Employee Engagement - 3 key ways of keeping your staff

Employee engagement done correctly gives us an important insight as to how our employees are feeling at their place of work. Through effective engagement, we can establish if we are getting the best out of each employee, or if not, an understanding on what is maybe holding our employees back.

Employee communication remains the most essential tool to develop strong working relationships among employees and achieve higher productivity rates. Companies that offer clear, precise communication can swiftly build trust among employees which vastly improves productivity and retention.

So how do you do it? Here are three processes worth having a look at.

Stay Interviews

Stay interviews are conversations with employees that provide insights into their day-to-day experiences with your company. Unlike an exit interview, which helps companies to determine the factors that caused employees to leave, stay interviews attempt to reduce turnover. Here are some example questions you can ask.

• What do you look forward to when you come to work each day?
• What keeps you working here?
• What would make your job more satisfying?
• What talents are not being used in your current job?
• If you could change something about your job, what would it be?

By asking open questions you’re giving the employee an opportunity to get anything they need to off their chest, which the more information you can get, the more you learn about how your employee is feeling. I would recommend conducting a stay interview every 3-6 months.

Communication

Good employees aren’t just looking for a 9 to 5, they are wanting to become a part of an organisation by taking on their mission, values, culture and want to be the driving force behind the company’s success. So, I would highly suggest you hold regular meetings with your staff to share any recent successes, what the business plans are for growth, discuss the market and more importantly getting your staff involved by sharing their ideas and thoughts. By having these conversations with your staff, they feel valued and know that their opinions are being heard and listened to. 

Recognition

It’s a great feeling to be recognised for your hard work, so after a great result show your employees your appreciation by pulling them aside and giving them some praise, sit them down and explain the positive impact their efforts have had on the company and what difference their hard work is making. Why not also share peoples hard work with their fellow team mates, offer a star of the month, perhaps give them a voucher. Recognising your staff’s abilities and efforts, results with the employee feeling empowered, driven whilst also recognising how much of an asset they are to your company.

The market has changed rapidly and great employees are in demand, so now more than ever, you should be trying to improve your retention rates by communicating effectively with all staff on all levels.

These are just a few ways in which you can improve your employee engagement, reach out and let me know what has worked well for you. Email: - [email protected]