6 Ways to Improve Employee Engagement: Part 1
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
With employees more mobile than ever when it comes to employment, engaging people within a company and a role has become key for retaining talents. One option for organizations looking to improve engagement levels is using an employee communications platform. Below we’ll describe three ways to improve employee engagement with an employee communications platform. In the upcoming Part 2 of this blog, we’ll discuss three other ways to improve employee engagement.
Focus on feedback
The Oxford Languages definition of feedback: ‘Information about reactions to a product, a person’s performance of a task, etc., which is used as a basis for improvement.’ This means feedback is given to improve something. An organization that doesn’t accept its employees’ feedback will give the signal that it doesn’t want to improve – which isn’t going to lead to engaged employees.
However, if employees feel like their opinions are heard and acted upon, they are more likely to stay with an organization. Responding to employee feedback means two things: you’re listening to what your employees think can be improved, and you take action to make their workplace as pleasant as possible for them.
Giving feedback, however, can be a little scary for some employees as they might fear consequences. Therefore, giving feedback should be easy, and there should be an opportunity to do it anonymously. Through short polls or surveys, for example. When you ask for your employees’ feedback, remember to do it regularly. Conducting a survey once a year can give employees the feeling that they are only participating in a formality. They might think you don’t take action in response to the results. Netpresenter enables you to get important feedback by using polls. You can use various recurrence options to publish your polls periodically, for example, every month or every quarter, and keep track of how satisfied your employees are.
If you ask for feedback regularly, any problems can be immediately identified and resolved. Thus, be sure to communicate what you do with employees’ feedback. If feedback leads to action, let employees know that you are working to improve their workplace in response to their own feedback. Communicate your actions through different channels such as Teams, SharePoint, digital signage, or a mobile app. That way, you can be sure that employees are aware of these (positive) changes.
Measure engagement levels
It is challenging to improve engagement levels without first looking at your organization’s current state of engagement. Various reports from organizations such as Deloitte and HBR have shown that organizations that measure the engagement of their staff tend to have higher engagement levels.
However: an annual survey isn’t enough. Highly engaged organizations measure engagement multiple times a year. After all, it’s very difficult to get a complete picture of your employees’ engagement with only annual measurements. During a year, a lot of things can happen or change to affect your employees’ engagement levels.
With multiple measuring moments, organizations can keep track of how their employee engagement is doing. Those measurements allow them to quickly identify changes in employee engagement levels (and what causes these changes). This also enables them to address problems immediately and make positive changes within the organization. However – how do you measure engagement levels, let alone multiple times a year?
Netpresenter Pulse Surveys are an ideal tool to map the mood within your organization. They provide real-time insights into your employees’ engagement. Various recurrence options allow you to repeat pulse surveys easily. You can publish them automatically on certain days or at certain intervals, such as weekly or monthly. In-depth statistics will enable you to follow trends within your organization and will help you adjust your employee engagement strategies.
Promote transparency
According to a survey by Quantum Workplace, these are some of the top employee engagement drivers:
- I trust our leaders to lead the organization to future success.
- I trust that the leaders of this organization will set the right course.
- I trust that this organization will be successful in the future.
All of these factors have one thing in common: trust. Trust in an organization’s management is an important factor in employee engagement. However, trust requires transparency: transparency about long-term goals, organizational success, the financial situation, about certain business decisions, and so on. With this information, employees know where their organization is headed, what success looks like, and what they can do to contribute to that success.
Transparency can be built with an employee communication platform like Netpresenter, for example, by:
- Sharing important business decisions via digital signage, screensavers, or a mobile app.
- Providing insights into KPIs by linking Power BI to various communication channels, so this important data is brought to their attention actively.
- Give employees the opportunity to express their opinions or even participate in decision-making by voting through polls.
If employees can trust their leaders not to withhold any important information about the organization, a culture of transparency and trust will arise. And with these greater levels of transparency and trust, greater levels of employee engagement will emanate.
Could your organization improve its employee engagement? Download our employee engagement self-assessment to see how your organization is doing—not satisfied? Schedule a demo or contact our consultants. They will be happy to show you how Netpresenter can help improve employee engagement in your organization!
