Managers can increase employee engagement with these employee best practices:
Some management practices can increase employee engagement. These include:
Effective Workplace Leadership
In modern organizations, research has shown that effective workplace leadership is one of the most important factors affecting employee engagement. In addition, the leaders’ direct reports’ engagement level is a significant predictor of their engagement. Appropriately, many organizations have started to look at leadership as a tool for increasing employee engagement.
2. Achievable Employee Expectations
An employee’s psychological contract with the organization is defined by their beliefs about what is expected of them in exchange for their time, energy, and effort. When employees’ expectations are not being met, they are likely to feel frustrated and disengaged. Managers must work to ensure that employees’ expectations are realistic.
Employees who report that their job is “interesting” are more likely to be engaged, while those who find their jobs “very interesting” are more likely to be engaged. This suggests that people do not necessarily need to find their jobs stimulating, but merely interesting enough to hold their attention.
3. Personal Growth Opportunities
Organizations with higher levels of employee engagement often provide employees with more opportunities for personal growth.
4. Work That Is Meaningful
Employees who find their job meaningful are more engaged than those who do not. This is true even if they find their job to be stressful and difficult. Employees’ engagement is driven by the connection between their job and their beliefs and values.
5. Autonomy and Support
Employees who report having autonomy over their work tasks and decisions are significantly more engaged than those who do not. Autonomous employees feel that they have control of their destiny, and this control makes them feel valued and needed by the organization. In addition, employees who report feeling supported by senior managers are significantly more engaged than those who do not report feeling supported.
6. Feedback And Development
Employee engagement increases when employees report receiving timely feedback on how they are doing at work as well as information about training and development opportunities that can help them grow in their job or with the organization.
7. A Culture Of Forward-Thinking
The most important part of organizational culture is employee engagement. Engaged employees tend to be more productive, innovative, and loyal, which results in better financial performance for the organization.
Research shows that engagement is strongly related to corporate performance, but is not the same thing as corporate performance. This means that organizations need to have strategies for improving employee engagement even if they are performing well financially.
Developing A Practical Approach
Evidence suggests that the quickest way to improve engagement is to apply practical approaches that are based on what organizations do well now. There are three steps to this approach:
1. Identify practical approaches that are based on what organizations are already doing well.
2. Determine which of these approaches are most practical for the organization, for instance its unique circumstances and culture.
3. Develop a plan for applying these approaches over time, incorporating feedback along the way to make adjustments.