The High Costs of Disengaged Employees

Employee engagement is not something that can be simply conjured up . However, there are several significant drivers of engagement that, if tackled effectively, can improve the levels of employee engagement in your organization. These include:

Live the company's values. Your values should not be simply a "Successories" poster. Stuck up on the wall and ignored. All your employees should not only be able to state the mission, vision and values of the organization, they should see management living those values every day in all interactions with customers and employees.

Effectively Communicate. Clearly communicate job expectations. Encourage open, honest, two-way communication — including accepting criticism. Be transparent in sharing financial information about the company. Encourage a continuous feedback system.

Encouragement and reward innovation. Foster an environment where employees feel free to challenge the status quo and suggest new ideas. Recognize their input and provide incentives for their accomplishments.

Delegate and empower.  Too often, employees are given a task but not the freedom to manage the project in the way they think is best. When you delegate a responsibility to someone you must trust them to do the job and avoid second-guessing every decision. Nothing discourages employees more than being assigned responsibility and then having the boss micro-managed at every turn.

Career advancement and development opportunities. Employees want to know that you sincerely care about their career. If your organization can garner a reputation that investing in the continuous development of employees is a high priority, you will better attract top talent.