How To Keep Employees Engaged And Motivated

According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace, only 15% of employees are engaged in the workplace. Some of the most common reasons for employee disengagement include lack of recognition and reward, distrust in leadership, and lack of freedom. 

Here are some ways to improve employee engagement and motivation:  

Treat employees as individuals 

It is important for leaders to treat their employees as individuals. To help increase employee engagement, managers should uplift their employees and spread positivity.  

Here are some ways to treat employees as individuals:  

• Be honest 
• Eliminate bias 
• Listen to your employees 
• Show appreciation 
• Acknowledge everyone  
• Be kind and respectful 
• Practice what you preach  

Being respectful to employees will help keep them motivated and engaged.  

Be clear with expectations and goals 

If employees are clearly given expectations and goals, it will help motivate them to meet those expectations. Leaders should also often revisit and communicate about these goals, so that employees are reminded of their tasks and deadlines.  

Listen to feedback 

Listening to employees and their feedback can help leaders understand why their employees are feeling disengaged and what can be done to help remotivate them. 

Employees are often too intimidated to give feedback, so it is important to create a judgement-free zone where employees feel safe to speak their thoughts.  

Identify strengths  

All employees have strengths, so leaders should give employees’ responsibilities based on their strengths. It can also help to ask your employees if they have preferred roles or tasks that they believe they would find success in. If an employee is doing something they enjoy, it will increase their engagement.  

If leaders can identify their employees’ strengths, it can help create more success in the company. With employees in roles that they thrive in, it will help increase success in the company.  

Encourage creativity 

Encouraging creativity will help employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. Creativity is important because in our fast-paced world, it is beneficial to come up with new ways to do things, so that your company can keep up with competitors.  

Creativity also helps solve complex problems and allows employees to take initiative in their ideas.  

Recognize employee accomplishments 

77% of employees say they would work harder if they felt recognized for their accomplishments. Some employers say they find it difficult to recognize their employees because they feel like payment is enough, they do not want recognition to lead to entitlement, or because they simply do not have time.  

Whatever the reason may be, your employees want to be recognized for their work. The more recognition they receive, the harder and more motivated they will become because they know their work is being valued.  

Leaders need to prioritize recognition if they want to keep their employees engaged and motivated.  

Encourage teamwork and collaboration 

Being part of a team gives employees a place to express their ideas, which can help them feel valued and listened to. Teamwork can also help develop friendly relationships among coworkers which can help keep employees engaged.  

It can be beneficial for coworkers to talk together in a more informal setting to get to know each other better as well as cultivate new ideas and projects for the company. 

While it appears that employee disengagement is increasing, there are ways to help bring that number down in your company. Keeping employees engaged and motivated will require constant effort, but it will help your company stay successful and it will keep the work environment positive.