Overview
Most business organizations in contemporary times are navigating various challenges in a highly competitive environment. One of these major challenges is to effectively engage employees such that they contribute to the organization’s competitiveness. In fact, statistics show that despite repeated efforts and large budget allocations, global employee engagement levels remain low.
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To substantiate, as per the latest reports by Gallup, more than 50 percent of the global workforce is not actively engaged in the workplace. This is a clear indication that most organizations have failed to address the complex challenge of employee engagement effectively. Now, the question is, why do businesses need to lay great emphasis on driving high engagement? What is it that businesses aim to achieve by driving high engagement?
Why Employee Engagement Is Important
Employee engagement is an essential factor for organizations because of its positive impact on the motivation and efficiency level of the workforce. The incredible benefits of fostering a culture of high engagement are listed below.
1. Increase in employee retention rate
Employee engagement helps increase employee retention. Needless to say, retaining your top employees is one of the crucial business objectives. Engagement helps put trust in your employees, making them loyal to your company. Increase in employee overall productivity: when provided with the necessary tools, recognition for their hard work and efforts, and by having a good relationship with your employees. You can expect them to contribute a lot to the company's success and growth.
When you follow up, look after the employee's progress, and appreciate their hard work, you put in motivation and inspiration to be more productive and contribute to the company's progress or success.
2. Helps you get recognized as a company
When the employees put in a lot of effort and hard work or are productive and contributing to the company's success and growth, your company gets recognized because of the progress. Having said that, the overall perception and public image of your company improves a great deal with a culture of high engagement.
When employees go the extra mile for their organizations and put in extra efforts, the company wins appreciation as well. After all, a company’s competitiveness is best measured in terms of employee commitment.
3. Helps to build a positive business relationship
Once your company starts to get recognized for its progress, you attract many opportunities and good people. You start to get connections from various platforms that want to partner up with you for new projects, etc.
You would start to build up new business relationships to expand your brand to another level. However for these positive working relationships to thrive, employee engagement is necessary.
4. Decreased employee disengagement
There would be less disengagement with your employees. Employees will start to like you more for the effort you put in and recognize them for their contribution to have a better relationship with them.
Disengaged employees can be a lot of trouble. They can become very less productive and interactive. They wouldn't be loyal, and sometimes they may even give up. So, putting a lot of concentration and keeping track of the progress of disengaged employees is also very important.
5. Decreased turnovers
Once you trust employees and have a good connection or relationship with your employees, they tend to become more loyal. They try to stay with your company as long as possible and never try to turn their backs on you. Even if they get a better job with a good salary, they still might not just leave. Alternatively, some employees may recommend others to work in their place.
6. Helps build a better company culture
When you're engaging with your employees, having a good relationship or connection with them, and when you build more connections, associates, or business partners, you tend to build a good company culture.
If it was already good in the first place, employee engagement would make it better. Employee engagement is a win-win situation for both you and your employees. It helps you connect better in the field of business and helps your employees get a better environment free from any bias or ethical issues.
How To Onboard New Employees? (A Step-By-Step Process)
Below are 11 steps approved by many HRs in onboarding a new employee successfully:
Step 1. Onboard employees with a welcome message
The first thing to start the good employee engagement journey right from the beginning is to congratulate them for being accepted as a part of the company. To congratulate them you can either send a mail or a Whatsapp, or it could also be a post.
A heartwarming welcome message will be a perfect head start for laying the foundation of workplace belongingness. Needless to say, the greater the sense of belonging the higher the engagement.
Step 2. Welcome with a full-blown welcome kit
On the first day of their coming to the workplace, you can impress them by gifting them a full-blown welcome kit that you put in a lot of effort to create. It can have some office stationery, a gadget, or anything that is interesting and innovative.
Here's a welcome gift example from Wipro:
Step 3. Introduce new employees to their work and workplace
Once the gifting is done, you need to have a small conversation with them wherein you can introduce them to their work and what you expect from them. After that, you can show them where they work and briefly introduce them to their workplace.
Step 4. Introduce to their team leader
Once you have introduced them to their work and workplace, you can then introduce the employee to his/her team leader or their team manager, who will assign them the respective work.
While you introduce the employee to the team leader and vice versa, you can speak to the employee about their achievements in their previous working experience and how they can help your company. This would satisfy your new employees.
Step 5. Introduce to their colleagues
Once you have introduced your new employee or employees, you should introduce them to their colleagues along with whom they will spend the rest of their working journey.
Even when you introduce them to their colleagues, you can speak about their achievements and the employee's role in this company.
Step 6. Provide a safe and fun environment
Always provide your employees with a fun, safe, and sound environment to concentrate on their work and be more productive. The color of the walls or the room where your employee works determine their mood.
Step 7. Provide them with the necessary tools
Provide them with all the necessary tools required for a better working environment, like stationery, a laptop, a laptop holder, an organizer, etc.
Step 8. Follow up on their progress every once in a while
Follow up on a working day. Make a report in excel that can keep track of the employee's work progress and process. And have a one-on-one talk with your employees regarding their work progress and what factors could motivate them.
Step 9: Recognize them for their effort and hard work
Recognize and appreciate your employees for their effort and hard work. That recognition helps them get motivated a lot and helps them focus and to do more or be more productive to be recognized again.
You should recognize them even if it is the smallest of contributions. If not recognized, the employees might get dissatisfied, leading to disengagement and less productivity.
Step 10: Request or ask for their feedback
Feedback is the key prerequisite for self-reflection. Request your employees for their feedback and response. Create fun surveys wherein you can gather feedback and response from your employees regarding the environment in the office, the work, etc.
This will give you an idea and help you build or improve your employee engagement strategy. It also shows your progress in getting engaged with your employees.
Step 11. Come up with new strategies that could work
If none of these strategies work completely, you need to think of better strategies according to the mentality of your employees. If one strategy doesn't work, you need to develop customized strategies to have a good employee engagement relationship. As a leader embracing transformational leadership, you should look to transform things and innovate where things get stuck.
Besides, corporate gifts can also be a great way to make your employees’ onboarding experiences quite fascinating. Given below are some amazing corporate gifting ideas.
Corporate Gifting Ideas For Employees and Workers
One of the best ways to engage with your employees or connect better with them is corporate promotional gifting. Corporate gifting can range from occasional gifts to customizing your welcome or onboarding kits.
You can create your own brand and make your employees feel special by making them your brand ambassadors by gifting them customized apparel they can wear during work days.
Your employees will then advertise your brand, which is a win-win situation for both your company and your employees.
Below are a few innovative, interesting, and creative corporate gifting ideas that various corporate gifting solutions provide you that you can use to advertise your brand with the help of your brand ambassadors (employees):
1. Customized laptop bags:
Gift your employees laptop bags that will help them keep their laptops securely.
2. Customized apparel (t-shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, hoodies, etc.)
Apparel is a great way to show that you care for your employees. Customized apparel will not just satisfy your employees but also showcase your brand.
3. Customized mugs and bottles/desk accessories
A clean place will always provoke a person to be more productive. Desk accessories like laptop stands, mouse pads, desk organizers, stationery, etc., will boost your employees' productivity.
4. Customized notepads and pens
Gift your employees customized notepads and pens to jot down important points during an important meeting.
5. Customized gadgets
Gifting gadgets will be a great gift for those who love techno products. For example, Bluetooth/Bluetooth speakers, wireless 3-in-1 chargers, etc.
Final Words
Not every strategy mentioned above will work for every workplace because each company has its own culture and mode of setting. So, put your thoughts in and fabricate strategies that work for your employees. You can fabricate strategies based on the responses or feedback from your employees.
