term, a deep connection to the organization.
How Training and Employee Development Impacts Employee Engagement
Whether a business is small or big, there are various benefits of engaging your employees. These include:
#1 – Improved employee productivity and retention
Engaged employees perform better than their unengaged peers. Increased productivity is important because companies with such robust employee development systems record 21 percent higher profits than those without one.
Engaged employees are more likely to stay put, helping companies to save money. Companies spend significant time and money to replace lost employees. There’s also a cost when helping a new hire become effective in their role.
#2 – Fostering a culture that enables your business to perform well
With superior employee training and development, businesses stand to save as much as $4,129 in the costs of hiring new talent and up to $986 to onboard them. With fewer employees walking out the door, there are significant savings to retaining experienced employees retained through relevant engagement schemes.
In highly engaged work environments, employees display a better knowledge of the institution and industry.
#3 – Better customer service
Developing better customer service training helps companies retain customers and grow sales in their specific industry. Business is mainly about making profits, but there’s a great need to engage the right customer in the right way. Training prepares employees to handle customer-related issues in the most mutually-beneficial way possible.
#4 – Improving morale and lowering absenteeism in the workplace
Employee engagement through employee development or training ensures that management can engage with the pulse of the staff. It’s an excellent way to listen to feedback on policy and improve morale at work.
Workers are more likely to show up to work and be enthusiastic when they have training that improves their career prospects and relevance at work. One Gallup study reveals that highly engaged organizations report a 41 percent lower absenteeism rate.
Where a company cannot afford comprehensive employee training packages, they can resort to on-the-job training and custom career development. It’s one way for small companies to attract talent without paying huge salaries or benefits.
Factors that Promote Employee Engagement
Employees will inevitably drift when they neither inspire nor engage them. Symptoms of a non-engaged workforce are inconsistent customer service and low operating performance.
In order to improve employee engagement, it is important to continuously listen to employees. This approach creates a tight feedback loop, making it easy to surface problems and build solutions that ensure that employees are more productive, aligned, and engaged at your company.
When employees are engaged, you can begin listening by defining what employee engagement means for your company. It is important to know how your leaders and managers define employee engagement. You’ll also need to determine how to engage individual employees.
Then, there are also business results to be aware of in teams where engaged employees work. This is in addition to considering the obvious signs of disengaged employees and how their presence impacts teams and the company.
Once you have determined whether your employees are engaged or not, it’s easier to solidify engagement efforts. These factors will promote a culture of employee engagement at any company:
- Perceptions of how vital the job role is
- How clear the job expectations are
- The availability of open dialogue with managers
- Promoting positive work relationships with all levels of colleagues
- Individual alignment with workplace culture and values
- Effective internal communications
- Opportunities for career development
Every business needs to put some focus on these areas to grow engagement and show employees that they matter. Career development is especially important for employees seeking ways to upskill and re-skill in fast-changing industries.
According to a Randstad and Ipsos Public Affairs survey, Investing in employees’ careers through continuing education, professional, and training is one of the most effective engagement tools.
A comprehensive effort to build employee engagement is usually multi-pronged but has a theme of continuous improvement all around it. As much as possible, employee engagement strategies should provide growth opportunities for employees.
Conclusion
An excellent way to improve employee engagement is to implement forward-thinking leadership. A clear vision for the company can inform the employee engagement training that will benefit all stakeholders in the long term. Flexibility and employee well-being are critical drivers of employee engagement and thus relevant in ensuring employee engagement and development.
Identifying individual employees and offering professional development helps to advance their abilities. It’s a critical facet of talent management strategy. Developing your people’s careers helps to engage them and builds a positive atmosphere for recruiting and retaining future employees.
There’s no way to tell how high your company will soar when employee engagement becomes your priority.