Commitment Keys

Everyone wants to feel as if their work is meaningful. Organizations can create a stronger emotional bond with employees by emphasizing performance-based rewards as a means to build employee commitment, interaction and involvement. An article from Talent Management.com author Lois Melbourne discusses how communication is the key in promoting employee commitment.

Offering career enhancement and work opportunities as well as performance-based rewards can act as effective retention tools and foster high levels of engagement to ensure not only that employees stay at a company, but they give the organization their all.

Highly engaged employees  are critical to an organization’s success; they must be committed to the employer, willing to interact with others to reach organizational objectives and fully involved in and dedicated to personal work responsibilities. Employee engagement is also defined by Scarlett Surveys as “employee engagement is a measurable degree of an employee’s positive or negative emotional attachment to their job, colleagues and organizations which profoundly influences their willingness to learn and perform at work.”

Properly engaged employees are engaged because they feel that their work is meaningful, they are offered performance-based rewards and they have attractive career opportunities. These factors are retention tools, and when utilized properly, increase employee engagement levels. Creating an emotional attachment alongside engagement requires employee commitment, interaction and involvement. The two biggest influences upon engagement levels: clear company goals and frequent, regular communication.

More engaged employees leads to higher value delivered by each employee. Open communication proves the organization’s commitment to maintain employee awareness of organizational issues. Clearly defined goals and perpetual support by management members is a large part of keeping employees engaged. Ask your employees what they need to succeed. Goals should ultimately be attainable with a defined ‘finish-line’.

Respect costs the bottom line nothing, yet it is the best investment a company can make in its employees. This includes giving employees the benefit of the doubt. Trust employees to have good intentions, even if the results aren’t stellar. Trust and respect are reciprocal investments. People are much more likely to respect and follow someone who respects them in return.

A few key areas that could cause friction and may be important to pay attention to include technology investments, adopting new forms of communication and getting it right early … Technology can be frustrating when things aren’t up to speed or there are malfunctions. Making sure everything is up to par will reduce employee stress levels significantly. Adopting new forms of communication instead of only utilizing expected channels will create increased interaction and visibility between employees and bosses. Alternative communication channels may be more comfortable for your employees which will increase productivity. For example, texting and instant messaging is much quicker than email or voicemail. Another area to focus on is the timing of getting it right:

The first 90 days on the job are often most critical to set a new employee up for success. The highest level of turnover occurs during those first months, which is why effective on-boarding can be so critical. Training people on how and why things are done is necessary to ensure a successful future. By making the investment to train people properly and help them feel connected to the company’s goals and their co-workers, organizations gain real returns.

It’s also very important to remember to stay flexible. Be flexible in regards to family events and promoting the good health of your employees. Make work-life balance a first priority of your organization, as this tactic will definitely encourage employee engagement and commitment. It’s also imperative to provide continued development to your employees. Challenge your workforce: provide them with challenging work, personal development opportunities and a clear career path. Proper hiring practices, training, and career path planning will lead to more engaged, motivated employees. To read more about how to retain and engage your employees, click here to read the full article.

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