Employee engagement refers to an employee’s emotional attachment to the organization and its aims. Employees that are engaged care about the organization; they are not only working for a paycheck and a promotion. Employee engagement has become an essential concern for executives and CHROs as they realize the consequences of poor employee engagement.
According to Microsoft research, more than 40% of employees planned to change jobs in 2021. In my current role, I deal with hundreds of small to medium-sized businesses across India to assist them in embracing hybrid remote working. According to one executive, employee retention has become a significant concern. Employees who are engaged, happy, and healthy are directly correlated to greater corporate outcomes.
Having a real office makes staff involvement simpler. Casual talks, workplace pals, activities were done together at work, coffee breaks, team lunches, and water cooler interactions all contribute to higher levels of employee engagement. With these things gone, and remote working now in place, CHROs and executives must find new and imaginative methods to keep people engaged.
Why is employee engagement important?
According to David zinger “Employee engagement is the art and science of connecting people to strategy, roles, performance, organization, community, relationship, customers, development, energy, and happiness in order to leverage, maintain, and turn effort into outcomes.”
Several studies have shown that employee engagement has an impact on the following characteristics of a firm.
- Increased Retention and Low Turnover Rate – Gallup discovered in 2017 that having highly engaged workers helped lower turnover by 24 percent in high-turnover organizations (those with more than 40 percent annualized turnover).
- Productivity – According to Gallup research, employees in the top quartile of employee engagement were 21% more productive and 22% more profitable than those in the worst quartile.
- Absenteeism – Because happy workers are organically driven to work, they do not take excessive leave. Improved Service and Results – The more devoted staff there are, the better the results.
Ways to improve remote Employee Engagement
For increasing remote employee engagement, we have specific employee engagement productivity tools in the market.
The following to improve are:
Fix your onboarding:
Many of the CHROs we spoke with identified new recruit onboarding as a significant difficulty.
Some of the measures they are doing to facilitate onboarding are as follows:
- All processes, paperwork, and company-specific information must be documented and digitized (such as employee handbooks and employee directories).
- Developing a clear onboarding strategy that includes check-ins at key milestones such as 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days.
- Scheduling orientation meetings for remote recruits and coaching them through the process of working from home for your organization has proven effective.
- As part of the onboarding process, I scheduled video conversations with other team members and made casual introductions.
- One team we deal with meets once a month and brings all of their new recruits in to meet the leadership team.
Organize all-hands meetings and AMAs:
A virtual all-hands gathering to announce critical decisions, provide updates, and celebrate successes has proven to be beneficial. Many firms have also established AMA sessions with leadership teams in order to break down communication barriers and create a transparent workplace.
Fun group activities include:
Companies are experimenting with novel ways to include pleasure in remote work. One of our clients recently held a virtual baking workshop for its workers. Another huge IT MNC used its internal social network to hold a live music event. Companies are also using Slack add-ons that allow staff to play games like Pictionary or run trivia quizzes with their coworkers.
Virtually co-working space:
Working virtually together Office meant having the company of your team colleagues, who were only a tap away from answering a query or giving fascinating information. That has been taken away from us by remote employment. A new kind of software is evolving that provides the experience of virtual collaboration.
Work Near Home option:
According to a Buffer survey, loneliness is the most difficult challenge for 19 percent of remote professionals. Loneliness and mental illness have become pandemics as a result of COVID. Allow your workers to take a break from their work-from-home habit by going to a nearby workplace to work and socialize. Women are more stressed than males and require a break more urgently.
Make your staff happy:
Could your executives express their gratitude to staff by sending handwritten cards, flowers, or a box of cookies? Without a doubt. These tiny gestures may go a long way toward getting employees emotionally bonded to their workplace. Employee engagement and delight policies at Flipkart have received a lot of attention. You may borrow a chapter from their book to please your staff.
Virtual Open Mic Nights:
Everyone has some skill. Isn’t that right? You might be astonished to learn that some of your coworkers are classically trained pianists, comedians, or vocalists. You may start your corporate all-hands meeting with musical performances or stand-up comedy from your staff.
Listen to your employees continuously:
We’ve previously discussed all-hands meetings and AMAs. Maintain frequent communication with your staff about the company’s direction, recognize accomplishments, and communicate updates via internal social media. Another critical step is to regularly listen to staff. Everybody’s personal circumstance at home is unique. Some may have elderly parents to look for, while others may have small children to handle. Listening to their problems and providing tailored answers will go a long way toward keeping them engaged and emotionally attached.
Employee appreciation and awards:
Companies have been doing this for decades to reward high performers and inspire additional employees to go above and beyond. It is the same with remote working.