Whether your organization has ten employees or 10,000 employees, chances are you’ve heard of employee engagement or have thought about ways to help get your own employees more engaged. Engagement can take different forms– monthly employee lunch outings, utilizing social media tools to communicate or even providing wellness activities, such as yoga classes.

So, why does employee engagement matter? A Gallup study showed that highly engaged employees show 21% greater profitability.
Make employees feel valued and you’ll see it in the work that they do. And that can mean big things for your organization.

Successful employee engagement also starts with a commitment from leadership. Leadership helps set the tone. They should be involved early and often. Employee engagement shouldn’t just be a few times and then it’s done. It should be ongoing, evolving and improving. That’s the mark of a good employee engagement program.

Here are three ways to promote employee engagement:

1) Get social. Try social media platforms like Yammer. Yammer is an internal platform that many companies use to encourage employee discussion. There are groups and hashtags are used. Want to encourage engagement among your marketing staff? Set up a Yammer group for them and encourage participation.

2) Communicate, communicate and communicate some more. Does your organization struggle with communication? Do employees not have a sense of what the company is up to? Don’t let that happen. Maybe you decide to send a weekly email letting employees know what is going on with the company and how it affects them. As a leader, you could also go on Yammer and do a 15 minute Q and A session. Or, send employee satisfaction surveys and really take the results to heart. If employees tell you they aren’t happy, make some changes.

3) Know your squad. Get to know your employees outside of your once a week check in. Back during my time in state government, my committee staff and I went on what we called a “pizza tour.” One Friday a month we would have lunch at a different pizza place in the area. Everyone brought a suggestion of where to go and we rotated whose turn it was to choose. Not only did we get to try out a new pizza place, these fun lunches helped us get to know each other better. As a result, we also became a stronger team. I have great memories of our pizza tour. Maybe your team loves donuts, so do that instead. You’ve got nothing to lose.

Any other suggestions that have worked well for you? We’d love to hear about them below.

Author: Amy Berger

Amy Berger is a corporate communications writer based in Minnesota. Previously, she spent over ten years working for state and federal government and brings a unique perspective of how best to utilize communication methods. She’s a big believer in evaluating communications strategies on a regular basis and finding new ways to deliver information. Amy has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Gustavus Adophus College and a Master’s in Business Administration from the College of Saint Scholastica.

Connect with her through Linkedin and Twitter @amykberger

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