Think about this: you probably spend 1/3 of your time at work. And often times, when you are not at work you are traveling, commuting or just thinking about doing so. I know individuals who work so hard that they come home and only have the energy to relax and eat – just to start that whole process again the next day!
However, the sad news is most people are not ENGAGED at work…they are like robots doing their tasks, checking off the list or fighting the next fire. They work in silos, or worse, work against each other.
Today’s blog focuses on employee engagement – what it is and how to create a team environment that will foster it.
But first…
WHAT IS EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND WHY SHOULD YOU BE CONCERNED ABOUT IT?
According to Wikipedia:
Employee engagement is the relationship between an organization and its employees. An “engaged employee” is one who is enthusiastic about their work and takes positive action to further the organization’s reputation and interests.
You need to be concerned about it because globally, employee engagement is very low. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace study, where they interviewed 74,000 individuals from 142 countries:
- 63% of employees are not engaged and lack motivation to invest in the organization’s goals or outcomes
- 24% are actively disengaged, which means they are unhappy and unproductive at work and spread negativity to other coworkers, and
- 13% are actively engaged
Gallup went on to state that those work teams in the top 25% of Gallup’s engagement database have considerably higher productivity and profitablity, and experience less turnover and absenteeism than the rest of the organizations.
NOW THAT YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS AND HOW PROBLEMATIC ENGAGEMENT IS, WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
According to Andreas von der Heydt, Country Manager for Amazon BuyVIP, you should do the following to help build a culture of employee engagement:
- Understand what your teammates want.
Whether it through anonymous survey tools or face-to-face interviews, find out what is on peoples’ minds. Once you understand and compile the results, it is important to communicate an action plan that makes sense for the organization. von der Heydt recommends that you only tackle two to three problems at a time. I say tackle the one(s) that have the most importance and prioritize!
- Practice open communication.
Encourage team feedback. Listen. By encouraging teammates to come to you with their challenges, you are building an environment of trust that will allow you to listen and follow through. Team Building is all about connecting. - Inspire (Catch people doing things RIGHT!)
While measurements are needed in every company, employees want to be inspired and appreciated. Take the time to actually get to know one another – delve into personal interests and spend time away from the work environment doing this.Acknowledge good work and reward it. People want to be appreciated through awards, promotions and other incentives.
If your employees’ need help in the arena of engagement practices, call on Atlanta-based Fun Team Building to help! Reach out to owner Larry Lipman at 770.333.3303 today!