Encourage Employee Engagement

Take time to honestly assess your answers to the above questions.  Consider the following points:

• Do you offer opportunities for growth?  Employees appreciate the ability to grow, thus training and development initiatives help solidify professional relationships.  The employer gains additional knowledge, and perhaps more effective employees, with on-going training and development, while the employee sees the employer is invested in their future.  Remember, a training program does not have to be expensive to be effective.
• Do you praise employees?  Sincere and specific feedback goes a long way.  The statement “Good job” alone is likely not effective since it is often overused.  “Good job at providing quality customer service” will go a long way since employees want to know their efforts have been noticed.
• Do you know what motivates your employees?  Manager use all sorts of methods to motivate employees.  From donuts every Friday morning to employee lunches at 5 star restaurants.  No matter what method you use to motivate employees, consider asking your staff what motivates them.  You may be surprised to know most people are not motivated by increased pay or job security, but are more likely to be motivated through interesting work or simply feeling as though they are part of a team.  If you do not ask, you will never know.

A thorough and well-designed employee survey helps answer some of the above questions.  In an ever growing competitive job market, employers must consider these facts since productivity is directly correlated to job satisfaction.  A business owner or manager can gain valuable information worthy of analysis, which helps provide a perfect outline for an action plan to address such issues.

Consult with an expert, such as the professionals at Investment HR, to help plan, design, and analyze such a survey.