Driving employee engagement

Motivating and engaging employees is essential for any business wishing to retain their talent and deliver results.

Driving employee engagement in the workplace can result in a wide range of benefits for both the organisation and employee.

Money may make the world go round. But it isn’t the only thing that motivates us to work.

It's true that one of our primary drivers is salary, but employees are looking for more from their workday than simply turning up and being paid in exchange for doing what’s asked of them. In fact, studies show that many lottery winners continue to go to work post-win which suggests there’s a lot more to work motivation than a pay cheque.

Many factors can lead to being happy and motivated at work: feeling valued, having autonomy and influence over our work environment, being able to develop, and taking pride in what we do. In short, employees want to feel engaged. Which, in turn, impacts hugely on our overall happiness.

Having an engaged workforce isn’t just good news for your employees’ wellbeing. It’s healthy for your business too.

High-performing workplace cultures require an engaged workforce. Motivating and engaging employees can lead to improved productivity, staff retention and create a positive work environment.

According to a University of Warwick study, happiness makes people work harder. The study found that happy employees were 12% more productive than average. And Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report shows that businesses with highly engaged employees achieve:

• 41% lower absenteeism
• 17% higher productivity
• 24% lower staff turnover
• 21% higher profitability

But with only 15% of employees across the world feeling engaged in their work, employers have a challenge on their hands. Worse still, 10% of UK employees actively dislike their job and 6% hate where they work according to YouGov research.

Having a permanent and constantly evolving employee engagement strategy can help tackle demotivation, so implementing a strategic programme of exciting, varied and rewarding events is a critical component of this. Helping employees feel appreciated and provides a regular reminder of their value.

Commitment

One of the most important factors in delivering successful employee engagement events is a consistent – not sporadic – approach.

As you would with any other investment, ensure your company takes a strategic overview to delivering employee events. Implement a well thought out and measurable plan of events that are aligned to your company goals.

This in itself creates additional ways to engage staff by involving them from the very beginning of the planning process. Consider establishing a committee comprised of a range of team members to represent the views of the business and its workplace culture.

Creating and implementing the right kind of events that will engage your employees may be a challenge, but could also be your greatest asset in creating a happy and productive workforce.

With the results speaking for themselves, can you afford not to invest in events for employee engagement?

Want to discover the kinds of event that could work well in your employee engagement strategy? Check out our Top 5 Events for Employee Engagement here.

Find out more about the event services that could help you to implement a successful employee engagement strategy, or get in touch to discuss your event requirements and how we can help you to deliver an outstanding event.