Strategies to Engage & Empower Employees During Covid -19 and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic is a unique once-in-a-generation crisis (we hope) and, in less than a year, it has upended so much around us. It has triggered both employees and businesses to rethink their priorities and behaviours. Success doesn’t always have to translate to more intense workdays or unwanted overtime hours. Organizations striving to have fully engaged workforces are now encouraging their employees to work smarter – to maximize their efficiency and productivity so they leave time and energy for non-work interests. This is especially important for remote workers who have a more difficult time separating their work and home lives.

Using Recognition and Opportunities to Foster Engagement

To foster an engaged, motivated workforce, business leaders can:

• Promote a culture where strong work ethics are rewarded.
• Celebrate employees’ successes and workplace targets.
• Mentor employees to grow and develop new skills.

Research indicates that flexible policies enhance work-life balance while, at the same time, bolstering employee morale and engagement. Initiate ways to help your workers manage their time effectively to do their jobs, attend to personal demands and engage in personalized development activities. While happy, confident employees tend to be more effective and efficient, in contrast, those not given development opportunities lose interest in doing their jobs well.

Celebrate employees’ unique contributions that make a positive difference to your business practices. Acknowledge and express thanks to validate their value-added impact. Not surprisingly, these kudos really have a positive affect on employee engagement and motivation levels.

In many cases, it’s in a company’s best interest to create opportunities for employees to move up from within. Why let employees stagnate and become depreciating assets when they can be empowered to do more and be value-added assets. It is also extremely motivating for co-workers to see their peers promoted and it tends to have a positive effect on their engagement. Levels.

A powerful way to demonstrate a genuine willingness to invest in your employees is to create succession plans for key positions. Make this a high priority if one of your corporate goals is to hold onto your high-potential employees. This positive course of action incentivizes both their future growth as well as loyalty to your organization. If employees are currently working remotely, there are ways to make training and job development available to them. This investment in their future will yield significant and lasting benefits to position your organization to be more competitive, post pandemic.

Fostering Engagement by Unlocking Employees’ Skills and Knowledge

Discover new ways to tap into your employees’ intellectual capital:

• Invite employees to participate in strategic planning meetings.
• Include employees in briefings so they get a bigger picture of workplace challenges.
• Assign employees new responsibilities i.e., ask them to head up a team/project.
• Encourage employees to pair up with mentors to cultivate new areas of expertise.

When employees feel they have the tools to do their best work every day, they can work at peak performance. When there is a mismatch between employees’ abilities and their responsibilities, they may feel underutilized to the detriment of the organization that misses out on untapped potential. Should this become a widespread issue, it can impact employee satisfaction and limit an organization’s growth.

Emphasis should be placed on building genuine and trusting relationships. Ensure all employees are treated with dignity and respect. Withhold judgments and show understanding. Managers should never play favorites. Be consistent. Constant changes in approaches and business practices cultivates a culture of mistrust. Ensure corporate rules and regulations are clear and applied equally and fairly across the board. Take immediate action when employees or teams are treated unfairly. Workplace favoritism and unfair practices substantially decrease employee morale, engagement and productivity.

Employees who understand their roles and responsibilities stay more satisfied and engaged. They want to feel validated and valued by their organization. Employees tend not to leave organizations that treat them fairly, and where their achievements are recognized. Managers are an intrinsic factor in empowering employees to stretch and grow to reach their true potential. Demonstrating to them that you care about their goals is an effective way to build rapport. Feeling valued is ranked high by most employees, right up there with liking their jobs, competitive pay and opportunities for training and advancement.

To learn more about the services Flex Surveys offers and how they can help your team, contact us at 877.327.5085 or visit our Contact Page to set up a demo.