11 MIN READ

If there’s one thing the pandemic has done to modern work (aside from act as a catalyst for digital transformation across nearly every sector in every major industry, creating more opportunities to work from home, and injecting a further sense of accountability and social responsibility into the purpose of every brand), it is showcase the dynamics of workplace culture—remote or otherwise. 

Employees, many in newly adapted roles, have taken on more responsibility and communicate now more than ever with their colleagues and clientele as a result of changes implemented in the COVID era. But, in that same era, employees also are looking to management to foster a culture of engagement and safeguard precious work-life balances. 

Recent analysis from Gallup showed that nearly half of U.S. workers (48%) are actively job searching or watching for job opportunities. In fact, 52% of voluntarily exiting employees say their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job. One major factor at play? Employee engagement. 

According to that same Gallup study, the majority of the U.S. workforce (51%) is not engaged. This puts management in a tight spot. These numbers and sentiments existed pre-pandemic so this concerning state of affairs is only compounded after 18 months of uncertainty, isolation, and exhaustion. 

Based on their responses, the recent Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial and Gen Z Survey identified that business leaders felt a key concern for both generations was company culture. This being a culture that emphasizes mental health support and resources, allows for an acknowledgement of stress. It’s this type of concern that can establish (or destroy) a brand’s perception and ensure brand advocacy—as well as contribute to employee productivity and, ultimately, company profitability.

As Matthew Randall, Director, Learning & Development at WVU Medicine says, “In today’s workplace, leaders are the linchpin for employee engagement.” So what’s an executive to do? How can they keep employees engaged and ensure they aren’t unknowingly encouraging key players to jump ship because of management’s misguided or outdated cultural construct?

Through our own experience and regular research on the subject, we’ve found this is how managers can not kill employee engagement at this critical juncture:

1. Recognize The Signs of Burnout

By now you’re likely used to reading about it, but employees are still fighting work fatigue and it’s cause for concern. Whether it’s struggling to maintain the transition to working from home (in what can so often feel like a silo) or navigating a clientele that has become all too accustomed to 24/7 access to your team, it is incumbent upon managers to recognize the red flags and help prevent employee burnout. 

Sure, 2020 brought an increased investment in employee’s mental health, but despite feeling as though we’ve made it through the worst of COVID, burnout still remains a prevalent issue. One major contributing factor is simply the current work culture present in our country. According to Gallup, U.S. workers are some of the most stressed employees in the world—contributing to a 2% drop in engagement from 2019 to 2020. Blame this on busier days/weeks, constant virus concerns, or the effect of the latest uptick in resignations (not to mention our country’s continued glorification of “hustle culture”), workers have a lot on their shoulders. 

Managers must institute a culture of well-being to prioritize employee health. Not only will this preserve (and hopefully increase) engagement levels, but it will prevent workers from quitting to pursue greener pastures. Start small: watch and listen to your team as they go about their day, be it on video conferences or in the office. Are they slumped over, mumbling through calls with little to no energy? Cough Red flag cough. 

From there, you can think bigger—sometimes much bigger. More forward-thinking companies have gone so far as to take part in retreats specifically designed to “influence culture, build relationships and create environments that charge your team for success,” as A Jay Event Productions lays out on their website. While these retreats may seem like a luxury expense, the benefits may outweigh the costs. Such services aim to create a happy work environment that, “not only motivates your team but it also inspires them to perform at their highest potential.”

Regardless of the how, it’s time to foster an environment of honesty and free-flowing communication. If you don’t already have them, put time on the calendar every other week or every month to simply sit with an employee and check-in. An empathetic leader is one that employees will go to bat for, which can nurture a more positive overall company culture—one sure to improve engagement and, as a result, profitability.

2. Build a Foundation of Emotional Trust

This sounds like a no-brainer, but sadly, too many leaders are focused on the bottom line and worship the almighty dollar above everything else. It is both an outdated sentiment and one that will likely linger. So how can you differentiate yourself? Of course you’ll need a successful operation to have employees in the first place but what then? How do you promote an environment where employees are valued just as much as revenue goals?

In the world of remote work (which isn’t exactly a new concept), “people can easily get into an out-of-sight, out-of-mind, out-of-sync, and out-of-touch mode,” as noted by Tsedal Neeley, Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, who has researched and advised companies on virtual and global work for nearly two decades. 

Neeley breaks down the two forms of trust required for the remote era: cognitive trust and emotional trust. The former being an understanding that co-workers and leaders are dependable and reliable—the competencies you can “confer right away.” The latter, often called passable trust, is equally as important and essential to an environment of engagement as it, “is grounded in the feeling that co-workers and leaders have care and concern for one another. It takes much longer to gain or earn.”

Emotional trust is developed with regular contact with team members, by sharing personal anecdotes and informal interactions in a far less structured situation. It’s something managers can do when leading by example. Perhaps opening a daily standup call with a positivity mantra (as our team does), sending Slack messages to employees asking how they’re holding up, or even opening up about your own pressures and concerns as a leader can help build emotional trust and inspire an atmosphere of engagement.

3. Acknowledge (and Appreciate) Your Team

Incentives work. A yearly revenue goal with percentage sharing is certainly a business model that still motivates employees to hit company benchmarks. But, Matthew Randall noted, “the most effective leaders know that the traditional ways of employee recognition – formal awards, annual feedback, bonuses – only go so far to motivate employees.“ Instead, “many employees crave regular, informal appreciation and recognition from their leaders.” This can include mandatory PTO for mental health security or extra time-off, in general, to prioritize an employee’s work-life balance. 

In addition to acknowledging your team’s efforts, there are a number of ways to show your appreciation and investment in employees so they feel a true sense of engagement. This includes establishing (or revising) your company’s purpose to stand for issues of social and environmental responsibility, a move that has shown to inspire employees even more than financial incentives. 

It can also mean helping team members find a sense of ownership and growth in their roles so as to avoid employees feeling stuck. Far too often companies require workers to prove their value, expecting them to go above and beyond as a prerequisite for upwards mobility. For some companies this means an employee spending time outside of designated work hours attending “non-mandatory” events. For others, it means using personal social media accounts to engage with—and forcibly bolster—company-published posts. These are textbook examples of how you kill employee engagement. 

Instead, help employees succeed. Foster a culture in which autonomy is freely granted to provide employees intrinsic motivation and one where team members can craft their own roles—a technique that connects an employee’s everyday work activities with the organization’s purpose and gives employees a sense of company investment in their growth. 

As Randall shared, “when leaders and companies incorporate these simple behaviors [acknowledging good work consistently and showing your team appreciation], the results for accelerating the organization’s overall employee engagement can be significant.”

Conclusion

Employees that feel engaged perform at a higher level, suffer less from instances of burnout, and tend to stay at organizations longer. In the current climate, there’s not much more a company could want from its workforce, both from a profitability standpoint and being social responsibility. If you’re looking to work with a company that thrives off engagement and would be just as willing to inject its passion into your brand’s digital marketing program, you can find us at our contact page.