April 26, 2023
Employee engagement has been a hot topic over the last few years, especially with the growing popularity of online businesses and remote work. And employee engagement also plays a big role in hiring and employee retention. The bottom line is — the more invested your employees are in your business, the more space you can give them to bring their unique skills and creativity to their jobs.
Engagement is essential for both employees and employers. One survey showed that businesses with highly engaged employees are 23% more profitable than those with low engagement. Another report shows that employees who have a best friend at work are more productive, innovative, and supportive of safe workplace practices.
Engagement is also critical when you’re considering the difference between contractors and employees. You can expect your employees to give discretionary effort. That’s not something you can (ethically) ask of a contractor. But an employee, especially one who’s engaged, can contribute more on their own initiative.
So today, I’m covering three basic aspects of employee engagement:
- Short term: Are you providing space for your employees to be engaged and fulfilled in the short term? This means making sure that they enjoy their work — their clients, tasks, conversations, schedule flexibility, pay, mentorship, and the other day-to-day aspects of their jobs. And remember, it’s easier to build an enjoyable work environment when you’ve made those elements part of your hiring process.
- Long term: There are elements of long-term engagement that overlap with the short-term aspects. But this area also covers things like job security, retirement benefits, education/career development, networking, industry events, and upward mobility. What are you doing to encourage your employees to stick with your company for the long haul?
- Mission and values: If you want your employees to show up every day and contribute to your values (your true internal values, not just the showy ones on your mission statement), you need to authentically live those values day in and day out in your business.
If you want to dive deeper into engagement and many other aspects of effective leadership, you can join our upcoming management course: Paradigm Management Foundations.
If you’ve got more questions about employee engagement, tag @theparadigmm or send me a DM on Instagram! And don’t forget to review and share this episode with any small business owners you know.
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Links mentioned:
On the Up & Up Podcast: What’s REALLY Stopping You From Hiring?
On the Up & Up Podcast: When to Work With a Recruiter vs. When to DIY Your Hiring With Meg Baker
Paradigm Management Foundations
