Employee Engagement in a Hybrid Work Environment: Ways to Keep Employees Engaged

Most employees are disengaged at work despite the increased effort from companies. Unfortunately, the primary cause for the failure of workplace engagement programs is a widespread perception that it is "an HR thing." 

This misperception leads to a lack of ownership by leaders, a failure to expect engagement from managers, and a failure to understand the importance of front-line employees.

As a result, some organizations miss out on the chance to increase productivity, which can ultimately contribute to the entire organization's success. Leaders grapple to thrive with low or plateaued engagement scores despite repeated efforts to improve them.

The main problem with employee engagement programs is often rooted in how they are implemented. 

As the world moves toward a hybrid work situation, it's more crucial than ever to focus on engagement since remote work can lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection. 

What is Employee Engagement?

Gallup's definition of employee engagement encompasses an individual's level of enthusiasm and commitment to their job and working environment. Employee engagement is essential for gauging, tracking, and managing your workers' views on vital aspects of your company's culture.

Discovering the level of your employee's engagement with their work is essential in understanding how successful team-building activities, human resources practices, and overall business outcomes are.

The Benefits of Investing in Employee Engagement

Decisions and actions taken by employees daily can have significant repercussions for your workforce and organization. How you handle staff and how they treat each other will either promote desirable behaviors or open the door to potential risks.

Despite being in a hybrid setup, by ensuring that employees are treated fairly and respectfully at all times, your business will benefit from their excellent decisions while minimizing any negative impacts.

Decades of Gallup's employee engagement research have proven that engaged employees lead to better business outcomes regardless of industry, company size, and nationality. These results remain consistent in both prosperous and challenging economic climates.

On a global scale, engaged employees stand at 21%, while 19% are considered actively disengaged, according to Gallup’s research.  

So, what strategies can companies leverage to increase employee engagement?

Ways to Keep Employees Engaged in a Hybrid Work Environment

As a manager, employee engagement must be your primary area of focus. Here are vital tasks that leaders must do:

• Ensure employees understand what tasks are required and provide the necessary guidance.
• Explain to staff how their work contributes directly towards achieving organizational success.
• Armed with the tools and skills to conduct consistent coaching conversations with their team.

Sadly, most managers lack the necessary skills to ensure meaningful dialogue occurs in frequent conversations. As a result, they often come across as micromanaging without providing their team with adequate tools and direction.

If you're a manager who is looking to improve the productivity of your employees, there are 12 needs that you can meet. This straightforward approach has proven to be highly effective after being tested in Gallup's engagement survey.

1. Supply work expectations
2. Provide tools, materials, and equipment needed
3. Give catered work opportunities
4. Recognize employees' work
5. Care for employees' well-being
6. Encourages work development
7. Listen to employees' opinions
8. Instill company missions and values
9. Reward quality work
10. Foster good relationships
11. Communicate progress.
12. Provide work opportunities to learn and grow

By taking a proactive approach to measure employee satisfaction, you can gain valuable insight into what needs improving or which strategies have been most effective in fostering an engaging working environment for them.

With this knowledge, you'll be able to ensure that your efforts result in greater connections among staff despite being in a hybrid setup and improved loyalty towards the company itself.

Valuable Tools for Employee Engagement

According to Gallup, there is a hierarchical structure of four levels in the employee engagement model. These tiers are based on what employees need for their performance development:

1. Basic Needs

It gives employees an idea of the expectations at work and provides them with tools, materials, and equipment. 

Sprout offers Insight that gives data on absenteeism, attrition, daily attendance, the general workforce, headcount, and planned leaves. If employees are aware of the expectation given to them backed with real-time automated data, they are more likely to be engaged in a hybrid work environment.

2. Individual Contribution

It caters to specialized work opportunities that employees enjoy, recognizes their hard work, cares for their well-being, and encourages work development. 

Sprout offers Wellness, which gives employees access to a holistic wellness solution that provides different services tailored to help address various physical and wellness concerns. It gives employees access to all these benefits in one place, making it easier for employees to appreciate the innovative benefits.

3. Teamwork

It encourages managers to listen to employees' opinions and fosters good relationships within the workplace. It emphasizes the importance of instilling company mission and values and recognizing and rewarding quality work.

Sprout offers Pulse, which helps uncover deep-seated engagement issues, pinpoint areas of concern, and identify which departments are the least engaged. It ensures honest feedback through the anonymous nature of surveys.

Through this tool, the user will have the capability to spot issues and opportunities to make employees more engaged. Employers can create a stronger connection with their employees and become better leaders.

4. Growth

It recognizes the significance of communication with employees regarding their progress and highly values offering work opportunities for growth.

Sprout Solutions is committed to building a work environment that prioritizes the fulfillment of its employees. By providing a reliable and efficient digital HR system, Sprout aims to encourage higher engagement and satisfaction among team members.

Sprout's innovative Performance+ enhances the organizations' performance management processes and gives the workforce a more comprehensive understanding of their objectives. Through personalized learning and development plans, employees are given a clear path toward professional growth and a better chance to achieve their career goals.

Kick-Start Your Workforce's Employee Engagement Initiatives With Sprout 

As the world moves toward a hybrid work situation, employee engagement is essential for any business to ensure success. 

Sprout Solutions provides powerful engagement tools designed with the goal of fostering heightened employee engagement and satisfaction.

To learn more about Sprout's tools, click here.

Kickstart your workforce's employee engagement journey today by booking a consultation with us here.