Every company understands the importance of marketing to consumers. However, it is of equal importance that you invest in your employee engagement if you want to run an efficient and prosperous organization.
But why is that? Shouldn’t your employees just show up and do their work? Why do you have to spend time ensuring that they’re happy and engaged with the company?
Engaged employees work much harder than those who hate their jobs or feel otherwise unfulfilled in their work.
That’s why offering continuing education such as tuition reimbursement, foreign language tutoring and management training could help you create a team of loyal employees who will stay with you long term and produce positive results and growth for your business.
But what specific benefits come from increased employee engagement? Read on to find out.
Conducting Surveys Creates Loyalty
One of the most common and effective means of employee engagement comes from employee satisfaction surveys.
Creating employee engagement surveys can help you take the temperature of your workforce. By making these surveys anonymous, you give your workers an opportunity to sound off and tell you exactly what they really think of their jobs and how your organization is run.
Not only does this create an opportunity for employees to get grievances off their chests, but it also gives you a chance to improve based on the feedback that you are given.
When you make these improvements, you show your employees that you’ve listened to their feedback, you respect their opinions and you are willing to take action based on those opinions.
This in turn breeds one of the most important elements of employee engagement, loyalty.
Loyal workers will go above and beyond for your company because they know that you will go above and beyond for them. Employees are more likely to abandon you or quit suddenly if they believe that they have no voice within your organization or that you look down on their feedback.
Loyal employees not only stay longer, but they also work harder.
The end result for you is a more engaged workforce that is with you for the long haul, saving you a fortune in hiring and onboarding costs while increasing the level of employee output at the same time.
Remember, when it comes to employee engagement, respect and loyalty are a two-way street. If you show respect by asking for employee opinions, you will get respect and loyalty in return.
Employees Will Share Helpful Information on Social Media
When employees are engaged, they will become brand ambassadors that will continue to push your organization even when not working.
Take social media for example. If an employee truly loves the company that they work for and believes in that company, they will likely share content on social media. Whether that’s in the form of a blog article, a video or just your website, social sharing is a huge opportunity to gain new prospects.
When your engaged employee shares content on their channels, that exposes everyone who follows them to that content. Those followers also could potentially share that information, which exposes it to an entirely new group of people, and so on and so forth.
Happy employees sharing content with their friends and family members could be one of the first steps in creating viral content.
Of course, if your workers are not invested in the success of your company, they will go out of their way to not share your content. In fact, they might even disparage the company in private, or go on popular employer review websites like Glassdoor in order to badmouth your entire operation.
Consumers React Well to Positive Employee Relations
Consumers like to know that the companies they do business with are on the up and up. As such, they want to know that you’re treating your employees well.
Take Salesforce for example. This CRM company spent $3 million in 2016 across the entire company to ensure that equal pay was had for positions across all demographics, including gender and race. They give employees unlimited vacation days, sabbatical time and a generous 401k policy. They also make sure that this information is released to the public. That said, Salesforce received a 4.4 out of 5 employee rating with over 7,000 reviews.
If you have strong employee engagement, it’s a great idea to share that with the world. It’s excellent public relations material.
Consider filming some employee testimonial videos highlighting the workplace environment and giving their honest thoughts about working with your company. If you’re going to go down that route, remember that the quality of these testimonials has to be stellar, as consumers and potential future hires will judge you based on how professional it looks.
If you’re not a professional videographer, consider hiring a third-party company to help out.
Caring for Employee Health Creates Increased Efficiency
One great way to engage your employees is to show that you care about their health and continued wellbeing.
There are several ways to do that. For starters, you could pay for a gym membership for your workers. This shows that you have a vested interest in their wellbeing outside of the office walls.
You should also ensure that your employees have access to helpful benefits such as health insurance, life insurance and a solid 401k.
Another way to look out for the health and wellness of your team is to provide them with tools that will make their jobs easier. By automating workflows and outsourcing additional assignments instead of overloading your current staff, you can help decrease office stress levels and help your employees relax.
All too often, people bring their work stress home with them. This can lead to depression, anxiety and a lack of sleep. That lack of sleep can then lead to even more depression and anxiety.
Tired, depressed, anxious workers are not productive in any way. Your entire team will be more focused, more engaged and more productive if they are not overworked and overwhelmed.
Engaged Employees Stay With a Company Long Term
You don’t want employee turnover. It will cost you majorly in both time and money.
Why is that?
It’s a lot more costly to hire someone new than it is to keep someone in a position long term. It has been estimated that in 2016 it cost an average of $4,129 to hire a new employee. If you have consistent turnover, that means you’re constantly spending on hiring expenses, which add up over time.
Furthermore, it typically takes between 42 and 52 days to hire someone. That means your staff is working at a disadvantage for a month and a half on average.
When you hold onto employees long term, you’re keeping your staff focused and efficient at full power.
What’s more, long-term staffers intimately know the ins and outs of your business. When you hire someone new, on top of that roughly 52 days it takes to find them, you have another few months of training and learning the ropes before your new employee is operating at a high level.
Happy employees who believe that they have a future with your company will stick around. It’s also a great idea to promote from within. It sets a good example, gives your employees something to strive toward and ensures that your new managers understand the company and can hit the ground running in their new positions.
Conclusion
Employee engagement is a crucial part of modern business. You have to market the benefits of your company to your employees the same way that you market it to your customers.
You need to invest in engagement efforts, whether that’s producing testimonial video content, purchasing new automation software to help workers through their day, investing in health initiatives or conducting employee surveys.
By showing your employees that they matter in your organization, you will build a foundation of loyal long-term workers who will bring their very best to your customers for years to come.
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Marketing
