Companies can easily increase their profits by actively engaging with their employees. It makes sense that the more engaged employees are the harder they will work with the sense of a shared purpose which will ultimately benefit the business hugely. Employees need to feel valued and that they are being listened to. There are lots of ways an employer can improve employee engagement.
It is important to praise people and say thank you for a job well done. Saying thank you goes a long way to increasing morale and can often work more wonders than a pay increase. Recognising an employee’s success can be an informal process or formally implemented with an “employee of the month” certificate. Ask employees for their ideas then share and implement the good ones. Provide a new and interesting project that will motivate an employee having taken the time initially to find out what they would like to do. Find out what your employees want from an employee survey and encourage high participation to ensure “true” results which should then be used for improvements. Think about implementing manager “back to the floor” sessions so they can experience what it was like “just being an employee” and understand current employee issues with the aim to put things right that are not working.
Make time for fun in the workplace; organise a lunch for everyone to attend either on site or in a nice restaurant or install a TV for lunchtime viewing. Provide a nice working environment and allow employees to customise their personal space. If deadlines or targets have been met allow employees to leave early on a Friday. Offer stress relief activities. Celebrate birthdays.
All these ideas are either low or no cost and can make a huge difference to engaging employees to improve the bottom line.