Effective employee engagement has proven to help businesses improve their turnover, boost customer satisfaction, reduce unproductivity and enhance the overall growth of businesses. Having a successful business is every employer’s dream and the performance of your employees is critical to the level of success any employer can achieve.

Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give of their best each day, committed to their organisation goals and values, motivated to the organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being. Employee engagement is based in trust, integrity, two way commitment and communication between an organisation and its members.

An engaged employee shows up to work daily at their best, self-motivated and proactively seeking to achieve the company’s mission. Engaged employees demonstrate this through their interactions with co-workers, clients and their attitude towards work. The more engaged an employee is the more work they would put forth.

Most business owners aim to have its employees motivated, productive, and highly engaged. To achieve these, some employers may use generous remuneration as an incentive to keep an employee engaged. Money definitely goes a long way in keeping an employee engaged but it doesn’t do everything.

The founding father of the ’employee engagement theory’ Professor William Kahn in 1990, held an interview with some employees to find out what made them feel engaged in a workplace. He found out that most employees had to:

• Feel that their work was meaningful and made a difference
• Feel valued, trusted and respected
• Feel secure and self-confident

Here are some effective employee engagement tips:

1. Don’t skip on-boarding and training for new employees
2. Always set company goals (monthly, quarterly and yearly)
3. Understand individual learning styles and preferences
4. Compassionate leadership
5. Focus on employee development
6. Avoid micromanagement
7. Create a flexible and collaborative working environment
8. Always give feedback to your employees
9. Acknowledge your employees.

Always remember that your business is a community – for you, your team, your managers and your employees. Your employees are the individual cells that work together to ensure your business remains productive and thriving.

There is definitely something money cannot buy – a happy workplace.