Boost Employee Engagement
All businesses benefit from engaged employees, which is why SMB decision makers need to understand how to provide workers with the appropriate framework to boost employee engagement levels. While approaches to establishing this framework are broad and varied, implementing technology such as a virtual business phone system from AccessDirect should be part of the equation.
A recent Workplace Savings and Benefits article explored how business leaders can focus efforts on boosting employee engagement, providing insights from Jan Parkinson, the Employee Relations Institute’s chief executive, who noted that communication has long been considered one of the most substantial challenges for business professionals.
“Our main aim is to develop workforce standards and create employee engagement programs,” Parkinson said. “It’s about good communications between individual managers and employees, and also on the macro scale between trade unions and management. But it all comes down to that one-to-one relationship about good communication skills and basic good management.”
How to address Boosting employee engagement
It is easy to see how communications play a vital role in business, whether discussing employee engagement, customer support or a variety of other purposes. Writing recently for Business 2 Community, human resources expert Michael Truby also explored the importance of employee engagement. He noted that a fully-engaged employee practices behaviors that can add up to significant benefits for a business.
“A fully-engaged employee turns up on time, excited and stimulated at the prospect of their working day,” Truby wrote. “They are dedicated, committed, positive advocates for their company. They motivate others, take pride in doing the best possible job and strive to achieve everything they’re capable of. A dis-engaged employee is quite the opposite, often not just unhappy and bored but potentially disruptive. Morale and productivity are both affected by employee engagement or a lack of it.”
Employee Engagement Ideas
Truby also noted that when a business does everything in its power to maximize employee engagement, it will be ultimately reflected in the company’s bottom line. This creates an incentive for any business to pursue such initiatives. Establishing incentives can also be an excellent strategy for leaders to adopt when working to promote employee engagement, as most people respond positively to concrete encouragement, whether in the form of pay raises, bonuses or even basic praise. Other means of boosting employee engagement include holding team bonding and collaboration sessions, demonstrating loyalty, seeking employee input and utilizing social networks.
However, SMB decision makers charged with managing a remote staff can have a more difficult time accomplishing this, and technology plays an even greater role in these instances. A MonsterThinking blog post detailed that the majority of today’s workforce spend at least some time working from home or while on the go, stressing that these employees still need the same level – if not more – of guidance and recognition from team leaders.
To help boost employee engagement in the office and out, SMB leaders can implement a hosted PBX telephone system from AccessDirect to maintain constant connection. As business becomes increasingly virtual, companies can also look to virtual technologies such as virtual phone systems, a virtual receptionist or virtual answering service, to keep employees engaged regardless of their physical location.
