The process of hiring and retaining skilled employees is more complex than ever. Geographical locations, changing demographics – all these factors present significant challenges for HR leaders and professionals in the field.
As a result, these challenges often yield a poorly engaged workforce. In fact, in a recent Hay Group Employee Engagement Report, over 80 percent of heads of HR departments suggested that their organizations needed new and effective strategies to engage the workforce.
4 Ways Companies are Failing their Employees
The fact of the matter is that some organizations simply fail to engage employees which can result in reduced productivity, reduced retention and negatively impact morale. To create a sustainable and positive environment, consider the following reasons why employers are failing to engage employee populations.
Lack of feedback
Many companies fail to listen to staff expectations about the workplace because they ignore the power of the feedback. Different groups of employees expect different workplace features.
For example, Millennials prefer a digital environment; i.e. digital teamwork, communication, automation, and other tools are often viewed as essential. Does your company meet this need?
The table below highlights additional differences that can arise as the result of lack of feedback:
EMPLOYEES’ EXPECTATIONS |
EMPLOYERS’ DEMANDS |
| Opportunity to work from home. | All employees should work in the office. This is a company policy. |
| Proper workplace amenities, modest personal space, flexible hours. | All staff should be treated equally by working in an open-plan office from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm with one hour for lunch and, usually, two breaks of 15 minutes. (same old classics) |
| The employers should encourage their staff with challenging, attainable, and measurable goals, apprenticeship courses, and promotion. | Every employee should engage himself in a self-development, seek new approaches to improve the quality of his work and open new horizons for expanding the company's business in order to get a promotion. |
| Clear, Honest Focused Communication with management and team. | Team members who are also on "special" teams are not allowed to tell their coworkers what they do |
Inability to keep the workplace exciting
Overloading your employees with boring assignments and interpersonal conflicts contribute to a disengaged workplace. Consider incorporating one or more of the following methods to support this existing or new initiative:
Encourage employees to provide their own ideas. Effective leadership is not just about control but also delegation.
Always communicate your ideas and goals. Employees need to stay updated on what their managers are planning. Don’t be vague and don’t keep unnecessary secrets.
Design friendly competitions. Introduce fun competitions in the office but select judges from other departments to ensure impartial decisions.
Hold staff meetings in unusual locations. Consider breaking up the monotony of staff meetings by holding them in a park or some other place outside the office.
Сut extra workloads. There are some duties that are not part of your employees' job description. Let the admission service manage appointments, writing and proofreading tasks.
Lack of accountability
Accountability matters because of the positive benefits is yields, such as improved commitment to work, creativity, and competency. If an employee is accountable for a task he or she is working on, the outcome will be better.
Conversely, lack of accountability may signify a problem with organizational culture. The explanation for this is really simple: if no one trusts anyone else in the workplace to complete a job they are assigned to do, the morale suffers. A feeling of being devalued follows. Eventually, a domino effect occurs: lack of accountability causes low morale and devaluation leads to low performance.
Organization should evaluate whether its culture incorporates accountability. To do so, try to push one or more of the following ideas to HR.
Relationship building: Focusing on relationships is an essential step helping the employees understand their roles. Send out a questionnaire to get the idea of small things the staff needs to improve its productivity, enrich work environment and develop a positive attitude.
Set clear goals and objectives: Employees should know exactly what their managers expect from them, have a vision and a sense of the course of action, and have a clear picture of successful outcomes. Organize monthly meetings with your team where you should assign responsibilities, share your expectations, and predict the costs.
Provide tools for success: Conducting training sessions, giving an access to data or discretion in decision making all these are extremely effective ways of indicating concern of your employees' development.
By introducing it, a manager can monitor the performance of employees. Goals set for their performance will motivate them to accomplish more.
Lack of passion
Passion can entail many different factors. First, an employee who works with the right people can contribute to a comfortable environment. Relationships between employees should be kept positive to avoid conflicts.
Second, passion means that an employee loves what he or she is doing. If the job is not interesting, the employees will try to do their best to avoid taking more tasks and improving their performance.
Third, the organization needs to have a passionate leader who is able to motivate others to be passionate as well. A passionate style of leadership has a number of benefits:
It produces energy. A constant supply of energy drives a person forward.
It ignites others. A passionate leader keeps everyone around them motivated and energized.
It improves influence. A passionate leader is always engaged in interesting tasks, which can give them more positive influence over your employees.
Try out some of these methods for increasing engagement in your workplace. Become aware of your old hiring and retention practices, and replace them with new methods in an effort to keep your employees happy. It just might be worth it!
About the Author: Diana Clark has gone a long path from being a recruiter to a successful career coach. Diana uses her unique writing gifts providing resume writing help, for college graduates at college-paper.org. Feel free to connect with Diana on LinkedIn.
