MightyRecruiter3 Principles Crucial to Building a More Engaged Workforce
These days, it takes a lot more than a paycheck and the promise of the weekend to properly motivate your employees to give you their all while on the job. You’ve got to make an effort to create a more engaged workforce, and the way to do that is likely easier than you might currently think. To keep your employees right where they are and fully involved in their work, learn three principles of creating a workforce that’s more engaged.
1. Make Your Employees Want to Give Their All to Their Jobs
No matter what position your employees fill, from janitorial services to helping you operate your company, do what it takes to motivate each and every one of them to give 100 percent to their jobs. Rather than have a goal of landing a specific number of accounts, change it to helping a specific number of customers successfully meet a need or get the service or product they deserve. To create a more engaged workforce, ask your employees what they can do to give their jobs more significance and purpose. It’s not just doctors, firemen, police officers and the like who make a difference in the lives of the people they help. Give your employees the chance to show themselves, and everyone else, the value they bring through their jobs.
Another way to help your employees with this is to find ways to help cultivate their natural skills. Rather than do this in a team setting, which might not successfully meet everyone’s individual needs, you’re likely to be better off with a mentorship program. What this does is help employees understand their strengths, overcome their weaknesses and use that knowledge to become even more proficient at their jobs, which is a reward all on its own.
2. Get Rid of Negative Employees
Even though you might not like the idea of giving your negative employees an ultimatum (or outright firing them), it might become necessary to inspire a more engaged workforce. This is true even if your negative and energy-draining employees are some of your best. The reason for this is that some of your employees might dread coming to work at the idea of working with someone who’s always complaining, sees the dark side of every situation or is simply unbearable to work with. Good work sometimes isn’t a good enough reason to keep certain employees around for the long haul. Something to think about is the fact that these employees may not even know how their attitude is affecting everyone else, which makes informing them of their disposition even more important.
On a related note, you can subtly indicate an employee’s outlook isn’t doing him or her any favors by having regular employee and employer reviews. That’s right, ask your employees to evaluate you as an employer just as you evaluate them. This helps the both of you become more aware of professional areas that need work that you might otherwise be completely unaware of. Creating a more engaged workforce is a two-way street, which is something your employees need to know.
3. Have Small Celebrations
Rather than waiting for a major victory before you and your employees celebrate, enjoy the smaller victories. If there’s a major goal you’ve set for your company, don’t forget to celebrate the progress you and your team make as you work towards that goal. Doing this not only makes your employees more engaged, it keeps them from getting tunnel vision as they put all of their time and energy into a final goal that might be several months away. Something else to think about is that you don’t want your employees burning themselves out as they march toward a major goal.
In addition to minor company goals, you should also celebrate employee successes. Whenever an employee nets a new account, gets a good customer review, is consistent in his or her work performance or even has a birthday, make sure you praise her or him and do so in a public manner so that everyone has a chance to join in. These celebrations let employees know you’re paying attention to them and value the work they do for the company. For employees who’d rather not be the center of attention, you can thank them in private or make a silent gesture that shows your appreciation.
These are just three principles for fostering a more engaged workforce, but there are plenty of others you can put to good use. For more ways to bring out the full potential in your employees and your company, feel free to use the articles and tools found here on Mighty Recruiter.