How Else to Keep Staff Engaged at Work?

In 2014, a Direct Health Solutions survey found that 45% of short-term absences were the result of “chucking a sickie”. The survey estimated that absenteeism cost the Australian economy $32.5 billion in lost wages and lost productivity. Evidently Australian’s aren’t engaged at work. How then can an organisation get the most out of their employees?

With a creative mindset.

A creative mindset is a top down approach, starting with management and leadership that focus on progression and achievement of outcomes rather than reacting when problems arise. Benefits of creativity in the workplace include:

• Increased cohesion and communication between employees on projects,
• Increased workplace engagement and interaction,
• Greater retention and attraction of quality employees,
• Creativity in problem solving and improved productivity, and
• Increased staff morale, enjoyment and happiness.

By making the effort to boost employee self worth, businesses are building the foundations for loyalty and productivity. How is your organisational culture used to actively engage employees? As a manager you may have a shiny perfect idea of how your culture operates within your business model. How accurate is it to reality?

Highly engaged organisations focus on the following things:

• Culture: how do we identify ourselves? Are we achieving this identity?
• KPI’s: reward and recognition,
• Performance management,
• Purpose, and Performance management

These are key factors in ensuring staff productivity is kept on track.

For example, it is important that clear expectations for performance are laid out for employees and followed through and checked to ensure these are met. When these expectations aren’t met then investigations into why they aren’t being met should be carried out. For the employee it could be a confidence issue, the need for training, or boredom. Having a manager sit down and discuss the issue with performance and the employee’s worth as part of the culture, organisation and team can reaffirm the importance of their work. Where progress cannot be made, it needs to be considered whether the cost of their underperformance can be compromised for an overwhelmingly positive trait. E.g. If a salesperson had excellent customer rapport but regularly failed to meet KPI’s.

There is also the need for reward and recognition. Most people will put the extra effort in if it will be rewarded. Reward does not necessarily refer to monetary recompense, it may simply be acknowledging a job done well or expressing appreciation. Since not everyone is motivated by money, employers need to consider a number of ways to reward and recognise employee efforts. An example is a ‘Thank You’ awards night where overachieving employees are nominated for awards based on a number of factors including manager feedback, team feedback and customer feedback. These types of recognition elevate an employee’s self worth, while improving employee retention and loyalty to an organisation.

For more information, contact Harvest HR.