Did you know that your employees’ priorities are shifting?
In a knowledge economy, incentivising with cash alone isn’t quite going to hit the sweet spot for employees looking to gain fulfillment from their 9 to 5.
Today, modern workers aren’t content with a good wage and your typical 28-days of holiday a year. They’re also seeking:
- Encouragement to pursue personal interests outside of work,
- Support to maintain healthy work and personal relationships,
- Acknowledgement for individual contributions,
- And opportunities to learn and develop key skills.
The thing is, these are just some of the better-than-money factors that everyone looks for when deciding on their next career move. So, businesses looking to thrive and grow need to establish a company culture that supports these requirements if they wish to have highly engaged employees...
But here’s the million-dollar question: Just how can you effectively drive employee engagement in your business and where does company culture fit in?
Why employee engagement is vital for company success
When companies and workers are on the same page in terms of vision and values, you’re likely to find that your staff experiences greater job satisfaction. However, our recent study revealed that only 20% of employees understood their employers bigger business goals, showing a clear inconsistency between what a company hopes to achieve and what it’s actually communicating to employees.
That may not sound like a big deal; but consider this: employees who are fully engaged with their employers are around 21% more productive than their unengaged counterparts. Plus, organisations with high rates of employee engagement will also enjoy lower staff turnover rates, too.
Clearly, having an engaged workforce is a real asset to any business and developing a positive and healthy company culture will help you do just that.
Taking the time to understand what inspires loyalty to your organisation with your internal stakeholders, what stumbling blocks may limit their productivity, and listening to their suggestions for innovation or improvement to company processes are the first steps in creating a positive workplace culture. It will also help to build a collaborative relationship that results in substantial growth for your business and that all-important engagement critical to success.
As a result of these efforts, you’ll enjoy happier and more engaged employees that support your goals, understand their responsibilities within the organisation and feel encouraged to go above and beyond for the greater good of the business.
How does culture affect employee engagement
Your company culture is essentially the soul of your business. If your company values are symbolically pinned up to a notice board somewhere, but aren’t reflected in the conduct of your leaders or the processes you apply within the business, employees will quickly disengage.
It’s also important to understand that your workplace culture goes way beyond the office environment. And we’re not just talking about the social scene you promote on Instagram and the on-tap Arabica coffee in your canteen!
Strong leadership, effective policies, frequent feedback, and follow-through on the commitments you make to employees are the core essentials of a positive workplace culture. A great working environment is, of course, part of a healthy culture; but when the fundamentals are in place, you’ll find that your staff is increasingly more motivated to perform at their peak.
How we can help
We’re in the business of building happy workplace cultures through strategy and insight into what makes a company tick. We support organisations of all sizes in creating customised reward schemes that help to achieve engagement goals and build productive, creative, and collaborative teams.
Our award-winning Employee Benefits and Rewards Platform allows colleagues to recognise and reward one another for a job well done. Your employees can take advantage of exclusive discounts and vouchers at your favourite retailers and receive rewards aligning with the outcomes you set out to achieve in your mission statement.
Iain Thomson, Director of Client Programmes at Sodexo Engage
It’s not just about gifts and awards, however; you can also use our platform to improve communication within your company and publicise high-fives when they’re due.
We know that a successful reward scheme cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach, that’s why we’ll work closely with you to identify the areas affecting employee engagement and help you to formulate the best plan of action.
are your staff fully engaged with your business?
An un-engaged or disengaged workforce is pure kryptonite to productivity, morale and your bottom line! Would you like to find out more about you can effectively improve your employee engagement through a positive company culture?
We’d love to see you achieve your goals, so don’t be shy, get in touch for a no-obligation chat and let’s start shaping up a more engaging and rewarding future for your business and employees.
