Innovation, good products and services, customer-centricity, and strong leadership are crucial for building a robust and profitable company. But there’s more. A survey of Fortune 100 companies showed a commonality. They focused on creating a positive employee experience. 80% of the employees in these companies looked forward to coming to work and felt psychologically and emotionally healthy.
Positive employee experience offers many benefits to companies.
Companies with a highly engaged workforce are 21% more profitable than others. A disengaged workforce could cost companies up to $550 billion a year. The quality of work improves, and there’s less absenteeism. Studies have also found a direct correlation between good customer centricity and high employee engagement. Happy employees make happy customers.
But what can companies do to improve employee experience and engagement?
The survey of Fortune 100 companies revealed that the ones with the best employee experience fostered inclusivity, listened to employees, showed genuine care and empathy, and created a sense of purpose for them.
The Elements of Employee Experience to Drive Employee Engagement
Undoubtedly, managers have a key role to play in ensuring employee engagement. Let’s find out what they can do to create a positive employee experience.
- Psychological safety
Managers must create a safe space for employees to express their unbiased opinions and exchange ideas fearlessly. They should also be able to own up to their mistakes and flaws without the fear of being punished, embarrassed, or rejected. Managers should cultivate an environment of learning from failures and moving on. Psychologically safe companies have witnessed a 56% increase in productivity and a 50% decrease in employee churn. These companies are more likely to experience frequent innovations, creativity, and improved well-being of employees. Managers should prioritize psychological safety and lead by example by being transparent, communicative, and vulnerable.
- Coaching and mentoring
Managers in modern workplaces must focus on coaching rather than managing. They must go beyond managing employees and focus on coaching them to improve their performance and grow ahead. Like a coach, the manager must identify the strengths and weaknesses of every team member, and the gaps in their career path, and create a tailored coaching plan for each of them. They must explain to the employees their shortcomings, set goals for them to improve, understand their concerns, and coach them to overcome the barriers and improve their outcomes. Managers can also discuss the next steps in career growth to help employees build a pathway to success and growth. Regular coaching will help employees feel connected with the company’s goals and enable them to deliver real business impact.
- Continuous feedback and recognition
Feedback and recognition are crucial for employee performance. It should be timely and frequent and should not be treated as an annual performance review activity. Without regular and actionable feedback, employees will never know their weak spots. They may not perform at their optimum level. Managers must monitor the team’s performance frequently and hold regular team and one-to-one meetings with every member to discuss their strengths and weaknesses. They must also reward the team member and publicly recognize their contribution to demonstrate the value they add to the company. Frequent feedback and recognition motivate employees to repeat their best performance and enable the manager to build a high-performing team.
- Clarity on expectations
Employees must have clarity of their role in the team and the company’s growth. They must know the expectations so they can work towards achieving those goals. Managers must give them a big picture of how their work would benefit the company. Employees become disengaged when there do not have clarity on their roles and expectations. They want a sense of purpose. Hence, clarity on expectations is crucial. Managers and the HR team must explain their roles and performance metrics to new employees as soon as they are onboarded. They should communicate the work ethics, the individual and company goals, and the values they must adhere to throughout their tenure in the company. This level of clarity can go a long way in building employee engagement and creating a sense of purpose in employees.
- A sense of belonging
On average, 25% of employees feel lonely and 30% feel no sense of belonging in a company. The survey of best workplaces showed that 88% of employees could be themselves at the workplace. These companies fostered inclusivity and created a sense of belonging among employees. A sense of belonging improves employee engagement and makes employees proud of being associated with the company. Managers can create a sense of belonging for their teams by communicating major developments, maintaining transparency, and encouraging open discussions while making critical decisions. Employees should feel heard. They must feel that their opinions matter. Managers can significantly improve employee engagement by listening to employees deeply and making them feel valued.
Train The Managers to Become Coaches and Enhance Employee Experience
A manager with good coaching skills can build a positive experience for employees, resolve conflicts, encourage them to hone their skills and grow, and create a safe space for them. However, all managers may not have the innate ability to coach and mentor their teams or create a psychologically safe environment for employees. They need the training to become effective coaches.
Numly’s 60-day pilot of NumlyEngage(™) helps in this transformation. This pilot is built to accelerate employee engagement and growth for companies. It instills skills like active listening, initiating a dialogue with employees, and giving actionable feedback to teams within managers. The managers get access to exclusive content on becoming better leaders. They can also network with other people managers to exchange ideas.
Get in touch with us to know more about how the program would benefit the company.
