Employee Engagement goals for 2022
Happy New Year!
At the beginning of each new year most of us reflect on the year that’s past to better prepare for the year ahead. I’m sure you’ve thought about your approach to employee engagement, strategies for talent retention and recruitment, or ways to improve diversity and inclusion, and wellbeing. Inpulse helped hundreds of organisations to improve these particular areas in 2021 (due to the impact of 2020). We predict it’ll only get more challenging for the organisations who have not yet addressed, or considered, their approach to engagement, retention and recruitment, diversity and inclusion and wellbeing.
To help you, we’ve listed employee engagement goals and ways to achieve them in 2022. These are all must-do’s for improved employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, employee wellbeing, retention and recruitment of talent and culture.
Less management, more leadership
Leaders are not just visionaries, they’re also present, approachable, supportive and listen to their people whilst leading from the front. Managers on the other hand often use a do-as-I-say approach. We conducted many reviews last year within the organisations we partnered with, and we found that where employee engagement was low and where people-related issues were rife, there was little to no leadership even if there was a managerial presence. The problems it created included a lack of communication between management and workforce causing a massive divide, and management leading from the top down. This caused an exclusion of one whole half of the organisation (the people) during decision-making. In our research of GenZ’s (found in our free Gen-Z guide), we also discovered the importance they place on leadership and the need for their superiors to be present, approachable, communicative and inspiring. Gone are the days of managers – those who lead alone – employees are yearning for leaders.
Treat employees as people first by giving your people a voice
We believe the most important way of treating your people as people first, is by giving them a voice; allowing them the space to express themselves and how they feel about their working experience. This is not only about giving them a voice, but a chance to co-create a workplace they’re happy and proud to work in. This is best done through pulse surveys that focus on employee emotional analytics – which is what we’ve built and believe in at Inpulse. Without a voice, your employees are only a resource and when they feel this way, it shows in high staff turnover, low engagement and productivity, poor culture, absenteeism, and a multitude of other ways that’ll hinder growth. We’ve seen thousands of organisations totally transform when their people begin to feel seen, heard and valued.
Welcome the next generation of talent
Organisation’s face a great number of risks if they’re not open to welcoming the next generation of talent – GenZ’s. The risks include: slower growth, innovation and creativity, poor retention and recruitment of talent, loss of competitive advantage and awareness of changing consumer needs, lack of diversity and poor company culture which affects engagement, and many others. To get execs to welcome the next generation of talent, communication is vital – as it always is. We’d suggest you approach this as a discussion rather than filtering the message down to execs. Get them in a room, have them also think and discuss the risks of not hiring GenZ’s or next-gen talent. If you’re unsure of who GenZ’s are and what characteristics they possess, download our free GenZ guide.
Define your organisation’s north-star and remind your people of their role in achieving it
Are there exciting organisational goals and targets for your employees to feel motivated and excited about? Incentives don’t always have to cost you; creating exciting visions and goals for the future and reminding your people of their role in achieving them is an incentive in itself. High-performing talent looks for ways to grow and be challenged, and are motivated by their organisation’s vision for the future because it aligns to their career objectives and desire to grow as individuals. Without a north-star you may see talented employees disengage, or worse, leave. Other employees may feel unsure of their purpose in the great scheme of things and therefore disengage too. And if there’s nothing to work towards, no targets to meet or exceed, there’ll be little to no recognition being awarded, which is something employees need to feel valued and seen.
Involve your people in decisions that affect them
People-related decisions that are driven by employees will always yield the most rewarding results. Leaders can’t be sure that what they deem fair, is fair for their people too. There needs to be input from all major sides of an organisation, which is management and the people. This is why our pulse surveys are so successful and why leaders rely on them to make decisions. Regular surveying build a communication channel between management and people, and helps to gather important employee feedback from which to make more informed decisions. The only way to really improve and maintain employee engagement is if employee feedback has a place in the decision-making process.
