3 Ways to Boost Employee Engagement and Morale

September 8, 2014 at 6:00 AM by Kathleen de Lara

employee engagementNo doubt – making a hire can be one of the greatest feelings as a recruiter or hiring manager. The other end of the stick, however, isn’t all that pretty and when an employee calls it quits, it can be difficult to retrace the steps to figure out where the employer-employee relationship started going awry. 

Here’s one possible answer: Employee disengagement. And according to Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace report, about 70% of the workforce don’t feel connected to their work. Dissatisfied employees, poor performance, high turnover rates, increased hiring costs, to name a few consequences of a preventable snowball effect.

Check out these techniques for engaging employees from the hire through the tenure. 

Get the team connected with the company’s mission. 

Here’s something to bring full circle: The team and your org’s mission – it’s purpose, calling, slogan, code of success. No matter what it may be dubbed, communicate your company’s mission on a regular basis and recognize employees whose ideas and successes illustrate the team’s overall goals. By instilling a sense of pride that’s based on the company’s large-scale, long-term plans and exemplified by colleagues whose achievements help to reach those targets, fellow employees will be more driven to follow suit, maintain strong relationships with their peers, and bolster the company’s image as a great place to work. 

Open the floor to Q&A.

As companies scale, the ability to maintain transparency between management and team members naturally wanes. Managers can continue to communicate the importance of employees’ feedback and criticism by scheduling periodic one-on-one meetings in which team members can discuss their thoughts on a recent product launch, or a newly implemented business practice, or to share ways on improving the company’s culture. Depending on the size of the company, these meetings can last anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour, and can happen as frequently as one a quarter to once every two quarters. About a week before the scheduled meeting, send over a list of questions you’d like to go over with employees to keep the one-on-ones structured with a clear agenda.

Follow up any unanswered questions with an email sent one to two days from your meeting date, or schedule a quick, separate meeting if your schedule allows it. During your next one-on-one with the employee, be sure to give an update on any previous talking points to learn how any issues may or may not have been resolved. Acknowledging employees’ appraisal through action lets them know you’re invested in developing their career goals, not just the company’s goals. 

Train well, train often. 

It’s typical for employees to receive training at the start of the hire, but as new technologies roll out, business plans shift, and teams expand, managers should consider offering more frequent training “courses” through the span of an employee’s time with the company. Get the team up to speed with the company’s plans for the upcoming year, discuss strategies for meeting goals, study industry trends and get savvy on whatever it may be. A online network you’ve read about but never used? Start a profile and poke around to see what all the buzz is about. Webinar on why marketing is recruiting? Not sure why? Register for the event and pass on the link to everyone else on the same page as you. Need a refresher on running a search using the Boolean method? Download this eBook! Encourage team members who’ve been there longer to share tried and true techniques to those who are less experienced, but don’t forget to give some leeway to test new ideas and tools. 

Got a tip or advice you’d like to share with fellow recruiters? Add it to our comments section or tweet us @Entelo! If you want to learn more about building your company culture and employee morale, and other recruiting and hiring best practices, subscribe to the Entelo Blog!

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