What do you think is the biggest factor in the success of a business- The idea, the boss, the strategies or the executioners?
What would be the former three without the last one? How do you run a business without any employees?
Simply put, the employees are the main pillar of any enterprise. Ideas and business loans just contribute to the building and blueprint of a plan, but manpower is the one that turns it into reality.
Now imagine this- Each staff member at your firm being as motivated as you about your venture. When n number of people hired by you shares the same goals about your company as you, the passion and productivity at work gets multiplied by n.
Defining Employee Engagement
There seems to be mixed definitions regarding this term. You can understand ’engagement of employees’ as a combination of their passion, job satisfaction, involvement, heart and commitment towards their job.
When your human resource considers their office people as family, and work towards the goals of the company as their own, their efforts are increased by at least 50%. A motivated workforce works twice as harder to meet deadlines.
You cannot assume this sort of engagement to exist on its own. There are gestures and efforts that need to be made from your end as an owner. When you invest in engaging your employees with your business, the returns are definite and massive.
Based on an article in The New York Times,
‘When the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional needs of an employee are addressed at a work place, the engagement curve goes up.’
These core needs basically involve recharging, work-life balance, freedom, appreciation and motivation. If a person gets enough of these factors covered at the office, productivity and dedication rise simultaneously.
Increasing Employee Engagement
The management and its policies drive the work force at any office place. It is in the hands of the higher authorities to alter the work environment in an office.
While strict policies and stressed ambience leads to degrading productivity, a happy and flexible framework contributes to quality production.
If you need to hire professionals for doing the work for you, a short term business loan can help you with the finances to make the move. And to make sure you can afford them, an online business loans calculator can be used to calculate affordability.
Be Transparent With Them
You can skip that step and do the work yourself as well. There are some easy techniques that you could deploy in your business to make sure that your employees are as dedicated and sincere towards their work as you are.
Do not hide the failures and status of the company. If your staff is aware of the setbacks and failures of certain projects, they would make sure to work on the reasons behind them.
Send an email to everyone when you fire an employee, stating the genuine reason behind it. This would increase your reputation with them and help in building trust and respect towards you.
When your people are convinced about your sincerity, they would more likely stay confident in moving along with your business.
Communicate Expectations
You are not going to get satisfactory results unless you tell your employees what is ‘satisfactory’ for you. Have regular meetings or analysis with the staff members to inform them what is expected out of them.
A person can work and improve in a more clear fashion if the goals are clear for him or her. One can only improve in such areas when he or she is told that it needs to be polished.
And not just them. It is wise to organise an all staff meeting just to announce what can be expected out of you. Your employees would feel more confident and comfortable when they know they have a go-to person in the ranks. Try being available and all-ears to the concerns of your hired staff.
Encourage Freedom of Speech
No one likes taking orders and oppressing their ideas. If you allow and accept an employee’s worthy idea, he or she would be more actively engaged in the office operations after that.
When employees feel that all they the delegated work is all they do, and they have no say in the office operations or ideas, they slowly lose interest in their work. Productivity declines when there is nothing new and relatable to look up to.
It is important to tell your people they are appreciated and listen to their suggestions and ideas. Even if you do not accept them, it is comforting to just have a voice at the work place.
Summing Up Your human resource is the one that drives the profit, productivity, customer satisfaction, and overall long-term business graph. A happy employee is more driven and dedicated than the ones dragging themselves to work every morning.
