Employee engagement – more than just buzzwords

Many companies these days spend significant amounts of time, money and energy focusing on employee engagement. Sometimes this takes the form of specific benefits or engagement surveys but it can be hard to know if your employees are feeling a difference. And most importantly, you can’t just treat employee engagement as the latest buzzword, a hot topic which is important today but gone tomorrow.

At Honeydew we have found that employee engagement depends on overall company culture but more tangibly on line manager’s relationships with their employees. It is easy to understand why line managers often dictate the level of an employee’s commitment to their job as they are the closest link to these employees. It is this nearness that can easily foster strong, committed relationships or detached and resentful ones.

Firstly, line managers need to acknowledge the effects that their working style may have on those around them and to be conscious of this during interactions with others. Everyone experienced the moods of those around you rubbing off without even knowing. The dangerous aspect here is the bad moods rub off just as easily as the good ones.

Just being a positive and supportive manager isn’t enough. You must be respected by employees both above and below you. If you are able to foster an environment where employees enjoy working with you and feel comfortable whilst demanding respect, you will find that colleagues will come to you more easily with any problems they are facing. This is also very important for employee engagement because there are times where life in and outside of work can affect job performance. However, if employees feel comfortable discussing these problems with their line manager, immediate steps can be taken to resolve these issues.

Now lets take the pressure off line managers for a minute. Honeydew Health offers supporting services that help employers take care of their employees. Sometimes these programmes are provided proactively before concerns arise whilst other companies choose to respond to employee concerns after they have been raised. Either way, what is most important is that employers take the time to commit to creating a healthy and happy workforce. Some programmes we offer include flu jabs, referrals to Occupational Health or workshops to help employees manage stress or health concerns. These are just a few examples of the way we can work with your organisation to ensure that employee engagement is high your company’s agenda now and in the future. Get in touch for more information!

Here’s a recent People Management article that discusses the importance of middle managers in implementing company wide transformations: http://bit.ly/MB8C7A.