Everyone dreads going to work on Monday. But for some employees, that feeling is much more common than it should be. In the U.S., 15% of workers are actively disengaged from their jobs; that means they spend as much time thinking about how they can leave their company as they do coming up with new ways to help it succeed.  

It’s no surprise, then, that companies with high employee engagement ratings have a higher Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Investment (ROI). That being said, there are plenty of companies who have found a way to get their employees excited about coming to work every day – and in turn, see a positive impact on their business results. 

These organizations understand that employee engagement is directly linked to productivity and profitability. Here are 7 strategies you can use to boost employee engagement at your company.

7 Most Effective Employee Engagement Strategies For Your Organization

1. Communicate the Company’s Purpose and Values

First and foremost, you need to communicate the company’s purpose and values. This will provide the foundation for everything else on the list. Are there clearly-defined values? If not, this should be the first step toward boosting employee engagement.

If you don’t have a clear idea of what your company represents, you’re going to have a hard time getting employees to buy into it. Once you’ve identified the values, communicate them to your staff.

This is another way of saying, “This is who we are.” Employees will feel more connected to the company if they know its values.

Robert Warner, Head of Marketing at Virtual Valley, explains, “For example, let’s say your company values “integrity” and “transparency.” You can use these values when writing employee reviews. In the review, you can say that “your integrity and transparency were evident” when reviewing the employee’s work. This will send a clear message about your company values.”

2. Rotate Staff to Different Roles

If you want to increase employee engagement, you may want to consider rotating workers to different roles. This can be especially effective if you have one or two highly specialized roles in your organization.

When a company only has a few employees, it can be difficult to find people to fill highly specialized positions. Rather than hiring more people, rotate your current staff through different roles. This will help to increase engagement because your employees will feel like they are contributing to the success of the organization in a number of different ways. This will also help employees learn while working in a new role that you have given, further adding value to them at your company.

Antoine Boquen, CEO and co-founder of recruitment company Horizons says “Rotating employees can also help to prevent the creation of cliques in the office. A clique is when a group of people has formed a tight-knit relationship and spend most of their time with each other, leaving other employees feeling left out.”

3. Offer Professional Development Opportunities

Another way to boost employee engagement is to offer professional development opportunities. This is especially important in industries where the competition is high and new skills are constantly needed.

What types of training does your company offer? Is it enough? Does your company offer courses that could help employees advance in their careers?

If not, you may want to consider investing in some type of training program. Participating in training can help employees identify new strengths and weaknesses, build new skills, and feel more engaged.

4. Provide a Meaningful Employee Recognition Program

If you want to increase employee engagement, you’ll want to create a meaningful employee recognition program, says Lachlan de Crespigny, co-founder of Revelo This doesn’t mean you have to throw a big party for every manager who reaches their one-year anniversary at the company. You can create a recognition program that is appropriate for your company and employees. 

Joe Troyer, CEO & Head of Growth of Digital Triggers explains “Let’s say you have an employee who always goes above and beyond, but you don’t have an established recognition program. You can always use a little piece of paper to write down their name and the specific thing they did. This is a simple way to recognize employees and boost engagement.” 

For many employees, meaningful recognition can be something as simple as praise or a handwritten note. For others, it may be a larger event, like a company-wide bowling tournament or a company-wide cookout. What’s important is that your recognition program is meaningful and tailored to your company.

5. Make Workspace and Environment Improvements

Derek Bruce, the Operations Director of Skills Training Group says “Boosting employee engagement doesn’t have to be as complicated as you may think. You can begin by making some minor improvements to the workspace and environment.” 

What improvements can you make to the office? 

A few ideas may include installing more comfortable chairs, moving the break room to a different location, or creating a more relaxed dress code. These are the types of changes that can boost engagement without requiring too much effort. 

What other changes can you make to the office? Can you add more plants or pictures to the walls? Can you offer specific amenities, like an indoor basketball court or rooftop garden? 

Darshan Somashekar, who runs the word games platform Unscrambled Words, uses games to improve his team’s work environment. “We wanted to encourage our team to take breaks and avoid burnout, and as a gaming company, it only made sense to make games available in our office. Our employees love it, and it has helped with overall productivity.”

These types of improvements can go a long way toward helping employees feel more engaged.

6. Have Clear, Written Communication Standards and Practices

Finally, if you want to increase employee engagement, you need to have clear, written communication standards and practices. Communication is one of the top predictors of employee engagement. If employees don’t feel like their leaders are communicating with them, they’ll feel more disengaged. It’s important to ensure that your communication standards are consistent across the board. 

Strong communication should start from day one: your job posting and requirements. A good way to make sure that you’re sufficiently communicating about the job and expectations is to work with an HR recruiting team–leave it to the professionals to help you portray the job expectations clearly, and help you find the best candidates accordingly.

What you say to one employee should be consistent with what you say to another employee. What other communication standards can you put into place? Can you outline the vacation policy? Can you make the vacation policy consistent across all departments? 

These types of communication standards can help to boost employee engagement.

7. Invite Employees to Participate in Firm Events and Conferences

Finally, to boost employee engagement, you need to invite employees to participate in athletic events and conferences. What type of events does your company have? Are there conferences that could benefit your employees? 

What types of conferences can you invite your employees to attend? Does your company have an annual conference? Do you have a speakers series that you could expand to include guest speakers from outside the industry? 

These types of events and guest speakers can help to boost engagement significantly.

Conclusion

Employee engagement is important for business success, and these strategies can help you to improve employee engagement. 

To begin, communicate the company’s purpose and values, rotate employees through different roles, offer professional development opportunities, provide a meaningful employee recognition program, make workspace and environment improvements, have clear, written communication standards, and invite employees to participate in firm events and conferences.