⚡ Get All Content for 20% Off ⚡

5 Steps to Getting (and Keeping) Employees Engaged at Work Here are some crucial steps to simultaneously create a more engaged workforce while reducing turnover.

By Tom Gimbel

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Q: How to improve employee engagement at work place? How to retain them?
--Kavita Pattipati
India

A: I get asked a lot about employee engagement and retention, and I always answer with two questions: Why do you currently have low employee engagement? Why are people leaving your organization?

It really helps to know the problem before trying to come up with a solution. If you increase everyone's salary, because you believe higher compensation will keep them, but they are still leaving or aren't engaged, all you have done is create new problems. First, people think you'll always pay more money. And secondly, the issue is the same as before, but now expenses are higher.

The following are crucial steps to simultaneously create a more engaged workforce while reducing turnover.

Related: The Importance of Culture When Starting Up

1. Start at the top.

Are you engaged? You may want to service your customers but does your team think you're engaged? People will practice what they see. Are you having fun? Can they see it? Fun isn't you on the golf course without them. Fun is you laughing, joking and celebrating WITH your team. If you want them working after 5 pm, then you need to plan a work dinner at 6:30 pm that you are attending and paying for. Also, you need to go to happy hours with them and get to know your teams socially.

In a perfect world, we all hire self-motivated people who don't need to be wined and dined. Whose perfect world is that?! Not mine. I like the people I work with at my company and enjoy spending time with them. I love getting to know them and hearing their stories. When you engage with them personally, they become engaged professionally.

2. Rip off the Band-Aid.

Terminate your poor attitudes as soon as possible. No matter how talented these employees are, bad attitudes are destructive. A good team can become great by addition through subtraction. By spending more time with people and socializing with them, you will learn who the real moaners are. Once you discover the complainers, you need to do the heavy lifting and cut them.

Related: The 5 Must-Ask Interview Questions to Determine if Someone's a Fit

3. Set short-term goals.

Culture is created from the people and the accomplishments of those people. Set monthly or quarterly goals that employees can hit quickly. Goals need to be discussed and celebrated, so dedicate an internal champion to generate hype around them. People will push harder if they know everyone is pushing.

4. Don't manage out of fear.

Know what type of company you want to have and lead and manage accordingly. If you manage out of fear of people quitting, they will never be engaged, because you aren't a true leader.

Work is like exercise. People stop doing it when they don't see great results. The reason usually is, because they aren't pushing themselves hard enough. Push your team, because when they accomplish great things, it's all worth it. If the team isn't accomplishing anything, you either have the wrong people or the wrong plan.

5. Be transparent.

To keep employees engaged, they have to feel like they are more than just a number and that's done by letting them know what's going on. People are engaged with leaders who share, sacrifice and communicate -- and hold themselves accountable when they didn't make the right decision. Fix the problem and take ownership.

Related: The 8 Essential Steps to Building a Winning Company Culture

Tom Gimbel

Founder and CEO of LaSalle Network

Tom Gimbel is the founder and CEO of LaSalle Network, a staffing, recruiting and culture company headquartered in Chicago. LaSalle was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s "Top Company Cultures” list in 2015 and 2017, and Glassdoor’s 2016 list of “Best Places to Work.” 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Side Hustle

The Remote Side Hustle a 43-Year-Old Musician Works on for 1 Hour a Day Earns Nearly $3,000 a Month: 'All From the Comfort of Home'

Sam Ziegler wanted to supplement his income as a professional drummer — then his tech skills and desire to help people came together.

Business News

Costco CFO Reveals Uncertain Fate of $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

CFO Richard Galanti reveals that the price will stay the same — but only "for a while."

Business News

The Most Unexpectedly Popular Side Hustle of the Decade Has Low Startup Costs and High Markups

A new report shows that vending machines are a popular investment — and the industry is set to grow up to $3 billion by 2031.

Marketing

Ever Wonder Why Certain Websites Rank Higher Than Yours? This SEO Expert Reveals The Secret to Dominating Search Results

It's often the smart use of SEO, now supercharged with AI, particularly in keyword optimization.

Business News

AI Is Impacting Jobs. Here Are the Gigs Affected the Most, According to an Analysis of 5 Million Upwork Postings

The researcher said in the report that freelance jobs were analyzed first because that market will likely see AI's immediate impact.

Leadership

Former Interrogator Shares 5 Behaviors Liars Exhibit and How to Handle Them

Five deceptive behaviors to look for and how to respond to those behaviors when you encounter them.