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Engagement is critical to employee happiness and retention, ultimately driving your organization’s operations. In fact, studies have shown that companies with a highly engaged workforce are 21% more profitable.

Whether your team works from a single office or signs on from locations around the world, each team member should feel valued. In this guide, we’ll explore strategies to help your workplace community get engaged and thrive.

1. Prioritize Holistic Professional Development

According to Astron Solutions’ guide to employee recruitment and retention, providing professional development opportunities significantly increases employee retention. By investing in your team members’ professional development, you can signal that you see each employee as a long-term partner rather than a temporary resource.

To demonstrate your commitment to supporting employees’ development, try:

• Offering stipends for certifications that are relevant to employees’ career goals.
• Scheduling lunch-and-learn sessions where staff can learn about a specific topic or skill from a peer. These events have a low barrier to entry thanks to their convenient timing and low-pressure environment.
• Creating internal mentorship programs that pair junior and veteran staff. This approach is particularly effective when working with staffing agencies to ensure that even supplemental or contract staff feel they have access to growth trajectories. 

Demonstrating a marked commitment to supporting your employees’ career goals helps them envision their future with your organization, prompting them to up their commitment to your organization.

2. Address Burnout with Empathy and Action

Especially in high-stress environments like special education programs or nonprofit organizations, burnout poses a serious risk to retention. Maintain your team by proactively identifying signs of isolation and exhaustion before they push an employee to resign.

To address burnout:

• Implement regular check-ins via an anonymous survey. Ask employees to share what their biggest obstacles are in the day-to-day work and what you could be doing to better support them.
• Create peer support groups where employees can motivate each other and problem-solve together.
• Offer mental health resources like Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that provide short-term counseling or referrals for employees who need extra support.

Address burnout preemptively by including resources right in your onboarding process. Provide new employees with all of the information they need to access assistance and take care of their wellbeing. Edustaff suggests working with a staffing agency that can handle this burden for you, minimizing stress for both administrative staff and new employees alike.

3. Leverage Mobile Technology for Remote Inclusion

With 95% of employees looking for jobs with remote work options, employers know they need to meet this demand to bring in quality candidates. However, many organizations also struggle to keep remote or hybrid employees engaged.

Support your remote employees with a beautifully designed, content-rich mobile app. In addition to event-specific guides, you can create resource guides to keep employees engaged and informed throughout the year, no matter where they are.

With a year-round resource guide, your team members won’t have to wade through cluttered email inboxes or navigate multiple websites to find the information they need. With mobile devices already in hand, they can access important resources (including documents and videos) anywhere, at any time. 

4. Design Events That Foster Genuine Interaction

Hosting events like conferences, hack-a-thons, or interactive workshops can help your employees network with like-minded professionals and advance their skill sets.

The same tools you use to create internal year-round resource guides for remote workers can also be used to create captivating external events that help your team promote collaboration and connection. By utilizing a mobile event app, you can plan events with seamless logistics, allowing your leadership team to focus entirely on fostering genuine human connections rather than troubleshooting schedules.

5. Build Connection with Corporate Philanthropy

Create a sense of community in the workplace by showing employees that your organization stands for good. Corporate philanthropy can make employees feel that being part of your organization helps them make a difference in the world.

To create a great corporate philanthropy program:

• Offer matching gifts. Matching your employees’ contributions to nonprofits shows them that you care about the same causes that they do, leading to increased workplace satisfaction.
• Schedule employee volunteer days. Find a nonprofit with a mission that aligns with your organization’s values. Then, reach out to the nonprofit to schedule a time for the whole team to volunteer. This both offers employees the satisfaction of giving back and creates bonds between employees.
• Highlight individual accomplishments. In your newsletter or internal emails, spotlight employees who participate in your philanthropy initiatives. When an employee volunteers a certain number of hours to a local nonprofit, celebrating that achievement publicly can be a great way to show employees that you value their contributions outside of the workplace.

Your workplace community is strongest when employees see the direct impact of their work on the world around them. By supporting employees’ efforts, you can increase their investment in your organization, improving engagement and retention.

Employee Engagement FAQs

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Q: What are employee engagement strategies?

A: Employee engagement strategies are the actions an organization takes to increase employees’ personal and professional connection to the organization. These strategies often include:

• Offering employee recognition and rewards
• Providing development opportunities
• Encouraging work-life balance
• Facilitating open communication between employees and managers
• Fostering a sense of community and purpose in the workplace

Q: Why does employee engagement matter for organizations?

A: When employees see that their workplace cares about their wellbeing, they gain a respect for and commitment to their organization that ultimately leads to higher profits, lower absenteeism, reduced turnover, and a stronger overall workplace culture.

Q: What are the five C’s of employee engagement?

A: Your organization should keep these five factors in mind to drive employee engagement:

• Care: Demonstrate a genuine investment in your employees’ personal wellbeing and encourage a healthy work-life balance. 
• Connect: Hosting team-building activities and asking for feedback consistently helps employees feel a sense of belonging at your organization. 
• Coach: Help employees reach their full potential by supporting their career goals.
• Contribute: Ensure employees understand how their work supports a larger cause.
• Congratulate: Celebrate employees’ successes to help them feel appreciated.

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Conclusion

Building a connected community requires empathetic leadership dedicated to making employees’ lives better both within the office and at home. Demonstrating a consistent commitment to your employees’ professional and personal development helps improve employee engagement, creating a more resilient and productive workplace.