Is your engagement strategy broken?
You may have thought The Great Resignation was a thing of the past, but it turns out people are still resigning. Employee turnover reached an all-time high in 2022 with 50.5 million people quitting their jobs.1 With numbers so high, how can you stop the bleeding?
A good place to start is by evaluating your engagement strategy. Is it broken? It’s no secret that many employees today often want to feel inspired by their work. For years, it’s been known that employees want to be connected to a greater cause and find meaning in what they do.2 Still, that’s not enough. They also want growth and career development. These are all things that affect how often and how much your employees engage in their day-to-day at your organization. If you’re failing in any of these areas, it’s likely your engagement strategy is broken. Or at a minimum, you probably have some cracks that need filled.
Here are four employee engagement strategies to consider taking to get it back on track.
1. Collect
You won’t really know how to improve if you don’t collect some data first. Put together a quick survey (anonymous is preferred) and ask your people how things are going. Tailor your questions to areas in your organization that are in your control and pertain to their work, the culture and career development.
2. Evaluate
Learn from the data you receive. Evaluate the sections that rate poorly and determine how you can you improve them. What are actionable tasks you can implement right away? Do you need to pull in outside support to help you?
3. Create
If there are areas of your organization that can be fixed quickly, do that. Create ways to inspire your employees. Connect their work to a greater purpose outside of their day-to-day role. If that data shows you’re lacking in upward mobility, find a way to establish more career paths and be transparent on the steps needed to move up. Finally, if recognition is what’s missing, create programs that offer peer-to-peer and leadership-down rewards.
4. Connect
Once you’ve created a way out, put a system in place to ensure you don’t set it and forget it. Employees will want to see that this is important to you. Connect with your employees through regular meetings, surveys, and team-building sessions. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and facilitate meetings between employees and leaders they don’t normally report to. It could encourage more transparency and improve relationships.
One thing is for sure, with each new generation that enters the workforce, employers are forced to evolve alongside them. If not, the lack of engagement and high turnover rates will stick around much longer than you’d like. Stay ahead of it all with a well-planned and well-executed employee engagement strategy.
This blog is up to date as of May 2023 and has not been updated for changes in the law, administration or current events.
