Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to the organization and its goals, resulting in the use of discretionary effort. How then, can an employer raise the level of discretionary effort?
Striving to maintain a higher level of employee engagement is a key factor for longer-term business performance. The companies that get engagement right enjoy a surplus of competitive advantage in talent strategy and business results that is hard for others to replicate.
Getting your engaged employees more engaged to drive productivity and performance higher to the next level of success, you need to use discretionary effort in employee engagement.
A properly engaged workforce is more productive, more profitable, healthier and more likely to stay with the firm – saving recruitment costs. So how do you get your engaged workforce to work really well?
High employee engagement drives discretionary effort which is linked to superior business performance, innovation, customer loyalty, quality, productivity, profitability and retention of top talent. One-size-fits-all formula of discretionary engagement of your employees won’t deliver what you want or need. Discretionary effort is above and beyond what is expected.
Discretionary Effort Rules
Consider what incentives you have in place to motivate – and money is not the best incentive. Although money can be used occasionally, it should not be the main incentive. The monetary value of recognition has a more meaningful importance to your employees as long as you genuinely show it to them.
Set practical and achievable action goals that help employees use their full potential to improve their satisfaction and productivity. Then increase their strengths and skills by challenging your employees with setting harder goals to achieve.
It Starts at the Top: Engage your senior leadership as engagement starts with them. They are the model your engaged employees look at in order to be engaged themselves.
Get Input from Your People: By using an employee engagement survey, you can get the opinion of your employees to find out how best they work and what their specific strengths might be. I also like to find out whether an employee is an introvert or extrovert so I can match them best to the tasks they perform their greatest in.
Encourage Open Communication
Communicate clearly on what you want your employees to accomplish. Be open with your employees and allow them to be open with you. This includes allowing employees to give you an idea that can be used to help with the work productivity. If you do use their suggestion(s) or idea(s), reward them for it.
Find Ways to Connect with Each Employee: Every interaction with an employee has the potential to influence his or her engagement and inspire discretionary effort. One five-minute interaction with individuals who benefit from the company’s products and services can produce up to a 500 percent boost in employee productivity.
Getting to know employees on personal level can boost employee engagement by 11 percent. Highly engaged employees are twice as likely to be top performers—and miss 20% fewer days of work.
Invest in workplace wellness. Employer-sponsored programs that support employees in adopting behaviors that reduce their health risks and improve their quality of life – also known as wellness programs – raise engagement levels and directly impact the bottom line.
Provide Constant Feedback
When people know what they’re doing well, they’ll keep doing it – or, even better, do more of it. Providing your employees with a little recognition on what they’re doing well can go a long way toward boosting morale. This is not to say “ignore the weaknesses”.
Celebrate both financial and non financial achievements
Employees need to feel validated and that they are a valued part of the organization. Leadership needs to show how much they care for their employees and show recognition for efforts.
As a result, your engaged employees most likely are ready to buy-in to moving to the next level of extraordinary success. With the skills, strengths and abilities they demonstrate, they are ready to use their full potential for the next challenges they may also be asking for. When employees care—when they are engaged—they use discretionary effort.
Intuition might tell us that showing the money motivates, and that increasing an employee’s salary should correspondingly boost his or her motivation. It does under certain conditions. Start by asking your employees. In using discretionary effort to raise the engagement of your employees, look at what you are currently doing. Then see what needs to be improved or changed that works with your employees.
