What Is an Employee Engagement Program?

Organizations that fail to understand the value of healthy supervisor-employee relationships often endure high rates of employee turnover. When the relationships between workers and their supervisors are not healthy and cultivated with trust, it creates tension in the workplace and little job satisfaction.

Many employers turn a blind eye to supervisors who consistently supervise groups of workers who choose to leave their companies. They allow the supervisors to make use excuses, such as low pay, little worker recognition, or seeking better opportunities, as the reason for such high rates of employee turnover. But really, when compared to other supervisors, it becomes clear to see that only a few select supervisors consistently have high turnover rates. These are the supervisors who fail to cultivate a trustworthy relationship between themselves and their workers.

Sometimes, it’s helpful to use a metaphor about cellular biology to understand the importance of supervisor-employee relationships. The supervisor and the employee have a relationship that is wrapped within a liquid bubble; this bubble has connecting tissue that ties it to the employee’s everyday experiences, such as those with his peers, his managers, his job functions, etc. His job duties may include things like meetings with clients, meeting with board members, scheduling appointments, and more. Who is that most influences what takes place inside this bubble? It’s the supervisor, of course. When organizations invest money on things outside of the bubble to improve employee turnover rates, they are missing the entire picture. They need to be working on what takes place inside the bubble — the supervisor/employee relationship.

How do supervisors engage their employees? How can they build trust? It all starts with an employee engagement program.

So, what is an employee engagement program?

Employee engagement is not maintained around-the-clock. It is only present when certain conditions are present. Employers must do all they can to maintain such conditions so as to keep employee engagement levels at an optimal level. The more engaged employees are, the higher the level of productivity they produce, the better customer service they provide, and the lower employee turnover rates are.

A supervisor that creates an atmosphere of trust will engage his employees by allowing them to take ownership of projects of various tasks. He will also provide employees with specific goals and expectations, so they don’t feel like they are a swing in the dark to hit a home run. And most importantly, he will cultivate a work environment that promotes employees to take action and voice their opinions without feeling as if they are going to be reprimanded.

There are three essential steps you can take to create an effective employee engagement program. First and foremost, you need to get to know your workers. Who are they? What do they do outside of the office? How can you delegate tasks according to their personal preferences so that everyone’s lives are made easier?

Next, you’re going to need to provide avenues of growth and promotion for your employees. If your workers feel like they are going to be stuck in the same position forever, this gives them no motivation to perform at their highest levels of productivity. Growth and promotion opportunities are key to engagement.

And finally, you’ll take time to recognize the employees who are outranking the others. Workers become much more engaged when they know their hard work and efforts are going to gain them recognition.