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Have your thought about your team's engagement?

​As confidence floods back into the market with the opening of borders and freedoms being reintroduced, many organisations are now looking to the future and what recovery may look like for their teams.

The pandemic showed us that this is not a one size fits all situation so therefore this won’t be a one-size fits all recovery.

If you have employees that you like who aren’t currently thriving, retaining them, and finding a way to increase performance is potentially easier than losing them altogether and trying to rehire.

Despite salaries increasing at unprecedented rates, it is often not the deciding factor for employees when they look to move roles.

Having a strong company vision that is not only contemporary and aligned to the present conditions but can also help employees find meaning in that vision for their own role, is a start to gaining an engaged workforce.

In business we conduct financial audits all the time, but when did you last conduct an engagement audit? And what did you/might you find out?

Here we explore some of the ways that organisations are tackling engagement.

Start at the beginning

Firstly, you need a system to record and track engagement levels anonymously. This could be as simple as a survey taken periodically throughout the year to evaluate what needs to be improved.

Be transparent around the results – good and bad! Outline the plan of how you will improve and keep communicating throughout this plan.

Focus on the human rather than the role

Employees want to feel valued as the person they are, not just what they contribute to the bottom line.

The pandemic has made people reflect on what is truly important to them and what fulfills them as a person. If we start to look at how to upskill our employees as whole humans and not just the person they are in the office, this will contribute to a better sense of belonging for the employee and happy employees produce better work!

What is most troublesome for that person and how has it affected their role? What can be done to add value to their personal life, which in turn will help them feel more fulfilled and valued?

At Ambition, we have had a focus on wellbeing throughout lockdown. Some of the initiatives have been wellness workshops, ongoing presentations from a clinical nutritionist and every employee had the opportunity to take a paid life day each week to focus on something that brings them joy.

Build a community

Work isn’t just a place we go to anymore; it is so much more than that. After experiencing some pretty tough lockdowns, now is the time to inject some life back into the workplace.

This doesn’t necessarily mean taking the whole office to the pub all afternoon, instead, use this time to build a community among your employees.

Give employees ownership and autonomy over their role. Let them take on some of the responsibility of how their role affects their colleagues and how they are contributing to the overall business goals.

Let’s talk about flexibility

Flexibility has been a buzzword for some time now and we all know that it is top of the list when asking what employees want, but what does it really mean? The answer is it can mean different things to different people.

To some, it might mean starting later in the day so they can drop their kids off at school. To others, it could mean working from another office/café/country from time to time. Take the time to understand what flexibility means to your employees so you can offer opportunities that suit them.

Some companies have already started offering a ‘work from anywhere’ policy next year. Some have stipulations on certain working hours, and others have set days, but the thing they all have in common is that it suits their employees.

Don’t forget to promote

Giving praise when it’s due and saying thank you can be powerful. Doing this in a group setting to recognise the good work your team is doing can also help to make the employee feel valued and continue to build that sense of community,

During lockdowns and restrictions many companies went into survival mode however now is the time to start putting plans in place to promote those who put their ambitions on hold. Put plans in place for promotion or set goals for the employee to aim for in their role – give them something to work towards now and be open about how they can get there.

Time to give back

Throughout the pandemic, a lot of people worked harder than ever, took pay cuts, and made sacrifices in order to keep their jobs. This has led to people re-evaluating what is important to them and in turn has been a massive contributor to the ‘Great Resignation.’

Now is the time to give back and it doesn’t necessarily mean paying out large bonuses to everyone. Flexibility, extra annual leave and added company benefits can all contribute to giving back. The trick is finding out what your employees would value and tailoring a solution for them.

If you would like to discuss this topic or would like to speak with the team, you can reach us here.

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