The benefits of having a highly engaged workforce are aplenty and cannot be understated. A US report found that businesses with higher employee engagement experienced 21% higher profitability, alongside other benefits like higher productivity and retention, lower rates of absenteeism, and fewer workplace accidents compared with businesses that have poorly engaged workforces. On the other hand, disengaged employees are estimated to cost their organisations $3,400 for every $10,000 of salary, with another study finding that organisations with poorly-engaged workforces cost the U.S. economy $450 billion to $550 billion in lost productivity per year.

In sum, it is evident that employee engagement is often a critical factor in determining an organisation’s success.

Drivers of employee engagement

At its core, employee engagement is about the connection employees feel towards their work and organisation. Therefore, fostering it consists in making employees feel more valued, important, and a stronger sense of belonging and ownership. Improving the internal communications within the organisation is a great way to start. Here are 3 effective and straightforward solutions.

1. Show regular recognition to employees

Receiving recognition for one’s work and efforts feels great. In fact, some might even argue that feeling appreciated is a fundamental human need. Out of all workplace performance motivators such as receiving a promotion, greater autonomy, and monetary incentives, 37% of employees consider receiving recognition as the most important. Higher workplace recognition often results in higher workplace satisfaction. So, it comes as no surprise that many workplace surveys find employee recognition being consistently ranked as one of the most important factors when it comes to employee retention.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to dishing out recognition to employees. Some prefer private recognition, others prefer public recognition. Recognition can also come in various forms, from direct praises to time-offs to pay raises. The bottom line is, to make sure employees feel recognised and appreciated regularly in some form to foster employee engagement.

2. Have more candid career conversations with employees

A study found that if career conversations were more regular, 82% of employees would be more engaged in their work, 78% would be more likely to share their ideas at work, and 75% would be more likely to stay with their current employment. Having regular career conversations with your employees makes them feel acknowledged and empowers them to take a more proactive role in the development of their career, both of which help to foster deeper engagement.

Some guiding career conversational topics would include appraisals of employees’ skills and performance, how to develop their skills, their career goals and opportunities for career growth, and recognition. Fundamentally, having frequent conversations with your employees show that you care for their well-being and career development.

3. Establish feedback channels

Feedback channels allow employees to feel like they have a voice and provide them with opportunities to communicate their concerns to the organisation’s leadership. In fact, a report involving 817 full-time employees found that 41% of them had left a job because they felt that they were not listened to.

Aside from the mere existence of feedback channels, it is also crucial that the leadership takes whatever feedback is received seriously and addresses them accordingly. According to the same report, 40% of employees need to see action resulting from their feedback to feel truly heard. Additionally, providing the ability to give feedback anonymously is also a prudent and effective move, for it was found that 74% of employees would be more inclined to share feedback if it was truly anonymous.

An effective way of facilitating better internal communications, and thereby greater employee engagement, is by utilising Human Resources Management System (HRMS) software.

What is HRMS?

Human Resources Management System (HRMS), also known as Human Resources Information System (HRIS), is a type of HR software that comes with a comprehensive suite of features that allows organisations to effectively manage their human capital from one centralised platform. Some common features of HRMS software such as The Access Group’s People HR include:

• Employee self-service
• Recruitment and onboarding
• Performance management
• Employee engagement
• Expense/claims management
• Employee records management
• Integration with other HR solutions e.g. payroll software

But how exactly does HRMS software help with fostering employee engagement? Let’s use People HR as an example and look at 3 of its related features in detail.

The first feature, Thanks, provides a real-time platform that functions like a social media platform. On this platform, employees and employers alike can give a ‘social shout’ to co-workers to acknowledge a job well done or thank them for their efforts at any time. Apart from the more immediate benefits such as reinforcing positive behaviours and boosting morale, receiving recognition also makes employees feel more valued and a greater sense of belonging within a team and the organisation; especially when said recognition comes from their co-workers.

The second feature, Performance Appraisal, provides timesaving automation to streamline performance review processes. Humans in general are driven by a strong desire for self-improvement; employees nowadays are also increasingly feeling more responsible for the development of their careers, with their own skills being a huge part of this development. With People HR, employers are able to manage, measure, and track the performance and skills development of their employees, all of which enables employers to be in a better position to reward, guide, and ensure the continuous improvement of their employees. Moreover, employers are also able to gather on-the-ground peer feedback to gain a more accurate view of their employees.

The third feature is the capacity to conduct Pulse Surveys. Pulse Surveys are short surveys sent out regularly to employees to check in on them as well as to gather their work-related feedback. These surveys not only enable employers to gain a better understanding of their employees and consequently how to manage them better, but they also allow employees to voice their opinions and concerns anonymously, which helps to make them feel heard and valued.

The benefits of People HR are far-reaching, and these 3 featured ones are but the tip of the iceberg. Learn more about the other features of People HR, alongside how they can benefit your workforce engagement and business.