7 tips to keep your employees engaged

Engagement is more than satisfaction: seven concrete starting points, from transparency to stay interviews.

Sure, an engaged employee is a satisfied employee. But be careful: a satisfied employee is not necessarily an engaged one. So don't sit back and relax just because your employee satisfaction survey shows a nice score. Satisfied employees may drift along, but they also leave easily. Engaged employees have drive and loyalty.

Employee engagement goes a level deeper than employee satisfaction. Engagement is about being able to identify with an organization's norms and values. It’s about wanting to actively contribute to achieving company goals. It’s knowing that you can continue to develop within the organization and that you will find enough challenges on your career path.

Why is employee engagement actually so important?

To name a few benefits:

Engaged employees are motivated and productive.
They are loyal to the organization, which means lower staff turnover.
They feel better in their own skin and have a higher threshold for absenteeism.
Engagement also radiates outward, so your employer branding flourishes.
Your customers will also be happy with an enthusiastic service provider who goes that extra mile.

After a list like that, the question is probably burning on your lips: how do I ensure that my employees feel engaged and stay engaged in my organization? Especially in a large organization, or a company where there is a lot of hybrid work, or work from different locations, that can be quite complicated. Fortunately, we have some good tips for you.

1. Transparent communication

Engaged employees feel like part of your organization. They want to commit 100% to the company, but they want to know exactly what is needed and whether it’s having an effect. It is therefore a good idea to share the organization's key performance indicators not just within the management team, but throughout the entire organization.

Revenue, absenteeism rates, new customers, staffing levels: keep your employees well-informed.

Explicitly invite employees to speak up if they have a good idea that could help achieve goals even better. Employees feel taken seriously, and it might provide the organization with new, useful ideas. And, just as importantly: don't forget to celebrate successes. When a great result has been achieved, or a major new client has signed on, let everyone—regardless of their role—share in the joy.

2. Don't promise the moon

Especially in the current labor market, it is tempting for an employer to paint a job and future prospects in a better light than they actually are. Once the employee has started, this can lead to disappointment. The "moon" turns out not to be as brilliant as promised. Before you know it, your new colleague is heading for the exit.

It is therefore smart to be clear about the job content and growth opportunities right from the start of the recruitment process.

An applicant is usually looking for a job that not only provides a good income but also fits their personal preferences and offers sufficient content-related challenges.

3. Be inspiring

Do you have a clear picture of the organization's vision and mission? Then promote them and, of course, act accordingly yourself. Put the vision and mission on the website and let them recur regularly in internal company communication.

Employees who can identify with a company's norms and values are proud to work there. They become true ambassadors for the organization.

In addition, it is important that an employee knows how they can personally contribute to strengthening the company culture. This is stimulating for employees of any age, but if you are talking about a Gen Z employee, this is crucial. This generation of employees, in particular, wants a job at an organization they can fully stand behind.

4. The importance of "together"

Encourage teamwork. Have colleagues work together on projects as much as possible. That not only creates more connection with one another. It also ensures that all the knowledge in house is pooled, so people can learn from each other and strengthen each other.

It is therefore a good idea to approach projects in a multidisciplinary way.

Working across departments creates more understanding for the work of colleagues from a different field and grows the shared interest in a good result.

5. Provide growth opportunities

If you want to keep employees on board long and happily, opportunities to keep developing themselves are very important. Create a personal development plan and regularly pay attention to development needs. Are there perhaps extra tasks someone would like to take on, or is it time for a career switch?

It doesn't always have to be about necessary training or extra career prospects. Some people don't need that, or are in a stage of life in which there's no room for it right now.

Training in personal development or mindfulness can also contribute to more work happiness and a healthy personal balance.

6. Personal attention builds loyalty

No one wants to feel like a number at an employer. So make sure there is enough attention, no matter how large the organization. Don't make managers' span of control too large and explicitly motivate them to give plenty of individual attention to their employees.

A stay interview can be a good step here. This conversation is exactly the opposite of an exit interview and can prevent turnover.

By sitting down with every employee now and then (yes, even that contentedly drifting colleague who never complains!) and asking in a low-key way whether they might have any wishes, you prevent dissatisfaction over sometimes small things from piling up.

This is a relatively simple intervention that can keep people engaged with the organization.

7. Create a friendly platform

In today's society especially, setting up a digital platform where all communication, training, and information come together is essential to keep employees engaged.

Even in a large organization, or where a lot of shift work is done, an online environment is ideal for staying in touch with each other. What is important: take your target group into account and choose carefully how you set it up.

Are your employees not used to working with systems and almost never at a screen? Then make the platform as intuitive as possible. If you know the average colleague struggles with complicated text, choose simple language at B1 level. The platform is meant to connect, not to be a complicated maze.