Employee engagement is crucial to an organization's success and its ability to accomplish goals and achieve positive outcomes.
As the name suggests, employee engagement measures how committed, engaged, and motivated employees are toward their work and the organization's overall success. It also refers to an employee's emotional and personal investment in their job, feelings about the workplace, and relationship with their employer.
Why drivers of employee engagement are important
Companies with higher engagement are more profitable and outperform their competitors. To promote and enhance employee engagement in the workplace, you must identify the different drivers of employee engagement.
These essential factors help motivate employees to perform better, invest in their work, and form a genuine connection with their job and colleagues, leading to organizational success.
Identifying what drives employee engagement within your organization can help you target key issues and gaps such as employee turnover and lack of retention. Understanding what keeps your employees engaged through drivers allows you to measure your employee engagement and define areas of improvement.
Top 7 drivers of employee engagement
It is essential to note that the drivers of employee engagement vary from one group of employees to another, from one organization to the next, and they are subject to change. These drivers will depend on what your organization needs to succeed.
However, some standard drivers boost employee engagement, paving the way to a happier, more motivated, committed workforce and increased productivity and performance.
We’ve outlined the top 7 drivers of employee engagement, each bringing something unique to the table, while providing strategies for using these drivers for success.
1. Strategic, transparent clear communication
Lack of transparent and clear communication can be frustrating for employees. Whether they are uninformed of new updates and changes, or they lack clarity in their roles and responsibilities, poor and insufficient communication can be detrimental to an organization’s success. Having clear, open, and transparent lines of communication at the workplace is imperative to the success and growth of an organization, and drives employee engagement.
Effective communication between employees, employers, and supervisors allows everyone to be on the same page, be informed at all times, and be able to see the bigger picture. For employers, ensure you are continually informing your employees of the company’s goals and strategies, and providing important updates. Provide feedback to your employees, and ensure they understand what their role entails and what responsibilities they need to fulfill in their role. Consistently working on transparent communication will improve company morale and boost employee engagement.
2. Autonomy and empowerment
Let's be real: nobody likes an overbearing micromanager. Preventing your employees from showing their creativity and innovation will only further disengage them from their work. While it’s natural to guide your employees to success, they require freedom to thrive in their role.
Employees often prioritize flexibility over monetary benefits in their work. By granting your employees autonomy, you can allow them to make decisions about how they want to work, and what will support their path to success. Autonomous employees are reportedly more satisfied with their job and strive to be more productive, and will work harder as a result. Allow your employees to set their own schedules, and decide their work arrangements.
Empowering your employees in their role will keep them engaged, and they are more likely to stay in the company. Employees are more motivated and engaged when they are trusted with their abilities to get the job done. Giving employees empowerment can increase confidence and engagement in the overall success of the company. This means allowing them to share their ideas and creativity, and not stifling their freedom and independence. Allow your employees to pursue creative routes or implement innovative ideas while aligning with company goals and responsibilities.
3. Recognition and reward
Recognizing your employees goes a long way, paving the path for better engagement and employee success. An engaged, happy, and motivated employee feels heard, valued, and recognized. Receiving recognition and feedback from an employer goes a long way in breeding a positive growth and performance culture because these two factors enable employees to do better and work harder toward achieving their goals. Showing recognition for your employees is a key factor for driving employee engagement, while also improving employee retention. Companies that implement recognition practices are 48 percent more likely to have higher employee engagement rates.
There are many ways to recognize your employees’ efforts to let them know that you appreciate all they do for the company. Formal recognitions may include celebrating work anniversaries or achievements, and informal recognitions could be as simple as thanking someone for their hard work. Showing appreciation for your employees looks differently amongst organizations, but ultimately achieves the same outcome. Your employees will continue contributing to your organization’s success if the value of their role and hard work is understood and recognized by others.
Reward is also a valuable driver of employee engagement, and is another effective way to recognize your employees for their hard work. Benefits and incentives play a role in getting employees engaged. Ensure your company offers benefits and sufficient pay that aligns with the employees’ roles. Consider offering monetary rewards or non-monetary incentives, as they will encourage employees to work harder to attain those benefits. For instance, offering promotions or raises can drive engagement and foster success, as these opportunities will encourage employees to work harder to attain these rewards.
4. Growth opportunities
Nothing kills employee motivation faster than being stuck in a dead-end job without room for growth or advancement. Lack of growth within a role is a key factor for employee turnover. If an employee is presented with opportunities for career-related growth and knows they can climb up the corporate ladder, only then will they feel more engaged and motivated to work harder and strive towards success.
It’s also important to ensure that employees can achieve personal growth within their role in the organization. Employees value having a job where growth and learning opportunities are offered. Clarify what they want out of the role in terms of skills and training, and determine how you can support their goals in the workplace. To support their goals, provide your employees with the right resources to succeed. Growth opportunities, in terms of professional development and personal growth, requires a commitment from the employer to helping employees reach their fullest potential. Without this support, employees may feel disengaged from work, and seek opportunities elsewhere, thus leading to more employee turnover.
5. Sense of belonging
What’s often missing from organizations is the sense of belonging instilled in employees, which plays a crucial role in fostering employee motivation, happiness, and overall success. Employees want to feel like they belong in a company culture and that their role is important to the success of the organization. A positive, supportive, and inclusive work culture and environment is critical to employees' overall well-being and mental health, making them feel comfortable and at ease.
Ensure that your organization is welcoming and emphasizes values of respect, diversity, and collaboration. Allowing your employees to openly express themselves and share different perspectives and backgrounds will create that sense of belonging needed to build and maintain a successful work culture.
6. Trust in Leadership
Having visible and strong leaders at the senior level is a game-changer in boosting employee engagement in the workplace. Employees always need a leadership figure to consult and collaborate with, and seek guidance from. Having this trust in leadership fosters employee engagement, as employees can look up to their leaders and rely on them.
Humble leaders that can admit their mistakes and have a desire to learn are more trusted by their employees. Creating this psychological safety in the workplace further engages employees to work harder, as a reflection of the leadership in place. Being open to learn and collaborate with your employees establishes trust in your leadership, and empowers them to share their knowledge in the workplace.
The leadership of your organization needs to represent your company’s values in order to instill that trust in your employees. Leaders should be authentic in demonstrating these values, as it is positively correlated with building trust with your employees. Employees will be more engaged and work harder based on their alignment with the company values and goals, along with their leader. Trust in leadership leads to higher job satisfaction, productivity, and better engagement.
Creating a trust in leadership requires leaders to have a clear vision and business purpose. Identify your key goals for the company, and clarify those goals to your employees. Engaged employees will want to work harder to achieve the company goals that have been communicated to them by their leaders.
7. Work-life balance
Finding a perfect balance between work and play is challenging, but possible. The trick is to ensure that employees can split their time between work and their personal lives without feeling like they’re letting their team down. It's crucial for maximum employee engagement, and let's face it - no one wants to face burnout.
It is important that employers create a culture that values work and personal time, so employees can optimize their performance and productivity. Encouraging a work-life balance within your organization can lower your employees’ stress levels and better employee retention, thus driving employee engagement.
Studies show that hybrid or remote working arrangements lead to higher engagement rates. Consider offering flexible working hours and remote options for your employees, and encourage them to set clear boundaries to prevent overworking. Flexible work arrangements both drive engagement and improve productivity. Allowing employees to have a work-life balance will increase their loyalty to your company, and boost their engagement.
Conclusion
Employee engagement is at the heart of employee success, especially in this day and age when workplaces and systems have undergone dramatic changes.
Organizations must explore and identify the drivers of employee engagement and develop practical solutions to pave the way to a happy, engaged, motivated, and committed workforce. Determine what your employees value most in the workplace, from strategic communication amongst employees to a sense of belonging within a culture.
Identifying the key drivers of employee engagement in your organization is half the battle. How will you implement these strategies within your workplace and effectively boost employee engagement?
