All these years most organizations have tried to ensure that the employees feel involved and engaged in their work. Organizations deploy many strategies to enhance engagement including things like fun activities, team-building exercises, or off-sites. Once a year an engagement survey is also conducted to find out the factors which motivate employees to come to work every day. Despite all these efforts most organizations still struggle every time to create opportunities for employees to feel driven and inspired in their daily work schedules. The recent study by Gallup indicated that 50% of employees feel less engaged at work and 20% said that they were actively disengaged.
Many factors influence employee engagement. However; in today’s scenario engagement requires organizations to go back to Maslow’s theory of hierarchy and address the basic needs of safety and security. Engagement can only happen when the employees feel safe and secure at their place of work; including the existing model of working from home.
The second biggest factor is communication. Organizations cannot drive employee engagement if they do not align their employees with the companies’ objectives. The senior leadership should put in efforts to connect with employees at various levels and inform them about the company’s prospects and how each one of them can contribute to the higher goal. In present times it’s all the more important that the employees are cognizant of the upcoming developments and the organization’s outlook. Over-communication is vital especially when you dealing with uncertainties of the current times.
What are the steps to follow to do employee engagement?
Employee engagement is the process of boosting employee’s morals and enthusiasm for them to perform better at work. The objective of any employee engagement exercise should be to increase the efficiency and productivity of the employees.
A robust employee engagement exercises ensure employees participate and align their goals with the goals of the organization. Also, understanding how each of them can contribute to the organization for it to reach its full potential. To drive this agenda there should be ample opportunities for employees to engage with their seniors and fellow team members. The channels of communication should be open and should enable employees to share their ideas and collaborate better.
Building a culture that drives employees to deliberate and work together forms the basis for any strong engagement program. Organizations must create occasions where the employees come together. The collective efforts by employees generate opportunities for employees to learn from each other and further enhance productivity. Introducing tools like MS Teams, WebEx, etc. has become very crucial especially in today’s time.
Also, keeping the current scenario in view organizations must understand that the office work is around the household chores today. Employees are juggling to manage both equally well. Hence a more tolerant work environment where employees are given space to have balance is extremely important.
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Author / Educator Archna Bhardwaj, Head – HR, InterGlobe Air Transport (IGAT)
Archna is the Head HR of InterGlobe Air Transport (IGAT). She is responsible for leading IGAT’s HR strategy and organization, including Talent Management, Learning, and Employee Relations.Archna brings in 17 years of varied experience in establishing, leading HR operations and talent management for large multinational organizations across Banking, Global Travel, IT Services & Software Product companies.
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