Employee Engagement- A Need for Organizational Nirvana
Is Happiness Really Enough?
Some old adages are proving to be not so close to the truth. The aphorism, “A Happy Employee Is Productive” is losing its allure in the multi-optional world of today. Sure, there are numerous ways to build happiness around your employee, provide inescapable charm by throwing in freebies, handouts or perks by way of free gourmet lunches, paid holidays, childcare facilities, as some conglomerates did exercise as a part of their employee satisfaction policy. But did these lavish bestowals ultimately work in the long run? The answer is probably not. This sort of management attention, while might impress the employee, but in the long run, may not necessarily motivate him/her to be continuously productive, or in other words, produce loyalty.
Sometimes, large and small businesses might miss out on a very relevant employee retention factor. That of employee engagement. And a strong initiative on employee engagement can only boost the employee morale towards consistency coupled with contribution and dedication towards their job and organization. It is being increasingly observed that hiring with suitable compensation is not where the buck stops. It’s where the narrative begins. And there must be persistent motivation provided for each employee, namely the challenge and purpose of work plus the opportunity to learn and contribute. Hence, what doesn’t come as a surprise, but a relief, is that employees are most comfortable and productive with “ENGAGEMENT”.
Beyond Happiness Lies the Nirvana of Engagement
It is always possible for HR and management to be resourceful and creative at their end to keep their employee morale healthy and hence keep attrition rates minimal. There are various ways in which many businesses have been successful in managing their most valuable assets, their employees. Benefits do not always have to be expensive—in fact, some may actually help a business increase its profit margins.
• Making investments in corporate culture is one way to keep employees motivated. Simple gestures like recognizing employees by management and peers on their birthday can go a long way. A greater initiative could also be creating a company sports team, logo and kits or having an entertainment-filled break room in the office. A congenial work environment is more reason to return to work everyday.
• Providing healthy and balanced food and lifestyle culture within office hours is a tremendous burden off an employee’s shoulders, who might have no time otherwise at home to do so, having a chunk of greater personal responsibilities. Yoga hours or guided meditation practices to release stress and nutritious food supply in lunch hours can be stress busters for the workforce.
• Fitness incentives and even company-wide fitness events such as participating in marathons can improve employee health as well as facilitate corporate bonding. Overall, healthy employees will have fewer sick days and can be more focused.
• Reducing manual processes and having more face time to talk with the workforce is a great mentoring strategy in this respect. This leads the way to secure and loyal employees who know that they are in an unorthodox, yet nurturing workplace and hence are certain of not barking up the wrong tree at any given time.
• Employers and managers could opt for a tracking mechanism for identifying gaps in workforce competency which can eventually be filled with pertinent and adequate training. They could adopt similar process-oriented methods to also identify diverse aptitudes amongst employees, and encourage job rotation within the company. This maximizes employee potential and challenges them creatively to explore possibilities for personal growth and business yields.
• Satya Nadella, who just took over as CEO of Microsoft, addressed all his employees honestly, in his very first email, as he wrote “I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things, you stop doing great and useful things”. That holds true for any individual. And effective management understands the need to create a space for cohesive and individual training and learning activities. The learning must go on, and the hunger for knowledge must be maintained at infectious levels within the workforce.
The Human Capital Management Product Suite- A Mantra for Delightful Employee Engagement
With technological advancement forcing significant changes in the business, today’s leaders face a new kind of challenge embracing innovation at the granular level of the organization. Shifting to a cloud-based Employee Lifecycle Management solution like PeopleWorks entails a number of benefits for your organization. Apart from helping CEOs expand their innovation horizon, this product suite helps you streamline and automate your HR processes, reducing manual paperwork and saving time and cost. PeopleWorks is the preferred solution that would add value to your company’s bottom line by aligning itself with organizational goals like higher Employee Engagement. PeopleWorks HRMS approaches any engagement bottlenecks with the Employee Connect module with innovative and intuitive features like:
Birthday List: View employee birthday list and wish them with a click.
Notifications: News from the HR desk, straight to your workstation.
Newsletters: Internal newsletters and updates
Employee Handbook, Employee Directory and Broadcast are amongst more features that help an organization, its management, and employees stay integrated and connected with transparency and one-click data availability.
Enhanced data analysis and 24/7 access to employee and team information and 70+ reports provide sufficient visibility into human capital for valuable decision making and continued knowledge support.
A quote by Eric Hoffer lucidly exemplifies the aspect of continuous learning as follows:
“In times of change, learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists”
Make PeopleWorks your choice to inherit Nirvana for your organization.
