5 Reasons Why Employee Engagement is Important
Employees are the backbone of any business. If you want your business to be successful and to thrive, you need your employees to be happy, passionate about their work, and committed to your company’s goals. Even though the importance of employee engagement can’t be stressed enough – Harvard Business Review even referenced it as the holy grail of today’s workplace – it seems that businesses are not doing enough to motivate their workforce. Statistics on this are quite shocking. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report, only 15% of employees worldwide feel engaged in their workplace. A majority is doing the bare minimum and slacking off their tasks to earn their salary. Here are a few good reasons to boost the engagement of your employees through the best execu search firms and prevent this statistic from being applicable to your organization, You Can Keep Your Top Talent A study shows that more than half of employers face a problem in attracting talented employees. Those are the employees that have either high-potential, critical skills or are top performers. Even when they find such employees, companies are at great risk of losing them. Less than half of the employees are happy with their current job, and 81% of employees would leave it for a better offer. High turnover rates can be devastating for the businesses, as they are draining all their resources. The key to keeping your employees is boosting their level of engagement, as they will feel more involved and less likely to leave. This is especially important when it comes to retaining your top talent. Apart from the obvious costs, when your best people leave, the other employees notice their departure. This can be a clear sign that you don’t value your employees enough to keep them. It Saves Money Companies waste a lot of their money resources due to low employee engagement. Disengaged workers cost the U.S. economy alone approximately $550 billion per year. Brain drain is expensive in terms of money too and can vary between 16% and 213% of lost employee’s salaries. When you turn the absenteeism of your employees, their lower productivity and profitability into dollars, the disengaged employee will cost your company another 34% of their annual salary – $3,400 for every 10,000 they make. These numbers alone are enough to make everyone reconsider how much they’re investing in their employees. There are some really great ways to boost the satisfaction and engagement of your employees, which are affordable too. For example, a great office Christmas party will boost the morale of your staff and build a team spirit, without putting a hole in your budget. It Creates a Positive Culture Salary isn’t everything. Although money plays an important role in employee satisfaction, it’s by no means a crucial factor. According to a recent survey, only 25% of employees left for higher pay. Employee engagement and corporate culture go hand in hand. 47% of employees who are actively looking for another job are mainly doing so because of the company culture. To keep them, you need to think past the paycheck and find ways to get them involved. Apart from their salary, other ways to motivate them are related to the workplace culture:- Continual feedback and recognition. Your employees need to know what they’re doing right. The fact that they don’t get negative feedback doesn’t indicate that you’re satisfied with their work.
- Enough training and development opportunities. People don’t want to be stuck at some dead-end job without any possibility to learn new things and grow. Offer them some training programs and seminars to broaden their knowledge.
- Flexibility. Allow your employees to work from home, or at least think about a flexible work schedule.
- Opportunities for career advancement. Your top performers should be offered a promotion if you want them to stay.
- Promoting trust in the workplace. It’s crucial for your employees to feel comfortable and accepted in the workplace. Always be sincere and tell them what you think about their performance, and offer some help or support if necessary.