Whether you’ve conducted an engagement survey and received low engagement scores, or you’ve noticed a decline in engagement over the last few weeks or months, here are a few solutions to improve engagement once more and avoid the low-engagement rut. 

Thank your people for participating 

Engagement surveys can sometimes look to employees like yet another thing to do, another piece of admin that’s going to eat up time and offer zero solutions to their ill feelings towards work. But what can change the game for employees and employers alike, is for management to acknowledge the workforce’s participation in the survey, show accountability for the results and commit to change. Express that you value their time, words and feelings. This will help them feel heard and instill confidence that the results will be taken seriously and you’re working hard to change their experience at work. This is a small but often crucial step – it’s the first stepping stone that’ll help bridge the communication gap between management and the workforce. 

Remind your people of the organisation’s goals and their part in making them happen

When employees are unhappy or when engagement is low, employees are typically at the point where they’ve forgotten about the organisation’s mission and goals and their part in making them happen. Low engagement indicates many things, including a lack of purpose and motivation amongst employees which may stem from a lack of goals and values. Purpose and motivation are huge drivers of engagement and it’s therefore worth setting exciting goals and reminding your people of their role in achieving them. 

Be guided by the data when making decisions

Don’t be too alarmed by a low engagement score, the fact that you’ve been conducting regular surveys and have hard data to work with should be comfort enough that things are going to get better. By better we mean engagement will soon improve if you make decisions based on the data, and better because productivity, performance and profit will follow, retention and recruitment will improve and staff turnover and absenteeism will decrease (amongst others). But to really turn things around you need to be guided by the data and swiftly make decisions to remedy problematic areas. The Inpulse surveys uncover employee emotions and therefore tell you exactly why your people feel the way they do about various subjects, while the platform presents data visually, which helps you to detect the problem areas quickly and guides the decision-making process in ways that many other platforms fail to do. 

Make small changes while waiting for big changes to take effect

Sometimes there’s a lot that needs to change, and it can take a while before changes yield results. But small changes can also be highly effective and can yield results almost immediately. For example, it doesn’t take long to establish a communication channel between line managers and their teams. Ensuring line managers provide feedback, are approachable and encourage their teams to communicate with them can make a world of difference for engagement. Communication and feedback is highly valuable for employees and their level of engagement.