With more and more workplaces mandating a return to office spaces and many populations returning to their “pre-pandemic” lives, for many, it seems like all the concerns that arose in the past three years are now dying down. But the reality is, many workers are still feeling the effects of the pandemic both directly and indirectly. Burnout, for one, is something that a great number of employees are experiencing and have been ever since working from home in 2020. And to combat this, many have been taking up gig work instead of one full-time job—doctors and other healthcare providers included! So, if you don’t want to lose your employees to gig work or other organizations who offer better working conditions and/or employee retention strategies, you will have to start adopting these methods, too.
And this starts with keeping employees engaged and well supported while working from home and the office. The bonus is you will also improve your employee retention and productivity by doing so. Sounds like a win-win to us!
How to Improve Employee Engagement and Productivity
Employee engagement and productivity are key drivers of success for any organization. Engaged employees are more committed, motivated, and likely to increase productivity. Continue reading to find out the best ways you can improve and maintain employee engagement to also improve productivity in your organization.
1. Foster a Positive Work Environment
Creating a positive work environment is crucial for promoting employee engagement and productivity. But doing so is often easier said than done. Start by establishing channels for employees to express their ideas, concerns, and feedback openly. And crucially, show your employees that you want to hear their feedback and are actually listening by taking action.
Then, show you’re paying attention to their efforts and appreciate their hard work. Regularly acknowledge and celebrate employee accomplishments to foster a culture of recognition and appreciation.
Lastly, don’t forget to implement a healthy work-life balance. This doesn’t just mean allowing employees to work from home once in a while. It means actively encouraging employees—working from home or the office—to take breaks, recharge, and put themselves and their families first. This will work against the ever-growing rates of burnout and quiet quitting.
2. Provide Opportunities for Growth and Development
Investing in employee growth and development is essential for boosting engagement and productivity. If employees feel they have no upward mobility within the organization, they may start to seek this elsewhere. So upon hiring, make sure your employees know of options for moving up within the company.
As well, offer regular training and upgrading programs. Paying for these programs will both encourage employees to engage actively with the material and feel supported doing so within your organization.
You can offer them options for learning by paying for webinars, workshops, and courses that either happen in your area or online. But crucially, make sure they decide on the programs they take. This will offer them a sense of autonomy in their learning process and will feel more connected to the material.
Then, create a concrete career development plan. Take a moment to sit down with your employees to discuss upward mobility and growth within their career. Offer them help setting achievable goals. And then, provide them with the support and guidance they need to meet those goals.
Doing so will make them feel you care personally about their career and wellbeing and will help them recognize their importance within the organization.
3. Encourage Autonomy and Empowerment
As we’ve seen in many of our leaders’ advice articles recently, a great source of conflict within the workplace is mistrust. Trusting your employees are self-regulating, autonomous, and responsible is crucial for maintaining their trust in return. And when your employees feel trusted in their work habits, they will be less likely to take advantage of that trust.
So, encourage autonomy, self-regulation, and self-management whenever possible. You can do so by first delegating responsibilities. That is, assign meaningful tasks and projects that allow employees to take ownership and showcase their skills.
And if employees ever run out of tasks, allow them to do other things that are work-adjacent, such as reading up on their area of work, engaging with discussions of their field online, or taking coursework, as aforementioned. But crucially, never assign busy work.
Busy work only ever tells employees they are not trustworthy of making the best use of company time on their own. So, allow them the room to be autonomous and find work that they find engaging and relevant on their own.
4. Lead by Example
All of the above means nothing if you yourself don’t lead by example. After all, even if you’re a founder or other c-suite team member, you’re nonetheless a team member, just like your employees. So, demonstrate what you want to see within the company.
You can do so by making your goals and actions visible—by writing them down and posting them in the office for accountability and transparency. You can also do so by actively communicating and being honest with the team. This might look like taking a day off for rest and recovery and actually calling it a rest and recovery day. You can even go as far as to mandate a company-wide day off or week off where employees take turns taking a day off so not everyone is gone at the same time.
And once all of the above has been encouraged and implemented, trust your employees will follow your example. Watching your employees too closely can have negative effects on their work habits and attitudes. So, as much as you enforce rest and relaxation, also allow room for them to take the initiative to do so themselves. This will make sure that they practice self-regulation in both work and rest and will make for an overall more adaptable employee.
Conclusion
Improving employee engagement and productivity requires a holistic approach that encompasses a positive work environment, growth opportunities, autonomy, and effective leadership. After all, productivity cannot be forced. It must come naturally through genuine and self-regulated engagement and intrigue. You can demonstrate what you want to see in the workplace, but the best way to allow your employees to feel truly engaged is to allow them the room to do so for themselves. This autonomy will help them self-regulate and feel trusted in the workplace, whether working from home or in the office.
