Given the multitude of unforeseen circumstances faced by businesses over the past year, employee engagement may have understandably fallen from the priority list. While the sudden, temporary loss of the office alongside the normalcy we have all become accustomed to has had a detrimental impact on employee engagement, statistics show us that businesses have had some work to do to increase employee engagement for a long time.
The Gallup’s 2017 State of Global Workforce Report revealed that a staggering 85 per cent of employees around the world are not engaged with their work. It’s time for a new approach to increasing employee engagement – one that goes beyond surface-level perks.
Recognising and embracing employees’ differences
Until Covid-19 hit, many employees who opted to work remotely were those with quiet, well-equipped home offices, nearby coffee shops or co-working spaces to work from. 2020 saw almost everyone working from their own homes, and the frequency of video calls meant that we all saw glimpses into others’ lives outside of work.
Parents had to juggle childcare responsibilities with their professional duties, and those who lived in shared accommodation were frequently interrupted. Every employee’s situation was, and still is, completely unique to them, meaning efforts to engage employees in virtual quizzes and social events can unknowingly exclude some groups of people entirely, or add extra pressure to already stressful circumstances.
Ask your employees how you can better support them as individuals, as well as how you can facilitate ways to help them feel connected to their colleagues. Check in with them regularly, acknowledge that their circumstances may change over time, and, wherever possible, offer possible solutions to the challenges they’re facing.
Building bridges for social interaction
Acknowledging employees’ differences is one thing, but taking genuine, concrete actions to bring them together is another. While 85 per cent of business leaders believe that employee engagement is a priority, just one-third have actively strived to make it one.
An increasing number of businesses are encouraging employees to form business resource groups, such as internal ‘BAME networks’ or ‘LGBT+ networks. This can be an excellent way to help your staff meet and build a community with those who have faced similar challenges in the workplace to them. Resource groups allow for employees to engage with shaping wider business agendas and policies which can in turn create greater employee retention.
But the importance of intersectionality shouldn’t be underestimated, and employers should aim to bridge the gaps between each group where possible, rather than trying to segment their workforce. Video conferencing tools provide an ideal platform to bring multiple groups of people together, enabling social events, panels and discussion groups to take place no matter how far apart the participants may be. These conversations can be an incredibly impactful way to for colleagues to forge connections and better understand each other.
Without the office functioning as the anchor that unites employees of all different backgrounds, employees are now working within an echo chamber with limited exposure to differing opinions and insights. Organisations actively providing platforms for open discussion and debate have seen more diverse voices emerging, often in the form of blog posts or internal newsletters.
Replicating the culture of a physical office
Businesses will not be able to replicate the same office culture, as we have come to know, in the remote working environment that many employees are currently functioning in. However this doesn’t mean employees cannot be engaged and invested in their work. During a recent panel event, workplace culture expert Bruce Daisley noted that ‘screens are very good for building affinity’ and that communicating in this way can quickly build barriers between us.
‘When we don’t share opinions, it builds an enmity which would never exist in real life,’ he continues. On a screen, it’s harder to interpret others’ body language and feel as relaxed as we would if the person was really standing in front of us, sometimes leading to unexplained feelings of hostility.
Over the past year, digital technology has shaped the way in which we communicate, both now and as we emerge from the pandemic. It’s allowed us to stay connected to others, as well as open up opportunities that would have otherwise passed us by. Even once face-to-face interactions are possible once again, remote workforces will be far more common, and many employees will choose to continue working from home. No matter where they’re based, employees search for a sense of belonging and purpose to keep them engaged – one that can only be achieved if we truly embrace each individual’s differences and strive to unite our workforce as a whole.