What do you feel when you hear about Starbucks’ College Achievement Plan offering low cost or free online courses to its employees or about TCS sabbatical policy or about Netflix’s unlimited vacation policy?
Let me guess… “I wish I was working with them” Correct? At least I think so.
Organizations are taking employee engagement to the bigger level now. Employee engagement now isn’t only about parties, gifts and Fun-at work but is more about acknowledgement and respect. With employees getting more open about their expectations from the work and the employer, organizations and HR pros are designing better and innovative ways to engage them.
Though employee engagement sound like an “all employee benefit initiative”, it serves some evident benefits for organizations too:
- Attracting new talent.
- Increasing productivity multi-fold.
- Retaining the best talent.
Is there a success formula for employee engagement programs?
No doubts that organizations have realized the worth of a committed and engaged workforce and are thus making every possible effort towards giving their employees a comfortable work space but the effective engagement model works on:
Consistency – Employee engagement is not one time or situational activity. It’s a consistent process which is designed, adapted, modified and implemented through every stage of an employee life cycle. The idea is to keep employees involved in everything they do and make them feel valued.
Trust – If you are running a new employee engagement initiative because it’s a crucial time for business or because you are in a high turn-over phase, the results might not be really great. Yes, employees understand when their employer acts out of care and when it acts out of need. If they don’t trust you, they might not appreciate your efforts. Trust matters.
Suitability – There is no “One size fits all” approach to employee engagement. Sometimes little changes in strategy and process are required to accommodate every employee’s expectation. A great employee engagement program is willing to adjust to these prospects.
Feedback – Are employee really happy with the employee engagement activities? Are they satisfied with the way these initiatives are implements? Employee feedback is must to help employees realize that their opinion matters and also to understand their views and expectations. If employees are not happy, probably there’s a possibility for improvement.
Effective engagement is the key to employee commitment and performance.
Though organizations and HR pros do much to ensure employee engagement and satisfaction, sometimes, the efforts do not produce desired results. If you wish to understand the factors that contribute to employee engagement activities failure, join me on Tuesday, July 1, 2014 at www.indiahrlive.com where we have some trusted HR leaders joining us to talk on “Why employee engagement fails?”
To watch the live show click on the link here.
HRDictionary 
Leave a Reply