How Do You Maintain Employee Engagement In a Downturn

Amanda Shirley Briscoe Search and Consulting, Icecap Consulting

How do you define “employee engagement”? It means different things to different people but the most common definition used is “of employees whose hearts and minds are on the job and have a strong commitment to their organization”. So what are the key ingredients to creating an environment like this and why is it so important? This is a business imperative as it leads to more profit, lower absenteeism and higher client satisfaction. This is a CEO issue, not a Human Resource issue. Make sure the basics are in place first – fair pay and conditions and a sense of being valued are fundamental! After that, employee engagement should be viewed as unique to each organization but there are probably a few essential ingredients that make for a good start:

  • Leaders who genuinely value staff engagement have consistently excellent communication skills, give feedback on performance and are also comfortable sharing information
  • A workplace that is engaging where staff are happy and being there everyday is viewed as enjoyable
  • Leaders who connect to staff at all levels and are willing to ask the tough questions
  • Leaders who listen to ideas from their staff both at a company level but also from individuals is also critical
  • Encourage employees to be involved in decision making within the business and they will be accountable for their own performance
  • Leaders who also share the difficult times, take the pay cuts, reduce their annual leave time taken
  • Encourage staff to be resourceful and creative
  • Recognize those who are putting in the extra effort and say thank them
  • Leaders who are positive create enthusiasm in their staff – it is infectious!

The challenge as always is to find the right engagement strategy for your business when so many organizations are looking to cut costs – chose wisely!