Are You Trying to Bribe Your Way to Employee Engagement?

When It Comes to Your Employees, is it “Every Man for Himself?” If you’re beginning to feel like you’re bribing employees, instead of rewarding them, here are seven ways to cultivate a culture of employee engagement, instead.

Employee Retention Problems? 7 Ways to Cultivate Employee Engagement

Here are seven ways to turn your employees from disengaged bystanders to loyal brand advocates, so they see themselves as connected to your brand and its mission and vision.

Ideally, your employees would be your most loyal – and vocal – brand advocates; they would see themselves as connected with you and the brand of your business. And while you might be tempted to bribe your way into their hearts, it might be a wasted effort. Because while perks that reward employees are nice, they don’t always result in employee loyalty or their feeling more connected with the business’ brand, either.

In many cases and especially for independent local businesses, word of mouth marketing plays a significant part in their growth. While word of mouth referrals should come from customers as a result of their experience when doing business with you, your business may be failing to receive endorsements from its most important stakeholders of all: its employees.

Your employees should be among your most loyal brand advocates; and ideally, the members of your staff would also be among the most vocal when it comes to recommending your business to their friends and family or providing your business with blog or website content shares and status updates on social networks. They should feel connected to the brand of your business and its success; not just because your business provides them with a paycheck, but because they truly believe in the mission and vision of your business and take pride in the way that business is done there.

While you can try to bribe your way to employee engagement, referrals and endorsements that might just produce a “what’s in it for me” mentality among your employees. Far better that you discover how to engage employees so that they feel personally connected with the brand of your business because of shared values and vision.

In the most recent State of the American Workplace, Gallup findings reveal that “indulging employees is no substitute for engaging them.” Though many companies are offering creative and alluring perks in order to win and retain talented employees, they are failing to win the hearts and minds of employees over to their corporate vision.

When it comes to employee engagement, using perks or rewards to incentivize employee engagement may be backwards thinking. For instance, the Gallup study found that of all workplace benefits, flextime was the most important contributor to employee well-being; however, well-being did not translate into employee engagement. Rather, study findings assert that creating an engaging workplace increases the odds of higher employee well-being, regardless of policy or incentives!

In addition to employee well-being, companies with high employee engagement also enjoy other benefits, including higher productivity, higher levels of profitability and higher customer ratings.

Sounds good, right? The question is: How can you create an organizational culture characterized by high employee engagement for your business?

Employee Retention: 7 Ways to Cultivate Employee Engagement

• Make sure each and every employee in your organization understands your corporate mission and vision – and knows how their role contributes to fulfillment
• Make sure that each and every employee knows what constitutes “success” in their performance and for their position and ensure that every employee receives an update on their progress at least every six months
• Clearly define the path to advancement, promotions and/or salary increases and other benefits that accompany professional development and performance for each position in your business
• Recognize employees whose performance merits praise
• Create a culture where “thank you” is often heard (and meant), starting with you
• Hire for employee culture at least as much as position requirements
• Solicit, and act upon, employee suggestions for improvements and innovation

Most people have an intrinsic desire to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to feel like they matter. They want to contribute in meaningful ways.

Rather than bribing employees with perks that may not produce long term ROI, invest in creating a culture of employee engagement so that employees feel connected with the brand of your business and proud of their association with your organization through shared vision and values.

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