Employee Engagement Trends to Watch

In today’s competitive job market organizations of all sizes must continually strive to attract and retain the best and the brightest. But a global workforce study by Towers Perrin, suggests that only around 20 per cent of workers are fully engaged on the job. The rest are partially engaged or disenchanted. Numerous studies have shown that an engaged workforce has a significant effect on productivity and profits.

only around 20 per cent of workers are fully engaged on the job

Lackluster employee engagement presents challenges for both employers and their employees, says Western Continuing Studies instructor Scott May.

“There’s plenty of research that shows companies with a highly-engaged culture have lower employee turnover rates and earn significantly higher returns over a five-year period,” he notes. In addition, highly-engaged employees have fewer workplace accidents.

Building employee engagement is an ongoing process that takes understanding and conscious effort, May says. As the nature of work continues to change, here are three employee engagement trends to watch.

Top Three Trends

High Tech meets High Touch

Technology is permeating every part of our lives, including the workplace. Organizations can now take advantage of software to facilitate performance reviews, 360-degree feedback, employee surveys, and the tracking of objectives and key results.

While technology can be a useful tool to share information and provide real-time feedback, May cautions against allowing it to take the place of more traditional communication.

“Some messaging can be shared digitally but some requires that personal touch, so don’t throw out those face-to-face opportunities,” he says.

Employees want to feel valued and to understand how they contribute to the overall success of the organization, May says, and those conversations should take place in person and not online.

Organizational De-Structuring and Continuous Learning

The need for rapid innovation has led many organizations to transition from a top-down hierarchical structure to one that is more horizontal.

A flattened, team-based approach makes employee engagement even more important, says May, and giving employees more autonomy over their role is just a start.

Organizations should also encourage workers to develop their competencies by offering opportunities for continuous learning – whether it’s through online training or more formal workshops and classes.

“People need to feel an authentic connection to the organization to have meaningful participation,” he explains. “Providing the opportunity for growth within their role is key.”

Organizational Culture

“There’s a definite connection between organizational culture and employee engagement,” May says.

Whether it’s creating an environment that fosters participatory decision making and delegated leadership or encouraging work-life balance by putting policies in place to limit checking email outside office hours, it’s crucial that companies act in a way that matches their stated values.

f you are going to say you value employee wellness you need to communicate that to your workers, not only through words but through actions,

In addition, leaders should look for opportunities to learn from their employees. “Engagement isn’t just about sharing information with employees, it’s also about making opportunities to listen,” May says. “Making employees partners in our success is a huge part of engagement, and it’s something you can never stop working on.”

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