Companies can improve themselves when they

To help curb this problem, take a different approach. Try celebrating the good side of things that might otherwise be construed as bad. For example, when an employee takes a job with a new company, instead of feeling down about losing them, celebrate their success and new position. Have a congratulations party, not a going away party. Other ways to turn a potentially negative situation into something good are calling attention to an employee that made a mistake and thanking them for teaching everyone how not to do something.

When a deadline gets missed, you could celebrate the parts of the project that were completed on time. Try to stay focused on the positive. Volunteering in your community gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment. Figure out what your employees' interests or hobbies are and try to plan community volunteer work around those interests. For example, if some of your employees enjoy being outdoors, you could plan a trash cleanup day somewhere in the community.

Maybe one of your team members has an elderly parent or grandparent in a care facility. You could get some people together to make gift baskets or stop by and spend time visiting with seniors in the facility.

Working together a group to do something good will create a bond between coworkers, as well as help them create a fun memory together. Doing something good for the community will make everyone happier and help to increase employee retention. It also shows that you care about more than just your business and profits. Some employers are afraid to acknowledge those employees that are really increasing the bottom line, but they shouldn't be. Creating a reward program within your company will encourage employees to strive for excellence.

Try sending out a special email acknowledging when an employee or department reaches a specific goal. If someone is doing exceptionally well, have everyone at work thank them for their efforts. This might not seem like much, but letting people know that they are valued and appreciated by the whole team, not just the boss, goes a long way.

Have team members create their own accountability program to show their accomplishments. They can track sales or completed projects on a board that everyone can see. This ensures they have a record of things they have done that others can see and shows how hard they have worked for it. Every company has room for improvement. Use this list to create a company that people want to work for. Time-saving purchases e. Organizations can make it convenient for third-party organizations to sell their products and services directly to their employees.

For instance, organizations can partner with tax firms to offer tax preparation services to employees or meal kit delivery services to provide them with partially prepared, healthy food options. Or organizations can partner with concierge services that work with employees to organize services at home e. By making it easier and more convenient for employees to invest in these time-saving purchases, employees can dig themselves out of time debt.

Implement tools that discourage after-hours emails. To do this, organizations can — by default — turn off email notifications after hours. If employees are facing something urgent, they can sign into their email if needed. For instance, car manufacturer Volkswagen stops routing emails 30 minutes before the workday ends and starts them again 30 minutes before the workday starts. In the early stages of the pandemic, managers often relied on emergency appeals to motivate their teams.

Managers to must take proactive steps to increase employee engagement, or risk losing their workforce. Given the many potential levers of employee engagement, the challenge for leaders is to combine theory and data to understand which levers should be prioritized in their workplace context.

You have 1 free article s left this month. You are reading your last free article for this month. Subscribe for unlimited access. Create an account to read 2 more. Employee retention. Start by connecting what people do to what they care about. Jachimowicz, and Ashley Whillans. This shift in mentality from people or siloed groups of people working toward individual goals to a unified team, all pulling in one direction, can make an enormous difference in the results of your work.

Giving—not to mention receiving— feedback is hard. Once-a-year feedback doesn't come close to providing an employee with the tools they need to improve and grow. Ideally, you should be providing feedback on a regular cadence, and allowing your employees to give feedback, as well.

Sending out regular employee engagement surveys is a great way to understand your team's concerns and challenges in a timely way— and is a way to understand what your company is doing well, too! Take it from our State of Employee Engagement Report :. Highly engaged organizations are more likely than other organizations to measure engagement, and they are more likely to measure it more than once a year.

Giving frequent, candid feedback is a benefit to everyone. You can reward good behaviors and results as they occur, which just encourages more of the same. Asking your employees meaningful questions and soliciting discussion provides the support they—and you! It's vital to recognize employees when and why they're doing well, and work together toward solutions when a fix is needed. Learn more about feedback and company culture in our Essential Employee Engagement Guide!

Core values are much more than a list of bullet points on a company's About Us page. Your values determine what is important and meaningful to you.

They align with your purpose, and speak loudly and passionately to others—and to yourself—about who you are and what you're called to do in this world. If you want your organizational culture to stick, you need to develop genuine core values and stay true to them. You can start with our post on the value of aligning recognition to your company values. Building a company culture takes time and energy.

It doesn't just happen. Your culture should align with your mission and values—and it should resonate with everyone in the organization. Failing to allocate the necessary time and effort into building a company culture you can be proud of will leave you with a company culture you simply accept, or worse, dislike.

There's no finish line. A truly amazing organizational culture is a constant work in progress, because as a company evolves, so does its people. Devote time to nurturing your company culture. Exemplify it in every way you can so that your team will be able to recognize and emulate it. To get started, save this list as a PDF and send it to your coworkers! Our tip? Start with employee recognition.

It contributes to so many of the factors we discussed above, and is an initiative that'll make everyone feel good. To see how easy it is to build a recognition-rich company culture, check out our Guide to Modern Employee Recognition :. When employees are given the tools to do their jobs well and train to advance in their careers, they are more likely to feel inspired to do their best work.

And your reputation for stellar employee development might just encourage the best and brightest candidates to join your team. Image Credit : Pierre Lognoul. Develop your managers into coaches Part of becoming an effective coach is learning about your direct report; their unique strengths, what drains them, and what motivates them so you can help guide them on their path to success. Enhance cross-departmental collaboration A truly cohesive workforce that excels at cross-departmental training can help bridge the gap between cultures, give employees the opportunity to learn more about other parts of the business, and encourage more empathy across the board.

Emphasize soft skills Unfortunately, these vital competencies are often de-emphasized in corporate environments. Share on LinkedIn. Share on Twitter.