Employee Engagement is becoming a real buzzword in business at the moment. Companies are quickly cottoning onto just how crucial it is for creating an effective workforce.
Well-executed employee engagement is credited with numerous beneficial outcomes. These range from staff being happy to work longer hours and overtime. It might so go right through to them becoming more involved in ensuring the company succeeds. Staff may also be more willing to be involved in unpaid, volunteer activity, and things like keeping the office tidy and clean.
Sounds good, right? But how do you implement this across all levels of your staffing? Let’s look at how you can increase employee engagement in your senior members of staff.
Keep Them In The Loop
The best companies can trust their most senior members of staff with the inner-workings of the company and its status as a whole. Staff members who feel trusted with this information will be more engaged. It is a big sign of respect to be open and honest about things like financial standing, client retention and staff turnover. In return for your candidness, your managers will feel that they are an important part of the business as a whole. They will give back with enthusiasm and great effort. You senior staff members knowing about issues can also be one of the most effective ways to fix them. So, if staff turnover is far too high, let your managers know this. Work with them to keep teams happy and in place; this will be far more useful that keeping it a secret. Furthermore, if a manager understands why he or she is doing something, they will make more appropriate decisions and actions.
Give Them Responsibility
Once an individual has reached a senior position in your company, you should know that they are to be trusted. Their prior work, whether with you or elsewhere, should demonstrate that they are a trustworthy individual. Show them that you have acknowledged this by giving them responsibility. Many will thrive under this. Doing so can save your business time and money, as opposed to outsourcing the work, you are keeping it internal.
Train and Educate Them
It shouldn’t be the case that the higher a member of staff gets in a company, the further away from their most recent training they get. The most effective members of staff are being trained and educated all the time. There is always room for more learning. This is especially true if you work in a fast-paced environment where the goalposts are constantly shifting. HR seminars by Peninsula, for example, look to provide valuable information to senior managers in a way that is digestible.
Reward Them
Rewarding every member of your staff in the same way isn’t going to be effective. This is because each person is an individual and will hold different things in higher regard than others. Younger members of staff might feel rewarded by a Free-Drink Friday at a local bar. Mothers and fathers might appreciate the possibility of flexible working. Older members of staff might consider pay increases and bonuses the most important reward. This may be because they are trying to pay off a mortgage or prepare for retirement.
This is why your reward system should be as flexible as possible. One such way is to offer a plethora of rewards and incentives and allow each member of staff to pick which they’d like to take advantage of.
If your senior members of staff are older, consider their lifestyle. For example, if they have young children, it is likely they’d really appreciate a day off on their children’s birthdays. This small concession will pay dividends when it comes to them feeling grateful and appreciative of the company they work for.
Consider Their Maternity/Paternity Packages
You can do all the employee engagement steps in the book, but you’ll always fall short if your maternity and paternity packages are sub-par. Companies that offer good maternity but poor paternity packages are demonstrating how behind the times they are. This is not a good message to be sending to anyone. This ranges from your staff to your clients to any prospective individuals considering a position in your company.
Consider The Cultural Environment
Making the office an enjoyable place to be is one of the basic points of employee engagement.
The point partly revolves around whether or not you have areas that staff can take a break. This is why games rooms are so great. They mean staff can get away from the pressures of work, phone calls, emails and colleagues; quite literally get away. Consider football tables and ping pong tables. Install comfortable seating, not rigid office chairs. Have a vending machine, or if you have the budget, a free snack and drinks bar.
However, consider the nature of your company. If your managers are comfortable interacting and relaxing with those they are in charge of, great. But what about if they’re not? What if they like to keep a professional distance? If this is the case, they need to have a place they can relax and unwind. Consider, alongside a games room, having a chill-out room. Install comfortable sofas and a TV. While a senior manager might not feel it conducive to his role of authority to swinging in a hammock while playing Mario Kart. They will likely feel happier watching TV on a sofa instead. This still gives them a break but allows them to maintain their authoritative role.
The best-case outcome for all of the above ideas, initiatives actions is a team of senior managers who like who they work for. They feel this way because they are nurtured and kept educated and trained. They are trusted with responsibilities and company information. Their lifestyle and personal priorities and being consider in reward-giving. They are given a way to relax without needing to feel like they are behaving in a way that could damage their authority. Or, to summarise all of these points, they are being treated like the valuable and hardworking member of staff that they are.
