Why Engage?

“Employee Engagement is the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work.”

When you interact with a company and have a negative experience with one of their employees, how likely are you to work with them again? You may not realize it, but most people would say no. A negative employee, even if it’s just one, can be the trigger some people need to start shopping around. So why then, do companies not invest in their employees first? This simple Employee-Customer-Profit chain from the Harvard Business Review puts employee engagement into perspective:

By utilizing employee engagement tools and revamping your corporate culture, your organization will become a more compelling place to work. Employees will enjoy their jobs more, and happy employees translate into better interactions with customers. And by developing a more compelling place to shop, revenues increase, creating a more compelling place to invest. Profits are directly attributed to the happiness of your employees.

In a survey taken from Challenges Facing HR Over the Next 10 Years ©SHRM 2012, the TOP THREE challenges facing HR executives all revolve directly around the subject of employee engagement:

More and more employees are looking at corporate culture and employee engagement practices as deciding factors in whether or not to take jobs or stay within an organization. It’s not just about salary and benefits, but the atmosphere in which they work.

It’s not rocket science. The happier an employee is with their place of employment, the more likely they will be to stay, thus lowering your turnover rate; the better their interactions with customers, the higher your customer satisfaction; and the more appealing your organization will become to future employees, the better your culture of engagement.

How to Engage

“To make your organization an attractive investment to its stake holders, create an Engaged Culture by Measuring, Communicating, Educating & Recognizing your employees through their Employee Life Cycle utilizing our tools.™”

So by now you know why it is so important to engage your employees. That’s the easy part. The real struggle for most organizations is figuring out how to engage. Perhaps you’ve tried some poorly attended recognition lunches or a haphazard wellness program. You’ve tried handing out company uniforms, but no one really wears them. The reason these may not be working is because you’re taking a piecemeal approach. Instead, take a step back, and look at your engagement programs as a whole.

Maybe this will help:

Let’s start at the beginning. To create an attractive investment to your stakeholders (i.e. donors, investors, clients and employees), the engaged culture is the number one goal. To do that, start with the four actions: MEASURE, COMMUNICATE, EDUCATE and RECOGNIZE. Everything you need to do to create an engaged culture falls into one of these four areas.

Each employee goes through an employee life cycle from Attraction, Development, Performance and Retention to Transition. Click here to see how specific tools can benefit each level of the cycle.

WAYS TO ENGAGE

As you think about why you should engage and how you should begin, the next step is determining the right ways to engage. The major HR challenges can be a great place to start. Whether you’re looking to attract or retain the right talent, develop leaders for the future or enhance your engagement culture, there is a solution for you.

Click here to learn more about these tools and how you can utilize them for your own engagement solution.