When employees quit their jobs ‘voluntarily’, it not only affects the team dynamics, but also costs organizations in terms of rehiring and training expenses. While satisfaction will be enough to sustain an employee in their job, it is employee engagement that will help them unleash their true potential. Thus, simultaneously leading the organization towards success and excellence.
Have you always wondered whether your efforts are being channelized in the right direction?
What’s The Difference?
Engaging your employees leads to a higher level of productivity and business. Whereas, ensuring that your employees are satisfied leads to sense of sustainable continuity in the growth of the business. Engagement boosts collaboration on an everyday basis, while satisfaction impacts the employee’s long-term retention.
However, both factors are interdependent and have one thing in common – the employee’s happiness quotient. A key driver of engagement and satisfaction is determining how invested your employee is into the company – more emotionally, than logistically.
Employee Engagement Is A Departmental Initiative
From putting in place a set of activities, designing employee-friendly policies, equipping the leaders with well-structured trainings to upskill, to creating situations for cross-functional teams to collaborate, and ensuring that the camaraderie always thrives – these are some of the core functions (usually handled by the HR department) that determine how engaged an employee is.
One of the most implied mediums for HR to disseminate this, is to make customizations to existing internal communications strategy. Ensuring that there is transparent communication and clear expectations, HR strives to bring employees together for fun-filled sessions of bonding. A task that is however incomplete, without roping in the managers and leaders.
Employee Satisfaction Is EVERYBODY’s Business
A survey report by the Atlassian Corporation titled ‘Reworking Work: Understanding The Rise of Work Anywhere’ in October 2020, reported that 70% of people believe that their job satisfaction has improved as opposed to pre-COVID restrictions.
Right from providing the employees with occasions to be a ‘change maker’, to instilling a sense of pride and establishing a sense of belonging, from ensuring that each one gets ‘equal opportunities’ to develop and grow, to giving credit where it is rightfully due; each and every individual in the organization plays a role towards determining an employee’s satisfaction at the workplace.
The employee happiness quotient can be determined in multiple ways. Through focused group discussions, engaging pulse surveys, establishing a feedback mechanism, and providing opportunities towards developing one’s holistic well-being. Every individual in the organization across hierarchies and designations is responsible for contributing to an employee’s overall experience at the workplace.
The question then arises: Are you working towards achieving employee engagement or employee satisfaction?
Focus On The Big Picture
If there’s one thing that this pandemic has taught us, it is the power and the value of synergizing. Organizations that have collaborated across industries, have witnessed a far stronger record of surviving the crisis with minimal damage. Even competitor brands such as McDonalds and Burger King have lived off each other’s support (in the most innovative way that one could fathom!)
Therefore, here’s what you need to channelize your focus upon:
Avoiding ambiguity in communications
Be it employee engagement or employee satisfaction, the key to a great employee experience is to ensure that your workforce knows exactly how much risk the business can afford to take. This not only accentuates a sense of ownership, but also motivates employees to go the extra mile.
Eliminating bias in decision-making
Make your employees a part of the process rather than expecting them to simply comply with the outputs. Put out the options on the table and train your future leaders to think like a CEO. Establish a portal to receive feedback about everyday operations and let HR determine whether efforts are being over or under compensated.
Reframe from causing career stagnation
Despite the fact that the pandemic has hit business badly, organizations are still investing in upskilling the employee. Interactive learning sessions hosted digitally by senior leadership can ensure that employees have the chance to upgrade their working styles.
Amazon, Walmart, PepsiCo supported their employees by providing medical and financial aid but have also invested in their mental well-being. Amazon, Walmart, PepsiCo supported their employees by providing medical and financial aid but have also invested in their mental well-being. True HR effectiveness can be determined by the kind of ‘employee experience’ that its workforce enjoys. Employee engagement as well as employee satisfaction are integral aspects of this experience. While both aspects can be mapped on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, one must remember that the two are very much interdependent and incomplete without one and other. There has been a shift in the paradigm of employee experience, and it must be acknowledged. Only a synergized effort will build a seamless employee experience.
