Top 5 Employee Engagement Trends 2018
Employee engagement, simply put, is the extent to which an employee’s personal goals and interests align with the vision and goals of the company at which they are employed.
When you have an environment where your employees are engaged by their work, you’ll notice:
· High levels of productivity
· A boost to your bottom line
· Better retention rates of your top talents
· An increased sense of health and well-being
· And decreased healthcare costs
With the right knowledge, the right tools, and — most importantly — the proper mindset, employee engagement can be a powerful way to transform your organization and improve your bottom line.
Today, there is a greater focus on employee experience, work-life balance, and other options.
So, what does this mean for businesses and recruiters? Read on to learn the top five employee engagement trends for 2018.
1. Allowing Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is huge today. This is because most families have become two-income households. Because both parents and spouses have jobs, the need for a flexible job in order to keep up with family and household responsibilities is more important than ever.
Many baby boomers claim that “working from home” is young millennial workers simply being lazy. However, companies and employers are beginning to see the value of work-life balances. Studies have shown that a flexible work-life balance results in less sick days and reduces employee burnout.
Additionally, telecommuting has proven to increase productivity. As a result, many companies are offering flexible work hours, fringe benefits, and telecommuting options to employees. Furthermore, it also shows millennial employees that the company cares about their careers and personal lives.
As a result, 2018 promises to be the year that will lead to greater understanding of employees’ work-life balance needs. More companies are researching ways to allow employees to work in a way that best suits their personal and professional lifestyles.
Takeaway Tip: All in all, employees want to be in control of their own time management. Therefore, employers must learn how to accept this and allow employees to work at their own pace and when it best suits them while remaining productive and professional.
2. The Employee Experience:
In todays’ workplace, baby boomers often complain about millennials’ lack of work ethic. On the other hand, millennials blame baby boomers for a damaged, imbalanced economy and lack of job opportunities.
Regardless of which generation you associate with, the truth is that things aren’t as simple as they were 20 or even 30 years ago. After watching their parents lose their retirement accounts after years of service and loyalty to a company, you can’t blame millennials for their lack of desire to approach careers in the same way.
Therefore, today’s millennial employees are more interested in the experience of their jobs and careers. Due to the high cost of employee turnover, many companies are realizing that enhancing and shaping employee experience is well worth the investment.
Takeaway Tip: Investing in and implementing flexible work hours, telecommuting options, fringe benefits and a range of other tools are all effective ways that “speak” to today’s employees and that also improve the employee work experience.
3. Regular Recognition and Feedback
Employees want to receive recognition and feedback, even if it’s negative. The truth is that many employees often feel ignored by their managers. This not only leads to low morale, it also reduces productivity. In fact, studies have shown that employees are twice as likely to become disengaged with their work when they feel ignored by their managers.
However, by providing feedback and recognition to employees on a regular or even a weekly basis, this has shown to significantly increase productivity and engagement levels. Employees are 30 times more likely to work harder if they received regular feedback from their managers, particularly feedback that focuses on an employee’s strengths.
Furthermore, most employees prefer regular feedback than annual performance reviews. This is because employees — particularly those under the age of 30 — believe that receiving feedback when it matters most leads to the most meaningful actions.
Takeaway Tip: Taking the time to provide feedback to employees is a simple way to increase morale, productivity, and make employees work harder. Investing in an employee feedback tool can help companies, managers, and HR teams monitor and collect employee feedback as well as organize annual performance appraisals and/ or reviews.
4. Rewarding Career Paths
Gone are the days when employees were fairly satisfied with a 9-to-5 job and regular paycheck. Rather, millennials are looking for opportunities that shape their careers. In fact, according to a study published by Gallup News, millennials rank advanced career opportunities as their number one drive for making career decisions.
Therefore, it’s safe to say that millennial workers likely won’t stick around in a job or in a company that doesn’t offer the opportunity to learn, grow, learn new skills or advance. Companies should invest in educating employees and keeping them informed about the available advancement opportunities in the company.
Takeaway Tip: Take the time to speak with employees about their aspirations and goals. Make it possible for millennials to see themselves at your company over the long term. This will not only keep them engaged, but it will also prevent them from looking for other opportunities elsewhere. Some companies also offer personal development and skills training programs to help employees learn new skills.
5. Implement the Right Tools to Understand and Analyze the Employee Experience
To help them monitor, analyze, and measure employee satisfaction and employee engagement levels, many companies are beginning to adopt technological tools that help them collect and monitor this data.
Forward-thinking companies that effectively measure employee engagement levels, satisfaction, and the overall employee experience increase morale and productivity, and also reduce turnover rates. There are a number of technical solutions, such as employee surveys, real-time employee feedback tools, and even machine-based employee engagement technology.
Takeaway Tip: All in all, by making the employee experience one of the company’s top priorities, and investing in tools and technology to help HR teams, companies and HR teams can truly make a difference in employees’ lives and careers as well as the organization as a whole.
Finally, when arming HR teams and managers with the right tech tools, they spend less time on performing administrative tasks and focus more on improving the employee experience.
What Are Your Employees Saying?
Find out what employees really think by taking advantage of JAMA’s employee engagement such as employee surveys, to find out what you can do to increase employee engagement and satisfaction.
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