According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace, 85% of the global workforce are not engaged at work.
That’s a huge chunk of the workforce!
Employee engagement is vital, especially when it comes to productivity.
Organisations with a high level of engagement report 22% higher productivity, according to a new meta-analysis of 1.4 million employees conducted by Gallup.
Great, right?
But to achieve higher productivity you must start with improving employee engagement.
Don't worry, we’ve got you covered.
This blog will cover:
- The relationship between employee engagement and productivity
- Reasons why engaged employees are more productive
- How to keep your employees engaged
The Relationship Between Employee Engagement and Productivity
Let’s start with defining both employee engagement and productivity.
Employee Engagement Definition
Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organisation and its goals.
This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don't work just for the pay, but work on behalf of the organisation's goals, ultimately creating more success for the company.
Employee Productivity Definition
Employee productivity is the engine on which a business thrives.
The more efficient your workforce is, the more your company will succeed. Productive employees focus on the right things at the right times. There’s very little wasted effort, and the work they do creates the results you want.
A key factor in productivity is motivation and it is vital, not just for maintaining a company’s bottom line but also for dependency and consistency.
Ultimately, knowing your company’s output makes it easier to predict and plan for your business.
So you might be thinking, what’s the relationship between the two?
Well, employees who are more engaged in their job are generally more productive because they are motivated beyond personal factors.
They are more focused and more motivated than their disengaged colleagues.
This means that they work more efficiently and with the success of the organisation in mind. Always.
Unfortunately, most organisations focus on deadlines and getting work done instead of focusing on the level of engagement in their company.
These organisations tend to forget that it’s also important for employees to be enthusiastic about what they’re doing. One engaged employee can contribute a lot more to organisational productivity than 10 disengaged employees.
Reasons Why Engaged Employees Are More Productive
So why is it that engaged employees are more productive and more likely to produce their best work?
Engaged employees are:
⭐️ More Satisfied and Happy
When employee engagement is boosted, employee satisfaction improves.
This creates a positive workplace culture that drives organisational success. When employees are satisfied with their job responsibilities, they put extra effort into what they are doing and improve their overall performance.
Want to measure employee satisfaction in your business?
📖 We recommended you read our Employee Satisfaction Surveys: Why They’re Important
⭐ Have an Innovative Work Approach
Repetitive tasks lead to disengagement in the workplace and loss of interest in employees.
When you focus on employee engagement and design a challenging workflow for your employees, the way of approaching their goals changes.
Employees tend to use a more innovative approach when they are engaged and productive.
⭐️ Likely to Stay at the Organisation Longer
Legal jobs found that 87% of HR experts consider employee retention as one of the highest priorities in a business.
So why are so many companies still struggling to retain their employees?
It’s a known fact that the more a business focuses on its employees happiness and satisfaction, the more loyal the employees are.
High employee turnover can sometimes create an atmosphere where employees look for excuses to leave. It can almost be a catalyst like a chain reaction, where when one employee leaves others to seem to follow.
However, increased retention results in greater productivity, profits, increased engagement and employee satisfaction.
In fact, highly engaged businesses achieve 59% less turnover.
⭐️ Likely to Give a Better Customer Experience
A customer-centric approach always adds value to an organisation.
Focusing on employee engagement helps you fill the gap between how the company treats its employees and how the employees treat their customers.
Engaged employees tend to be happier and tend to provide a better customer experience.
When the customers are happy with the service provided to them, it eventually leads to the success of your business.
How to Keep Your Employees Engaged
Now that we’ve covered the reasons why engaged employees tend to be more productive, let's look at how you can keep your employees engaged to reap the rewards.
Here are 10 powerful steps:
1. Improve Efficiency in the Workplace
Are you working with outdated technology and inefficient practices?
Chances are the quality of your work and staff is going to be affected.
Recent surveys have identified that inefficient processes waste up to 26% of an employee’s working day.
That’s over a quarter of the day wasted! Crazy, right?
The big question is how can we improve this?
It’s not as hard as you think...
By making sure an efficient document management process is in place, an employee’s workload is made much more manageable and easier to handle.
Uniform processes maintain a defined quality of work, instead of having to cut corners due to time constraints.
You will most likely benefit from an intranet solution that allows you to store your important documents securely, in one place. Enabling users to locate all content, past or present, quickly and there's no more wasting valuable time searching for important documents.
We’ve designed Oak to find whatever you need instantly, helping your employees save time and be more productive.
2. Improve Communication
When considering the notion of how to improve employee engagement, communication is one of the most important factors to bear in mind.
After all, communication is integral to our everyday lives, especially in the workplace!
It determines how effectively we fulfil our daily tasks and how we engage with colleagues.
Maybe you’re seeing increased miscommunication between your employees.
Especially if you’re a large organisation or enterprise.
This is probably due to staff unable to communicate with one another or they rely on outdated and inefficient processes to exchange information.
Of course, with fewer staff relying on desktop-based devices than ever before, facilitating communication for office based and deskless employees is vital!
Improving your workforce communication methods should be one of the first things to look at.
I bet you’re thinking, ‘this sounds fantastic but where do I start?’
📖 Take a look at our 11 internal communication tools to facilitate better communication.
Ideal for organisations with deskless or remote workers. It gives companies the power to access their intranet solution at any time, from anywhere.
3. Give Recognition
Recognising your employees goes a long way to making your staff feel valued and increasing their productivity that little bit more. Over 91% of HR professionals believe that recognition and reward make employees more likely to stay.
Not only will their motivation increase, but others will feel inspired to work for the very same recognition, ultimately boosting workplace morale.
So, how can you start?
Well, Oak’s employee recognition software helps companies boost morale and let their employees know that they care by celebrating milestones like birthdays, work anniversaries and achievements.
Employees can even comment on achievements at any time with Oak’s built in timeline.
This creates a positive working environment, which will in turn, boost morale, improve employee wellbeing and increase engagement and productivity.
4. Encourage Interaction
The workplace doesn’t always have to be about work.
In fact, building relationships outside of a professional environment can be an effective way of improving communication throughout your business as a whole.
By creating events or communities within your workplace, like minded people can solidify bonds with others from different departments and create relationships that may not have otherwise existed.
Who knew it could be so easy?
Oak’s hubs bring like-minded people together, allowing your teams to share and collaborate on common interests.
Whether you need to share content company-wide, the latest user interface designs with a select group, or simply want a place to talk about the next social event. Hubs on your company intranet allow employees to instantly connect and target the right people.
5. Invest in Your Employees, Invest in Your Company
Did you know that, if you don’t invest in the very things in which your employees feel they are lacking, you could end up losing the engagement of your employees?
By putting aside a budget to cater to your employees wants and needs, you are, in essence, investing directly into the company itself.
If you're unsure of what your employees need to boost their engagement and productivity levels, don't worry, we’ve got you covered.
You can quickly set up polls or Q&As within your Oak company intranet to gather feedback!
6. Focus on Employee Wellbeing
Employee wellbeing and engagement go hand in hand.
It’s far easier for individuals to engage with their work when the organisation makes an effort to enhance their overall wellbeing.
So, what can you do to shift your focus more towards employee wellbeing?
Firstly, a company-wide wellness initiative is a great way to improve employee engagement. Employees that feel valued and genuinely cared for by their business are much more inclined to return the favour.
At Oak, we understand that staying connected massively boosts employee wellbeing. Oak messenger is designed to improve employee engagement and workplace productivity.
Users can send instant messages to one specific person or a whole group. Perfect for department communication, remote workers and general social interaction between employees.
7. Encourage Feedback
More often than not, employees crave feedback. It boosts their level of workplace engagement.
More than 33% of workers still want more regular feedback, according to a survey by Joblist of over 1000 full-time employees.
Why not start by scheduling check-ins for each employee with their manager?
If you’d like to take it a step further, encourage middle management to establish regular review sessions with their team as an ongoing initiative to improve employee engagement.
While it may be tempting to implement a company-wide schedule for feedback, keep in mind that every team is different and frequent check-ins may feel unnatural to some.
So, what else can you do to gather feedback?
Well, Pulse Surveys are used to gather real, actionable insights that businesses can use to improve employee engagement, productivity and collaboration and enhance employee experience.
They allow businesses to gauge interest, understand an employee's opinion, gather feedback and more. Sounds great, right?
8. Emphasise Your Company Culture
Did you know that employees will be more engaged if they have a common goal and a shared culture?
Only 23% of executives say that their companies are excellent at aligning employees' goals with corporate purposes.
So, having a shared culture not only promotes consistency in the business but also allows organisations to benefit from an open and friendly workplace.
Great company culture will also create a fun and engaging working environment that can result in a higher level of productivity and employee relations. Having a transparent work culture is vital to ensure that there is trust between management and employees.
But, emphasising your company culture doesn't have to be difficult.
In fact, you can communicate all company announcements on your intranet homepage.
Oak’s social timeline feature allows employees to catch up on the latest news and announcements or interact with colleagues through customisable content feeds.
Employees can comment, like, upload media and more. Timeline helps workforces to stay connected, engaged and aligned, promoting your company culture. What more could you ask for?
9. Provide a Good Onboarding Experience
Onboarding is a pivotal moment for making employees feel included from day one.
It sets the tone for your company, laying the foundation for their knowledge of and experience working for your company.
This is why building an inclusive onboarding experience is so important to creating a great company culture and building engagement.
So, how can you go about building the best onboarding experience?
Your intranet is a crucial platform for onboarding new employees.
Many of our features personalise the digital workplace experience for all employees.
It’s also important for a business to make it quick and easy for employees to learn as much about their colleagues and organisation as possible. This creates a seamless onboarding experience, improving engagement from the start.
10. Give Working Flexibility
Flexible working is quickly becoming the ‘new normal', don’t you agree?
Flexible work schedules and remote work opportunities are almost guaranteed ways of increasing employee engagement.
This kind of flexibility caters to the elusive work-life balance employees crave.
87% of employees expect their organisations to support them in balancing work responsibilities with personal commitments.
Why not provide your employees with the ability to adjust their work hours to accommodate their personal needs? This shows that you value your team members on a personal level.
Again, use your intranet to adjust your working times or mark a day off. An intranet calendar is important for employees to stay organised to track meetings, appointments, events, birthdays or who's out of the office on a certain day.
Connectivity and accessibility is at the heart of any great intranet, so companies will want calendars that can be shared among team members and other departments.
After all, you want everything you need, all in one place.
To Summarise
Now that you know how important it is to focus on employee engagement to improve productivity in your organisation - it’s time to get to work!
If you haven't already, you should implement a company intranet.
The future of work depends on having employees be able to access everything they need in one place. What better way to do this than having a digital workplace solution.
If you would like to find out how Oak could boost employee engagement for your business, feel free to get in touch.
Or, why not check out the real cost of disengaged employees with our free ROI calculator.
Our Employee Engagement ROI Calculator is designed to quantify the financial impact of disengaged employees in your business.
This will show the true cost of disengaged employees based on the average salaries and the size of the workforce.
