Businesses in the United States lose productivity worth about $300 billion a year due to disengaged workers.
But the good news is that you can increase employee engagement by boosting employee experience. Employees who have a positive experience are likely to be more engaged than those with a negative experience. And creating a positive experience is simple. Let’s take a look at how you can do it.
1. Improve Internal Communication
Ask any HR expert- strong internal communication in the workplace is a huge factor in the employee experience.
Effective communication leads to better collaboration which helps develop employee relationships. It boosts the morale, engagement, satisfaction, and productivity of your employees. Plus, increased communication in the workplace promotes a sense of community and creates cohesion in the organization. This is especially important in a remote or hybrid work environment.
Start by making your workplace a safe space where employees can share accomplishments in their personal and professional lives.
Here are a few other tips to open communication lines:
- Schedule regular 1:1 sessions. Use this time to learn about any concerns they may have before they turn into bigger problems. It’s also a great time to address their happiness at work.
- Schedule weekly team meetings as well. It helps members know what others in the team are working on and find opportunities to collaborate. Members can share any setbacks they may be experiencing and get help from teammates.
- Always give the ‘why’ behind every action you take. It helps create a more transparent atmosphere.
- Give constructive feedback. Instead of criticizing, help them learn from their mistakes. This can boost the morale of your employees, which would otherwise drop if you keep criticizing them.
- Use communication channels to openly recognize employees’ contributions. It’s a great way to motivate them as they’ll see their work being recognized.
2. Act on Feedback
Collecting feedback to understand your employees’ job satisfaction and assess the dynamics of the workplace is great.
But do you act on this feedback? If not, you’re losing out, and this inaction can make employees lose trust in you. They are likely to stop giving feedback if they feel unheard. To build employee confidence, first ensure your feedback surveys are anonymous.
This will empower employees to be candid about the issues affecting them in the workplace, and help you implement the changes they want to see.
Once you collect the feedback, communicate your action plan in relation to the issues they raise. If, for instance, your sales and marketing team raised an issue on inefficiency in lead generation, highlight the growth software you’ve adopted in response to this feedback. It’ll go a long way in improving employee experience.
3. Create Growth Opportunities
About 22% of employees cited ‘career issues’ as the number one reason they left their jobs in 2021, largely seeking opportunities for growth and promotion. This concern even comes ahead of other major issues like work-life balance.
Image via Work Institute
This means having opportunities for growth in the workplace can keep your employees happy and content. It’s one of the main ways to boost employee experience in your company.
Good growth opportunities should:
- Be accessible to all employees
- Cater to the different experience levels and needs of your employees
- Center around short-term and long-term objectives
Instead of hiring externally for leadership positions, promote your employees. Empower them to qualify for these promotions by helping them expand their skills. You can:
- Use the online course creation platforms to create job-specific training. This Thinkific review can get you started
- Create mentorship programs
- Help employees expand their skills through cross-training and stretch assignments
- Create leadership development programs
- Set up a tuition reimbursement program. Or if you’re looking to control business spending, encourage them to take up massive open online courses (MOOCs)
Discuss long-term career goals with each employee and create a development plan that gets them there.
4. Create a Strong Company Culture
Company culture encompasses what’s acceptable and applauded in your organization. It’s what the company stands for and the key values that define the organization.
Positive work culture creates an environment where employees are happy to be with each other, committed to the company goals, and engaged in their work.
Create policies that curb barriers to positive company culture, such as:
- Uniform framework for annual reviews
- Diversity and inclusion policies
- Adopting remote and hybrid communication tools and policies
- Flexible working hours and leave policies to improve work-life balance
- Placing a cap on the number of work hours to ensure workload management
You can make a video collage that demonstrates the mission, goals, and values your company holds dear. Using this or a similar tool in your onboarding process can help get new employees accustomed to the tone of your work environment from the get-go.
What Next?
It’s time to put these strategies into action to boost your employee experience.
Start by leveling up communication in your organization. It’ll make it easy for employees to build workplace relationships.
Additionally, implement the right changes by paying attention to employee feedback.
Finally, create an environment your employees want to stay and work in by opening up growth opportunities and building a positive company culture.
Once you put these into practice, you’re sure to experience higher employee productivity and retention rates!
Contributor Profile:
Gaurav Sharma is the founder and CEO of Attrock, a results-driven digital marketing company. He regularly contributes to top publications such as HuffPost, Adweek, Business 2 Community, TechCrunch, and more. Connect on Socials: Twitter, LinkedIn
