If you look at HR conference agendas, you’d think employee engagement is HR’s quest for the holy grail. Where is it, how do you get it, and why has no one gotten it? Is it some elusive unicorn?
Perhaps instead of thinking of “getting it” or “finding it” we should think about improving it. Please don’t put employee engagement as a task on your strategic checklist. Instead, different tasks should help you improve employee engagement, and the sum of those tasks should make a real difference.
But wait… what is this difference, you ask? Does employee engagement really matter?
No, it doesn’t, if you don’t know what employee engagement is and how to measure it and why you want it. If it’s some random metric that you really don’t understand, and use certain criteria to measure it, then it might not matter. If you are using a faulty metric then you will get a false perspective of reality.
However, if you understand the importance of employee engagement, and can define that, employee engagement might be the most important thing that you measure and work towards. Employee engagement is tied to employee satisfaction. Both are tied to employee performance. And all three have measurable impacts on metrics executives look at, from employee retention to customer satisfaction.
Please be strategic as you manage human resources. Don’t just work from a checklist… figure out how everything works together… from policy to procedure to benefits to systems, and how they impact the workforce and workplace.
A successful employee incentives is more than just a pat on the back, and a gift card to a local restaurant. Incentives meets the employee where they are, with incentives that are meaningful. Sometimes they are monetary incentives, but non-monetary incentives can be just as powerful. In some cases, they can be more powerful. There’s more to employee incentives than just throwing a few bucks (even a few hundred or few thousand bucks) at certain employees.
If you want further reading about increasing employee engagement through incentives and recognition programs, check out this excellent article by ADP: Increase Engagement Through Recognition Programs for Employees
If you are ready to up your employee engagement game with employee incentives and employee recognition, let’s get on a demo. We’d love to show you what we have and how other organizations are moving the needle in meaningful ways. You can fill out this form and we’ll get back with you to schedule a call.
