Before running off in all directions designing new employee community volunteering and extreme sport rewards initiatives, it is important to stop and think about the philosophy of the engaged workforce and what it really takes to achieve this elusive goal.

Employee engagement can be loosely measured in terms of your staff's subsequent commitment to their organisation, how hard they work and how long they stay as a result of that commitment. A truly engaged workforce owns the engagement process, which cannot be a corporate directive handed down through human resources and internal communications alone.

Barriers to communication need to be removed and the leadership team must be actively encouraging and be open to participative communication. Employees cannot be coerced into giving their feedback and must feel it is voluntary process and one which will ultimately benefit them.

So how do we make this happen?

Managers and the organisational leadership must be 'hyper engaged'

If you want to create an engaged workforce, you have to hyper engage your management and leadership team. The process of engagement is led by example.  If you have a disengaged management team to start with, you have a hurdle you need to remove before proceeding any further.

Remove barriers to common work practices

Barriers and blockages will vary from company to company. There is no single solution. Are your process and procedures cumbersome? Do you have them at all?  Are your reporting lines too complex? Do your employees find it difficult to access the tools and resources they need to do their job, including their managers? Do they have proper job descriptions? The list could go on and on.

Respond swiftly and with purpose
 
When you implement new initiatives for your employees in response to the increase in activity, feedback and development of programs, do not wait too long to make it happen. Create a range of initiatives with varying implementation times. A fortnightly morning tea where employees get to mix and mingle with fellow employees and build relationships may only take a few days to implement, whereas a full-blown social and community awareness and volunteer program could take weeks or months. Introduce a variety of initiatives so employees can experience the response and communicate time-frames if they are likely to be longer.

Employee engagement needs to be measured

Build in measurements right from the start. Measurement should take many forms and should not be limited to an annual survey. It can be broken down into very specific areas based on the programmes you develop as a result of your communication and consultation activity. Develop benchmarks to show progress to your employees and leadership team and identify correlations with overall business performance measurements.

 
A final word

Employee engagement is a continual process. To create truly lasting change it has to be adopted by everyone as part of the organisational culture. Do it long enough and the results will start to show. You are likely to have far lower attrition rates, less sick days taken, positive impacts on your bottom line and a general feeling of wellness throughout your organisation.