When we’re talking about employee engagement strategies, there must be something like good communication, recognition, rewards, or work-life balance that we often focus on.
In fact, according to the Gallup study, there was a decrease in employee engagement from 36% to 34% between 2020 and 2021, and this decline persisted into early 2022. It means 17% of employees had already actively disengaged today.
We could say that even if we’re doing our best to make our people feel engaged, there must be other important aspects that we usually lose sight of.
Uncover the Hurdles and Create Successful Employee Engagement Strategies
Sure, our organization is unique, but we may overlook a few common areas in employee engagement strategies.
Let’s dive deep into some hurdles top leading companies have ever faced and how they can finally handle the situations and win their employee engagement back.
1. Lively communication & feedback channels
The large and geographically dispersed workforce has made it difficult for IBM to maintain effective communication and feedback channels. The same problem can occur in businesses with as many employees working remotely.
To solve this problem, IBM has implemented a social networking platform called “IBM Connections.” It enabled employees to collaborate, share knowledge and provide feedback between teams and locations.
IBM Connections integrates social media capabilities that go beyond traditional blogs and wikis. It includes user profiles, activity streams, communities, discussion forums, and other social collaboration tools.
As a result, these effective employee retention strategies have enhanced communication, employee engagement and collaboration between teams. Remember, the key is not the channel but how we can live it up for people.
2. Vast opportunities for skill development
Amazon has faced limited opportunities to develop and grow skills, resulting in stagnation in employee engagement. In response to this, they started the “Career Choices” program.
This program financially supported employees to continue their studies and training outside Amazon.
By investing in its employees’ personal and professional growth, Amazon has built a culture of continuous learning and development, leading to increased employee engagement.
We do not make you follow the path of Amazon, but we can start small. Despite limited resources, putting a small amount of money into our people’s skills development opportunities demonstrates your commitment to their growth.
3. Employee disengagement in remote work
GitLab is a leading company that has faced the challenge of de-engaging employees in remote workplaces. To overcome this obstacle, they have implemented several strategies to foster a strong WFH culture and improve employee engagement.
One of the effective programs is Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE). GitLab assessed people based on results rather than traditional notions of work hours or physical presence. How the employee does their job or where they do it is unimportant.
Their approach to creating a positive work environment enables employees to manage their schedules and work according to their needs and preferences, encouraging autonomy, accountability, and engagement.
4. Effective employee recognition and appreciation
Another story is about Cisco, a global technology company. Cisco Systems faced the barrier of low employee recognition and appreciation, resulting in less engagement.
To address this challenge, they implemented the ‘Connected Recognition‘ program. How was the program put in place? Cisco teamed up with Workhuman to implement a centralized recognition platform called ‘Connected Recognition.’
This platform provided a digital space for employees to highlight the contributions and accomplishments of their peers, managers and teams. It simply allowed employees to see how others were recognized.
That transparency helped to create a sense of connectivity and community within the organization. The program also encouraged nominations and awarded recognition throughout the year instead of focusing on a specific moment or event.
5. The culture of collaborations
A lack of a collaborative culture can also result in poor employee engagement. Let’s check out Microsoft’s story. Even the world’s leading technology companies have faced the challenge of low employee engagement.
To cope with the situation, Microsoft presented the program “Hackathon.”
The “Hackathon” at Microsoft is a multi-day event where employees from various teams and departments get together to work on innovative projects outside of their everyday responsibilities.
Throughout the event, employees are encouraged to be creative, experiment with new ideas, and collaborate with colleagues from various backgrounds. ‘Hackathon’ has become a catalyst for innovation in Microsoft.
As a result, these team-building activities for employee engagement have not only increased employee engagement but have also led to new products, features, and improvements in existing technologies.
What makes the Hackathon different from other ways of creating cultures of collaboration? There are four significant points:
- Implement cross-functional collaboration.
- Freedom to explore creatively.
- Focus on innovation and tangible outcomes.
- Focus on employee-managed projects.
Lastly, we are not pushing you to follow in the footsteps of these leading companies. But at least we can learn from their experiences of problem management, so their employee engagement strategies can inspire our businesses.
