The start of a new year is always refreshing. A clean slate, a new set of goals, and twelve months of hard work ahead of you, just waiting to be tackled. As you delve into building more efficient HR processes and growing a stronger corporate culture, expand your view a bit. Because there’s one thing you may have left off your strategy for the year: improving employee engagement to better support the business’ growth.

Why does employee engagement matter?

Here’s the thing: employees who are engaged in their work – people who are passionate about what they do and are committed to the vision of your organization – are more productive in the work that they do. This means several things for your company:

1. Engaged employees aren’t just doing more work, they’re doing better work, which sets a higher bar for the quality of your output, and gives you an edge on the competition.
2. Engaged employees are creating more efficiencies in your business, decreasing the need for additional staff, which lowers your overhead costs.
3. Engaged employees enjoy what they do, and ultimately have a deeper connection with the company they work for. This means more loyalty to your company – and increased staff longevity.

So, increasing employee engagement sounds pretty great, right? We think so, too. Here are a few ideas to get you started on building stronger employee engagement this year and beyond.

Host an annual “State of the Company” presentation

The best way to help your employees develop a deeper, more emotional connection with your company is for them to understand where you are leading the business, how you plan to do it, and what that means for them. This doesn’t just mean the dollars and cents of the business – it includes what shifts you see for your office space, how you’ll offer deeper company trainings, what impact you’d like your organization to have on the community, and how they can help support each piece of the vision.

You don’t have to have every piece of your year planned out in advance of your presentation. Just offer a 10,000-foot view of the company’s goals, what the plan to achieve those goals entails, and how your staff can get more involved in initiatives that interest them in the future.

Build regular opportunities for employee feedback

Gone are the days of the annual review being the only point of feedback for employees to understand what they’re doing well, and what they need to work on. Today’s staffer wants real-time feedback on their work, not only so that they can work better, but also so that they feel like they are making a relevant contribution to your business’ goals. Create short monthly or quarterly opportunities for them to get face time with a superior, and train your managers to give real, actionable feedback for best results.

Start a fun company award

Employees today want to know that their employer appreciates them, and recognizes their hard work. One of the simplest ways to show your staff that you care is to create a fun award that can be shared once a month to showcase hard work or big accomplishments. For example, you could create an MVP trophy, or create a light bulb certificate to award all the “bright ideas” that led to a great end result on a project. You could even make it an award specific to your company – the possibilities are endless.

Offer learning opportunities

Today’s workplace isn’t stagnant – and your employees don’t want to feel like their skills are stagnant, either. And while most companies offer pertinent on-the-job training, it’s also important to include personal and professional development opportunities, which are essential to your staff’s success in their career. From leadership development to helping employees understand how to balance their personal and professional life online, soft skills trainings are a great way to show your staff that you care about more than just the work they do, but that you care about them as people, too.

Take the Next Step

If you’re ready to start building a more robust strategy for employee engagement in 2019, we can help. Reach out to Chris Kelly to schedule a quick call to learn more.