With more firms jumping on the bandwagon of services, we see a shift in what labor means. Instead of a means to an end (e.g. producing a product), they often “are” the product as that they need to develop and maintain it. This is especially true for high-skilled workers that develop software and other high-tech products. Labor is key, and a healthy and satisfied workforce is of utmost importance. Companies have realized this over the past two decades, and are focusing on creating the best work experience possible.
The employee at the center
Similar to the statement “customer is king”, the employee is now put on a pedestal. They need to be happy, productive, and engaged with the organization. To create engagement, organizations need to think about their strategy. Why does the organization exist, and what does it want to carry out? In the past, these strategies were focused on shareholder value. Nowadays, there are more stakeholders in scope, including employees and the environment. Businesses use a variety of strategies to keep their employees motivated. Showing appreciation for the employees by buying christmas gift boxes in bulk and distributing them, or having small birthday celebrations can go a long way in building connections with the employees.
Understanding employee engagement
But, what is employee engagement exactly? You can see it from both a formal and informal perspective. The formal perspective is the alignment with the companies strategy, values, and objectives. Does the employee feel connected, is this the cause the employee wants to contribute to? On the other hand, the informal aspect focuses on the relations between employees and team leads. Do they feel valued? What are their challenges? For the employer, it is important to help them in case any difficulties arise.
How to get your employees to be more engaged?
First off, it is important to understand how employees feel. Do they feel valued or appreciated? To create this view, there are multiple methods at hand. A good initial step is having one-on-one conversations between managers and employees. How do they feel about their work? What can be improved? Will exhibiting gestures of gratitude, thankfulness, and care using something like Gift Card Software to provide gift vouchers or employee rewards help in boosting their morale? Remember that learning about all these can help to get clarity on the challenges and can help mitigate some of these challenges immediately. Moreover, to create a holistic view, it helps to send out a survey to all employees. These surveys capture data on a larger scale and allow for analytics and dashboarding. The views created can then help to set the next steps and track the progress. You can also measure employee engagement with special tools like the kind available with Tivian and make changes accordingly.
Development of a survey
Employee engagement is a well-researched subject, consisting of multiple themes. With expertise across the globe, there are many firms offering survey templates. A leading player in the field is Effectory, a firm that offers a broad range of solutions. The strength of working with such a partner is not only the tooling they provide. As they have worked on many initiatives, they can leverage their expertise and suggest the best next steps to take. This makes your initiative to improve engagement more efficient and effective. The tooling that you can leverage depends on your organization. If you have a large organization, you can move forward with a survey, whereas for smaller organizations individual conversations can already prove very effective.
