Employee Engagement Trends for 2016

How well do you know the people who come to work every day and how will you effectively engage them in the next 12 months?

Here’s a roundup of top-trending strategies from BI WORLDWIDE to help make 2016 your most engaged and productive year ever.

TREND: Focus on happiness
Organizations have been trying to “sell” employees on engagement but what employees really want is happiness, pure and simple. Instead of declaring undying loyalty or planning long-term career intentions, employees want to enjoy their work, find meaning in it, be recognized when they do well and feel a sense of achievement.

What can you do?

• Acknowledge contributions and effort. Go beyond the cookie-cutter recognition program and create unique recognition tailored to employees’ passions.
• Recognize service. Don’t wait for the traditional five-year anniversary. Celebrate milestones early and often, including atone month and one year.
• Enhance your culture. Work should be somewhere employees want to be, not have to be. Don’t be afraid to give them opportunitiesto thrive.

TREND: Ask more from managers
Of course it’s true that the standard practice is to acknowledge contributions made across every level of the organization. But still, there’s an added zing when an immediate supervisor or manager notices—and recognizes—excellent work. Managers might need some help in spotting and rewarding desired behaviors but the effort will pay off in the long run.

What can you do?

• Train them. Let managers know why recognition is importantand the value it plays in reinforcing key behaviors.
• Empower them. Research shows that when managers haverecognition budgets to use at their discretion, employee tenureincreases.
• Communicate, then measure, then do it all again. Spread theword and keep checking back to make sure goals are being met.