Stephanie McGuinn — December 18, 2019 Having your employees working at low capacity just isn’t going to cut it when meeting your business objectives. Especially when 53 percent of U.S. employees are not engaged at work, according to a 2018 study by Gallup. Fortunately, methods exist for getting employees engaged. Through strategies like Talent Optimization, you can utilize data-based research on your employees to find what will make them happier with their work.
Finding the right time to engage your employees is critical according to a new study by Dynamic Signal. During the months of October and November, employee engagement increases 13 percent from September leading into October. With that increase, CEOs should take this opportunity to get to know their employees better. As mentioned before, you can use data-based strategies such as Talent Optimization to find what works best for your employees and what changes you can make around your business strategy to better align with your employees’ needs and concerns. With this increase in engagement you’re more likely to get more efficient results than during the other months of the year. October and November are also a great time to connect with your employees because of the urgency to meet those end-of-year goals and deadlines.
Taking advantage of when engagement declines is just as important as taking advantage of when it’s at its highest. According to a study, top business management can expect employee engagement to decrease significantly right before someone is about to quit. When asked the reason for why they quit, their responses included “unchallenging work, cultures that suppress conversations about pay, toxic managers, and a lack of personal development opportunities.” This is important to note because this means CEOs can get ahead of disengagement and prevent it from happening. Understanding the signs of disengaged employees such as taking too many breaks and drops in productivity can help management reengage these employees to keep turnover rates low.
There is a significant correlation between employees’ happiness and their engagement. Meaning if you can find a way to keep your employees happy, you should expect to have a lower turnover rate. This keeps time and money spent on hiring at a low. If you’re having trouble with keeping your employees happy, you may benefit from aligning your employees with your overall business strategy. You can do this by using a data and analytics approach to understand your people and your work culture. The Talent Optimization strategy helps you comprehend and develop job requirements, candidates, and team dynamics just to name a few. This kind of information can help you keep your employees happy and push everyone to the top of their game, and with this comes increased employee engagement. Talent Optimization can also help you measure employee engagement.
According to research, employee engagement follows the same pattern as the employer’s business cycle. If you can maximize your human capital during the crucial parts of the business cycle, this will bode well for meeting those end-of-year goals. Utilizing strategies like Talent Optimization helps ensure employees have the resources to perform at their best like the right workspace, technology upgrades and more. Changes such as this can create an increase in employee happiness and thus employee engagement.
Employees need to be engaged in order for a business to be successful. Watch the time of year and employ timely solutions and your engagement should soar.
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