Speaker 1: 10 Data-Driven Ways to Improve Employee Engagement. Employee engagement is one of the most popular, yet misunderstood, organizational topics. It's a key competitive differentiator in the modern business landscape. And unsurprisingly, highly engaged teams perform much better than their counterparts. Feel like you've heard more about employee engagement over the past few years? You're not alone. It's a top priority for leadership teams around the world. And it's only increasing in popularity. So what is employee engagement? It's the emotional commitment an employee has to their work, their team's goals, and their company's mission. Employee engagement isn't going away anytime soon, and for good reason. Employee engagement has been proven to increase productivity, reduce turnover, improve customer satisfaction, drive higher profits, and boost employee wellness. And it's not just a trend. By engaging employees, you're helping them reach their full potential. Today's companies can't ignore its impact, and modern workers expect to stay engaged. Now that we have our definitions down, let's get to the real insights of this video. The ways you can improve your employee engagement levels at your company. First up, finding a baseline. You have to get a sense of your current engagement levels. Trying to improve engagement without benchmarking or tracking is like taking a stab in the dark. You'll have no idea whether your efforts are actually working. It's important to collect data around employee engagement to understand where your team is at, identify areas for improvement, and plan for future efforts. If you don't already send out employee engagement surveys, you should. And send them out more frequently, too. Also consider stay interviews to get a real pulse on your team's feelings. Number two is coaching leadership. People naturally look up to leaders and role models, but leaders and role models may not naturally know how to best engage with their teams. That's where you come in. Equip leaders with the right education and professional development, and they'll be your best advocate for an engaged company culture. Think about it this way. If your manager is engaged with your company's mission and objectives, you're much more likely to be engaged yourself. Number three takes us all the way back to the beginning of an employee lifecycle. Don't just throw them to the sharks. New employee onboarding is a key time to connect new team members with your company, projects, and organizational mission. With a fresh perspective, new employees could potentially be your biggest culture advocates, so be sure to show them a good time. As part of your onboarding program, remember to include best practices like introducing mentors early, involving executive leadership, setting expectations, prioritizing relationship building, and creating smooth transitions from onboarding to a regular working cadence. Number four involves prioritizing wellness. Wellness isn't just a subsidized gym membership. It should also involve mental wellness. Often overlooked, wellness is a powerful factor in employee engagement. Our basic needs, rest, nutrition, stability, psychological safety, need to be met before we can even think about higher level needs like being engaged at work. Think about your team members. Do they seem healthy and balanced? Are they stressed about things you have control over like their commute time or processes? Your next step might be to address these factors. Five is alliterative. Focus on feedback. I cannot stress this enough. You cannot have engagement without feedback. It can be hard to accept, but respecting your employees enough to listen to their constructive criticism and acting on that feedback will make a huge difference to your company culture. If you're thinking, but X isn't something I can change, then it's important to share why that is with your employees because it shows that you're listening to them even if you can't do anything to address their specific feedback. On the flip side, you should also be giving feedback in one-on-one meetings. This is your chance to reinforce behaviors that embody your company values. Number six is a biggie. When was the last time you were recognized at work? Not like, oh, hey there. That probably happens pretty often. We're talking about the open acknowledgement and expressed appreciation for what you contribute to the workplace. The absolute most powerful factor that influences employee engagement is recognition for someone's work. Highly engaged organizations are far more likely to recognize employees for a job well done. Increase employee recognition and you're likely to increase employee engagement as well. Lucky number seven is all about innovation. When you work to create a culture that celebrates experimentation, accepts failure, and is continuously iterating, you engage employees by encouraging them to think bigger and better. If you're nervous to give your employees opportunities to build their skills in fear that they'll take those new skills elsewhere, don't be. Employees are actually more likely to leave if they feel stifled and stagnant. As it turns out, when employees are focused on positive growth opportunities at their current role, they're more likely to stay engaged and less likely to look for new jobs. Default to transparency is number nine on our list, and it's one that workplaces often overlook. If you're keeping information hush-hush to spare the drama, your plan will probably backfire. You can't build trust with secrets and poor communication. A transparent work environment fosters trust, which leads to a sense of belonging and stability. It also gives employees the necessary context to understand how their own role connects with the wider team and stakeholders. Our last one really ties to the core of employee engagement, and it involves their sense of purpose. While you can't give an employee a sense of purpose, you can help them discover it for themselves. Show employees the positive effects their work has on their colleagues, the company, and the world around them to help encourage a sense of purpose. Improving employee engagement at your company isn't always an easy task, but the benefits are more than worth it. With this advice in mind, think about engagement at your own organization. When you challenge the status quo, you can improve employee engagement for your team. Learn more about employee engagement and find the solution that's right for you by going to bonus.ly.