Employee engagement is a widely discussed topic among organizations and without it, organizations can’t ever develop. But, unfortunately, only 36% of employees are engaged at the workplace and 51% aren’t.
36% isn’t enough for an organization to move forward and prosper in the long term. If your employees aren’t entirely focused, you will have many issues to deal with. One of them is being demotivated and once employees feel this way, they won’t encourage themselves to contribute to the organization.
The reasons go on and on, but let’s dive deeper into this article and find out why you need employee engagement in your business.
7 Reasons employee engagement is critical for your business
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Improves profitability in the long-term
When employees feel involved in the workplace, it’s sincere that their productivity levels will go up. This is because they will take their jobs much more seriously and proceed further to contribute to the business. It’s no surprise that dedicated employees are the ones who make a business more cost-effective in the long term.
Research shows that companies with higher employee engagement will be more than 20% more profitable in the long term and that it improves employee morale at the workplace.
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Employee wellbeing
Employee wellbeing is directly associated with employee engagement. Overall, it affects the person’s job. In addition, when a person prioritizes employee wellbeing, their team is happier and much less likely to experience stress levels.
Many factors can contribute to employee wellbeing and engagement levels. Here are the main factors that do so:
- Physical health
- Emotional status
- Financial status
- Psychological health
- Social wellbeing
Taking care of your employee wellbeing is crucial if you want your employees to be engaged in the workplace. Therefore, you need to put it as the core element of your HR plan. For example, if one of your employees is lacking in some areas, such as financially, socially, psychologically, etc., you’ll notice the issue once they aren’t committed.
Furthermore, to solve this problem, you can undertake some employee wellbeing initiatives and put them into action instantly. Here is what we recommend:
- Healthy snacks: Offering a healthy snack, such as a small piece of cake, a cookie, a muffin, or anything you can think of, is never a bad thing to do.
- Gym discounts: Going to the gym can significantly help reduce stress levels and get your body active. You aren’t doing wrong if you encourage your team to go and exercise.
- Health check-ups: You can encourage continuous health check-ups through local health insurance providers. During the flu months, avoiding physical contact and distancing employees from each other is always a good idea. Nevertheless, giving your team a day off when they need it during a sick day is best!
- Flexible working schedule: The world is transforming into an online workplace. Employees are working from home more than ever and might have more issues moving back to the office days permanently.
- Conduct surveys: You can learn more about your team and ask them what you can do to make it a better place for them. Always allow employees to suggest new initiatives and changes you can make to the workplace so everyone is engaged and happy.
- Educate: Educating is the key to a powerful business and what makes everyone better at what they do. This can include education on buying a new house, making recent policy changes, financial guidance, upskilling, etc.
- Nights out: It never hurts to take your employees on a night out. Socializing outside work hours can always be a good sign to learn more about your team and find out what their personal interests are, goals, values and more.
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Less absent employees
Every organization isn’t the same, but the level of absenteeism in a toxic workplace isn’t any different. The primary factor of increased absenteeism is due to lack of employee engagement. This doesn’t only affect individual employees but also the company’s management. Absenteeism can be highly costly and may get out of control if it isn’t addressed.
If you are so passionate about what you do, you won’t be taking days off without any reason without the need to consult managers initially. Absenteeism kicks in when employees aren’t satisfied with their job or feel undervalued by team members. Once this happens, employees will usually leave the organization or reduce their commitment and engagement levels.
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Employee engagement has a ripple effect
The positive impact engaged employees have on your company goes beyond retention and other employee engagement metrics. It only takes one engaged employee to have a positive effect on the other teammates.
Engaged employees go to work excited and are committed to the organization, going beyond to do their best. This kind of positive attitude and commitment has a long lasting impact on other team members.
On the other hand, imagine you have a toxic teammate. They’ll spread negative energy across the workplace and “infect” other employees with bad energy. It always takes one person to make others feel bad.
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Increases employee loyalty
Employees are less likely to leave a company when they are happy and valued. In addition, once employees feel engaged, they’ll increase productivity rates and take work much more seriously, putting in the required effort to make the business successful. And since daily tasks become repetitive over time, engaged employees can only deal with these.
Research shows that companies that have engaged employees have a 233% higher customer loyalty rate. Once employee loyalty increases, employee turnover rates will drop. Conversely, turnover rates increase once employees feel undervalued or unsatisfied with the job they are working at.
Employees loyal to a company will also have less urge to accept another job offer. Of course, salary is an important factor in a person’s life, but not every company can make an employee feel the same way.
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Employee retention saves money
Employees that are happier at work have less chance of quitting. Employee retention is connected to employee turnover rates. This will all depend on each company and how engaged their employees are. In January 2022, more than 4 million people left their jobs. Turnover rates aren’t exciting and only make your business lose money in the long term.
Logically, happy employees won’t quit their job. However, millions of companies struggle to keep their employees happy and this is where they lose millions in the long term. It isn’t any fun constantly hiring new people because many factors are behind it. First, you need to train them if they lack experience; worst of all, they aren’t familiar with the company’s culture.
Companies that show appreciation for employees and desire to maintain a strong relationship with the team will permanently save money in the long term. It’s never about who hires the best employees but who is best at retaining them and providing the right level of training.
It’s no surprise that the cost of high turnover rates can be up to two times the employee’s salary. Not only will it seem like you are paying two employees, but it’ll drop productivity levels over time. Engaged employees are also less likely to look for a new job, which is another important factor.
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Engaged employees are problem solvers
It’s evident that engaged employees will be more committed to an organization than those who aren’t really happy at the workplace. All workplaces have committed and uncommitted employees.
This is an excellent indicator that if your company can engage all employees, regardless of their position, the working atmosphere will be much better and promote a problem solving environment. In addition, engaged employees will always want to help and become innovative. After all, employee engagement is what holds the business together.
Regardless of the role any employee is in, dedicated employees will always go the extra mile for consumers and the business. Employee engagement holds the business together and is one of the primary reasons the organization has its values at the peak level.
The summary of employee engagement
Employee engagement should always remain your primary focus. A toxic workplace is never a good thing to experience and when one teammate is toxic, they’ll transfer the energy to the rest. Therefore, it’s always important to identify what kind of issues they are going through and what you can do to solve it for them.
Even though you are in the professional world, getting to know more about someone’s personal life is never anything bad. Take the necessary initiatives to contribute to your employee’s wellbeing and they’ll do the same favor for you. When this happens, you’ll be the long term winner.
