8 Potent Techniques to Encourage Staff Engagement

When it comes to being engaged at work, recent research studies show a consistent trend in low employee engagement levels worldwide.

According to recent Gallup research,  23% of UK workers are engaged, 20% of Canadians and in the US about 30 per cent of workers experience high rates of job satisfaction.  Overall, the global average is 27 per cent.  Disappointingly, Australia is about 18%.

Sadly, this means that around 7 or 8 out of 10 people are pretty much going through the motions at work.

While this isn't good for their wellbeing, it's certainly not good for the company employing them either.  But most concerning, is that it puts them at risk of workplace injury, as employees who are not engaged at work are more likely to be injured.

After all, a McKinsey study found that companies who have top scores for employee motivation are about 60% more likely to be in the top quartile for overall business health.

So what to do?

While it would be nice to just give everyone a happy pill and pepper them with lofty, high aspirational slogans and chanting, this approach won't work for everyone (actually, probably no-one, has anyone created a good, legal, happy drug?).  Every company is different and in need of a tailored approach. 

To improve staff engagement levels, it's up to business leaders to create the right environment that allows everyone to flourish.  Remember, if you get engagement levels right you'll see an improvement in productivity, safety, talent retention, customer satisfaction and profits.

Here are a range of ways to improve staff engagement:

1. What Makes your Employees Happy? - While you can make guesses as to what your staff find enjoyable, it's better to just ask them.  Send out a well thought out survey that asks employees a range of questions focusing on key areas that actually drive workplace engagement.  This inlcudes the opinion of their manager, perceived automony levels, whether they have friends in the workplace and whether they feel they can have fun at work.  By understanding where people are disengaged and the real reasons for behind it you can start to get a feel for what really needs to be done, rather than just sponsor random staff barbeques or team building events.
2. Look for the bright spots - When you get the results, the most important first step is to investigate what is working.  Who is happy and why?  Shadow those who have high satisfaction levels.  What are they doing that makes them happy at work?  Work out what they are doing and clone it.  Remember, by focusing on the positives, you will get more positive results, than if you were to focus on the negatives (which coincidentally, gives you more negative results).  Ask yourself, "What's working and how can we do more of it?".
3. Monitor your supervisors and managers - In the book, First, Break all the Rules by Marcus Buckingham, he found that when staff have a good relationship with their manager or supervisor they are more engaged at work and stay longer at their job.  If your research shows, that staff are unhappy with their supervisors and managers, consider providing training that will help them connect better with staff, such as our training DVD 9 Creative Communication Techniques to Improve your Toolbox Talks.
4. Increase Employee Autonomy - As Dan Pink, argues in the fantastic book, Drive, autonomy is one of three basic human needs.  Job satisfaction is highest among workers whose boss offers "autonomous support" - saw issues from the employee's view, gave meaningful feedback on performance and allowed employees to choose what to do and how to complete it.  People who feel in control of their life have higher satisfaction levels.  Where you can, enable employees to do the work that they want to do.  While this can be difficult, it's important for staff to be really clear on what they like to do and to then be able to create the opportunities for them to do the work they like doing.  We've all heard the Confucius saying “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”   Find out what work individuals love to do and free them up for this.  High performance companies like Atlassian, 3M and Google even provide employees with the opportunity to spend 20% of their working time on personal projects that have meaning to them.
5. Encourage friendships and humour - Light-hearted, friendly workplaces are enjoyable to work in.  While you can't mandate that people make jokes, you can subsconsciously block a fun atmosphere by having a boss who walks around shooting anyone a dirty look if they're talking or laughing.  Encourage staff to form relationships with others, as this anchors them to the organisation.
6. Increase responsibility levels - Lots of psychology studies have shown that where people have the power to make decisions in their job, they have high satisfaction levels.  Enable customer service reps to make decisions that empower them to serve customers in the best way (which also makes customers happy).  Encourage staff to provide ideas (such as safety, processes etc) and give them the ability to act on it.  Avoid asking people for their opinion, but making your mind up, regardless of what they say.
7. Provide regular feedback - A wealth of research studies have also found that it's important for people to know how they are performing at work.  Regular, clear feedback and praise is required that provides information on performance and improvements.  Annual performance reviews should not be the only time people get to hear how they are doing.  Train your supervisors and managers on how to praise and provide positive criticism.
8. Regularly monitor engagement levels - Engagement levels fluctuate daily, so they need to be monitored regularly (quarterly is ideal).  Keep track of your engagement levels and make changes where necessary.

What can you do to increase engagement levels at your workplace?