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How do companies retain the best employees while other hiring managers have problems filling vacancies with suitable candidates? The solution: employee engagement!
We give you seven tips with concrete examples to make your company more attractive to employees by turning satisfied employees into committed ones.
Tip 1: Good managers give space for new ideas
Successful managers are also sparring partners and coaches. If you want to support your team, you have to be reachable and have an open ear for the employees' topics, flat hierarchies, and an open-door policy help here.
By putting together international teams and using “diversity” as the basic principle of recruiting, managers can create a reservoir for creativity and innovation. Because when a large variety of different cultures, mentalities, and perspectives come together, it is an ideal breeding ground for good ideas to emerge.
Tip 2: People need a variety
Monotonous tasks bore everyone - and highly qualified specialists even more! Bored people are unmotivated, frustrated, and sick more often: Permanent under-challenged and boredom end in the worst case in a bore-out.
Good employers ensure that their skilled workers are deployed according to their qualifications. Also, they pay attention to the design of the work areas: Not only the scope of the tasks, but also their diversity and their influence on the corporate goal must be taken into account. Too important are the design options given to the employee when completing their work and the feedback they can experience about their work.
A good workplace design enables the employee to work in a flow, that is, the joyful immersion in a demanding activity, and also makes unavoidable but tedious routine tasks bearable.
Tip 3: Does everyone speak at eye level?
The underlining of hierarchical differences through the physical creation of different eye levels between well-padded executive chairs and Spartan, deliberately lower supplicant chairs should be a thing of the past in a modern company.
However, it is at least as important to communicate “at eye level” in a figurative sense. Good bosses establish an open culture of discussion in your company: They take time for meetings and show genuine interest. You ask questions and thoughtfully respond to the answers given by colleagues and employees. Good bosses use the know-how and detailed knowledge of their employees and actively take up suggestions for improvement, pass them on to the responsible decision-makers if necessary and communicate the feedback.
They have open ears for problems brought to them, honestly admit company-related difficulties and mistakes, and look for solutions together with those affected. In doing so, they do not make false promises but rather explain clearly and justified what is realizable and what cannot. In an atmosphere of mutual respect, you can also count on the employees' understanding of operational constraints.
Tip 4: Work & private life - everything in balance?
The keyword work-life balance stands for the compatibility of work and private life. Qualified employees lives not only include their careers. They also have to run a household, spend time with their family, and devote themselves to their leisure activities - from watching TV and taking a stroll through sports clubs and choirs to volunteering. Good employers know: A balance of all these activities not only increases satisfaction but also benefits the company.
Tip 5: work experience should be valued
The ideal employee, it is often joked, is 20 years old, has completed a master's degree and various internships abroad, and has ten years of professional experience. The truth at all is not funny at all: Older professionals are often exposed to prejudice and discrimination in the world of work and especially when applying for jobs.
The fact is: Demographic change, the ever more extended training periods, and the increase in the retirement age mean that the average age of employees in many companies is already rising steadily.
Good bosses do not see this as a disadvantage but use older employees' potential: Life-phase-oriented personnel management finds the ideal locations, ensures appropriate working conditions, and possibly addresses pension issues. Mentoring programs enable the elderly to pass on the experiences they have acquired to the younger ones and, at the same time, offer a welcome appreciation.
Tip 6: Good work needs to be well paid!
It is important what is on the payslip: Employers can score points with qualified employees, especially with additional company benefits!
First and foremost, this includes an open-ended contract. Prevalent extras are grants for company pension schemes or life insurance, vacation periods that go beyond the statutory entitlement, and meal allowances in the form of vouchers and canteen prices. Company cars, laptops and telephones as well as subsidies for rail and public transport are also popular. As a special extra, companies can provide discounted tickets or even free tickets for sporting and cultural events (possibly sponsored by the company).
Often companies also offer a choice between various options from which employees can put together a tailor-made benefit package.
However, this tip is deliberately only in sixth position: Numerous studies have shown that salary is by no means the most critical factor in employee motivation.
Tip 7: A right image makes you attractive!
A well-known brand, particularly high-quality products and groundbreaking innovations, sustainability and environmental awareness, and social commitment through sponsorship - these are all factors that contribute to the right company image. And that in turn facilitates the recruitment of qualified employees and generally increases employee satisfaction.
Good employers know their strengths and communicate them through professional PR measures - not only to the general public but also and especially to their employees. Satisfied employees are favorable for the company image and can also compensate for an industry-specific "flaw."
Posted by Anna
