What single business initiative can make your employees want to work harder for you all while being happier than ever in their jobs? (Hint: the answer is not “More Money”’) The answer is increasing employee engagement. This is possibly the single most important part of an owner or manager’s duties.
To tackle this job, we must start with creating unparalleled company culture. Wikipedia defines company culture as “the character of the organization; it embodies the vision of the company’s founders”. Notably, there is no mention of being the highest paid in the industry, as that is often not necessary. Instead, company culture comes from the top, as the result of outstanding leadership who are willing to put their employees first and set each employee up for success. In addition, positive feedback, mentoring and providing the opportunity for employees to make a difference within their communities will build your company culture. Obviously, easier said than done, but if you aren’t making an effort to enhance your company culture and build employee engagement, just know that your competitors are!
If you would like to bolster your employee engagement, here are couple relatively simple changes you can make to jump start the process:
Encourage your staff to get involved in the community: Everyone feels great after helping less fortunate members of our community or volunteering their time to make a difference, but how do you get your already overworked staff to do this? Here are some suggestions:
- Consider setting up a team volunteering day, where staff members take a day off work to volunteer at the local soup kitchen or spend the day cleaning up the local park. Not only will they feel great afterwards, but chances are they will get to know each other on a more personal level which will increase comradery in the office as well.
- Start a community-focused initiative – 15 years ago my staff started the Fall Blast 5K, a walk/ run to bring awareness to physical therapy month. Every October, this event provides an awesome opportunity for my staff to work together on a worthwhile project in which they take great pride and ownership. (oh, and as a side benefit of this event, we have been able to donate thousands of dollars to local charities)
- Allow your employees to chose which charitable organization they would like to support. Remember it’s not about you, it’s about them and where they want to make their impact. To encourage them to get started, consider allowing a few paid hours to be spent out in the community or attending board meetings. The reach of your business will increase exponentially as your employees continue to build their own personal networks within the community, so the more variety, the better!
Help your employees accomplish their goals outside of work. It is so important to support your employees not only within the bounds of the office, but also as they pursue their personal goals outside of work. Give your employees the resources they need for both work-related and personal goals – show an interest that you care about them as a person, not just an employee.
- Encourage them to stay physically fit – train for that triathlon or marathon that they’ve been putting off because they are too busy. A healthy body is a happy body.
- Maybe they are interested in a side hustle – running clinic, injury prevention for golfers or professional bike fitting. Give them the opportunity to start a cash-based program. Maybe, it isn’t a huge money maker for you, but anytime you can build the reputation of your employees, it can only be a positive for your practice.
If you aren’t yet sold on the importance of employee engagement in the success of your business, start small. Minor changes can sometimes make the biggest impact. Once you start seeing the change in your employees, you won’t be disappointed. And by the way, in the examples above, it is possible to build company culture and employee engagement while promoting your business and increasing your company’s exposure, now that’s a win – win!
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