Everyday Employee Engagement Mistakes You Could Be Making
To get the most out of your team and achieve all the goals you set for your business, it’s vital to work well with your team and encourage them to be as productive, loyal, committed, and motivated as possible. This won’t happen unless you commit to engaging them and showing them that you care.
Employee engagement may seem like a straightforward topic, but many entrepreneurs make the same mistakes in this area. There are multiple ones you need to avoid this year.
Not Setting Clear Engagement Goals
When it comes to effective performance management, it’s vital to set clear goals for employee engagement. Yet, many people make the mistake of not bothering to do this. If you don’t have any key performance indicators (KPIs) or other outcomes in mind, you won’t be able to tell if what you do to make personnel happy makes a difference, and you’ll be less incentivized to work on this area, too.
Set some specific, measurable, time-bound goals ASAP that you can keep an eye on as the months go by to see what’s working and what isn’t. While company culture, employee motivation and loyalty, and the like can be challenging to quantify, you can use some measurement tools to get an idea of progress. As mentioned above, KPIs are one way, such as those related to your staff turnover rate, productivity results in certain areas (such as sales made, tickets logged, etc.), or reduction in sick or personal days taken.
Plus, it pays to conduct exit interviews when staff members leave the organization and get workers to fill out anonymous questionnaires every so often to see if their happiness improves. It also helps to watch how well teams can work together and how many conflicts arise. You can also note if people seem to leave the office as soon as their workday hours have finished or if employees seem happy to stick around until the job gets done.
Failing to Adequately Recognize and Reward People
Another mistake leaders make failing to recognize and reward their top workers. To engage your teams effectively, you must show people they’re appreciated. There are many ways to go about this that depend on your leadership style, budget, timeframes, and more. However, consider trialing a few options to see what gets the best results. Different methods of showing people you value them will also work differently for various staff members, as people have diverse ways they like to be appreciated.
For example, thank people for their hard work and their results. Be heartfelt and specific, and share precisely what you’re thrilled about and why. In in-person conversations, phone calls, or video conference chats for remote workers, you can do this one-on-one. You can also write a note or publicly acknowledge people in front of the whole team. You might also mention excelling employees on social media pages, in company newsletters or at conferences, and so on.
Also, you could hand out awards to your best team players and those who make a difference in other ways throughout the year. Plus, honor workers with perks such as free lunches, extra days off, or discounted massages or childcare at the office, among other things.
People like to be rewarded with gifts, too. For instance, you could give people cash bonuses, nights away, gift cards, hampers, or bottles of wine, to name a few. Try to think about what will best suit the individuals you appreciate and your budget for the year.
Not Giving Workers Enough Opportunities to Develop
Do you give your employees plenty of chances to grow, learn, and develop in your company? If not, you’re not alone. This is a common mistake but can be a significant one. People are very focused on advancing and picking up new skills and different experiences in their careers. They often get bored and worried they’re getting left behind. As such, look for ways to allow people to try new roles, work in different locations, and generally get out of their comfort zones and learn new things.
Chat with personnel to find out their goals and how you might help them achieve these. This gives you a chance to develop future leaders for your business, which is a plus, and engage workers more. Offer mentoring and training opportunities, get employees to present at conferences, trade shows, and other events, and bring motivational and educational speakers to contribute to your teams. Look for different ways to help people progress through the ranks and grow as people and staff members, too.
Two other mistakes to keep in mind in employee engagement are missing out on communicating a bigger purpose to your employees, so they feel they’re having an impact with their roles, and seeing engagement as a one-off task to complete. Engagement should be something you focus on throughout the year. Every little thing you do to help your workers feel happy and interested in their roles will make a difference and help your organization thrive.
Infographic created by Insperity, an employee benefits outsourcing company
