Employee engagement has always been a top priority for business organizations. This is natural, as an organization with engaged employees is the one set up for success. Thus, we put a lot of effort into engaging our employees. At the time of the global crisis, we need to put more effort in this direction.
The pandemic has caused us to shift to the remote working culture. Most employees don’t feel as productive while working from home; they need the office environment to be in their job role. The comforting vicinity of home with no colleagues around doesn’t give them the vibe of work. As a result, they are not as engrossed in working as they are in office.
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April 1, 2022Further, the heightened family and hygiene responsibilities lower employee engagement even more. For such loss of engagement, no one is at blame, neither our organizations nor the employees. But, the duty to work on recovering the loss of employee engagement is ours.
So, let’s discuss the 4 Ways to Keep Employees Engaged Through a Crisis
1. APPRECIATION
When it comes to employee engagement, appreciation is a must. Further, in times like these, the need for recognition is more significant than ever. Employees deserve recognition for their efforts to balance work and home responsibilities simultaneously. However, we can say that it is their responsibility to work after all they are getting paid for.
But, we have to remember that before being organizational leaders, we are human beings. We have to do everything we can to comfort our fellow human beings in these tough times. Some simple words of appreciation from us can brighten up our employees’ hearts. Isn’t it something amazing to do?
Further, the fact that recognition enhances employee engagement makes it even more amazing. So, we need to appreciate our employees for both big as well as small things. If they join work with punctuality, we should understand them. If they complete their work in time, praise is a must. Even simple words like "Thank you" can do the magic.
2. EMPATHY
Empathy is the ability to feel others’ emotions and be considerate towards them. It is also the most fundamental need of us all.
Having empathetic people around makes us feel good. When we know that the people around, understand us, and shower their care in times of need, we feel empowered.
Along with this, we also feel a secure emotional connection with empathetic people. The same is true for our employees. If we empathize with them, they feel a strong sense of emotional connection with us. This connection drives employee engagement.
When employees feel that we care for them, they get inclined towards our organization. They consider it as theirs, and do everything possible to help it succeed. Thus, to engage our remote working employees, we should empathize with them. Further, there is an even greater need for us to showcase empathy during this global crisis. There are many ways for us to showcase our empathetic demeanor. Flexible working hours, asking employees about their worries, and not being too strict about work deadlines, are some of them.
3. VIRTUAL GET-TOGETHER SESSIONS
The extent of connectedness between the employees impacts employee engagement. The more connected our employees are, the higher is their engagement at work.
But, the global crisis has disrupted the connection between our employees. They don’t get to interact with each other regularly. This lack of interaction causes employee engagement to sink.
If we don’t try to reconnect our employees, engagement can drop to its lowest level. So, we need to do something to keep our employees connected. Further, in the current times, conducting virtual get-together sessions is the best way to do so.
We can conduct these sessions via conference video calls. There are many activities which we can carry out while conducting these sessions. Playing games, having chit-chat sessions, and sharing our concerns, are some of them.
But, we need to keep the interactions informal. This is because formal conversations convert get-together sessions into group meetings.
4. EVERYDAY COMMUNICATION
We can’t conduct virtual get-together sessions every day. We can perform them once or twice a week, but what about the rest of the days? We need to do something to keep employees engaged on days when there is no virtual get together.
Out of all the ways which we can think of, communication is perhaps the most beneficial. This is because communication helps us stay in touch with our employees. When this happens, employees do not feel distant towards our organization and us. As a result, their engagement level remains intact.
Further, to communicate with employees, it is best to send messages in the office chat group. Yes, office chat groups are effective mediums of communication. This is because they give us a chance to interact with all our employees together. Along with this, by messaging in office groups, we also get to promote interactions between employees. Thus, we need to be active in office chat groups.
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So, this is how we can keep our employees engaged through a global crisis.
About the Author: Jessica Robinson is an educational writer, and has even penned down many motivational blogs for various websites. She spills the magic of her thoughts through her blog “The Speaking Polymath”, in which she makes the reader experience her management proficiency along with her skill to resolve matters of global importance. Contact Jessica via:
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-robinson10/
Twitter Profile: https://www.twitter.com/jessicarobss