Help Grow Your Business by Investing in Your Employees

Posted June 12, 2017

Surveys have shown time and again that engaged employees are more productive than those who say they aren't particularly engaged in their job.

Making an investment in worker engagement first appears as a boost in your company culture. Re-engaged workers then go on to outperform less-engaged workers at other companies, meaning your company will probably see a major advantage over its competition. Some research has shown engaged employees outperform unengaged workers by more than 200 percent. Research has also shown highly engaged businesses can produce five times the shareholder returns of a less-engaged company over the course of five years.

The best news for employers is engaging your workforce doesn't have to take a massive investment of time and money. The biggest impacts can be felt merely by picking up good habits like empowering employees, not micromanaging and connecting employee duties to tangible outcomes.

Here are a few low-cost ways you can engage your workforce and start down the path to higher productivity.

Empower your staff

A simple way to further engage your staff is to give them more meaningful responsibility so they can use more of their skills and achieve their potential. According to a recent survey from the Society for Human Resource Management, 74 percent of workers said having chances to use their abilities was crucial to feeling engaged and dedicated to their work.

Many companies like to reward strong performance by giving high achievers added responsibilities and more independence. If you can’t come up with a way to expand a worker's responsibilities, ask them what might help them grow professionally.

You want your employees to feel challenged by their work in a meaningful way. When they do, they’ll be more prone to put in the extra effort.

Stop micromanaging

Bad managers are notorious micromanagers. While it's crucial to follow up on your workers' progress, micromanagement is not the answer. Always looking over employees' shoulders isn't just demoralizing; it also stunts productivity as workers must continuously look to management for direction.

Inspire (and engage) your staff by giving them the liberty to do things the way they want and think for themselves wherever possible.

Connect work to difference-making results

Workers are normally more inspired when they see an immediate connection between their daily activities and the overall picture. When you allocate a new task to an employee, make sure to emphasize why it matters to the company, your industry, your customers or the local community. Make sure you keep all workers informed on company strategy and emphasize how each worker plays a critical part in achieving the company's mission.

Show your appreciation

Survey after survey shows a big reason professionals leave a job is not feeling appreciated. Thanking your employees whenever possible, offering them a chance to grow as professionals and pointing out individual contributions in front of a large group are all great, inexpensive ways to make your workers feel appreciated and engaged.

At Ambassador, we help managers by supplying them with passionate, skilled professionals who are most inclined to engage with their organization. Please contact us today to work with a full-service staffing agency!