Do your employees jump out of bed each morning excited to come to work? When they’re at work are they totally absorbed in what they’re doing? According to a ton of research, the answer is, unfortunately, “probably not.”
Employee engagement is about building an environment where employees are fully absorbed by their work, enthusiastic about achieving their goals, and consistently take action to further the organization. A fully engaged employee is willing to go the extra mile because she cares about the organization’s well-being. He puts his entire mind, body and soul into work when he’s on the clock.
So if you have employees who work hard or put in long hours, can you say they are engaged? Not necessarily. Plenty of people hate their jobs but work long hours because they think they have to in order to receive a paycheck. If people don’t like their jobs they are peddling the wheels to get by, but they aren’t taking your organization to the next level.
Engaged employees work hard, but they are also satisfied with their jobs and experience high levels of morale, commitment, motivation, and loyalty. In turn, your organization experiences high levels of retention, productivity, innovation, attendance, customer satisfaction, and a good reputation. It’s safe to say that organizations who focus on engagement are probably outperforming competitors who don’t.
So how do you know if employees are engaged, and what they need to become engaged if they aren’t?
Employee engagement doesn’t have to be a rainbow – it doesn’t have to be something you forever chase but will never reach.
Truth is, there is a ton of research on how to increase employee engagement, and this webinar will sum it all up for you. Understand how to build engagement by: showing employees you value them, giving them challenging work, building positive relationships, building trust between leaders and employees, creating a positive work environment, reminding employees why their work matters, providing the opportunity to grow professionally, and offering meaningful rewards.
The webinar will also provide several vignettes along the way, to demonstrate how powerful the impact a focus on employee engagement can be.
Catherine M. Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is President of consulting and training firm, Civility Partners, and has been successfully providing programs in workplace bullying and building positive workplaces since 2007. Her clients include Chevron, the American Red Cross, the military, several universities and hospitals, government agencies, small businesses and nonprofits. She has published in a variety of trade magazines and has appeared as an expert in major news outlets including NPR, FOX, NBC, ABC, USA Today, Inc Magazine, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, Washington Times, Psychology Today and Bloomberg. Catherine is Past-President of the Association for Talent Development (ATD), San Diego Chapter, and one of the founders (and current president of) the National Workplace Bullying Coalition. In his foreword to her book, BACK OFF! Your Kick-Ass Guide to Ending Bullying at Work, Ken Blanchard said it was “the most comprehensive and valuable handbook” on workplace bullying. BACK OFF, and her second book, SEEKING CIVILITY: How Leaders, Managers and HR Can Create a Workplace Free of Bullying, are both available on Amazon.