Beyond the Paychecks: How to Build a Workplace That Employees Actually Care About
Employee engagement isn’t about ping-pong tables or motivational posters (although they can be a great thing to incorporate into your business). The main thing is about the type of environment that you create where people feel motivated to do their best, feel good about the work that they do and are connected to the business and the wider mission. When employees are passionate and engaged in their work and the business as a whole, businesses don’t just run better; you will find there is a lot more creativity, innovation, faster growth and employee retention.
To help you on your journey to growing your business, it is vital that you create a good environment for your employees. This will help them to stay invested and engaged in their work. Here are some top tips to support you in getting started.
Connect the daily tasks to a bigger mission
Daily tasks can get boring, and that is where people can begin to slack off. People need to know that what they are doing matters and contributes to the growth of the business. It is therefore important that employees can see how their role and even the small, daily tasks they are doing contribute to the bigger picture. If they don’t, disengagement can kick in fast.
Managers and leaders should regularly communicate the mission and goals of the business, not only to ensure that everyone is on the same page, but to show just how each employee’s efforts are supporting it. This doesn’t have to be a big speech, but doing things like:
● Explaining why projects matter
● Showing the path of that work to the bigger picture and tying it to goals
● Sharing customer success stories and feedback
When employees understand the why behind their work, motivation is no longer forced; it becomes a natural part of the working day.
Don’t just pass out tasks, give ownership
Passion can instantly be killed with too much micromanagement. A manager who can help, support and coach is great, but there is a line. If this line is repeatedly crossed, it doesn’t make employees feel very good about the job they are doing. Employees can be more motivated and engaged to do their work when they are trusted. By passing ownership to employees, they can make decisions and be accountable for outcomes. This can really get them and keep them engaged.
Encourage autonomy, let teams decide how to meet goals and have a say in the work that is completed. This can help to craft innovation, creativity, pride and accountability. You may notice they begin to show up differently.
Invest in skills and growth
Offering opportunities to your staff on a regular basis to train in new areas or uplevel their skillset is a really great way to keep them engaged in their work. It shows that you care about them and value their progression, while at the same time, it helps them to do their job properly. It can be extremely motivating when you can learn and grow with a company.
Without regular training, your staff may become stagnant, and that can lead to disengagement. Employees want to progress and feel that their future matters to the company.
Hiring the right staff
Some people just cannot be engaged in their work, regardless of what you put in place to support them. It is therefore important that, before you even do all these tasks to engage your staff, you hire the right staff from the start. Some applicants may come with all the right skills and experience, which is excellent, but it is important that you also consider their attitude and passion. Avoid neglecting applicants without the most experience, as they could have a better attitude and can learn on the go. You want to ensure that the people you hire are a good fit in terms of values, mindset and culture. Passion is hard to teach. Having a good process with your HR team is vital to onboarding the right people. Tools can support this process, such as software that helps you hire the right people for your team, including assessments that look at motivation alignment and weed out any role mismatches for you. The system you have for hiring will make a huge difference. This will set the tone right from the start.
Employee engagement isn’t just an initiative that you pick up once. It should be an ongoing process and a part of the culture that you create.
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