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9 Critical Tips For HR Managers To Engage Your Employees
The people you employ are so critical to the success of a business – HR managers must never underestimate the importance of the people they’re responsible for. It’s not always easy to see the best ways to motivate and engage a team, and it is a goal that you’ll need to keep in mind at all times. Successfully engaging your employees is never a one-and-done task; it is a dynamic, ongoing and living goal that can change from day to day and even minute to minute.
There’s also no one-size-fits-all approach to take – all employees and workplaces are unique, and, as an HR manager, it’s your job to make sure that the approach your business takes works for everyone under your leadership. If this is your first HR management role, or if you’ve been in the position for years, there are some things that are nearly universally beneficial to try out.
Know What Will Drive Engagement
There’s more to employee engagement than a great salary and benefits package – though this is a good start! You’ll need to understand what helps to motivate and drive your employees beyond the basic perks of the job. There are a lot of factors at play when looking at what motivates employees, and there’s no single approach that will work for each employee, business and industry. You’ll need to learn about your team, their needs and wants, to understand what drives them. Leadership is a major driver, along with career development – employees want to see that their employers care about their long-term satisfaction in the role.
Show Employees What The Future Looks Like
It’s important that employees are able to visualise the future – their role within the company and the company’s overarching targets. It can help them feel more connected with the business’s goals, which will make them more engaged and satisfied in their roles. This means giving employees regular updates about the state of the company and where the business leaders want to be. By keeping employees in the loop about the future goals of the business, they will be able to visualise themselves growing with the company and see their future as a valued part of the team.
Automate Time Consuming Or Repetitive Tasks
There’s nothing more frustrating than doing tedious, repetitive tasks; it can put a serious dent in employee motivation and satisfaction. Most tasks that are repetitive or time-consuming could be done with greater efficiency by using automation, freeing up your employees’ time for more high-value work. Consider doing an audit of all current processes to see which could be improved by using automation. Make sure to discuss any changes with your employees and get suggestions on which tasks could be more effectively managed using automation.
Boost Meeting Quality With Live Polls
With many employees working from home, there’s been a lot said about how to improve meeting quality when not everyone is in the same room. Engaging your employees during virtual or in-person meetings is crucial, but there isn’t always a simple way to do so effectively. Meeting engagement tools like live polling and Q&A sessions can be an excellent way to boost meeting engagement – you could poll the meeting participants at the start and end of the meeting to see how beneficial the meeting was and if it achieved its objectives. Vevox has an excellent tool that can help you effortlessly poll and engage with your employees throughout virtual meetings, allowing everyone to have a say. Consider booking a demo to see for yourself how the software could transform your virtual meeting quality.
Prioritise Employee Wellbeing
Burnout is a concern for many employers, and it’s crucial to do what you can to ensure your employees are mentally and physically well. Your business depends on its employees, and not prioritising their wellbeing can come at a significant cost. You want to be sure that your business can attract and retain the most talented employees, and showing your commitment to employee wellbeing can be an excellent way to do this. 
There are plenty of things you can do to help employees manage their wellbeing in the office, such as:
- Stress management workshops
- Wellbeing apps like meditation or mindfulness apps
- Providing additional resources for employees struggling with workloads
- Offering support to employees struggling with their mental health
Show Recognition
We all like to know that our hard work is seen and appreciated – it can go a very long way to boosting satisfaction in our careers. You should create a culture that encourages recognition and celebrates the achievements of all employees. This could be with verbal, face-to-face praise, by creating a dedicated space for recognition in your company communication platform, or by sending out recognition shoutouts in company emails. Recognition should be specific and meaningful, which will make employees feel truly seen.
Get Flexible
Employees and employers across the globe are increasingly rejecting the previously accepted structure of the working week. Thanks to an increase in remote working in recent years, employees and employers are seeing the benefits of taking a flexible approach to working hours. By offering employees great control over their working hours, you’ll boost satisfaction and productivity significantly. Employees want to work in places where they can have a good work-life balance. By offering the ability to work remotely or log hours at times that suit them, you can massively increase engagement and happiness in your employees.
Encourage Socialising Outside Of The Workplace
Teamwork is essential for any business’s success, and for teamwork to be effective, your team needs to have real connections with their peers. There’s more to this than simply throwing employees together in workplace settings, though this is also invaluable. To build lasting and quality connections between employees, you need to ensure that they can connect on a personal level. Socialising outside of work can be an incredible way to ensure that employees build strong relationships. Consider hosting regular social events or encouraging employees to meet outside of work. This could be Friday evening drinks or business lunches throughout the week – whatever works to help employees build meaningful connections.
Set Up Mentorship Programs
Mentorship can bring massive benefits for both the mentor and mentee; both participants can benefit from a deeper understanding of their roles and enhanced soft skills like communication, patience and confidence. You could set up mentorship programs at a range of levels in your office that will help your employees grow and thrive. These could include:
- Onboarding mentorship – pairing an experienced employee with a new starter
- Leadership mentoring – giving employees with leadership potential the chance to be mentored by an existing business leader
- Peer mentorship – between employees of similar experience and seniority
Conclusion
Maximising employee engagement can feel like a major challenge at times, but the rewards are too significant to overlook. As an HR manager, it’s your duty to make sure that the processes of the business work for everyone under you, and this means you’ll need to be adaptable and agile in everything you do. There are plenty of tools, techniques and methods you can try out, and remember to keep testing out new solutions to see if you can find things that work even better. It’s also worth putting yourself in your employees’ shoes – this can help you get a better understanding of whether the solutions you’re using will be genuinely worthwhile.
