Employee engagement is a term banded around a lot with countless experts and businesses sharing advice on how to improve things. StaffCircle included. Better communication internally can make a huge difference in aligning your employees with a common purpose and making them feel valued. However, from our recent research, perks and benefits are just as important. And we’ve built an infographic to show you.
But first…
Is this article for you?
Don’t think you have an employee engagement problem? If you hold a senior job title in a big company, chances are that when you see employees, they look happy, hard-working and motivated.
The problem is this perception is unlikely to be reality. Instead, gain an accurate assessment of the situation by running regular employee surveys and speaking to department heads and team managers.
Only 15% of employees worldwide are engaged in their jobs. So, it’s safe to assume that there are a sizeable number of people at your company who aren’t happy and it’s time to do something about it. This guide on the signs of poor employee engagement should help identify your biggest problem areas.
With 39% of workers admitting they would work harder if they were happy in their current role or place of work, just what are you waiting for?
So what do they want?
As mentioned above, appropriate and effective internal communication can work wonders. However, our research shows that people also want to be rewarded and invested in to feel truly loyal to their company.
It’s not all about money
Throwing money at a problem is not always the answer. This is particularly true when it comes to rewarding staff. If the large majority of your employees have families to support, then an extra £400 after-tax each year as a bonus will clearly help in paying bills. However, it’s gone very quickly with little satisfaction to the employee rewarded. And that benefit that you’ve chosen to give could be given by any other company – it doesn’t show thought or future investment in the individual.
Alternatively, by rewarding the employee with an iPad, a meal out or training of their choice, you are giving them something they can enjoy and the financial value becomes irrelevant.
75% of executives believe that in the next decade, in order to recruit and retain talent, compensation alone will not be enough. So, to ensure you’re ready, here are the benefits you should be thinking about.
Learning and development
Almost half of those we surveyed (42%) said learning and development is the most important benefit when deciding where to work. This statistic is significant because the end result of the training will benefit your business as well as the employee as they’ll have more skills to do a better job for you.
It’s also important because it shows that employees are not thinking about their role at your company as a short term job. They’re thinking about it as a long term career. By providing more support in this area, you’ll be able to build a stronger team and identify the leaders of the future.
Statistics show that those highly engaged in learning are also highly engaged overall in their organisation (according to 42% of L&D professionals).
What’s more, this benefit will only grow in significance. 86% of millennials have reported that offering career training and development would keep them from leaving their current position.
Health insurance
Another important benefit to employees when deciding where to work was whether or not health insurance was included in the package. With life expectancy continuing to rise, the number of cases of serious illness is increasing too. People quite rightly want to make sure they’re covered financially should they fall ill.
There are a number of companies that provide affordable healthcare within employee benefits packages that you can roll out to your staff. They’re well worth considering given the high proportion of employees who seek this type of reward.
What’s the rush?
While it’s true that there is value in taking time to research, consider and plan a roll-out of alternative benefits and rewards for employees, if you take too long, it’ll prove costly. This is illustrated in our article on the cost of poor employee engagement.
With 47% of HR leaders citing employee turnover and retention as their top challenge and employers noting a 40% turnover rate among workers, it’s vital to take steps quickly to prevent the problem from becoming bigger.
StaffCircle is a mobile phone app-based system for use by desk-based and remote workers. It facilitates two-way communication, training, rewards, holiday tracking, job booking and more. Operating as a mobile intranet, all employees have access to the system wherever they are and whatever they are doing. For more details or a demo of StaffCircle, click here.
