Best Ways to Drive Employee Engagement in Tough Times

Boost employee engagement in these challenging times with these effective tips.

The human race is going through challenging times ever since the pandemic of COVID-19 began to spread at breakneck speed in various parts of the globe.

Left with no other alternative, millions of people have had to work from home due to enforcement of lockdown in many cities to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Of late, some offices have resumed operations, though most of them are still not working at “full strength”.

As businesses try to get back on the “track” after a long lay-off, employees who have been working from home for the last 3–4 months are finding it difficult to make a smooth transition from home-office back to conventional office spaces.

One of the biggest challenges that organizations are facing is to keep their employees engaged during these “stressful” times. As a matter of fact, every individual is experiencing mixed emotions of fear, anxiety, and panic, whether they are at home or in a regular office.

As the CEO and Founder of ProofHub, I firmly believe that employees’ are our most valuable assets, and we are taking no chances with their safety and well-being even as we try to resume operations from the office space.

I have been keeping in touch with every member of my team and quite a few of them have told me how they are struggling to motivate themselves and maintain their interest level in work after working from the confinement of their homes for a long time.

As we plan to resume working from the office in a phased manner, we know extra efforts are required to drive employee engagement to restore their confidence and inner drive all over again.

In this post, I’m going to share some of the steps that we are taking to boost employee engagement during these times, hoping these can be of great help for you as well. But first, let us take a look at something more interesting — employee expectations.

What Do Employees Expect From Leaders In This Challenging Situation?

As mentioned earlier, I have been regularly interacting with my team to make sure they don’t feel left out of the pack. Also, I have been in touch with some entrepreneurs from different industries to get an idea of how they are preparing to drive employee engagement once offices start working full time, at full strength.

From all those thoughtful conversations, I can conclude that employees expect their leaders to:

• Regularly check on them
• Listen attentively to their genuine concerns
• Make them feel comfortable and supported
• Show a compassionate approach to their problems
• Make them feel important
• Be easily approachable
• Trust them
• Recognize their hard work

No matter what the situation is, one thing is clear — engaged employees are the ones who work hardest; the ones who are committed to making the most contribution to the company’s bottom line. And, companies that can keep their employees engaged are likely to retain their best talent.

In the current scenario, organizations are introducing new engagement initiatives as well as find out ways to measure their engagement effectiveness. The challenge for them is to keep engagement high and retain those key employees who may consider leaving as the economy and job market improves for good.

As a dynamic entrepreneur, how can you drive employee engagement to another level amid the chaos? Let me dig in just a little bit here, and list down the most effective employee engagement strategies:.

1. Prioritize Communication

If ever there was a time that required business leaders to proactively engage with their employees, this is it. Your employees will be looking to their employer to lift them up and lead from the front, day in day out.

Regular conversations with employees can help employers pick up any signs of stress and panic. With so much misinformation going around and adding to their anxiety further, the employer can become the most trusted source of providing authentic information by sharing important official updates.

Hosting regular audio or video calls, instant messaging, and emails is a powerful way to stay connected with your workforce. Make sure you sound optimistic in your communication and address the fears of your employees.

Make your staff believe in you. Healthy, two-way communication is a sign that your initiatives for driving employee engagement are working.

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2. Be a Good Listener

While it’s great to communicate regularly with employees, it’s important to understand the severity of the situation and understand that many (if not all) people in your organization are experiencing a range of concerns regarding their well-being as well as professional prospects.

Is it safe to work from the office? How to cope if they fall ill? Will the organization show them the door to cut down costs? These are some questions that fuel employees’ anxiety further.

I know you want to sound like a motivational speaker to lift them, but first be a good listener, and it calls for some patience and understanding. Listening attentively during challenging times assures your workforce that their company cares for their interest in a genuine way.

3. Have The Right Tools In Place

Your employees’ anxiety and stress are already high and it only grows if they are not able to accomplish their job effectively. As a vigilant entrepreneur, make sure you provide your team with the right tools so they can achieve more in less time.

During these tough times, using top-rated project management and collaboration software can help your teams to coordinate easily for simplified project planning and management. This will help keep all your employees on a single platform and make them feel an integral part of the process.

Assess your workflow requirements before you invest in choosing the best tools for your team. For instance, you can choose a complete project management software like ProofHub instead of using too many different apps for all your work related activities.

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4. Be Transparent and Realistic

Many of your employees are uncertain about the current situation. So it’s no surprise that 55% of employees are worried about job security. Few believe that their organization has the resilience and culture to navigate through crisis.

Keeping a team in the loop is a great way to drive employee engagement. So communicate your plans to employees and be transparent about your policies to give them a clear picture. Be positive, but don’t over-promise on things you’re unsure about.

If everything is not going well, don’t keep your employees groping in the dark. Update them frequently. If your employees don’t know what’s happening, they can feel sidelined, which will allow distrust to take root among them. You certainly don’t want that to happen if your intentions are honest.

5. Commit To Learning

It’s important to show you care for your workforce. Offer employees upskilling opportunities via webinars and online courses. Consider providing additional training to employees to push engagement at work. Make them feel they are moving forward even if the situation is challenging.

You can also encourage employees to help each other with learning new skills in the trade. You can also consider conducting mental health and fitness sessions for employees, which will help them adapt to a change in the work environment and make organizations future-ready.

6. Create Engaging Activities

It helps to have some fun at work when uncertainty and anxiety seem to surround you from all sides. It’s understood that as an entrepreneur, you can’t wait to get things moving back on track as soon as people, but remember things are not the same anymore.

Before lockdown came into effect, we, at ProofHub, used to conduct several engaging activities, like singing competitions, cricket games, quiz sessions, birthday events, etc.

Now we have made more additions to this list by introducing new engagement activities that are helping to keep the work environment lighthearted. We have included a ‘joint coffee break’ where we encourage all team members to share coffee, at least two times a week.

Also, we now have ‘dress-up Fridays’ and ‘jokes & humor events’ to cheer up all.

7. Constant feedback sessions

It’s crucial to gather information regarding how exactly are your employees feeling on a day to day basis, and how they feel about the company as a whole. Using a survey or questionnaire are effective ways to gather feedback.

Encourage your employees to provide honest, straightforward feedback about the issues affecting their performance and overall well-being. Include open-ended questions and multiple-choice questions.

Once you get the feedback through surveys, you can use it to create an action plan to remedy the situation effectively (and quickly). Involve the entire team to show your team that its opinions are valued.

8. Recognize The Small Things

Recognition matters at all times, more so in difficult times. It’s time to appreciate your employees for the earnest efforts they are putting in in the face of adversity. Highlighting their sacrifices and steely resolve will boost their morale in a big way.

Celebrate small victories to drive employee engagement. For example, make announcements on deadlines met, driving high organic traffic, awards won by the organization, etc.

You can consider rewarding your top performers by giving them small prizes when the crisis is over. Praise employees and teams across the board, and encourage your workforce to praise and acknowledge one another. It will help them stay connected in these times when there’s not much to cheer about.

The Bottom Line

In addition to the aforementioned employee engagement strategies, it’s important to lay emphasis on the fact that ‘competent leadership’ is the real key to engaging (and retaining) your top talent.

It took global pandemic to make entrepreneurs think outside the box. In challenging times, people turn to leaders to give them hope and moral support. Make sure you facilitate these two things to maintain high engagement at a time when we all need it most.

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