Welcome to part 2 of how to improve employee engagement on a budget. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out part 1.
Don’t use phrases like “let’s do more with less”
This is code for “we want you to work really hard, embrace AI, and burn out either way.” It’s not a healthy way to work and it screams that you only care about shareholder profits and not employee wellbeing.
Not to mention, it isn’t sustainable.
The more you push someone to do more with less, the more they’re going to stress about how they can actually do it, and the less they’ll be able to do. Pressure can not only be demotivating, but it can create a full-on block so that someone can’t function at all.
Remember that supporting employee wellbeing is still great for productivity. It’s also great for how to improve employee engagement.
Encourage team members to take breaks, take PTO, and change things up once in a while instead of focusing solely on one task. If they’re working on a big, complex project, give them some time to work on a hackathon or tag in on a larger team initiative instead, for example.
Consider the weather
As I write this, at the end of May, the UK is about to enter a heatwave. As a fairly mild country, unlike Europe, we have no laws around maximum working temperatures. We didn’t use to need them.
But humans can’t work in hot temperatures. We can’t work if it’s too cold, either. It affects our concentration, our mood, and our physical health.
Rather than have employees’ muscles seize up from the cold, or have them faint from heatstroke, put adequate provisions in place to protect them.
Don’t wait for the law. Prioritize their health now. They’ll reward you with their loyalty. And you’ll see positive returns when it comes to how to improve employee engagement.
Embrace remote work
There’s been an increasing trend of businesses advertising jobs as remote, only for the description to later state that it’s several days in the office each week, or worse — the candidate not finding out until they get to the interview.
This is a huge waste of everyone’s time. It’s bad for the employer brand, and it really damages a candidate’s mental health in an already difficult job market.
Increasing your applicant numbers, or reaching more people, isn’t worth it if you’re reaching the wrong people.
If a job is remote, let that employee actually work from wherever. Give them the tools to do it properly — a laptop, email, and ways to connect with their colleagues. It doesn’t take a lot. This small step can have a big impact on how to improve employee engagement.
Set up employee groups
When employees are connected, they’re 68% less likely to feel burned out at work. That’s a massive difference.
Employee groups help your people connect with those who have similar backgrounds or goals. They’re a way to improve relationships between your team members, helping them get more done and creating a more welcoming work environment. These improved connections can also help employee confidence.
However, you want to make sure that you’ve designed your employee groups in a way that makes them simple and easy to use.
That’s where Workrowd comes in.
Using Workrowd, you, and your employees, can get the most from your employee groups. They can see what’s coming up and engage with colleagues. Your leaders, meanwhile, can see engagement metrics that give them insights into what’s working and what isn’t.
Intrigued? Get in touch to book your free demo.
Actually have an open-door policy, not an “open-door policy”
If you have any open-door policy, does anyone actually use it?
If they don’t, they probably don’t believe that it’s actually an open-door policy.
You see, having a policy, and having one people feel able to use, are two different things.
Putting in the effort is worth it, though, as 85% of employees feel that effective internal communications motivate them to be more engaged at work.
Managers need to come across as approachable and human, otherwise no one will feel like they can talk to them about anything.
Some of this is in how they respond to questions or concerns, but another aspect is about how managers handle everyday interactions. If they come across as abrupt, harsh, or judgmental — even in a so-called jokey way — employees won’t feel like they can talk to them.
“Banter” is not an excuse to be rude to someone. This isn’t just about how to communicate, though; it’s also about how to improve employee engagement.
Ask for feedback
Showing employees you value them is key to how to improve employee engagement.
One way to do so is to ask for feedback. Collect the answers to questions you may not want to hear, and do so anonymously — you’ll get more accurate data.
Back when I worked full-time, a company I worked for used to send an annual feedback survey.
We’ll ignore the fact they sent this via an Excel spreadsheet — it was over a decade ago — as that wasn’t even the worst part.
The worst part was that the spreadsheet was sent by HR, but we sent it back to line managers. For them to read first.
So it was never anonymous.
If you had an issue with your manager, you didn’t feel able to speak up. The whole thing felt like a corporate box-ticking exercise. Everyone lied on it.
Asking employees for feedback only works if they can give you useful information. Anonymity offers a safety net for those who may not feel able to speak up otherwise.
And trust me, no matter how great your company is, if it’s big enough, someone will have a problem they don’t feel able to discuss.
Need help sending better employee surveys? How do automated surveys sound? With Workrowd, you can send automated feedback surveys at specific milestones to see how you, and your team, are doing. Get in touch to find out more.
Conduct exit interviews
Do exit interviews work? Or are people too afraid to burn bridges that they don’t feel able to be honest? I know I’ve done that. I bit my tongue, not explaining the real reason I was leaving a job, or why I was so frustrated. Even now, I still regret it.
The only way your employees will feel truly able to be honest is if you’ve built a culture of transparency and honesty.
It’s not about getting them to read Radical Candor, or some other book, it’s about everyone within your company embodying psychological safety and all that that means. Ensuring people can be honest is crucial when it comes to how to improve employee engagement.
Conclusion
A really important part of how to improve employee engagement is understanding people’s needs. Do they work better remotely? Do they feel like they can communicate with you — and their colleagues? What can you do to improve those processes? None of these things require huge budgets, but they do require understanding and empathy. Ultimately, that’s what employee engagement on a budget boils down to: treating your employees with empathy.
