What causes employee disengagement?
Employee engagement is defined as an individual’s level of commitment to an organization’s goals. Some typical problems that could cause a low level of engagement include:
- Poor leadership and management
- Lack of feedback
- The inability for career development
- Dissatisfaction with pay and benefits
- Having a stressful work environment
- Not having a sense of purpose
How employee disengagement impacts your organization
In addition to organizations losing millions of dollars a year due to disengaged employees, many other problems can also arise. Some consequences would be:
- Negative customer experiences
- Higher employee turnover rate
- Decreased productivity and poor work quality
- Failure to meet overall business goals
5 ways to motivate employees
Now that we have covered the importance of making employees feel engaged, let’s dive deep into employee engagement ideas and techniques you can use to motivate your disengaged employees.
1. Listen to Your Employees
Disengaged employees often feel as if their voice is not being heard. Employees deserve to have their opinions heard and valued. One technique you can leverage to improve employee experience is creating an open forum where employees can share their thoughts. Some examples could be short polls, pulse survey checks, or even conducting employee focus groups.
2. Be Flexible
From doctor’s appointments to picking up the kids after school, employees also have important priorities outside the workplace. By being flexible, workplaces can help employees manage a better work-life balance, which ultimately allows employees to feel less stressed. Employees with flexible work schedules are often happier and more productive. Having a hybrid work model or even being able to work flexible hours are things you can implement to help.
3. Set Clear Expectations and Create Goals Together
Have you ever felt unsure of what your job entails? If you have, you would know that this can lead to confusion and frustration. Thus it is critical that employers set clear expectations for their employees and provide clear visibility into what their job entails. Having regular one-on-one meetings with an employee’s direct manager can avoid this overall frustration. In these meetings, we recommend defining goals relevant to the employee’s job duties and working together to develop reasonable and doable goals.
4. Provide Career Development Opportunities
Whether it’s defining a clear career path for employees for a promotion or even having a budget for employees to take courses that allow them to continue developing skills in their role, these benefit both the organization and employees. For example, having guest speakers, hosting lunch-and-learns, and allowing employees to attend conferences relevant to their role, are all ways to ensure that your employee is engaged and motivated to do well in their job. In addition, your workplace will see ROI with the new learnings that your employees apply in your organization.
5. Express Gratitude and Appreciation
We are all human and want recognition for our contributions. Recognition can be very important. Take the time to express gratitude and appreciation to your employees for their hard work. Recognizing a job well done at a team meeting, company town halls, or even during one-on-one’s can motivate employees to continue to perform well in their roles. Noticing your employees’ work efforts will help them feel valued and supported, ultimately making them feel engaged at work.
