It has been proven that company success and employee engagement go hand in hand, because quality employees are a company’s best asset. An engaged worker can produce fantastic work, that then benefits the entire company. While they are doing great work, they are also encouraging other workers to do the same. These outstanding employees are hard to find and keep, however.
Start Engaging at the Beginning
It’s important for the health of your company to have a good recruitment process. That is where your engagement should begin. After recruiting and hiring, the new employees need help to become the best they can at their positions. At this point job descriptions and expectations should be made very clear.
It is also important to help the new employee understand what your company’s mission is. By letting the employees know all of this at the start, it will hopefully prevent unintentional mistakes on their part. Technology has come a long way in the construction industry and new solutions automate this entire process, so companies can spend more time training and less filling out paperwork. This is the way to set an employee up for success.
Give Important Training
It is vital that after hiring the new worker they get engaged in training that is specific for their position. If it has little to do with their particular position, you will lose any engagement you had with them. By providing relevant training right at the beginning, you are able to share the organization’s strengths and weaknesses and make sure everybody is working towards the same end goal.
Continued training in job-specific area’s creates not only engagement, but paves the way for opportunity to grow within the company. Workers feel more invested in the company when they are learning more and know they could be moving up to bigger and better things. Having a well skilled employee helps the company be more successful, so it’s really a win-win situation.
Open Communication is Key
It is hard to self-evaluate, and many times workers can’t see what is holding them back from success. It is important that you foster a relationship with your workers so that you can give and get feedback consistently. Not only will it help the worker, it will help the company find the spots that need improvement as well.
The workers that engage in the feedback are the ones that are trying to overcome issues that are holding them back. These are the employees that are striving to move up in the company. Don’t give up on the others, but be aware of the stars in your team. That way you will know who needs extra training, and who should get more responsibilities.
No More Annual Reviews
Annual reviews are no longer a good picture of how a worker is doing in your company. Feedback needs to be collected regularly in order for the worker to feel heard and not get discouraged in their position. Being allowed to give and receive this feedback will motivate workers to do higher quality work because they feel engaged and invested with and in the company.
Construction companies are now doing what’s called 360 degree feedback. Anonymous and confidential feedback is collected from members of the team, which helps the workers stay focused. Experienced and new workers have a lot to share, and by paying attention to what they are sharing could prevent a crisis in the future.
It is easy to see how company success and employee engagement go hand in hand. There’s a saying, “Happy Wife, Happy Life.” This has the same basis; happy employee, successful business. Making sure you have an open door policy, plenty of feedback, training, and ways for the workers to move up in the company will make for a successful employee and a thriving company.