5 reasons why engagement is essential to the employee experience

5 reasons why engagement is essential to the employee experience

In the workplace, employee engagement is vital to not only the strength of your team, but to their complete employee experience. With Gallup research revealing that 60% of Australian employees are “not engaged” in the workplace and a further 16% are “actively disengaged”, it’s crucial that you learn how to positively engage your team. Here are five reasons why.

1. Nurtures the strength of long-term employee relationships

Despite what you may think, it’s actually the most experienced and long-term employees who have the lowest motivation levels in the office. In fact, Gallup research found that only 5% of employees with 10 or more years’ experience at the same company were actively engaged in roles that fit their skill set.

The common thread is a lack of engagement. Experienced and well-valued employees are often left to their own devices by upper management, as they may be seen as so knowledgeable in their departments that they no longer require oversight. But in fact the opposite is true. To truly motivate your long-term staff and stop their productivity levels from waning, you need to engage them as much as – if not more than – new recruits.

2. Ensures meaningful work

‘Finding meaning’ doesn’t just extend to your greater purpose in life. In the workplace, meaning is essential to promote productivity and general employee wellbeing.

Defining ‘meaningful work’ is actually easier than it sounds. Consider Professor Michael Steger’s three questions for deriving meaning from our work:

1. Does the work have significance and purpose?
2. Does it contribute to finding a broader meaning in life?
3. Does it make a positive contribution to the greater good?

Remember that these questions contain broad descriptors, and while one employee may find they ‘contribute to the greater good’ in their work, others may not see it in the same light. The trick is matching each team member’s skill set with what they consider meaningful work.

3. Drives motivation

Regularly engaging with your employees leads to improved motivation on their part. Luckily, there are multiple ways to increase that motivation, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach:

• Invest in employees’ futures – through upskilling – to retain the best people.
• Partner them with mentors who have had success in their particular role.
• Allow them to broaden their horizons within the company by exploring different roles.
• Encourage everyone to share their ideas for the business at weekly or monthly brainstorming sessions.
• Provide the team with a rewards and recognition system that breaks down their long-term goals into multiple, short-term achievements.

4. Engagement feeds into the employee experience

Some may say that employee engagement is dead and that ‘employee experience’ is the new measurement by which to gauge staff happiness. But the two aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, good employee engagement feeds directly into a positive employee experience. Without one, you can’t have the other.

Be careful, however, as issues can arise if you completely ignore engagement in favour of just the employee experience. Poor engagement with a team member can have a detrimental impact on not only the individual in question, but the whole organisation. Without understanding how to maintain solid employee engagement – and acting on it – you could actually create a negative employee experience. And a toxic company culture is a sure-fire way to turn the best people away from joining your team.

5. Makes a business powerful

‘Powerful’ is a general term, but it’s one that all members on your team can strive towards. The key is engagement. Compared to disengaged teams, according to a 2016 Gallup study, engaged teams have lower turnover, better profitability (21% more), greater productivity (17%) and higher customer ratings (10% more).

So what are the keys to generating this engagement? Remember that:

• Employees are more engaged when your organisation’s mission is clear and easily accessible.
• You need to recognise the contributions of every employee – no matter their position or experience level.
• Working in teams is a greater motivator than having your employees work on projects solo.
• Every person in your company must be given a voice – and, perhaps more importantly, the leadership base needs to actively listen.

Redii provides recognition and rewards programs to engage your employees. Request a demo!

Sources

http://www.accelerate-institute.com/news/2016/11/11/employee-engagement-infographic
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2018/06/22/four-lessons-from-companies-that-get-employee-engagement-right/#6eb39edb21bd

Understanding employee experience

Understanding employee experience

Engagement is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to maintaining a positive workplace culture. We reveal everything you need to know about the employee experience – and how to craft a positive culture in your workplace.

What is ‘employee experience’?

Employee experience can’t be boxed into a single segment – like employee engagement or productivity. Instead, it’s the sum of multiple parts that encompasses the entire working experience of an employee’s time with a business.

Everything people encounter in during their workday, everything they observe and hear and feel – that’s all part of the expansive employee experience. And it doesn’t just start from their first day. That journey begins when they spot your job advertisement, and it may stretch beyond their time at your organisation, especially if they keep in touch with former co-workers.

From interviewing to onboarding, training and development, day-to-day experiences and eventually their exit interview, an employee wants to experience a positive culture. That’s why it’s so important that managers get it right.

How employee engagement evolves into employee experience

Several years ago, even the idea of focusing on ‘employee engagement’ was a foreign concept to many business owners and office managers. But today, people demand more from their workplace – they want enjoyable work experiences beyond just engagement. In return, they can promise job loyalty, better productivity and potentially improved ROI for the business as a whole.

It’s important to note that a good customer experience directly translates to a better employee experience – and it all boils down to your business’s focus on engagement. In fact, a report from Temkin Group found that “companies that excel at customer experience have 1.5 times as many engaged employees as those that do not”.

In this way, engagement feeds into experience. They shouldn’t be seen as separate parts of a positive workplace culture. Rather, you can’t have a solid employee experience without first addressing the issue of employee engagement.

Why is it important for managers?

It’s easy for managers to say they can’t really have an impact on how a potential employee perceives them from their job ad – the first part of the employee experience – or, in many cases, how they end up leaving the company. But Forbes says it’s the “everything in between” that matters most, and that’s the part managers should be focusing on.

Consider all the ways a person can interact with your company. While it starts with recruitment, there’s also the hiring process, onboarding, training, upskilling and constant feedback from management. Those are the areas where a manager will have the greatest impact, and it is in the day-to-day operations of a business that the manager develops – positively or negatively, depending on how they choose to engage the team – the complete employee experience.

The employee experience ecosystem

It might seem complicated, but the employee experience can be broken down into three core parts:

Engagement: Anyone who’s worked in business – no matter the sector – understands the importance of having engaged employees, but the statistics truly drive home the necessity of it. With Gallup estimating that disengagement costs companies between $960 billion and $1.2 trillion every year, positive engagement is the foundation upon which the entire employee experience must be built.

Culture: Workplace culture is different from business to business, but it’s arguably the most important factor in staff retention. Without a clear organisational culture and company values, employees can’t buy into the business’s mindset – and there is the risk they will jump ship as soon as they find another business that offers them the chance to be part of a ‘family’.

Performance management: Modern performance management has done away with annual employee reviews – but if you haven’t already adopted frequent feedback, it’s something that can start straight away. By delivering goal-related feedback on a regular basis, employees can not only gain insight into what they are doing right and where they could improve, but they can also strive to be better with short-term, attainable work goals.

Redii provides recognition and rewards programs to motivate your employees and promote a positive employee experience. Request a demo.

Mortgage House: Case Study

Who is Mortgage House?

Mortgage House is positioned as Australia’s largest independently owned non-bank lender, and offers an extensive range of loan and mortgage finance options. Mortgage House prides itself on it’s outstanding customer service, which they believe is a rarity within their industry. Although, it doesn’t end there; Mortgage House’s commitment to their customers is also mirrored inward.

Why Redii?

Employee experience is of huge importance to Mortgage House and partnering with Redii has been an integral part of a process to enhance the company culture, increase engagement and promote a positive and fun working environment. Mortgage House launched their Recognition and Rewards Program ‘Rock Hero’ in July 2018. Watch their launch video to find out more about Mortgage House and their journey with Redii.

Want to know what Redii can do fo your company? Request a Demo today.