A disengaged workforce is not only unhappy and potentially inefficient, but also costly. Gallup estimates that having a disengaged global workforce accounts for about $7.8 trillion in lost productivity each year – those are some serious numbers! While many of us know that engagement is important, what’s often less clear is how to achieve it. Below, we’ll cover some employee engagement strategies that will get your people excited to come to work each day. These strategies are all geared at helping you build a passionate workforce that’s capable of helping you make a greater social impact than ever before.
When we talk about an employee engagement strategy, we’re referring to any effort made to increase engagement levels and help your teams feel passionate about the work they do.
Investing in engagement matters. It matters because it shapes your employee experience, but it also impacts organizational success. Gallup reports that, when comparing engagement levels, top- and bottom-quartile organizations had noticeable differences in business outcomes, including a:
So, how can you create an employee engagement strategy that truly speaks to your people? Your organizational goals will likely be one of the largest determiners of the strategies you use. Results from employee satisfaction surveys can be another helpful guide, if you use them.
There is no single “right” way to design your employee engagement strategy. The decisions you make will vary based on company values and culture as well as the current state of engagement at your organization. If you’re starting from ground zero, it will take a while to build morale up to where you’d like it to be, and you may need to adopt a more robust approach to truly make a difference.
As you consider what to pursue and what to save for a rainy day, it helps to pay close attention to what affects engagement within your teams. Beyond organization-specific factors, some potential drivers of employee engagement include:
As you explore different opportunities to engage employees, keep these drivers in mind. An approach that tackles multiple areas of need at once can help you maximize the benefits of your new strategies.
The truth is that there are no rules when it comes to finding ways to engage employees. Let’s explore some examples of employee engagement strategies and best practice that could help you support your teams in new ways.
We’ve said it once, but it’s worth mentioning again – it’s smart to align your engagement efforts with your organizational values. Not only does this create cohesion between what you say and what your teams do, but it also allows you to make the experience of working for your organization truly unique.
For example, if sustainability is an important value for your business, choose engagement opportunities – like volunteering, or hosting a charity drive – that focus on helping employees protect our planet.
Because communication is a key driver of employee engagement, making it a part of your daily routine is essential. Find opportunities to touch base often, whether it’s about major decisions or just to check in. When your employees feel like they can approach you, they’re far more likely to speak up when their needs aren’t met.
One simple but powerful way to give employees the opportunity to make a difference is through a corporate giving and donation matching program.
Employees can choose to donate a certain amount of their paychecks each period to a cause that speaks to them. Then, your organization can match each donation to effectively double its impact.
This allows you to show employees that investing in the things they care about matters to you. It also ensures that working for your organization comes with real benefits that extend far beyond the four walls of your workplace.
Talented employees who work hard and care about what they do are hard to come by. However, you can attract and keep top talent by giving them chances to do what they do best: make a difference. With paid volunteer time and an employee volunteer program that rewards workers who dedicate their time to giving back, you can inspire teams to pursue the efforts that make them feel passionate and excited.
Make philanthropy and changing the world a benefit of working for your organization by creating employee donor-advised funds (DAFs). With Groundswell, each employee receives an individual DAF, meaning you can give them a gift that sticks with them long after they leave your organization.
With a DAF, employees can anonymously donate to nonprofit organizations of their choice – they get to take advantage of the benefits of having access to a DAF without any of the financial obstacles.
Take a step away from the grind of daily work routines and invest some time in team-building to engage workers across your organization.
Complete fun activities and challenges, host competitions, or take a team retreat somewhere interesting – get creative and find genuinely interesting ways to build connections between workers to create a culture that everyone wants to be a part of.
To some extent, employees may not always have a choice about what they do and don’t participate in. Sometimes, tasks need to get done, even if they’re not particularly fun or engaging.
But you can reward participation in both engagement efforts and everyday work, especially for employees who go above and beyond. Find ways to reward good work and participation in your engagement programs to inspire employees to get involved.
Recognize employees who go above and beyond by sharing their achievements with your teams. How you do so is largely up to you – maybe you decide to celebrate successes in an email or message that gets sent to all teams, or maybe you choose to acknowledge achievements one-on-one.
No matter what you do, though, make sure your teams understand just how much you appreciate all they can achieve.
Support your team through life’s unexpected challenges (and therefore boost your chances of retaining top workers) by creating an employee assistance fund. Choose who can access which funds under which circumstances to create a system that employees can turn to when times are tough.
Clearly, there are many opportunities to boost engagement levels; it’s all about finding the right strategy for your team’s needs and strengths. Regardless of how you approach it, though, it’s smart to also improve employee engagement through CSR efforts like corporate giving, donation matching, and volunteering.
Groundswell is a mobile-facing CSR platform that allows you to easily build giving campaigns, instantly match donations, and offer a seamless experience for your employees. Our platform is built to boost employee engagement while simultaneously making it simple to maximize your organization’s impact.
We’re here to democratize philanthropy so that organizations of all sizes can access the tools they need to leave their mark on the world. Ready to get started? Book a demo today to learn more.
.png)
