As we’ve already discussed in previous articles, keeping your employees engaged in the workplace is a pivotal aspect of any business in this day and age. Employee engagement increases your profit margins, employee satisfaction levels, and increases the overall corporate social responsibility of your organization. If you’re doubting the impact that employee engagement has on your business, take a look at our article: The Best Way to Increase CSR Participation? Employee Engagement.

Yet, finding ways to keep your employees engaged can be a challenging task. There are many routes and avenues you can take, and they will be different for each and every business based on the climate of your workplace. Thankfully, we have you covered with an extensive list of employee engagement tactics to help!

Offer Learning Opportunities

• Give employees the opportunity to learn about other areas of the business

  • This will give them a better understanding of how things work as a whole and how their job affects other peoples jobs as well

• Create a system where employees can request training/education

  • Maybe one of your employees thinks they’re lacking skills in one area or another. Offer an opportunity for them to learn and get better at it!

• Be transparent on career advancement paths

  • Don’t sugar coat it. Be realistic.

• Give them the chance to be a leader

  • Not everyone wants to be a follower all the time. Give people the chance to lead and direct every now and then. You never know, they could thrive in a position like this.

• Hold feedback meetings on teamwork

  • Give your teams the opportunity to give feedback on how the project went. What were the strengths? Weaknesses? What worked the best?

• Ask if they have the proper tools to succeed

  • Employees work the best when they have all the tools they need at their disposal. Ask if they are up to the standard!

Give Recognition

• Show your employees that you appreciate them! Share the success

  • Achievements big and small should be celebrated. Doing so encourages your employees to share achievements and strive for more.

• Praise accomplishments and successes - even personal ones!

  • Successes in and outside of the workplace should be celebrated as well. Whether it be the way a team collaborated earlier in the week, or that you’re getting married, let the successes flow!

• Ask for anonymous feedback

  • You can’t get better if you don’t know what you’re doing wrong. Ask for feedback and work on the things that are “wrong”

• Celebrate completing successful projects

  • A small act with a big pay off. Your employees have been working their tails off for weeks or maybe even months to finish these projects. Let them know that their efforts do not go unnoticed and it was a job well done all around

• Celebrate work anniversaries

  • Work anniversaries may seem like just another day, but they show the loyalty and devotion to the company. Let them know you appreciate them!

• Give sporadic days off

  • Seriously, is there anything better than a random day off?

• Implement a rewards system

  • Give your employees something to strive for. While yes, they work for a paycheck every week, but a little extra may give them a little extra push.

• Employee of the month program

  • Tailing off on the last bullet, this will give your employees something to strive for. Some people love getting that extra recognition

• Encourage employees to talk about toxic traits in the workplace

  • Like we said before, you can’t get better if you don’t know what you’re doing wrong. Allow your employees to talk about things that they believe are toxic and are not making the work environment collaborative and safe.

Culture

• Ask for input - positive and negative feedback

• Promote your companies mission, vision and values

• Create company goals

• Encourage self-improvement

• Create an ergonomic workspace

• Host company-wide events

• Make failure a learning experience

Hiring Process

• Create a mentor/mentee program

• Host workshops

• Involve current employees in the hiring process

• Build a diversity and inclusion board out of existing employees

Work-Life Balance

• Encourage personal projects

• Implement flexible work hours

• Match employee donations to charities

• Organize company activities outside of the workplace

• Encourage mental health

• Be generous with time off during the holidays

• Allow your employees to be autonomous to an extent - don’t micro-manage!

• Support a healthy lifestyle!

  • Perhaps a free gym membership or offering healthy foods in the workplace.