Your employees are the foundation for a thriving workplace. Under ideal circumstances, your employee brings more than just their time and skills to work – they also contribute their enthusiasm and commitment towards creating and implementing an exceptional customer experience. For employees to feel engaged and do their best work, you must build a workplace experience that fosters both passion and purpose.
Why Is Employee Experience and Engagement Important?
Building an exceptional employee experience can increase your employee engagement. When your employees find value in the work they do, feel recognized and rewarded for their contributions, and are aligned with your company mission and values, they are more likely to put in their best effort, stay loyal, and speak positively of your business to colleagues, friends, and customers – even after they leave. I found companies that scored highest on employee experience benchmarks experienced:
Engaged employees are more likely to go above and beyond in their roles, embrace creativity, and find meaning in their work. Disengaged employees, on the other hand, may just go through the motions and do the bare minimum. Of course, employees can’t give 110% every day, but sustained levels of disengagement can cost your business.
In fact, employees who lack engagement are more likely to experience:
- Decrease productivity
- Toxic negativity
- Increased absenteeism
- Increased turnover
To reengage your employees, your business must actively address the root causes of disengagement. Take the time to have one on one discussions with your employees.
How to Engage Employees and Reinvigorate Their Passion for Work
- Be open and honest – Leaders shape the employee experience at your business. From setting culture from the top down to communicating business goals to creating a positive work environment, leaders set examples that inspire and instill confidence in your employees.
2. Recognize Your Employees – Your employees want to feel more than just a number and receive personal attention. You don’t need pricey rewards to show your thanks either – a simple shout-out during a team meeting lets employees know you see and appreciate their great work.
3. Invest in training and their personal development – The key to any lasting relationship lies in each employee’s ability to do the job correctly. For employees, this often means teaching them the skills needed and helping them grow in their positions at your business and even their career growth.
4. Give your employee meaningful work – Meaningful work is powerful for employee engagement. When employees understand how their contributions connect to larger business goals, they can find purpose in their work and feel more motivated to succeed. One way to help your employees pursue the areas they find most meaningful is through passion projects. By giving individuals some choice in the projects they work on, your business can let employees explore their strengths, find purpose in their work, and make an impact they’re proud of.
5. Provide the right systems, structure and resources to succeed – Your employees can only fulfill their responsibilities and meet your expectations if they have access to the right systems, training and resources. Leaving employees under-equipped and not prepared can result in lower productivity, performance, efficiency, and job satisfaction – all factors that may ultimately push them to leave your business.
6. Listen to your employees – This is one of the most valuable things you can do. Your employees want to be heard, to share their thoughts and ideas. Not giving them that opportunity could cost you and your business dearly.
Start prioritizing your employee experience and engagement and watch your profits soar!
Your employee experience isn’t something you invest in once and never revisit. It’s dynamic, varies from business to business. It needs constant attention and improvement. Businesses just like yours, need a proven employee experience management solution that can help you increase engagement, employee performance, and reduce turnover.
I love spending time coaching my clients while providing employee experience solutions to empower teams and fuel positive change to improve talent retention, increase business performance, break down silos, and drive an engaged customer focus culture in their business. The results have been very rewarding.
So, there you have it: how to recognize the lack of employee engagement and tips to help you improve your employee experience. If you would like more help or interested in valuable and productive training for your leaders and team to be able to implement these strategies and more, schedule a FREE Discovery Session Call with me today. I would be delighted to assist you in any way to help you achieve the results you want this year.
John Formica is America’s Customer Experience Coach, team culture expert, keynote speaker, and Top 10 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Customer Loyalty. For information on customer experience programs, leadership training, team culture, business growth, how to find and hire great people and tailored training programs just for you or to book John, contact 704-965-4090 or visit our website at JohnFormica.com.