Why Employee Engagement Initiatives Are on the Rise

While interest in employee engagement has grown steadily during the last few years, adoption of employee engagement principles and practices seems to have skyrocketed as the recession drags on. This makes sense as true employee engagement can help overcome the negative impacts of the recession as seen in lower employee morale, productivity, and focus.

Gallup recently issued a report on how to keep teams engaged if the recession endures.

“To quell short-term anxiety, managers should emphasize recognition, promote well-being, and keep their teams as stable and secure as possible. But for the long run, managers must reduce anxiety, focus attention, increase productivity, and keep workgroups functioning. It's far easier to achieve those goals when employees are engaged.”

Drawn from the results of a survey billed as the largest employee survey of blue chip companies, ETS consultancy offers these tips to help engage employees:

* Address 'redundancy' morale. One third (34%) of employees say their employer isn't motivating them to do their best work, which is not surprising given the prospect of redundancy.

* Be clear about what will make the company thrive. Currently, a quarter of employees don't know their company's objectives,

* Recruit front-line managers to rally morale. This is essential if the whole workforce is to unite around a common purpose.

During a down economy when companies need employees to give more discretionary effort to achieve critical objectives, strategic employee recognition specifically acknowledges actions and behaviors that align with company values and help to achieve those objectives, encouraging employees to repeat precisely those behaviors needed for the organization to succeed.

What’s the attitude in your organization towards employee engagement? Are you seeing new initiatives to rally your teams? Tell me in comments.