How to Improve Employee Engagement
Posted May 2nd, 2016
Employee engagement is a key component of business success. No one disputes that. And to foster employee engagement, companies need to have open lines of communication with their people.
But too often, companies do not communicate well with their employees, and this results in lost productivity and increased turnover.
Employee Surveys
An example of this is when companies seek feedback from employees. This usually takes the form of an employee survey, conducted once a year. The surveys are usually long, running 50 to 100 questions.
But this is where the problem lies. Conducting a survey is good. But workers do not want to spend the time it takes to plow through 100 questions. Moreover, doing the survey only one time a year reduces its utility. It’s just not often enough to keep up with the changing conditions of the business environment. Also, it takes time to tally all of the responses in surveys as long as 100 questions, so by the time you get the results back, they may not be of much use.
That is why some management consultants advocate a more streamlined approach. Some companies, for example, survey their employees every week. But the surveys are just one question and only take a few minutes to do. This way, the results are more timely and relevant.
People are able to bring up issues that are affecting them at the moment. Moreover, with feedback on a weekly basis, the company is able to monitor over time the levels of engagement of employees and how they change.
As one management expert put it, companies do not count their revenue only once a year, why should they measure employee morale, which is just as important, only once a year?
Onboarding
Another time when communication is crucial is during the onboarding process. Many management authorities believe that the first one to three months in a job determine whether a person will ultimately be successful. There is a strong correlation between onboarding and employee satisfaction. The better the onboarding, the greater the probability you will be working for the company after one year.
Where companies go off track with onboarding is not providing clear goals and giving new employees the training they need. It is important to give people clear expectations, to have ways of measuring the person’s performance, and to provide the training the person needs to succeed.
If your company is looking for qualified and reliable technology workers, Bayside Solutions is the place to go. Bayside specializes in finding the best people in technology-related fields in the San Francisco Bay area. Give Bayside a call today.
