5 surprisingly simple ways to keep engaged employees invested

Employee engagement is strongly correlated to their performance. When employees are more engaged, they tend to perform better, commit to their work, and stay motivated to achieve individual and overall business goals. And this, in turn, translates to better productivity, performance, customer satisfaction, and thus, business success. 

Here’s some solid evidence backing the correlation between employee engagement and performance. 

A Harvard Business Review study found over 90% of business leaders agreed that engaged employees generally performed better and that engagement is critical to business success, with 75% agreeing strongly. 69% agreed that without improving employee engagement, it would be difficult to improve overall performance.  

Below, we’ll discuss who an engaged employee is, how they’re an irreplaceable asset for your business, and steps you can take to engage your employees and sustain them. 

Who is an engaged employee? 

An engaged employee is someone with a positive attitude towards their job. They’re motivated to take your business to new heights. Engaged employees usually exhibit these characteristics: 

1. Proactive at problem-solving:

An engaged employee is proactive at identifying and solving problems. 

2. Positive attitude: 

Engaged employees are optimistic about their job and duties. 

3. High productivity: 

As engaged employees are happy and have a positive outlook towards work, they perform better and are highly productive. 

4. Willingness to go above and beyond

Engaged employees take extra steps to accomplish the goals set by the company and act as invaluable assets. 

5. Emotional investment: 

Engaged employees are emotionally invested in your organization. The success of your company matters to them. 

6. Active participation: 

They’re collaborative and actively participate in team meetings and other activities with enthusiasm. 

7. Constructive feedback: 

Engaged employees feel free to share their opinions and provide constructive feedbacks that help the organization grow.   

An engaged employee is a valuable asset to the company 

An engaged employee is a happy one and works without having to nudge them continuously. They’re satisfied with their job and go leaps and bounds to get the work done. It is important to retain such employees. Why?

It costs about $4700 to hire a new employee and around $1700 to train one per year. In case the employee is disengaged, they might end up getting fired or leaving the organization. To fill this gap, you’ll have to repeat the hiring process, which can be costly. Even stats say that every disengaged employee leads to an average loss of $2246 for an organization.

5 simple strategies to keep employees invested in the company 

1. Listen to them proactively 

You must promote proactive employee listening within your organization. You can ask the managers to talk to their subordinates, get to know them better, understand their concerns, and improve based on their feedback. When employees are heard, they feel valued. 

If you still rely on traditional annual surveys to get to know their employees and their concerns better, it's time to upgrade. Why? Because traditional surveys are not capable of addressing employee well-being, satisfaction, and real-time feedback. 

Even the CHRO of Genpact, Piyush Mehta, exhibited the need to opt for modern AI-based solutions. 

2. Keep a close watch on your highly engaged employees 

Engaging employees is important, but sustaining engaged employees holds even more importance. And for that, you need to keep a close watch on your highly engaged employees. You can regularly check on them, ask if they’re facing any issues, track their progress, and more. 

One of the most effective ways to get a hawk’s eye view on your highly engaged employees is inFeedo’s Top Talent Watchlist feature which allows you to closely watch the engagement levels of top talent and ensure they're never disengaged.

3. Invest in training your managers

Whether you’re a CEO, CFO, or CHRO, it’s highly unlikely the employees will open up to you. Employees often look up to the closest possible link between them and upper management, i.e., team leads or managers. 

A toxic manager can force an employee to leave, while an engaging manager can sustain your engaged employees and eventually help you retain them. You can train your managers using learning management systems or via leadership workshops. Your managers should be comfortable with receiving harsh feedback. It’s important that they understand that this feedback is not an indictment of them or their work. Instead, it's an opportunity to grow.

4. Communicate regularly and build trust

Communication is imperative if you want to learn what’s causing loss of productivity or disengagement among your employees.  

Managers need to regularly talk to and interact with their subordinates to understand their pain points and deal with the same. However, doing this will only bear fruits if the employees trust their managers. To earn trust, you need to create an environment that ensures psychological safety for your employees. Here’s what you can do: 

• Ask for anonymous feedback
• Take harsh feedback without letting negativity seep in
• Work on the same and improve 

This will help your employees believe that reported issues are being addressed and their voice is being heard.

5. Show that you care

While engaged employees are self-starters and motivated, they’re only humans. If you don’t appreciate their efforts and don’t make them feel valued, you might end up disengaging and eventually losing them. Amber stats suggest that lack of appreciation and recognition is one of the reasons why employees leave. 

To motivate them, you can incentivize their work with rewards like movie tickets or insurance benefits. In addition, you can make sure to always celebrate their birthdays and support them empathetically if they’re dealing with a bad situation. 

3 early signs of engaged employees getting disengaged

By keeping an eye on some early signs, you can determine if an employee is getting disengaged and address the issue before things go out of hand. 

1. They stop interacting and communicating actively 

Disengaged employees stop actively communicating with their managers or team members. Amber’s Future of Work report suggests that employees who didn’t answer two consecutive chats are three times more likely to resign than at-risk employees. So, if you notice withdrawal and lack of communication among employees who used to communicate well, they’re likely on their way to getting disengaged.

2. Their performance is on a decline

Did you notice a gradual decline in performance among some of your employees? Do you find them delaying tasks which they used to deliver on time earlier? It’s probably a case of employee disengagement. So, keep an eye on employees who’ve started showing lower productivity or performance.  

3. They are not motivated enough to go above and beyond 

Engaged employees go the extra mile to accomplish more than what’s expected of them and are happy to take on challenges. If employees stop to show any enthusiasm toward work and are barely delivering their tasks, it’s a red flag.

Make employee engagement a priority, not a KPI

Employee engagement is not an option or just a KPI. It’s a must-have for organizations that wish to grow in the long run. HR managers and leaders must make employee engagement a priority. Doing so will help create a positive work environment, engage employees, and sustain them.

One effective way to get important employee engagement insights is Amber: an AI-based employee engagement platform. Using Amber, you can get real-time data allowing your HR to pinpoint the focus areas and boost employee engagement.