After years and years of research on employee engagement, and companies spending millions of dollars trying to improve engagement, not a whole lot has changed.
The things that make employees engaged are all easy to do and mostly free. However according to studies, only 13 per cent of people are satisfied at work worldwide.
Here a few tips that can help you increase job satisfaction.
The first thing to concentrate is trusting your employees as it forms the base of everything.
* At the root of a lot of stress, anxiety, and frustration that many employees feel are unrealistic expectations from the organisation.
As a leader, it’s your responsibility to make sure employees aren’t feeling overworked or overwhelmed, they likely won’t have the courage to raise that as an issue.
This might be hard for you to do depending on what the organisation’s goals are, but more than anything you should be having open and honest discussions with your team to see if expectations are too high.
* Recognising your employees is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to increase job satisfaction.
The only thing it requires of you is to be more mindful of what’s going on around you.
Increasing your emotional intelligence will help you become more mindful and appreciative of what your team is doing.
* In order for employees to get motivated, they need to see the same long term vision that the senior leadership team has.
Short-term thinking or looking for those 'quick wins' are not only bad for business, but can be incredibly frustrating for employees.
Ask your employees to think about, where do they see your organisation in 10 years from now?
Once they start thinking about those answers, discuss them as a team and you’ll see how motivating it can be for them.
* Work on creating a culture of open and honest communication within your team. That feeling of safety and being comfortable saying whatever you want to anyone on your team is a key component of a successful team.
* Showing employees that you genuinely care about their well-being is one of the most effective ways to increase job satisfaction.
There are two aspects to this: mental well-being and physical well-being.
* Personal growth is arguably the most important aspect of employee engagement.
When employees stop learning, they plateau and get bored, eventually looking elsewhere for stimulation. You can stop this by implementing programs for continuous learning.
However, Don’t expect your employees to work 60+ hour weeks and also get some training in.
* Employees want feedback desperately, and aren’t as sensitive as you might think. There’s no need to be rude with your feedback, but if you’re straightforward and honest, employees will respect that.
Make time for regular feedback by scheduling one-on-ones once a month with each member of your team, and create more of those informal opportunities for conversation.
* Friendships at work are important, and as a leader, it’s your responsibility to help make them happen.
You can’t force friendships at work, but what you can do is create the environment for those connections to happen. By organising activities like team lunches, group projects, or happy hours, you’re helping to create those opportunities for connections.
* Helping employees plan for the long term shows them that you’re committed to their success and you’re willing to invest in them in the long term.
The more you can work with your employees to map out their career goals, the more satisfied they’ll be on the day-to-day.
Courtesy: www.officevibe.com
