You’ve had a long, happy and faithful relationship with your employees, so don’t you think it’s time to take your relationship to that next level. I’m talking about engagement!

Engaging with your employees opens a whole new world of increased productivity, higher morale, better retention and happier clients.

What is employee engagement?

Unlike a marriage engagement, employee engagement works best with a sense of ownership. You want your employees to feel not only like they have a stake in a company’s success, but also as if the company belongs to them in some sort of way.

However, like a marriage engagement, employee engagement should also be thought of as a two-way relationship based on mutual respect. The company reaches out to the employee through initiatives and genuine interactions. In turn, employees boost their involvement with, and dedication to, their employer.

It’s important to acknowledge that employee engagement should be a sincere attempt to build stronger bonds among the company itself, management and workers. Employees will easily see through a thinly veiled attempt to manipulate their job dedication and this may cause apathy and resentment.

One example of a company turning around its fortunes through employee engagement is DaVita, which provides dialysis treatments for kidney patients. The company’s change in culture started with employees choosing a new name for the company – originally known as Total Renal Care – and went on to transform the business from an unprofitable venture, to  generating over $660 million in annual profits.

Building engagement

Building a strong narrative is one of the best ways to start engaging employees. So I ask, what is the story of your company?

A company should have a story to tell based on ideas like authenticity, excellence or originality. If your company has a strong narrative, it is easier for workers to understand their own individual role in that much-larger story.

A company narrative starts at the very top of an organization, but most workers have very little contact with a company’s owner or executive board. That’s where an engaged management structure becomes important. Middle and lower management need to act in a manner that’s consistent with the company narrative. For example, if the company is all about originality, managers should be open to workers’ innovations or improvement suggestions.

Speaking of employee ideas, all engagement programs should be based on two-way communication – and that means truly listening to what employees are saying. Many surveys have found that workers experience greater job satisfaction when they feel their voice is being heard.

Companies may also want to consider corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs that are consistent with their narrative. For example, if a company prides itself on originality – it should support and sponsor community arts and music programs.

Engaging workers all starts with acquiring the right talent. Long Island Temps is a great resource when looking for engaging employees. We offer a range of staffing solutions that are customized for the Long Island job market. Simply drop us a line and we can get started on your engagement process.