Employee engagement cannot be overemphasized. Employee engagement strategies have been proven to improve productivity, employee retention, morale and make more profits.

Basically, employee engagement is a workplace approach where all team members of a company give their best each and every day, are committed to the company’s goals and values, and are motivated to contribute to the success of the company. It’s based on trust, integrity and 2 sided communication and commitment from the company and its employees.

When you’re engaged, it charges everything employees do with purpose, energy, and enthusiasm.

As an Employee:

Employee engagement is having thoughts like, “Awesome, I’m headed to work and I know exactly what I’m doing today. I’ve got great initiatives and I’m excited about meeting with the team to discuss”.

It’s understanding your role in your company and how to fulfill yours and the company’s purpose and objectives. It’s being a fully committed team member, focused on goals, feeling empowered and recognized for your contributions.

As an Employer:

Employee engagement is leading with positive attitudes and behaviors. Making deeper and more meaningful connections with your teams. It’s about the actions you take that stay consistent with your values. Keeping promises.

Employee Engagement Strategies:

One of the best ways to improve a company’s engagement is by using the results you get from an eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) survey to identify the areas in which your company can refine and develop a strategy from there.

There are six main areas in where employee engagement has the most impact:

1. Learning opportunities & training
2. Communication
3. Rewards and recognition
4. Work-life balance
5. Compensation and benefits
6. Organizational transparency

Given how much time is spent at work, it’s no surprise that employees want their workplace to be a pleasant one. You want your employees to feel valued and respected. Accommodating the environment to be suitable for employees shows you value their comfort. Engaged employees are the ones who are willing to go to leadership with an opinion and know they’ll be listened to.

Out of office activities are great to activate engagement. Once we get back to “normality”, escape rooms are popular for smaller teams, as they are fun and dynamic and a team-building activity. On other occasions, trips or in person conferences are great opportunities too!

Remote Workers:

Working from home? There are a ton of creative ways to implement employee engagement virtually.

1. Virtual coffee breaks. Motivate your team to go brew a cup of joe and hang out during video calls and chit chat.
2. Show and tell. Connect with your team and allow them to share whatever they want. Whether that be their pet, a cool new gadget or a funny story. Engage with your team and build trusting connections!
3. Offering online training. For example, at ATHENAWORKS we provide our team with 4 courses of their choice every year!
4. Always ask for feedback. Listen to what employees say about management, ongoing projects, company culture or the work process. Act on the feedback to show you care for their concerns.
5. Spice up their home office. If you have the funds for it, send your team cool mouse pads or a cable organizer! Once in a while a cool goodie bag can lift spirits and keep work fun.
6. Choosing their own schedule. Empowerment and engagement go hand in hand. By letting your employees choose their own working hours, you’ll essentially build a sense of trust and mutual respect.

Measuring Results:

In the end, it’s important to have a process in place for actually measuring how engaged your remote employees are. The best way to measure employee engagement is to use surveys. You can include as many questions as you want in your surveys (as long as they’re relevant).

Here are a few examples:

1. How do you feel about work today?
2. Would you recommend [organization] to your friends as an employer?
3. Do you feel excited about coming to work?
4. Are you proud of working for [organization]?
5. Do you find your work for [organization] meaningful?
6. Does [organization]’s culture foster a comfortable, supportive work environment?

New generations of employees want leadership to work harder to be mindful of ethics. “When employees trust their employers, they are much more likely to work together towards achieving the same ultimate business goals” – Kristina Martic, Smarp. To expand the employee experience and improve communication, leaders need to acquire trust with engagement and the idea of working together as a team.